Researching private companies can be difficult especially if you can't afford expensive databases. Crunchbase is a "free database of technology companies, people, and investors that anyone can edit." Crunchbase covers both public and private companies but since public company information is usually easily accessible from a number of sources, Crunchbase is my go-to place for private, tech companies. Their company profiles include things like company descriptions, screenshots, company milestones, executive names and titles, recent news and funding information. Information will vary. Sometimes you'll find extra videos, names of competitors and website traffic and other times you'll only see a company description. You can simply plug in the name of a company you'd like to research or you can search their database by geography, category, funding or status. If you've found a company profile that you'd like to share with others, you can share it via Facebook or Twitter but you can also use their embedded widget code to share it on your website. Then as the Crunchbase database gets updated, so will your company widget. We introduced you to Hipmunk a couple of months ago and below you'll see their Crunchbase widget.
Got a source you like to use for private company information? Tell us about it in the comments.