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Finding and comparing similar companies is a tedious task that gets regularly performed by a range of professionals such as investors and founders mapping competitive landscapes or salesmen growing their lead funnel. Thankfully, we can automate this process with modern tools.

Today, I share a comprehensive guide that combines two different approaches to identify similar companies at scale. Subsequently, I auto-generate summaries of their respective business descriptions and create a similarity matrix that allows you to spot the closest competitors with ease. All in Google Sheets and without a need to code. It’s 100% free and easy to replicate.

How to get started

  1. Login to your Google Account and create a new Google Sheet

  1. Add a name to your sheet, click on “Extensions” > “Apps Script”

Find similar companies via Google Programmable Search Engine and G2

  1. Open the new tab “Apps Script” and replace the whole project with the code below (→ remove “myFunction{}”). Note that this approach uses G2 (peer review platform for software solutions) to search for similar companies and is thus most reliable for more mature companies.

/** * Find similar companies via G2 * * @param {string} companyName - Name of the company * @returns {string} Result * @customfunction */function SimilarCompanyG2(companyName) {if (companyName == ""){return "Error - Input is empty"}  // Replace these with your actual API key  const API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY'  const SEARCH_ENGINE_ID = 'e298e2926913441fc';  // Formulate the query to find top 10 alternatives of a company on G2's website  searchQuery = "Top 10 " + companyName + "Alternatives & Competitors site:g2.com/products"    // Construct the URL for the Google Custom Search JSON API  searchUrl = `https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?key=${API_KEY}&cx=${SEARCH_ENGINE_ID}&q=${encodeURIComponent(searchQuery)}`;  // Send a GET request to the API  response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(searchUrl, {method: 'get'});    // Parse the JSON response  data = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());  // If there are any items in the response data  if (data?.items?.length > 0) {    competitorsList = data.items[0]?.pagemap?.listitem;        // Log the competitors list    console.log(competitorsList);        // Filter competitors with a URL and a position, then map to their names    competitors = competitorsList?.length > 0 ? competitorsList.filter(item => !!item.url && !!item.position).map(item => item.name) : "Not found";        // Log the filtered competitors    console.log(competitors);        // If there are any competitors, return them as a comma-separated string, else return "Not found"    return competitors?.length > 0 ? competitors.join(', ') : "Not found";  } else {    return "Not found";  }}
  1. Rename your project to “Similar Companies G2”

  1. Get a Custom Search API Key. Click on “Get a key” and follow the steps below.

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