On this episode, host Sima Vasa welcomes Panayotis Gezerlis, Founder and President of Convert Group, to delve into the evolution of retail and e-commerce through data analytics and transparency. Key Takeaways: (02:25) The shift from consulting to data-driven retail strategies. (06:32) The importance of tactical decision-making in marketing and sales. (06:59) Budget redirection towards e-commerce in leading companies. (11:15) Retail media's influence on consumer behavior. (13:48) Utilizing retail...
Dec 14, 2023•20 min
On this episode, host Sima Vasa welcomes Ben Hookway, CEO of Relative Insight, who delves into the intricacies of leveraging language analytics and unstructured text data to drive business insights. Key Takeaways: (07:54) Exploring the innovation behind comparative linguistic analysis and its practical applications in various industries. (13:49) Comparing age groups uncovers critical differences in language. (17:25) Understanding the relevance of context in language and how it influences consume...
Nov 28, 2023•32 min
On this episode, host Sima Vasa is joined by Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of Suzy, for an enlightening conversation about the direction the market-research industry is headed and how leaders evolve with it. Sima and Matt discuss: - The lagging adoption of new technologies, and how resulting inefficiencies get passed on to the consumer. - Generational changes that signal a greater willingness to implement digital tools. - How failure to evolve is often the result of current leaders’ resistance t...
Nov 07, 2023•25 min
In this episode, Francesco Guglielmino, CEO of Cuebiq, joins host, Sima Vasa, to discuss the evolution of location data and prioritizing consumer privacy. Key Takeaways: (03:49) Implementing a privacy framework with consent tracking and a withdrawal option, despite challenges. (12:22) How younger generations show greater willingness to use digital tools. (13:25) Doing the right thing and why it means making tough decisions without reward. (15:21) When products are free, users’ data is the produc...
Oct 24, 2023•30 min
On this episode, host Sima Vasa welcomes Basel Fakhoury, CEO and Co-Founder of User Interviews, for an enlightening conversation about Basel’s work in improving data acquisition specificity. During their conversation, Basel and Sima discuss: - Using data to uncover needs in the market to better cater products and services to a particular niche. - The lessons Basel and his team learned from their first failed startup, and how that experience helped build User Interviews. - How finding the right s...
Oct 03, 2023•20 min
On this episode, host Sima Vasa is joined by Dr. Loubna Bouarfa, CEO and Founder of OKRA.ai and Member of the Board of Advisors of the Oxford Internet Institute, who shares her unique perspective on the ethical questions around the increasing capabilities of AI technology. Sima and Dr. Bouarfa discuss the following: - How different business models can leverage new technologies to either improve or harm society. - Why transparency in AI development and implementation is essential to maintaining c...
Sep 19, 2023•27 min
On this episode, host Sima Vasa is joined by Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy, Founder and CEO of Neurons, to hear how he and his team are using large data sets to build AI models that can predict human behavior. In their conversation, Thomas and Sima discuss: - How a public methodology can build consumer trust in the data acquisition industry. - The intersection of data science and neuroscience in building predictive AI models. - The differences between a predictive AI model and a generative AI model. - Div...
Sep 05, 2023•23 min
On this episode, host Sima Vasa talks to Rob Pace, Founder and CEO of HundredX, about using data in a mission-driven organization to drive positive outcomes for both the business and the community. Rob and Sima discuss the following: - A business has to be profitable to provide the resources needed to pursue goals aligned with its mission. - Outcomes-based systems are often more effective than product-based systems of organization. - Prioritizing short-term success will inevitably affect the abi...
Aug 22, 2023•21 min
On this episode, host Sima Vasa is joined by Chris Barry, CEO of HumanListening™ at The Evolved Group, who discusses the role of AI tools, specifically large language learning models, in data research. Chris and Sima discussed the following in relation to AI and data acquisition: - The ability of AI to elicit better responses from consumers than human surveyors. - Why feedback of extremes is easier to come by than more measured feedback. - How conversational AI can be used to explore the drivers...
Aug 10, 2023•32 min
This episode features a conversation between Sima Vasa, CEO and Founder of Infinity Squared Ventures, and John Bremer, President of Phantom 4 Solutions, at a virtual event hosted by Numerator and moderated by Bob Fawson. John and Sima provide insights into the evolution of data collection and analytics in a rapidly-changing consumer landscape. They discuss: - How the real applications of new technologies often outpace their intended use cases, overextending these tech assets. - Human expertise c...
