Private equity firms and consulting organizations face a growing challenge. They must make high-stakes investment and strategy decisions faster than ever. However, shrinking timelines do not lower the demand for rigorous, defensible data. Relying on slow research methods or incomplete data risks multi-million dollar deals. This creates an urgent need for rapid, high-quality primary research.
IncQuery solves this problem by combining a custom-built survey platform with expert support designed specifically for private equity and consulting teams. Founded in 2016, the company helps clients validate assumptions and generate decision-ready insights on accelerated timelines. We sat down with Felipe Ochoa, CEO and Founder of IncQuery, to discuss the rising demand for survey-based research and how his team helps investors move quickly without sacrificing quality.
Q: You recently noted a clear shift in how firms approach research, stating that "speed alone is no longer enough." How has the demand for data rigor changed among private equity and consulting clients over the past year?
Felipe Ochoa: Rigor has always been important to our clients, but as it has become easier for cheaters to give plausible survey answers, scrutiny has increased around how surveys are quality-controlled, the provenance of the panel, and ensuring data quality is sufficient to justify billion-dollar decisions.
There has also been an equal emphasis on using surveys as a competitive advantage, rather than as a box-ticking exercise. The differentiated insights that can be obtained through a survey are a real advantage for firms that use them properly, especially now that, with AI, everyone can scrape the internet and access much of the same information.
Q: IncQuery combines a purpose-built survey platform with dedicated survey experts. How does this hybrid model help clients navigate complex due diligence and strategy engagements differently than traditional DIY research tools?
Felipe Ochoa: Traditional DIY research tools generally require the person running the survey to be an expert and well-versed in all the nuances of surveys—how to get the best data, reach the correct respondents, and really get the rigor out of the research. That responsibility is all on you.
At the other end of the spectrum, historically, there has been the fully outsourced, black-box model, where you hand off your project to someone else and trust that they will get it right, care as much as you do, understand all the nuances, and know the right questions to ask.
Especially with AI, judgment and knowing which questions to ask are where the human value comes in. That is why we offer what we see as the best of both worlds. It is not a black box: clients have visibility, control, and transparency, with a human expert supporting them and bringing that judgment to the process, alongside AI-powered efficiency.
Q: Your team now spans 25 countries and supports over 250 client offices worldwide. Why is building a localized, multilingual research team critical for generating defensible insights in today's global market?
Felipe Ochoa: I think the competitive advantage now is in the nuance. There is no real advantage in knowing broad strokes, huge demographic categories, or painting an entire country or region with the same brush. We are focused on getting to the really detailed answers—the details that can make or break a big decision. You need local expertise to bring that judgment and add value beyond what AI alone can do.
Q: IncQuery recently reached a milestone of saving clients over 200,000 hours while maintaining an impressive Net Promoter Score above 85. What specific bottlenecks in the research process do you eliminate to achieve this massive time savings?
Felipe Ochoa: There are a couple of parts of the process that are significantly more efficient: the time to program, the time to test, and other individual tasks throughout the research cycle. But the process itself, and the orchestration around it, is also significantly more efficient.
I would say real-time collaboration is essential. In the past, clients typically worked on their survey draft in isolation from the survey programmer and the panels. It was all very linear, very “1990s waterfall.”
Our platform creates a single source of truth that everyone can collaborate on in real time, making the process much more agile and efficient. It has AI built in, so individual tasks become more efficient, but the sequencing of those tasks also changes. We can parallel-process much more of the work and get better, faster feedback throughout.
Q: Beyond initial due diligence, how are firms leveraging your rapid survey-based research platform for post-acquisition value creation and complex pricing engagements?
Felipe Ochoa: We did start out very focused on due diligence, based on the clients we worked with and what they needed. Over time, they realized that if they could run a complex survey really quickly, there were other areas where that nuanced data could be extremely valuable.
Pricing is a big area. You can be talking about cents, not necessarily dollars, and getting it exactly right—and being sure you have it right—really matters.
Value creation is another common use case. Given how quickly things move now, a fund might underwrite an acquisition and then close a few months later, only to find that half of the original thesis has changed. They need to understand what is actually true on the ground, be sure where they are going next, and determine how to make the investment successful.
We have also seen an uptick in re-diligencing assets for valuation decisions. If you bought something three, four, or five years ago, is now the right time to sell, or should you extend the hold period? Surveys can give you clarity in those situations because they cut through layers of other people’s interpretation and give you direct evidence to inform the decision.
Q: As deal timelines continue to compress across the industry, what advice do you have for consulting teams looking to integrate reliable quantitative data into their recommendations more effectively?
Felipe Ochoa: We often observe a fear when we are talking to new clients before they run a survey with us that doing it faster will be harder, more stressful, or even impossible.
It actually works the other way around. Our process is not built around simply running faster to get something done. We reimagined it for simplicity, robustness, and visibility.
The main thing I would tell consulting teams is that reliable quantitative research can be both faster and easier—if you do it the right way.
