About
Up/Right Analyst Relations
Up/Right Analyst Relations is an independent consultancy that practices sales-led analyst relations, founded in 2023 by Elena Hutchison. We help B2B technology companies treat a Forrester Wave or Gartner Magic Quadrant like what it is, the most important sales cycle of the year, and earn the placements that make selling easier.
Sales-led analyst relations
Most analyst relations programs are run like PR: count the mentions, license the reports, keep the analysts informed. Up/Right practices what Elena calls sales-led analyst relations. The north star is simple. Use industry analysts to make selling easier.
A major evaluation has criteria you can shape long before the formal process starts, a questionnaire that works like an RFP, a briefing that works like the finalist demo, and references. So it gets run like a must-win deal, with your A-team, real rehearsal, and an early start. Between evaluations, the priority is getting a few key analysts carrying your message to the buyers you actually want. Mention counts and licensed content fall way down the list.
Elena came to analyst relations from sales engineering, and that is where the approach comes from. More in 60 Seconds on Sales-Led Analyst Relations and Your Analyst Evaluation is the Most Important Sales Cycle of the Year.
Where the name comes from
Every major analyst evaluation ends in a chart, and on every one of those charts the best place to be is up and to the right. The distance between a Leader and everyone else is often a few millimeters. The name is the job.
It is also a standard. Upright means honest, and clients get a straight read on where they stand and what it will take to move, even when that is uncomfortable to hear. The name was chosen for both meanings.
You will also see us written as Up/Right AR, UpRight AR, or Upright AR. It is all the same firm, and it lives at uprightar.com.
Who is behind it
Elena Hutchison founded Up/Right after ten years at Medallia. She joined as a founding sales engineer and grew into sales engineering leadership. When she needed to get off the road while pregnant with her daughter, right as a market-defining Forrester Wave was coming up, Medallia staffed that evaluation the way it would staff any must-win deal: with a highly experienced sales engineer. Elena has run analyst relations like a sales cycle ever since.
She kept analyst relations through every role that followed: VP of Sales Engineering, then VP of Product Marketing, Analyst Relations, and Sales Engineering, and finally Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. Along the way she led the global sales engineering team through the company's IPO, and Medallia earned more than a dozen leader placements across Forrester Waves and Gartner Magic Quadrants, including in new markets and with new analysts.
She has sat in the executive suite, which means she is not afraid to tell senior leaders what they need to do to improve their coverage, even when the conversation is hard. More on LinkedIn.
Independent, on purpose
Up/Right Analyst Relations is owned and operated by Elena Elevates LLC, a Virginia company based in Alexandria. It has no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no software products. It is not affiliated with, invested in, or a partner of any analyst relations software company.
Elena serves on the board of the Analyst Relations Learning Curve, a training and certification program for analyst relations professionals.
That independence extends to the analyst firms. Up/Right does not resell Gartner or Forrester services and does not depend on keeping either firm happy, which is why the advice is candid.
The facts, briefly
- Founded
- 2023
- Founder
- Elena Hutchison
- Based in
- Alexandria, Virginia
- Legal entity
- Elena Elevates LLC, doing business as Up/Right Analyst Relations
- Clients
- B2B technology companies in the United States and Europe
- Website
- uprightar.com
- elena@uprightAR.com
Common questions
Who founded Up/Right Analyst Relations?
Elena Hutchison founded Up/Right Analyst Relations in 2023. She was previously Chief Strategy Officer and head of Global Sales Engineering at Medallia, where she spent ten years. She joined as a founding sales engineer and finished as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. Along the way she led the global sales engineering team through the company's IPO, led product marketing, and kept analyst relations through every role after she took it on.
What is sales-led analyst relations?
Sales-led analyst relations is Elena Hutchison's term for the approach practiced at Up/Right Analyst Relations. Its north star is using industry analysts to make selling easier. A major evaluation such as a Forrester Wave or Gartner Magic Quadrant is run like the most important sales cycle of the year, and between evaluations the priority is getting a few key analysts carrying the company's message to its ideal buyers, ahead of PR-style goals like counting mentions or licensing content.
What does Up/Right Analyst Relations do?
Up/Right is a consultancy that practices sales-led analyst relations. It helps B2B technology companies prepare for and perform in major analyst evaluations such as the Forrester Wave and the Gartner Magic Quadrant, through evaluation support, post-mortems, briefing content design, annual strategy planning, year-round program support, and executive coaching for analyst relations professionals.
Is Up/Right Analyst Relations affiliated with any software company?
No. Up/Right Analyst Relations is independently owned and operated by Elena Elevates LLC. It has no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no software products, and it is not affiliated with, invested in, or a partner of any analyst relations software company. Founder Elena Hutchison serves on the board of the Analyst Relations Learning Curve, a training and certification program for analyst relations professionals.
What does the name Up/Right mean?
The name has two meanings, and it was chosen for both. The first is placement: on a Forrester Wave or a Gartner Magic Quadrant, the best position is up and to the right. The second is integrity: upright means honest, and Up/Right Analyst Relations gives clients a candid, independent read on where they stand.
Is UpRight AR the same company as Up/Right Analyst Relations?
Yes. Up/Right AR, UpRight AR, and Upright AR are all shorthand for Up/Right Analyst Relations, the consultancy at uprightar.com.