What if your market research told you a product was winning in a country where it isn’t even sold? Trevor Sumner has seen that kind of failure up close—and built a company to fix it. As CEO of Igenie, Trevor explains how tapping billions of real digital signals—Google searches, social posts, transcribed TikToks, ratings, reviews, and product launches—creates sharper, faster consumer insights than traditional surveys ever could. We unpack how this AI-driven approach helps brands like Unilever, Kenview, Coca-Cola, and Clorox understand pricing perception, experience drivers, and competitive moves with clarity.
The conversation doesn’t stop at data. We go deep on scaling from 20 employees to 60, the moment when a founder can no longer be in every room, and why the 80 percent rule of delegation is a lifeline. Trevor shares how he sequences focus areas—standing up sales and marketing, then turning to product and engineering—while keeping information lines open so nothing drifts. He’s candid about delegating too late, the trap of expert-founders getting stuck in details, and the fix: co-define outcomes, agree on first steps, and check the trajectory early to avoid being “six miles off in orbit.”
Culture becomes the glue that makes all of this work. Instead of a poster of vague values, Trevor uses dozens of blunt operating statements, celebrates the right risks, and institutionalizes public recognition to make desired behaviors visible. We talk about the realities of remote-first teams, global cultural nuance, and practical rituals like open office hours that surface ideas and issues before they metastasize. If you lead a growth-stage team—or want to replace noisy survey data with high-fidelity behavioral insight—you’ll leave with frameworks you can use today.
If this conversation gave you a useful playbook for delegation, culture, or AI-powered consumer insights, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help others find it.