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Artwork for The Founders and Leaders Series

The Founders and Leaders Series

Mike Stevens, Insight Platforms
Artificial Intelligence
Market Research
Insight Platforms
Synthetic Data
NIT
Qualitative Research
Conveo
Toluna
Digital Twins
Walr
Generative AI
Bolt Insight
Consumer Insights
Addmaple
Knit
Glaut
Boltchat AI
Forsta
Market Logic Software
Toluna Start

Mike Stevens of Insight Platforms interviews the tech entrepreneurs and business leaders building the future of research, insights and analytics.

PublishesTwice monthlyEpisodes14Foundeda year ago
Categories
MarketingBusiness

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Artwork for The Founders and Leaders Series

Latest Episodes

Episode Overview

Lewis Reeves, founder and CEO of Walr, on building a data infrastructure platform that powers market research agencies at scale.

Episode Highlights

• Agentic workflows in practice: Walr has built over one hundred AI agents; one ex... more

Episode Overview

Fairgen founder Samuel Cohen on synthetic data, digital twins and how AI is making market research more accessible to more organisations.

Episode Highlights

• A taxonomy of synthetic data — Samuel maps the space across two axes: m... more

Episode Overview

Kathy Cheng, founder and CEO of inca, on why better survey experiences produce better data — and what the industry needs to change.

Episode Highlights

• From qual to quant — by accident. Kathy built inca out of frustration with tr... more

Episode Overview

Angelique Taylor, founder of AddMaple, shares how frustration with fragmented data tools inspired a visual-first exploration platform built for insights teams.

Episode Highlights

• From UX researcher to founder: Ange's background ... more

Episode Overview

Frédéric-Charles Petit, Founder and CEO of Toluna, on building a 25-year-old consumer insights company for the age of AI.

Episode Highlights

• Four pillars, one platform. Toluna's model combines a global consumer panel, proprietar... more

Episode Overview

Andrew Cooper, founder and CEO of Verve, on synthetic personas, the respondent crisis, and a new model for AI-powered insight.

Episode Highlights

• From access panels to AI simulations: Andrew traces Verve's evolution from one of ... more

Episode Overview

Olaf Lenzmann discusses Market Logic's AI evolution, synthetic personas, innovation workflows and the lessons from building a research tech platform over 15 years.

Episode Highlights

• AI-powered insights platforms: How Market Log... more

Episode Overview

Daniel Graff-Radford explores the evolution of research tech platform Discuss, combining qual research with the Voxco survey and Ascribe AI text analytics platforms.

Episode Highlights

• The merger story: How Discuss brought toget... more

Key Facts

Accepts Guests
Contact Information
Podcast Host

Recent Guests

Lewis Reeves
Founder and CEO of Walr
Walr
Episode: Episode 14: Lewis Reeves, Walr
Samuel Cohen
Founder and CEO of Fairgen
Fairgen
Episode: Episode 13: Samuel Cohen, Fairgen
Kathy Cheng
Founder and CEO of Nexxt Intelligence and Inca
Nexxt Intelligence / Inca
Episode: Episode 12: Kathy Cheng, inca
Ange Taylor
CEO and founder of AddMaple
AddMaple
Episode: Episode 11: Ange Taylor - AddMaple
Frédéric-Charles Petit
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Toluna
Toluna
Episode: Episode 10: Frederic-Charles Petit, CEO, Toluna
Andrew Cooper
Founder and CEO of Verve
Verve
Episode: Episode 9: Andrew Cooper, Founder & CEO, Verve
Olaf Lenzmann
Co-Founder, Chief Innovation and Product Officer
Market Logic Software
Episode: Episode 8: Olaf Lenzmann, Co-Founder, Market Logic Software
Daniel Graff-Radford
CEO of Disqus
Disqus
Episode: Episode 7: Daniel Graff-Radford, CEO, Discuss
Tobi Andersson
General Manager for Market Research at Forsta
Forsta
Episode: Episode 6: Tobi Andersson, General Manager, Forsta

Host

Mike Stevens
Host of The Founders and Leaders Series

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#166
Belgium/Business/Marketing

Top Marketing Podcasts

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Episode 13: Samuel Cohen, Fairgen
Q: What are the big production-ready territories and use cases beyond pilots?
Samuel discusses the expansion from pilots to production, including the use of brand trackers at more granular levels (e.g., more DMAs), improved segmentations with larger sample sizes, and the use of digital twins anchored to real data to support category-level studies, time-sensitive analytics, and local optimization decisions.
Episode 13: Samuel Cohen, Fairgen
Q: Ok, can you describe Fairgen and what the company does?
Samuel explains that Fairgen aims to bring synthetic data and digital twin technologies into market research to augment traditional data, enabling deeper insights at scale and across more granular levels, while partnering with enterprises to validate and deploy these approaches.
Episode 7: Daniel Graff-Radford, CEO, Discuss
Q: What lessons have you learned from building multiple companies in this space?
Focus on customer needs over VC pitches, protect company culture, and be willing to acknowledge and learn from mistakes to avoid dysfunctional growth.
Episode 7: Daniel Graff-Radford, CEO, Discuss
Q: What are some of the big trends you're excited about in industry-wide AI-assisted research?
AI will become a default driver in research over the next few years, but trust, rigor, and human input remain central; AI acts as a thought partner to enhance quality rather than replace researchers.
Episode 7: Daniel Graff-Radford, CEO, Discuss
Q: What are the opportunities and challenges in bringing these three components together?
The mix of established text analytics, broad surveys, and qualitative research creates a unique full-stack research toolkit; the opportunity lies in leveraging AI to move quickly without sacrificing methodological rigor.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Gender Skew
Location
Interests
Professions
Age Range
Household Income
Social Media Reach

Frequently Asked Questions About The Founders and Leaders Series

What is The Founders and Leaders Series about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show centers on tech founders and business leaders who are shaping the future of research, insights, and analytics, with a strong emphasis on AI-enabled tooling, data quality, and scalable workflows. Across recent episodes, guests discuss how AI, synthetic data, digital twins, and multimodal data collection are transforming market research, along with the practicalities of building and growing research platforms for enterprises and SMBs alike. The host consistently probes governance, product strategy, and the human layer that keeps insights trustworthy, offering listeners a mix of founder journeys, product fundamentals, and lessons learned about balancing speed, quality, and impact. A few standout themes include democratizing insights a... more

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How many episodes of The Founders and Leaders Series are there?

The Founders and Leaders Series launched a year ago and published 14 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on The Founders and Leaders Series?

Recent guests on The Founders and Leaders Series include:

1. Lewis Reeves
2. Samuel Cohen
3. Kathy Cheng
4. Ange Taylor
5. Frédéric-Charles Petit
6. Andrew Cooper
7. Olaf Lenzmann
8. Daniel Graff-Radford

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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