The Founders and Leaders Series

Episode OverviewFairgen founder Samuel Cohen on synthetic data, digital twins and how AI is making market research more accessible to more organisations.Episode HighlightsA taxonomy of synthetic data — Samuel maps the space across two axes: methodology (directional to foundational) and stakes (low to high), showing why different approaches suit different research contexts.Why "boosting" has become standard — Fairgen's augmentation technology is now used by brands including T-Mobile and L'Oréal to dramatically expand the number of segments they can reliably report on, with three years of rigorous statistical validation behind it.The problem with fully synthetic panels — Samuel explains why prompting LLMs to simulate survey respondents produces poor results: large language models are "averaging machines" that flatten individual variance and produce near-identical responses.How Fairgen builds category-level digital twins — Each twin is anchored to a real person and enriched with category-specific survey data, clickstream, transactional and live news data, refreshed quarterly to maintain accuracy.The democratisation of research — AI-powered tools — including digital twins and AI-moderated qualitative research — have the potential to make insights accessible to startups, SMBs and underserved markets that have historically been priced out.Founder lessons — Samuel shares two core pieces of advice: challenge every assumption, and invest consistently in building relationships and networks.About the GuestSamuel Cohen is the founder and CEO of Fairgen, a synthetic data company serving the market research industry. He studied mathematics at Oxford and completed a PhD at UCL, spending the majority of his doctoral research at Facebook AI Research Labs, where his team built foundational generative models that now underpin mainstream image and video generation tools. He founded Fairgen four years ago, applying that background to the challenges of survey research and consumer insights. Fairgen works with large insight agencies and directly with enterprise brands including T-Mobile, L'Oréal and Coty.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewKathy Cheng, founder and CEO of inca, on why better survey experiences produce better data — and what the industry needs to change.Episode HighlightsFrom qual to quant — by accident. Kathy built inca out of frustration with traditional surveys, bringing qualitative thinking — projective techniques, conversational flow, participant engagement — into quantitative research at scale.The participant experience problem. Poor data quality is not the fault of respondents. It is the result of survey designs that have barely changed since the 1930s. Improving the experience improves the data.AI as part of the whole, not a bolt-on. inca's AI moderation capability is central to the product, but Kathy argues that conversational AI embedded in a poor overall experience will not deliver meaningful results on its own.Synthetic data: a useful tool, not a replacement. Kathy sees synthetic data as a short-term response to declining survey quality, and worries that adopting it at scale means giving up on the belief that people have genuine things to share.The blurring of qual and quant. The more significant shift in the industry over the next few years will not be technological — it will be human. Researchers will need to develop skills across both traditions to get the most from new platforms.Always go to a meeting with an ask. The single most useful piece of business advice Kathy has received — and one she now applies consistently as a self-described introvert running a growing technology business.About the GuestKathy Cheng is the founder and CEO of Nexxt Intelligence, the company behind inca — which stands for Inquisitive Natural Conversation Agent.She started her career as a qualitative researcher and founded the business around a decade ago with a simple idea: that surveys should work more like conversations. inca combines structured survey tools with AI moderation, projective techniques and conversational probing to improve the participant experience and the quality of the data it produces. The platform is used for both quantitative research and qualitative research at scale.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewAngelique Taylor, founder of AddMaple, shares how frustration with fragmented data tools inspired a visual-first exploration platform built for insights teams.Episode HighlightsFrom UX researcher to founder: Ange's background in user research — spanning qualitative interviews, SQL data, and survey analytics — led her to build a tool that bridges the gap between different data types in a single visual interface.What AddMaple does: AddMaple is a visual-first data exploration platform that ingests survey data, online reviews, customer support tickets, social media feedback, and data lakes, allowing insights teams to filter, cross-tabulate, and identify themes with automatic statistical testing throughout.The AI integration debate: Ange makes a clear architectural distinction between generative AI and deterministic analysis — in AddMaple, AI sits as an interpretive layer above a stats engine that runs all