Jul 25, 2023•19 min
In this episode, host Sima Vasa is pleased to welcome Michalis Michael, CEO at DMR Group, who shares the work his organization is doing with AI to be more efficient in both gathering and analyzing market data. Michalis shared some important insights on the evolution of AI: - AI can be categorized into different types: Narrow AI and Strong AI. - Narrow AI includes machine learning models and is a useful data analytics tool. - Machine learning models are most effective when they’re trained from hu...
Jul 11, 2023•23 min
On this episode, Sima is joined by Anouar El Haji, Founder and CEO at Veylinx, a behavioral insights platform for answering critical business questions during all stages of product innovation. Topics discussed include: - Anouar’s background and career path. - The evolution of economics from being strictly theoretical to being scientifically tested. - The inherent bias in conducting hypothetical surveys as market research. - Measuring demand by studying subjects with a financial stake tied to the...
Jun 20, 2023•30 min
Sima is delighted to talk with Gordon Allott today! Gordon is the President and CEO of BroadPeak Partners LLC, the company that developed the K3 software. Today's discussion takes a slightly different turn as we introduce Gordon, who is working on various aspects of data. The work done at BroadPeak brings a fresh perspective on the use of data in today's digital age. So, join us as we delve into Gordon's journey and learn about BroadPeak's unique approach to data integration and analysis! Gordon...
May 16, 2023•19 min
Sima is happy to have Venkat Venkataramani joining her for today's episode of Data Gurus! Venkat is the CEO and Co-founder of Rockset. Venkat shares his background, dives into the benefits of real-time data analytics and cloud-based infrastructure, and discusses the interesting work they are doing at Rockset. Biography Venkat Venkataramani is CEO and Co-founder of Rockset. In his role, Venkat helps organizations build, grow, and compete with data by making real-time analytics accessible to devel...
May 02, 2023•29 min
Sima is delighted to have Henry Hays joining her on the podcast today! Henry is the energetic and inspiring Co-founder and Disruptor at Henry Hays Consulting. In this episode of Data Gurus, Henry dives into the concept of disruptive innovation. Biography Henry spent most of his adult life in sales and sales leadership- mainly in pharmaceuticals and biotech. He started in the late 1990s and had the good fortune to get promoted to several different roles where he gained a good sense of the busines...
Apr 25, 2023•25 min
Alon Chen, the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Tastewise, joins Sima today to share his career journey and dive into what they are doing at Tastewise. Biography: Alon Chen is a Co-Founder and serves as Chief Executive Officer at Tastewise. He is the developer of an artificial intelligence-based food intelligence platform designed to assist food and beverage businesses and brands. The company's platform works with food brands, manufacturers, ingredient companies, and flavor houses, incl...
Apr 18, 2023•26 min
Today, Pedro Almeida, the CEO and Co-founder of MindProber, joins Sima on the podcast to share his background and discuss the innovative work they are doing at MindProber. Pedro’s background Pedro studied social psychology with a strong emphasis on market research. As an undergrad, he worked as a research assistant at a small cognitive neuroscience lab and he later did an internship in social psychology. After graduating, he became a market research consultant while also pursuing his research on...
Apr 11, 2023•25 min
Reed Cundiff, the newly-appointed CEO of Sago (formerly the Schlesinger Group), joins Sima to talk about how he got to where he is in his career and the exciting journey ahead of him. Reed’s story Reed cut his teeth as a marketing analyst. He spent about ten years tracking the enterprise resource planning industry and then moved to Microsoft, where he ran global insights for almost twelve years. After that, he had the opportunity at Kantar to head an integrated team that initially ran the North ...
Apr 04, 2023•33 min
Sima is happy to have Tim Clover, the CEO and Founder of Glow, and Sherry Frey, the VP of Wellness at Nielsen IQ, joining her on the show to dive into how consumers think about the planet, sustainability, and societal responsibility. About Tim Tim left management consulting almost ten years ago to start Glow, his research technology business. He started Glow to make it easy to get the consumer mindset into the boardroom, remove the layers of complexity using some automation throughout the proces...
Mar 28, 2023•32 min
Cliff Courtney, the President and CEO of Courtney180, joins Sima on the show today. Cliff’s journey Cliff comes from a marketing-driven background. He believes marketing is a good background for all companies. Specifically for him because he has worked predominantly in chief strategy officer roles in Omnicom agencies and then in chief marketing roles, also for Omnicom agencies. As a result, he had good scope for go-to-market plans and how to execute and sell them. Challenges The biggest challeng...
