I got this random emaill (resume is on monster) from an outfit called Guidepoint Global. Of course, I figured it was a scam. Then I googled it, and nothing bad came up. Has anyone heard of them? I’m in grad school and could really use a buck right now. I work for an independent market research firm in New York. We connect industry experts with investment community analysts at hedge funds, mutual funds or private equity firms. As part of their investment research, our clients like to speak with seasoned industry professionals like yourself to learn more about overall industry trends, business models, market sentiment etc. We are only interested in general information such as market trends and the competitive landscape (nothing proprietary). Our consultations are done over the phone, and last between 30-45 minutes. We would compensate you for your time spent on the phone with our clients (on an average we pay about $150-$200 an hour). Given your experience within the xxxxxxxx industry, I think you would be a great resource for our clients. If you are interested in participating in this request and future requests, please visit and join our private network of advisors under the Consumer Goods & Services group. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
I did some googling out of curiousity. Ironically many of the other forum/linkedin/yahoo answers posts had a follow up from Guidepoint saying, “No, we are a legit company.”
It sounds like a standard market research firm. Give it a shot.
I’d say you should try to schedule a call with someone through them. If it doesn’t work out you’ll only be out an email and/or a phone call or two. If you spend an hour on the phone with someone and they stiff you on the fee then you’ll only be out an hour of your time and an email and/or a phone call or two. If they pay you the fee that they promised to pay you after the first call, then it’s probably not a scam. Do not send any money to them up front, however.
You may also want to ask them about/investigate for yourself potential liability for you from your advice and whether you need insurance. I have no idea in that context, but it’s something to think about.
Thanks all.
We use them, it’s not a scam. I think we use it mainly for tech guys (but other areas as well) so if we want to get an update on dram (as an example) then Guidepoint will connect us with some guy who’s an expert in dram or used to work for a dram manufacturer. It’s a good company, if you can answer some calls (~1hr), it’s not a bad to way to get a little extra cash.
Any update on this?
I never followed through. I just did not feel comfortable giving my SSN, etc. to someone I never heard of for a few extra bucks. Now, That Nigerian financier was a different story…
I have over 18 years in the IT management consulting business with top tier firms and have never been selected for a consulting meeting. As far as the process goes, for each consulting request, you are selected based upon the content and quality of your answers. The information they seek is pretty detailed. So much so – that they could easily compile the information and hand it over to the client: Consulting 101. I receive an average of 1 request per week, but no assignments. I don’t know if they’re a scam, but I truly wonder.
I think this is the “scam”. They get something useful from the first information you give them, and then they sell that to their customers instead of having to pay you.
Guidepoint Global is legit. I have belonged to their network for over 6 years. I get a lot of inquiries from them. Most are not relevant to my expertise, but I do get 2 or 3 a year, based on their client’s opinion of my responses to their questions. They pay within a few days that I’ve done the telephone consultancies. I did one last week, and it was great for both me and the client.
I can assure you that it is a total scam, after obtaining the information they require, they sell it to the client and they do not pay you.
They indicate that the client closed the request or did not make the call and that’s it. there is no payment.
Total scam
I worried of scams all the time. But this is not the case I believe. 