calculations, ensuring reproducible, traceable results every time.Synthetic data: hype vs. reality: Ange is sceptical of synthetic data as a replacement for real human research, though she uses AI personas herself as a sparring partner for ideation and hypothesis testing — not as a substitute for statistically valid findings.The undervalued UI: Against the prevailing trend of chat-first AI interfaces, Ange argues that a well-designed user interface — one that integrates AI rather than replacing the GUI with it — remains under-appreciated and is central to her product philosophy.Bootstrapping in an insight-tech world: Building fully bootstrapped in a space dominated by well-funded competitors has kept Ange close to her users, though she reflects honestly on the trade-offs — including reconsidering how she presents that status to enterprise prospects.About the GuestAngelique Taylor is the CEO and founder of AddMaple, a visual-first data exploration platform designed for market researchers and insights professionals. She began her career as a user researcher in FinTech, developing an early fluency in both qualitative methods and quantitative data analysis. That dual perspective became the foundation for AddMaple, which she has built as a fully bootstrapped company while based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ange is a vocal advocate for high-quality user interface design and rigorous, reproducible research methods in an era of rapid AI adoption.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewFrédéric-Charles Petit, Founder and CEO of Toluna, on building a 25-year-old consumer insights company for the age of AI.Episode HighlightsFour pillars, one platform. Toluna's model combines a global consumer panel, proprietary technology, specialist methodology, and people to deliver integrated consumer insight at scale for enterprise brands.Synthetic personas grounded in real data. Toluna's AI-driven synthetic personas were built on a foundation of first-party panel data and machine learning developed from 2019 — well before the generative AI boom — enabling fast, high-correlation answers to real business questions.AI as the engine of democratisation. Frédéric-Charles argues that AI is the most significant transformation force in market research, enabling research to move at the speed at which content is now created and decisions are now made.From gatekeeper to door opener. The insights function inside enterprise organisations is shifting — from controlling access to research to enabling broader teams to act on consumer data with confidence and speed.Adoption is maturing, not just experimenting. Customer uptake of AI-first research solutions at Toluna has already surpassed full-year revenues from the previous year, pointing to a market that is moving from pilot to embedded practice.Strategy and tactics in equal measure. After 25 years building Toluna, Frédéric-Charles's core leadership lesson is the need to balance long-term strategy with close operational involvement — what he calls "top down and bottom up."About the GuestFrédéric-Charles Petit is the Founder and CEO of Toluna, a global digital consumer insights company he has built over more than 25 years. Under his leadership, Toluna has evolved from a panel provider into a technology-driven insight platform serving enterprise brands worldwide.The company's current focus is on embedding AI across both quantitative and qualitative research, including the development of synthetic personas and AI-powered ad testing tools. Frédéric-Charles is based in France and is a long-standing figure in the research technology industry.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewAndrew Cooper, founder and CEO of Verve, on synthetic personas, the respondent crisis, and a new model for AI-powered insight.Episode HighlightsFrom access panels to AI simulations: Andrew traces Verve's evolution from one of the early online panel companies to a specialist in AI-powered synthetic personas — built on the conviction that "a good simulation is better than an average sample."Addressing the respondent crisis: Rather than replicating large samples artificially, Verve combines proprietary client data with curated sources to build auditable, validated simulations that correlate at 0.9 with real human responses.Where synthetic personas work best: B2B and specialist audiences — where recruiting real respondents is slow, expensive or unreliable — are proving to be the strongest use cases, alongside healthcare and financial services segments.Humans and simulations working together: Verve's model keeps real people involved in the insight process, using simulations to handle onerous or tactical tasks, while human respondents contribute depth, validation and qualitative richness.The skills challenge for the industry: AI is reshaping the capabilities research businesses need — consultative skills, critical thinking and an AI-native mindset are growing in importance, while routine analytical work is declining.Oracles and internal AI agents: Verve has built 60 internal AI tools ("Oracles") covering specialist areas of their workflow, effectively doubling productive capacity without adding headcount.About the GuestAndrew Cooper is the founder and CEO of Verve, a UK-based insight technology company specialising in AI-powered synthetic personas and simulations. He previously co-founded Research Now, one of the pioneering online access panel businesses.With over two decades in the research industry, Cooper has been an early advocate for respondent quality and engagement, and now leads Verve's work helping brands including Mars and Samsung generate board-level insight through a combination of real human data and intelligent simulation.