If you were considering an investment in the “Biomass Gasification” space, you probably would want to talk to one or two experts in the field who were intimate with that technology.  To find those experts, you could:

• Go on to LinkedIn, search for people on that topic, review their profiles one by one, and then reach out to those people and hope that they respond. 

• Do a Google search on the topic, peruse the 235,000 listings, try to filter out the ones who are selling Biomass Gasification equipment, tighten up your search to “Biomass Gasification Consultant”, note that there are 24,000 listings (most that are not consultants but simply mention the word consultant), skip down a few pages, find a listing, call or e-mail the firm and wait for a response.

Or, you could use Zintro’s Expert-Finder Tool, fill out a few fields, and wait for experts who are both qualified AND interested to respond to you.  If 5-10 experts respond, you can focus your energy vetting them (instead of wasting time reviewing people who have no interest) without telegraphing who you are or giving them your contact information.

That’s pretty compelling.  A few minutes filling in fields,  a few minutes vetting a short-list of experts, and you are on your way to talking with experts.  But Zintro doesn't only make it faster & easier to find experts - it yields better results!  The reason is that Zintro utilizes "crowdsourcing".

According to Wikipedia, crowdsourcing is "...shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals".  Zintro allows you to crowdsource experts by sending a single inquiry out to multiple experts (without revealing your identity) with closely matching profiles.  The reason crowdsourcing is the best approach to sourcing experts...

The advantages of primary research (i.e. talking with experts who work in industry) are numerous.  Experts live on the front lines, help to frame questions, provide context sensitive answers, and can provide information that may not yet be in print form.  A  primary research campaign may very well be the best way to validate (or invalidate) an investment thesis.  However, primary research needs to be conducted properly in order to mitigate potential risks...

For years, sophisticated investors have relied on Expert Consults (outgoing calling campaigns to industry experts) as a core component of their research programs.  Most of the time, the outcome of these Expert Consults is a regression line drawn across multiple expert opinions proving or disproving an investment thesis.  Occasionally, an Expert Consult uncovers a "needle in a haystack" ...