Article originally published by Crowdsortium
Happy December everyone! As an early present we have an awesome December Member of the Month interview with Chaordix! Chaordix has been in the crowdsourcing game for quite a while, ahead of the times really, and because so they have a wealth of knowledge to share! Enjoy!
Q. What is your one sentence elevator pitch?
A. Chaordix is the global standard in crowdsourced market intelligence: we provide marketing technology and services to help organizations gain predictive insight from their communities and customers for market research, brand engagement and innovation.
Q. What was the idea or inspiration for Chaordix?
A. Chaordix has its roots in Cambrian House, a pioneering company that launched in 2006 as a crowdsourcing community aimed at discovering new business and technology ideas. To power their crowdsourcing, Cambrian House developed an experimental technology platform that they called Chaordix, a synthesis of the words “chaos” and “order.” By 2009, Chaordix Inc. was formed and we have been market testing and commercializing the best use of crowdsourcing since then. Today Chaordix has emerged as a global crowdsourcing thought leader with its enterprise-ready Crowd Intelligence™ marketing technologies and processes.
Q. What has been your biggest struggle along the road?
A. In the early days, it was being too far ahead of the market; but we really found market traction in 2012 with innovative brands and organizations embracing new ways of leveraging their crowds for marketing. Today, our challenge is to find the best talent with a combination of amazing skills and a great fit with our company’s culture.
Q. Biggest success?
A. At the start of this year, we set our sights on a handful of “dream brands” that we loved and hoped to win as clients. When the first one of these brands chose Chaordix in a global search — that was so uplifting and validating for our team and all the work we’ve done to get here. Also, our work with USAID and DAI on crowdsourcing solutions to global Grand Challenges like reducing neonatal deaths in developing countries, improving childhood literacy, and stopping human trafficking and child slavery with smart technology really gets us excited! More broadly, when we launch a beautiful, branded market intelligence community for a global customer, across different continents and languages, and we help their crowd share powerful and emotional insights to solve a problem … that’s a great motivator to work even harder!
Q. How many people are in your crowd, and what is the best thing you have learned from them?
A. We’ve had 200,000+ community members in Chaordix crowds and we’re currently extending our platform and processes to manage the millions of new participants we’re anticipating in the next year. The best thing we’ve learned from our crowds is that people really want to share and help the brands and organizations they love … even when they complain, it’s almost always with a goal to make things better. Participation is the new brand!
Q. Best words of advice you have received?
A. Trust your instinct.
Q. For all of those crowdsourcing start-ups that are working to find their way, what are your words of wisdom?
A. Keep it simple. Choose to do some specific things really well and clearly communicate that. Complexity isn’t always needed to gain great insight and deliver value to your clients.
Q. One thing you wish you knew before you started this journey?
A. How early we were to the market … we had to spend a lot of time in the early days educating people and their organizations about the ins and outs of smart crowdsourcing. That said, we continue to offer help and advice to clients and colleagues whenever we can.
Have a question of your own? Tweet @Chaordix and include @Crowdsortium so we can hear your great questions too.