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OPINION23 January 2013

Week 1: Diary of a research start-up

Opinion

Tom Holliss kicks-off a new series recounting the trials and tribulations of launching a startup research technology company.

It seems a long time ago now that the idea for our new enterprise was first bandied around the office. I was pulled into a room by our CEO and given the brief to help pull his concept into a coherent structure.

Reviewing my diary tells me it’s been a year – and a casual year at that – with sporadic meetings and development sessions splattered around my usual responsibilities. And yet the crow’s feet that have firmly embedded themselves on either side of my face suggest an intensive and stressful year. At many points, however, it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience.

So after 12 months of struggle, working across continents and outside of office hours (we all have day jobs after all), we are entering the final few weeks of development on our very exciting start-up.

Full details will be revealed in due course. What I can tell you now is that this start-up is the product of a coming together of a small army of geeks. There are survey programmers, techno-magicians with a predilection for building charts, digital types in Romania and a major panel company. Floating behind the whole thing are a bunch of odd-ball market researchers in London; people with nothing better to do than sit around shouting ideas over their computer screens, hoping that one of them gains some traction before it jettisons out the window.

Over the course of the next few weeks we will be filling you in on all the ups, the downs and the idiosyncrasies which are an inevitable part of starting a new business. Looking forward to sharing.

@RESEARCH LIVE

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