A fitting end to my blog coverage of the great DEMO Spring 2011 event last week is one about a personal favorite of mine that pitched at the event: GutCheck. They're about "Real-time qualitative market research." I spoke to these guys several times at the conference but, unfortunately, in the rush of things, I never audio-recorded one of our chats. But, being a marketing guy through-and-through from early in my career, this one rang the bell for me as soon as I heard about it. Turns out it rang a few other bells, too. In fact, it rang the gong! GutCheck won the big-enchilada prize of them all: the "People's Choice Award," which gives them $1 million in media value from IDG. To say these guys were elated would be an understatement.
GutCheck is about providing "consumer insights in a matter of minutes." They didn’t think it was fair that qualitative insight was reserved just for those with big budgets, big resources, and extended timelines. So, in 2009, they "leveraged the Internet and other technologies to blow up the market’s conventional wisdom and create an on-demand tool for gathering insight." GutCheck’s goal is simple: to be the leader in DIY qualitative market research. "By making qualitative research accessible to the masses, we're giving marketers and others the unique opportunity to surround any of their ideas, concepts, strategies, etc, with feedback," the company says.
The attendees of DEMO themselves vote for the People's Choice Award — as opposed to the DEMOgod awards, which are awarded to one company per category (so five total). I immediately posted the list of DEMOgod winners to my event live-blog — they were announced on stage just prior to this award. No one quite seems to know who those darn DEMOgod voters are, but everyone knows that GutCheck got voted for their award by the folks in the audience. That's pretty darn convincing. GutCheck obviously impressed. And I loved what CEO and cofounder Matt Warta (left in the photo) said from stage: "We love startups!" What he's referring to is the special appeal of their service to early-stage firms, which by nature hunger for feedback from consumers or end-users.
How fitting: at an event for startups, a presenter that makes life easier for startups to find their mojo and go to market more effectively, wins the big award. Friends, it doesn't get any better that that! Congrats to Matt, and to Marshall England (head of marketing), holding the check at right in the photo — you guys rocked it!
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