Buyer insights from real conversations.

Hundreds of interviews. Market intelligence for marketing, product, and sales teams.

Interview data visualization showing patterns across hundreds of buyer conversations
The problem

Flying blind is the norm, and costly.

Among 353 startups,

42%

of product failures traced to "no market need"

CB Insights

Among 1,600 companies,

80%

did not have pricing discussions with customers early in product development

Simon-Kucher & Partners

Companies without strong insights capabilities are

88%

less likely to achieve strong revenue growth

Forrester

Our method

Marketing Science + AI

1

Apply PhD-level marketing science to conversational data

2

Leverage AI to organize and analyze unstructured data

3

Deliver results in weeks, not months

4

Provide insights that drive marketing, product, and sales strategy

What you get

Insights that drive growth.

Our research methods and deliverables are structured around the needs of our stakeholders: marketing, product, and sales. We apply frameworks and analysis that are grounded in decades of marketing science.

Market landscape according to buyers

Who are we really competing against?

Current software Current customers' perceptions n=180 (60 per tool). Positives only. Brand A Brand C Brand B Reporting Improved Over Previous State Platform Does Fundamentals Well Workflow Automation Value Intuitive User Interface Employee Self Service Reducing Workload Time Savings Enabling Strategic Work Unified Platform As System Of Record IT Device Management As Differentiator Effective Cross System Integration Customer Support Quality Multi State Compliance Capability Reliable Payroll Processing Benefits Enrollment Improvement

Solutions buyers will pay for

What should we build?

Niche Premium New Feature Opportunities $5K $10K $15K $20K 0% 10% 20% 30% Frustration with Current Product Mean WTP to Solve Frustration Compensation mgmt Performance mgmt Manual Onboarding Process Pain Recruiting Analytics Limitation Compliance Tracking Gap Benefits Administration Friction Recruiting To HRIS Handoff Gap Vendor Support Payroll HRIS Integration Friction Reporting Gaps (strategic) Manual Process Burden Poor System Integration Reporting Inadequacy

Attractive buyer segments

Who do we target?

What buyers think of brands

What is our messaging?

Rejected brand Buyers' rejection reasons n=268 rejection mentions across 3 brands. Outdated UI excluded. Brand C Brand B Brand A Overbuilt For Needs Aggressive Sales Experience Priced Too High Capability Gap Implementation Complexity As Barrier Recruiting Module Inadequacy
Who's behind it

Decades of academic and industry experience.

Forest Baker, PhD
LinkedIn profile

Forest Baker, PhD, MBA

Founder and CEO

Career highlights

Academia

  • MBA, Duke University
  • PhD in Experimental Psychology, SUNY Stony Brook
  • Postdoctoral Fellow in Behavioral Economics, University of Vermont
  • Assistant Professor of Psychology, Illinois Wesleyan University
  • 2,200+ research citations

Industry

  • Maze: UX Research Sales
  • LinkedIn: Led a global insights team and launched ad measurement program
  • Abbott Vascular Devices: Market research and product management
  • Dept of Veterans Affairs: Health Economics Researcher