Ted Metro wrote...
I have a list of companies A1:A100, and I have a table b1:c5000 that has
companies and industries.
....

In order to put the results in B1:B100 next to A1:A100, I'll assume the
other table is in G1:H5000.

I'd like to use a vlookup or index/match combination to append the industry
to the companies in column A. Because there are slight differences in the
spellings I'd like to have a formula take the first 6 letters of A1, and see
if they are found in any cell b1:b5000, and if there is a match to populate
the cell with the corresponding value in column c, the industry value.

B1:
=VLOOKUP(LEFT(A1,6)&"*",$G$1:$H$5000,2,0)

Good luck with corresponding entries like 'X.Y.Z Corp.' and 'The XYZ
Corporation'.