Collaborata brings crowd-funding to market research

Its co-founder Jimmy Zollo said the premise of this crowd-funded market research marketplace was that research projects that could make a difference to a brand’s growth go unfunded, while companies often replicate each other’s research.

He said: “Think of Collaborata as a Kickstarter for the market-research industry with a little Yelp thrown in. We’re a marketplace that’s about co-funding and collaborating on new research and insights projects.”

Clients post projects to the site that they want to do and other clients can help shape the projects through their comments. Research suppliers, who are rated on the site by clients, bid on those projects using a specially designed ‘wizard’.

Once a vendor is selected, a funding goal is established together with a time-line and co-funding begins. Money only trades hands once a project fully funds.

Zollo was most recently at tech start-up GrubHub and has co-founded Collaborata with his father Peter Zollo, founder and former CEO of TRU, a youth research and insights consultancy which was acquired by WPP and Kantar in 2012.

Peter Zollo said: “Whereas the market-research industry continues to innovate in how it collects and analyses data, the business of how research is transacted lacks innovation and collaboration. That’s what Collaborata aims to change.”