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewOlaf Lenzmann discusses Market Logic's AI evolution, synthetic personas, innovation workflows and the lessons from building a research tech platform over 15 years.Episode HighlightsAI-powered insights platforms: How Market Logic's DeepSights connects internal and external data sources, transforming knowledge management into active decision support through generative AI capabilitiesThe rise of synthetic personas: Why AI-generated personas based on proprietary research data are gaining strong demand, enabling organisations to activate strategic assets and make insights more accessible across teamsRethinking innovation workflows: How AI is shifting from simple automation to collaborative tools that present comprehensive options, requiring deeper human judgement rather than eliminating thinkingManaging AI governance and quality: The evolving role of insights teams as gatekeepers who establish guardrails, vet data sources and build systems thinking into AI-human workflowsBuilding for scale versus customisation: Lessons on balancing enterprise customer needs with product development, the importance of thought leadership and avoiding reactive feature-buildingAdvice for research tech founders: Why sustainable competitive advantage requires more than technology capability—whether through human expertise, partner ecosystems or compounding knowledge modelsAbout the GuestOlaf Lenzmann is Co-Founder and Chief Innovation and Product Officer at Market Logic Software, a Berlin-based company that provides enterprise insights platforms. Market Logic's DeepSights solution enables organisations to integrate research, knowledge and data about consumers, markets and brands into a unified platform. With approximately 15 years in the commercial market, the company serves major enterprises across CPG, automotive, financial services, retail and healthcare sectors. Olaf has led the company's evolution from knowledge management through to AI-powered insights activation and innovation support.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewDaniel Graff-Radford explores the evolution of research tech platform Discuss, combining qual research with the Voxco survey and Ascribe AI text analytics platforms.Episode HighlightsThe merger story: How Discuss brought together Voxco's quantitative surveys, Ascribe's text analytics, and Discuss's qualitative platform to create an integrated research solution marking the company's 50th anniversaryAI as thought partner, not replacement: Why AI should enhance researcher expertise rather than replace it, and how quality questions from trained researchers deliver better insights than automated shallow analysisThe full-stack researcher: How AI tools are breaking down rigid qual-quant specialisms, enabling researchers to blend methodologies and apply the right approach for each questionAvoiding startup pitfalls: Lessons from building five companies, including the importance of customer focus over investor pitches, cultural fit in M&A, and documenting decisions for continuous learningThe future of research workflows: Why startups fail when they skip steps to reach a three-year vision, and how established players can light the path from current capabilities to AI-powered research ecosystemsBuilding culture over strategy: Why hiring carefully, fostering a culture where mistakes drive learning, and maintaining customer obsession matter more than brilliant strategyAbout the GuestDaniel Graff-Radford is CEO of Discuss, leading the integration of three established research technology companies: Voxco (quantitative surveys), Ascribe (text analytics and AI insights), and Discuss (qualitative research). This is his fifth company and second role as CEO, with a track record of building businesses that achieve over $10 million in recurring revenue with positive outcomes for investors. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, he brings decades of experience in research technology and a customer-focused approach to building company culture and product strategy.