Mar 21, 2023•23 min
Today, Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, the Global Executive Vice President of Enterprise Growth for the RepTrak Company, joins Sima to discuss the history and measurement of reputation. They dive into what reputation is, what shapes it, how to measure it, and its consequences. Stephen’s background Stephen was born and raised in the UK, and he has been living in the US since the end of the 1990s. He trained in science for many years and geared himself toward becoming a doctor. But just before he was abou...
Mar 14, 2023•32 min
Today, Sima joins Gary Laben, the former CEO of Dynata, and Jason Sobel, Head of U.S. Advisory, Evercore Partners, for a panel discussion hosted by Dynata on reinventing and reinvesting. Sima’s background Sima is a research practitioner. She worked on the supplier side early in her career and had some experience on the client side at IBM, understanding how people use information. Then she worked at the NPD Group before becoming an entrepreneur. She currently does advisory services and investment...
Feb 28, 2023•36 min
Today, Sima joins Mike Delaney, the Managing Partner of Court Square Capital Partners, and Gary Laben, the Former CEO of Dynata, on a panel discussion to discuss various issues related to the insights and marketing industry. What is the biggest obstacle and gaps you see for the insights and marketing industry moving forward? Sima thinks that the biggest challenges are getting used to all the change and managing all the available data. One of the biggest changes Gary has seen is how talent has be...
Feb 07, 2023•36 min
Aleksandra Bass joins Sima on the podcast today. She is the Vice-president of Product Management at Momentive (makers of Survey Monkey). Aleks has had an exciting career! In today's episode, she talks to Sima about her career journey, what she does at Momentive and various aspects of product management. How Aleks got to where she is in her career It took a bit of luck, some passion, and a lot of hard work for Aleks to get to where she is today in her career. She was passionate about how people t...
Jan 24, 2023•22 min
Today, Colson Steber joins Sima on the podcast. He is the Co-CEO of Communications for Research and Co-CEO of Ag Access. In this episode, Colson dives into the origin of Communications for Research and his journey to becoming Co-CEO. He also discusses his passion for personal evolution and relentless learning and explains how he integrates his learning into his personal life and work. Communications for Research Communications for Research is a research logistics business. They provide services ...
Jan 17, 2023•22 min
Dr. Emmanuel Probst joins Sima on the podcast today. He is the bestselling author of Brand Hacks and the newly-published book, Assemblage. In addition to writing books, he is also the Global Lead of Brand Thought-Leadership at Ipsos. In this episode, he talks to Sima about his latest book and the changing narrative he has seen in brand purpose over the last several years. Books The second edition of Brand Hacks came out in September 2021. Assemblage: The Art and Science of Brand Transformation w...
Jan 10, 2023•19 min
Sima is delighted to have Mark Stouse, the Chairman and CEO of Proof Analytics, joining her today to dive into his background, the years he spent building Proof Analytics, and the exciting work he is currently doing. Mark’s story Even though Mark understands data science, he is not a data scientist. He is a business leader who got hooked and wanted more after discovering the power of analytics. So he began climbing the hill. Business problems It takes a lot of effort to get a small amount of dat...
Dec 20, 2022•22 min
Anita Watkins, the Global Head of Qualitative Research at Kantar, joins Sima today to talk about how she got to where she is and what she does at Qualitative. She also gets into current trends within the industry, offers guidance for coping with uncertainty, and shares some career advice. Anita’s journey After leaving college, Anita worked in sales and insurance sales. She worked hard and did well even though it was not her ideal job. Then, the company asked her to do some focus groups with the ...
Dec 13, 2022•26 min
Data Gurus – Episode 187 – Multiculturalism, with Adriana Waterston Adriana Waterston is Sima’s guest for today’s podcast! She is the Chief Revenue Officer and Insight and Strategy Lead at Horowitz Research. Multiculturalism is an important matter that has become a focal point for society in recent years. At Horowitz Research, they specialize in multicultural research. Adriana joins Sima today to talk about what they are doing at Horowitz Research. She also gets into the concepts of culture and ...
Dec 06, 2022•30 min
Sima is excited to have Andrew Cannon and Debby Schlesinger-Hellman, the Co-founders of the Art and Science of Joy and EQJOY, joining her today! Andrew and Debby are on a mission to empower people and inspire them to live more joyful lives! They use the art and science of joy to help individuals and companies elevate their personal and business success. In this episode, they talk about what joy is, what they are doing, and what inspired them to do it. Andrew’s inspiration Andrew’s inspiration fo...
Nov 22, 2022•31 min
