Thumbspeak, LLC
Former Vovici CEO Opens Mobile Measurement SaaS Platform
Headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, Wiltse's new venture offers a self-service solution for entering questions online and sending them to targeted, mobile audiences.
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The firm has already rolled out the 'Thumbspeak Mobile Opinion Measurement Network', the 'Thumbspeak Mobile Targeting Tool', and the 'Thumbspeak Mobile Application for the iPhone'. This new method has been under development by Wiltse since 2009. Soon after release at iTunes the app ranked in the top 10 downloads daily multiple times.
Having downloaded the iPhone app, the user registers by answering a small number of attribute questions such as age, gender, education, employment, marital status and location. When the registration is complete, the user enters the Thumbspeak Mobile Network and businesses can begin to ask them questions and offer them rewards. Wiltse says the iPhone app is 'fun to use', and claims that people who normally avoid taking surveys will take one using the system. 'Our iPhone app allows users to have fun answering questions, on their time, when and where they want and to get compensated for their effort,' he says. 'Our fast growing network of users will enable a business to ask a specific type of person a question and get an answer instantly.' July 15, 2010
Mobile Research Platform Sold to Cint - February, 2011
US— Thumbspeak, the nascent app-based mobile research platform founded by former Greenfield Online and Vovici CEO Dean Wiltse has been acquired by research software and services provider Cint. Wiltse launched Thumbspeak and its iPhone app in July last year, and Android and Blackberry versions of the app are said to be “just days away from hitting the mobile market”.
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Users of the app have to create an account and answer a series of attribute questions before they can start taking surveys, and Thumbspeak clients can use this data to target questions at specific types of users after licensing the Software As A Service (SaaS) Platform.
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Recent revisions to the app have added functionality to enable private, company-branded groups, while introducing the ability for users to manage their profile and update them with additional information to aid the targeting process. Indeed, Wiltse said the app now presents users with the same profile questions asked of panellists within the Cint Panel Exchange (CPX), a sample-buying marketplace.
With the acquisition, Thumbspeak becomes a Cint Group company and will be integrated into the CPX platform as a plug in for existing and new panel owners, as well as sold as a standalone licensed product under its existing brand name.
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He expects that as part of the CPX offering, and with Thumbspeak expanding beyond the US, into the UK, the Nordics and other markets, it won’t be long until the firm is able to reach over a million smartphones. Within the CPX, which has panel partners in more than 40 countries, there are some five million panellists.