SurveyMonkey acquired – what does this mean?

SurveyMonkey is being acquired by an investor group. Dave Goldberg, who previously led Yahoo’s music business, will take over as CEO, but founders Ryan (current CEO) and Chris Finley will remain with the company according to the news.

The company will be opening an office in Menlo Park, CA, where Goldberg is based. From the current job openings, it looks like SurveyMonkey will be moving marketing and administrative functions to Menlo Park, while development and operations will remain in Portland, OR.

This acquisition is a tribute to the great work done by Ryan and Chris over the past 10 years in building the SurveyMonkey capabilities and brand. It’s also evidence of the “growing importance of self-service tools for online surveys” (Forrester Research). That’s why 5 Circles Research created SurveysAlaCarte^TM modular services and training.

It remains to be seen if the acquisition will mean increased attention on enhancing SurveyMonkey features and capabilities. Kara Swisher’s BoomTown column about the news shows that she thinks SurveyMonkey offers analytics. I hope the comment just shows lack of understanding. Low-end self-service tools across the board have limited is analytics and reporting. The best that any of them offer is filtering and “cross-tabs”, but their cross tabulation capabilities are very limited. In particular, if I want statistical significance testing I need to export the data and use other tools to do individual tests (SPSS or Excel), or run a full report using Wincross or some other product. Either way, this process is time-consuming and expensive. Looks like a good opportunity for SurveyMonkey or the competitors to differentiate, or for a third party to provide a decent, inexpensive, add-on.

In any case, congratulations to the SurveyMonkey founders!

Idiosyncratically,
Mike Pritchard

Comments

hegde says

September 9, 2011 at 12:35 am

Good for them, I just hope they will not become a monopolist in the market as some competition always helps.

E.g. i use CreateSurvey and it online and offline services and would hate to see them closed. At http://www.createsurvey.com

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I hired Mike to develop, execute and report on a market research project involving a potential business opportunity. I was impressed with his ability to learn the industry and subsequently develop a framework for the market research project. He was able to execute the research and collect data efficiently and effectively. Throughout the project, he kept me abreast of the progress to allow for any adjustments as needed. The quality and quantitative output of the results exceeded my expectations and provided me with more confidence in the direction of the business opportunity.

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Since becoming our contracted consultant for market research services in 2010, 5 Circles Research has revolutionized our annual survey of consumer opinion in Washington. Through the restructuring of survey methodology and the application of new analytical tools, they have provided insights that are both wider in their scope and deeper in their relevance for understanding consumer values and behavior. As a result, the survey has increased its significance as a planning and evaluation tool for our entire state agency. 5 Circles does great work!

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I have come to know both Mike and Stefan as creative, thoughtful, and very diligent research consultants. They were always willing to go further to make sure respondents remained engaged and any research results were applicable and of immediate use to us here at Bellevue CE. They were partners and thought leaders on the project. I am happy to recommend them to any public sector client.

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First, I thought it was near impossible to obtain good market information without a large scale, complex market study. Working with 5 Circle Research changed that. We were able to put together a comprehensive survey that provided essential information the company was looking for. It started with general questions gradually evolving to specifics in a fast pace, fun to take questionnaire. Introducing “a new way of doing things” like Revollex’ induction heating-susceptor technology can be challenging. The results provided critical data to help understand the market demand. High quality work, regard for schedule, thorough understanding of the issues are just a few aspects of an overall exceptional experience.

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