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewTobi Andersson shares his journey founding and scaling Dapresy to 100+ employees, the formation of Forsta, and his insights on AI in market research.Episode HighlightsBuilding Dapresy from a single-employee Swedish startup to a global company with operations across all regions, focused solely on visualising market research dataHow the merger of Dapresy, Confirmit and FocusVision created Forsta's integrated platform for sample, data collection, reporting and analyticsAI applications in market research, from automating survey scripting and data preparation to generating PowerPoint presentations and enabling conversational data analysisThe evolving role of synthetic samples as a complementary research tool for early exploration and hypothesis testingEssential startup lessons including the importance of staying focused, delegating early, understanding customer needs, and investing time in leadershipWhy humility and patience matter when innovating in the mature market research industry, rather than pursuing disruptive change for its own sakeAbout the GuestTobi Andersson is General Manager for Market Research at Forsta. He founded Dapresy in 2003 after recognising the need for better data visualisation whilst working at a fieldwork house in 1999. Over 15 years, he scaled Dapresy from a local Swedish company to a global business with over 100 employees. Dapresy later merged with Confirmit and FocusVision to form Forsta, a name derived from the Nordic word meaning "to understand". Throughout his 25-year career, Tobi has maintained a consistent focus on market research technology and creating efficient processes for research professionals.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewHakan Yurdakul, CEO of Bolt Insight, discusses AI-native research, dynamic personas, and how conversational AI is transforming market research.Episode HighlightsPioneer in AI Research: Bolt Insight created the world's first AI-native conversational research platform, predating the ChatGPT boom by training proprietary models on human-moderated interviewsHuman + AI Approach: How combining human expertise with AI technology creates better research outcomes, moving beyond simple correlation to understand causality in consumer insightsDynamic Personas Revolution: Moving beyond static synthetic personas to "live personas" that are continuously updated with fresh consumer interviews and market trendsCorporate Memory Solution: AI agents serving as institutional memory banks, connecting sales data, historical research, and new insights to prevent repeated mistakes and improve innovation success ratesEntrepreneurial Journey: Transitioning from 15 years at Unilever to founding a successful AI research company, with lessons on networking and moving outside comfort zonesFuture of Research: The shift from traditional qual vs quant methodologies toward hybrid, conversational research that brings human empathy back to consumer understandingAbout the GuestHakan Yurdakul is the co-founder and CEO of Bolt Insight, an AI-native research firm. A Harvard graduate with 15 years of experience at Unilever as a consumer marketeer across FMCG categories, Hakan transitioned from corporate life to entrepreneurship to create research tools he wished he had in his corporate roles.Along with co-founders from Ipsos and Nielsen backgrounds, he built Bolt Insight into a 60-person company serving 95% large enterprise clients across FMCG, finance, consulting, and technology sectors. The company operates globally with offices in North America, UK, France, Turkey, and Singapore.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewAI-powered research platform Conveo transforms market insights through AI-moderated video interviews, delivering deeper consumer understanding at scale.Episode HighlightsThe Future of Data Collection: How AI moderators are revolutionizing consumer research by conducting natural video conversations that capture not just what people say, but how they say it and what they showMultimodal Analysis Breakthrough: Advanced AI capabilities that analyze facial expressions, emotions, environments, and brand detection alongside transcripts—providing the 93% of meaning beyond wordsResearch Team Transformation: Why AI tools are empowering researchers rather than replacing them, enabling the 90% of research projects that teams wish they could run but couldn't due to time constraintsFrom Insights to Impact: Real examples of how AI-generated research travels directly to revenue-generating functions, convincing retailers and driving shelf placement decisionsThe Talent Multiplier Effect: How research technology acts as a talent acquisition tool, allowing teams to scale expertise without scaling headcount while maintaining research rigorBeyond "Qual at Scale": Moving past traditional research categories toward rapid iterative insights that compound knowledge across multiple studies and marketsAbout the GuestsHendrik van Hove is Chief Product Officer at Conveo, the AI-powered research platform. A former McKinsey consultant who studied AI before ChatGPT's launch, Hendrik co-founded Conveo after Y Combinator and focuses on customer-driven product development.Niels Schillewaert is Head of Research and Methods at Conveo and former co-founder of Human8 Insights Consulting. With decades of experience in digital research transformation, Niels brings deep methodological expertise to AI-powered consumer insights.