The Startup Blueprint series shares insights from the founders and operators building companies & ideas defining what the world could become. Hear about their journeys, learn from their insights, and maybe leave with a dose of inspiration. 

Hear from co-founders of Ideally, James Donald, Brendan Cervin, and Joshua Nu'u-Steele. They share how a distinctive brand and clearly defined value prop set them up for early growth, the lessons they've learned from their collective wealth of experience in tech, and their philosophy on attracting exceptional talent whilst scaling rapidly. 

Ideally are an on-demand insights and innovation platform that enables clients to rapidly test concepts, ideas and messages with their target audience and receive robust answers overnight, at a price point 10x more affordable than conventional methods.

Their AI-driven platform is changing how brands and teams access and utilise customer insights, enabling the voice of the customer to be brought in early and often.

Last year they went from launch to raise within two months, and have since kept up the pace, scaling impressively fast. They’ve brought on over 100 clients, expanded across the ditch, and landed some of Australasia’s leading consumer brands, such as Asahi Beverages and Goodman Fielder, and they’re just warming up.

We sat down with Ideally co-founders James Donald (CEO), Brendan Cervin (CTO), and Joshua Nu’u-Steele (CRO), to delve into:

• The power of a clearly defined value proposition and distinctive brand from day dot
• Leveraging lessons and experiences from successful careers in tech
• Their philosophy on attracting exceptional talent whilst scaling rapidly
• How they’re using AI to further fuel their point of difference, and
• The breadth of ideas being tested through their platform, from exploratory generational research, and their own brand positioning, to Tegal’s new chicken nuggets.

Kia ora team,

You are building a consumer insights platform that uses built-in generative AI to give on-demand insights for your customers, and have really honed in on solving a specific problem. What was the process when distilling your value proposition and has that better enabled you to successfully reach and speak to your target audience?

JD:  We’re solving a known problem in a unique way. So we needed to tell our story of value and purpose to be distinctive in market. The gurus at Previously Unavailable were an incredible help -  First we looked deeply at the problem we were solving, what the competition in the market was focused on and how they showed up visually. We then worked on finding a distinctive space for the brand that linked to our value proposition, with the brand idea of “Institute of Ideas”. That foundational brand identity has enabled a strong story and customers are leaning forward to listen. 

Each of you bring a wealth of expertise in tech to the table, with complementary skills and backgrounds. What are some of the lessons you learnt early on and how does that experience shape the execution of Ideally today?

JD:  Focus is incredibly critical, I learnt an early mantra to “move the needle” which focuses you on activities that generate sales - at Ideally we built a really simple MVP to build proof of value and early paying foundational customers - that early momentum is invaluable. Put your assumptions aside and focus on understanding customer problems, keep asking questions to understand them deeply. Don’t undercharge and don’t give away for free - charging forces a conversation about value which is super important.  At Ideally we built a distinctive brand early on - it’s enabled cut through and customers are leaning forward to learn more. 

JNS: Early in my career, I learned to set aside my ego and assume everyone has good intentions. We gain the most knowledge from our mistakes - by sharing them, learning from others, and helping to lift the tide for all. I also learned the value of curiosity, and building a network within the startup community early on. Over the years I’ve focused on connecting with others, not just seeking advice but practising vulnerability and understanding how others have tackled similar challenges. Always remember to reciprocate whenever you can. 

"Early in my career, I learned to set aside my ego and assume everyone has good intentions. We gain the most knowledge from our mistakes - by sharing them, learning from others, and helping to lift the tide for all." - Joshua Nu’u-Steele

BC: I’ve been CTO at 5 SaaS startups, all in different industries and stages of life, the opportunity to build a tech stack and product from the ground up comes with the chance to do it right. I’ve seen how product focus translates into marketing/sales focus and leads to much more scalable business. 

You went from launch to raise in only two months and have since scaled impressively fast! To keep pace, you need to have the right people on board at the right time. How have you gone about identifying the key roles the business needs ahead of time and attracting exceptional talent?

