Marcus Richards
incu provides real-time feedback simply by using our app in which you can record video or audio feedback for professional, educational, ecological and many more other subject matters which are important for people to understand. All this data is collated and produces insights to help shape and allow people to make better decisions on progress.
Tell us about yourself?
I started out as a freelance graphic designer and over a decade I continously improved myself by working with numerous clients across all industries and sectors, gaining skills such as web development, marketing, PR, User Experience and more.
During my journey, I better understood the need for collecting accurate feedback without cumbersome and longwinded methods. This is when I founded incu and have since been boostrapping its development and growth.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
To plan heavily and start simply. This means I can better anticipate costings, conflicts and delusions without incurring labour or financial penalties..
What problem does your business solve?
The ability to conveniently collect feedback remotely by turning people’s mobile phones into feedback beacons without having the need to set up groups, offices, locations or longwinded planning processes.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
Observing how YouTube Heroes was the most disliked video on YouTube and this was released by YouTube / Google themselves. This made me question how echo chambers, delusions of grandeur and how disconnected super talented people or “experts” can be. How did Google/YouTube get this so wrong?
So from this, I started analysing patterns of big brands making big mistakes. This then lead me down the path of developing a system in which the consumer can easily share their experiences and opinions and be rewarded for it, by using our visual and simplified platform. All feedback is generated and sent back to the brand in real time which allows for better feedback.
Typing or writing a review online or posting on social media doesn’t necessarily provide the quality level of feedback required for a company to improve. incu will work in tandem with social media and other norms of communication by utilising mobile phones as a device that handles all the heavy work.
What is your magic sauce?
The simplicity of the app. The rewards collection and for the brands to receive this data in real time and review powerful insights tools.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
To build a case study of successful deliveries or betterment of services, situations and products, all the while empowering and encouraging consumers to feel more enthusiastic about sharing feedback instead of the mundane text-based surveys we tend to have pop up quite often.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Simplifying our system and experience even further while continuing to enhance the sophistication of our algorithm and analysis tools.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
I would love to have opportunities with brands, founders, product managers and start-ups to understand their current R&D methods and help advise on how improvements in delivery of feedback can be achieved with incu, even if it means incu has to undergo bespoke requirements, we would be willing to do this to build upon mutual interests in achieving enhanced customer experiences.