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewCo-founder Tanika McLeod discusses OneCliq's AI-powered qualitative insights platform and her journey from researcher to startup founder.Episode HighlightsFrom Researcher to Founder: How Tanika combined her seven years of qualitative research experience with generative AI expertise to solve the painful, time-consuming aspects of analyzing unstructured text dataQualitative Insights at Scale: OneCliq's breakthrough approach using unsupervised classification to analyze thousands of online conversations across Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and X - delivering deep qualitative insights without predetermined frameworksThe Future of Research: Why AI will transform research from manually executing projects to orchestrating them, freeing researchers from grunt work to focus on high-impact strategic and creative analysisStartup Lessons: Hard-won insights about building true value, the importance of customer discovery, and why the fear of failure is worse than failure itself - plus the painful pivot that led to breakthrough successAI Reality Check: A balanced perspective on AI's potential and limitations, debunking both the replacement fears and AGI hype while highlighting the democratizing power of current AI toolsRecent Acquisition: The story behind OneCliq's integration with Dig Insights and how it fits into their end-to-end innovation platformAbout the GuestTanika McLeod is co-founder and managing director of OneCliq, an AI-powered platform that provides qualitative insights from online conversations at unprecedented speed and scale. With seven years of qualitative research experience combined with deep generative AI expertise from Google's accelerator program, she has pioneered unsupervised classification techniques that unlock cultural insights from social media data. OneCliq was recently acquired by Dig Insights, where Tanika continues to lead the development of innovative research methodologies that bridge traditional qualitative research with AI automation.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewAI-powered research meets human expertise: Matteo Cera explores how AI moderated interviews bridge qual and quant research for faster, deeper insights.Episode HighlightsAI Moderated Interviews (AIMIs): How voice-based AI interviews deliver insights 10-15x faster and 2-3x cheaper than traditional methods by combining survey structure with conversational depthThe Evolution of Research Methodologies: Why the boundaries between qualitative and quantitative research are blurring, creating opportunities for "Agile Quantifiable Qual" approachesBuilding Trust in Research Tech: The critical importance of human relationships and trust-building in B2B research technology adoption, especially for founders entering the industryThe Future of Researchers: How AI tools will enhance rather than replace researchers, shifting their role from manual tasks to strategic piloting and insight deliveryAgency Transformation: Two distinct camps emerging - skeptics focusing on AI limitations versus progressive agencies embracing AI across their entire operationsQuality vs Scale Trade-offs: Measuring success through depth of insights, emotional nuances, project speed, and cost efficiency rather than traditional metricsAbout the GuestMatteo Cera is the Founder and CEO of Glaut, an AI-powered research platform specializing in AI Moderated Interviews (AIMIs). A former McKinsey consultant and serial entrepreneur, this is his third technology startup. Matteo brings an outsider's perspective to the research industry, having built his career in strategy consulting and tech entrepreneurship before founding Glaut in late 2023. He focuses on helping experienced researchers deliver faster, more cost-effective insights through AI-enhanced voice interviews that bridge the gap between traditional surveys and in-depth interviews.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.

Episode OverviewIn this inaugural episode, we sit down with Aneesh Dhawan, Founder and CEO of Knit, the AI-powered market research platform.The conversation explores both the ways that AI is transforming market research and the crucial role human researchers will continue to play.Episode HighlightsThe Emergence of "Researcher-Driven AI": Aneesh discusses Knit's framework that positions researchers as orchestrators who direct AI tools rather than being replaced by them.Balancing Efficiency with Expertise: The discussion examines how AI can handle data processing and analysis while human researchers contribute critical context, judgment, and storytelling capabilities.The Evolution of Research Skills: Insights into how the role of researchers is shifting from primarily analytical work to becoming translators and storytellers who create narratives that drive business decisions.Scaling Research Capabilities: Aneesh explains how Knit's approach makes high-quality research more accessible, potentially transforming research from occasional projects to essential business infrastructure.The Future of Market Research: The conversation covers Knit's vision for international expansion, new methodologies, and deeper integration with business workflows.About the GuestAneesh Dhawan is the CEO and Co-founder of Knit, which recently secured $16M in Series A funding to advance its Researcher-Driven AI platform. Under Aneesh's leadership, Knit is working to reshape how organizations conduct market research by combining AI efficiency with human expertise.Listen to the full episode to learn how the next generation of market research is evolving at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human insight.Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.