The Founders and Leaders Series
Mike Stevens of Insight Platforms interviews the tech entrepreneurs and business leaders building the future of research, insights and analytics.
The Founders and Leaders Series
Episode 7: Daniel Graff-Radford, CEO, Discuss
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Episode Overview
Daniel Graff-Radford explores the evolution of research tech platform Discuss, combining qual research with the Voxco survey and Ascribe AI text analytics platforms.
Episode Highlights
- The merger story: How Discuss brought together Voxco's quantitative surveys, Ascribe's text analytics, and Discuss's qualitative platform to create an integrated research solution marking the company's 50th anniversary
- AI as thought partner, not replacement: Why AI should enhance researcher expertise rather than replace it, and how quality questions from trained researchers deliver better insights than automated shallow analysis
- The full-stack researcher: How AI tools are breaking down rigid qual-quant specialisms, enabling researchers to blend methodologies and apply the right approach for each question
- Avoiding startup pitfalls: Lessons from building five companies, including the importance of customer focus over investor pitches, cultural fit in M&A, and documenting decisions for continuous learning
- The future of research workflows: Why startups fail when they skip steps to reach a three-year vision, and how established players can light the path from current capabilities to AI-powered research ecosystems
- Building culture over strategy: Why hiring carefully, fostering a culture where mistakes drive learning, and maintaining customer obsession matter more than brilliant strategy
About the Guest
Daniel Graff-Radford is CEO of Discuss, leading the integration of three established research technology companies: Voxco (quantitative surveys), Ascribe (text analytics and AI insights), and Discuss (qualitative research). This is his fifth company and second role as CEO, with a track record of building businesses that achieve over $10 million in recurring revenue with positive outcomes for investors. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, he brings decades of experience in research technology and a customer-focused approach to building company culture and product strategy.
Learn more about the impact of technology and AI on research, insights & analytics at Insight Platforms.