JNS: I genuinely believe in what we’re building, which has made it easy to both sell Ideally with conviction and evaluate culture fit for the company.

We look for people who lean into the journey we’re on, the direction we're heading and the potential future opportunities. I have chosen not to move forward with individuals who are too focused on the "now" and only what's in it for them. 

This approach has resulted in an incredible team of talented individuals who have passion for the problem, are aligned with our vision and all add value to the team culture we’re building. 

Without giving away too much of your secret sauce, how does the use of AI in your platform set you apart from other/more traditional customer insight offerings? 

BC: Our secret sauce is making it easy for our experienced research specialists to constantly improve our AI, rather than engineers. AI really is like working with a person who understands complex instructions, a person who can read 10000 lines of data and pick out trends, evaluate what information is important and what is noise, understand the objective the user has and give targeted answers. The important thing is knowing the right questions to ask, and how an expert would go about answering them. 

We’ve spent a lot of time decoding that for different innovation and idea development scenarios and building the AI to achieve it. 

🔥 Quick-fire questions 

 Your favourite resource you’d recommend to read/listen/watch?

JD: Reid Hoffman Masters of Scale. Incredible content and you can typically find something relevant to address the problems you’re looking to solve. 

JNS: Lenny’s Podcast or Pivot: Lenny’s Podcast for business advice and insights from top product leaders and growth experts, and Pivot for sharp, engaging commentary on technology, business, and politics, with a more personal and opinionated touch. Both get me through my time in traffic or on the treadmill. 

BC: Tiktok, lean into areas you want to learn more about. I am more easily keeping up with AI news and tech trends than ever before. It has all the big names to follow.


A word or phrase that reflects how you approach life at the moment?

JD: Invest in connected relationships - it’s easy to be consumed by being busy and not be present with people you care about. At the same time, I’m meeting incredible people and there’s so much to learn. 

JNS: Vulnerability - we are pushing hard as a team and the fact that we can be real with each other when we’re having tough days means we’re always on the same page and know when to lift one another up. 

BC: Focus - it can be challenging, but ensures you’re working on the right things. I always struggle with doing my own thing vs helping others, often working on systems across the company, both can be very rewarding. 

Favourite idea/insight that’s come through/from the Ideally platform?

JD: We’ve done some interesting exploratory research into the impact of our ‘always on culture’ in collaboration with a key media company partner of ours. There were some fascinating generational insights, really highlighting Gen Z’s concern about the negative impact of social media and feelings of a lack of willpower in not being able to switch off. This concern was not reflected in older generations. 

JNS: An example close to home, we recently used Ideally in our own brand strategy & positioning work to better understand our category entry points and the emotions that come up during the process of testing or validating new ideas. Through the Ideally Ask Questions test, we were able to explore how marketers feel when conceiving, validating, and receiving feedback on their ideas. What we uncovered was that the creative process and developing new ideas is hard - there is an excitement and an uncertainty felt that can leave you second-guessing yourself. These insights are helping us shape how we think about research built for the creative process and what Ideally can unlock for marketers. 

BC: I buy Tegal Nashville chicken, and I don't even share them with my family. It was no surprise to me that their new nuggets tested with Ideally’s highest-ever desire.

It’s the year 2044, what’s one thing that you hope has materially changed for the better as a result of the work you’re involved with?

JD: Reducing waste from building stuff people don’t like by testing early and improving or changing ideas. Given 50% of new supermarket-related products aren’t on the shelf after a year (imagine the inventory write-downs!), there is a lot of room to improve.

JNS: Ideally is on a mission to give more people the creative confidence to back their ideas, with research built for the creative process. The end goal is bolder, bigger ideas out in the world and I hope in 20 years time we can say that Ideally helped shape some truly breakthrough ideas and products that are having a material impact on people’s lives. 

BC: AI has been adopted to great success, lifting quality of life, the path to adoption was through a vast array of AI tools that solved lots of different problems uniquely. 

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