From start-up to industry leader: The Insights Family’s journey with Manchester Met

Not many recent business success stories in Manchester have been as eye-catching as that of The Insights Family. In just a few short years, the company has grown into a global leader in providing real-time market intelligence on children, teens, parents and families.

With a large and prestigious client base that includes BBC Studios, Disney, Finsbury Foods, LEGO, Paramount and Warner Bros, the business secured £5.6million of investment in late 2023 and has picked up a series of industry awards along the way. It’s a prime example of how to harness innovation for those operating in the market intelligence and data sectors, or indeed any high-growth digital and tech companies.

Founder, Nick Richardson, emphasises that such success wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Manchester Metropolitan University: “Our partnership with Manchester Met has had an entirely positive impact. Without the University’s research and innovation capabilities, our chances of achieving this level of success would have been drastically lower.”

Manchester Met’s incubator: where it all began

The entrepreneurial spark that laid the foundation for what would soon become a thriving global enterprise was ignited during his university days, says the 2004 Manchester Met marketing graduate.

“I’ve always been very analytical and creative. I just love what playing with data can uncover and create,” says Nick, who was shortlisted as a regional finalist for the coveted EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2024. “I was always confident in my own ability and knew I could see things differently from other people. I thought I’d have some sort of venture of my own one day, and when I was an undergraduate student at Manchester Met, I created my own website business, so I guess it all started from there.”

Fast forward to 2017, and The Insights Family’s journey began at Manchester Met’s business incubator space, providing the perfect base. “Without it, it would’ve been a lot more difficult to find the support and talent that ended up being transformational for us. It’s a brilliant place for small start-ups with great aspirations but limited resources.”

Leading research expertise and world-class facilities

In a competitive, fast-changing economy, collaboration has become more than a ‘nice-to-have,’ it’s a core strategy for businesses to survive and thrive. As his business began to grow, Nick understood the importance of adopting a mindset that’s open to bringing in fresh ideas.

“As a business leader, you often feel pressure to know all the answers. But when you let people in and embrace collaboration, it unlocks huge opportunities.

“What Manchester Met offers is phenomenal. For us, as a young business, to be able to access research capabilities and world-class facilities was absolutely transformational. The University really has its finger on the pulse of industry trends, and directly applies academic thinking to business challenges and opportunities.”

He continues, “From technical support on data science and coding, to helping you to bring in new talent. They can deliver specific projects, or they can be a source of management support. And, for The Insights Family, they’ve done all this.

“Right from the off, it was clear that they understood our business, they understood the value proposition, and they were well-equipped to support us in the commercialisation of our future offer.”

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP): a catalyst for growth

It soon became clear that while The Insights Family had a highly scalable vision, Nick and his small team lacked the data science expertise and technology needed to achieve it. They decided to apply for a KTP, which connects employers with the University’s skills and capabilities to help them solve strategic challenges.

And so began a collaboration with computing and psychology experts at Manchester Met. “I’d never even heard of a KTP before,” Nick recalls. “But when Manchester Met introduced me to data science, my interest was piqued. I saw the potential to develop product innovations using artificial intelligence and psychometric profiling, and found the possibilities very exciting.

“When I learnt that a KTP would give us access to the academic know-how we needed to push forward, and would give us a full-time specialist to lead the project, it felt like the ideal way to take us to the next level.”

What followed was a 28-month project that used intelligent psychological profiling and state-of-the-art AI clustering techniques to create a market segregation tool that enabled the business to exploit a unique market opportunity from its data.

Nick says: “The KTP opened our eyes to data science. We evolved from a tech company into a true data business, which gave us a competitive edge in the market and boosted our commercial growth by bringing in new clients and strengthening revenue streams.”