There is a misperception in the technology industry that startups can emerge from nowhere and achieve overnight success. While that can happen, it’s definitely the exception. It’s more common for success to emerge after a long period that is defined by setbacks and challenges.

Alfred Jay’s entrepreneurial journey began back in 1998, the early days of the dot-com craze. Although early products such as CommunityZero attracted millions of users, Jay and his co-founder Philippe Dame came to the conclusion that a pivot was necessary. It was 2008, the financial crisis was taking hold and the co-founders believed their business model was flawed.

That was the start of today’s Recollective, a qualitative online research platform that is used by some of the world’s most recognizable companies, including Mattel, Nikon, RBC and Michaels.

The reset has paid off. Recollective revenues are up 400% in the past five years, headcount has increased from 24 employees in 2019 to 110 employees and the company boasts more than 2,000 customers.

In this episode of Techopia Live, Ottawa Business Journal publisher Michael Curran talks with Jay about this quarter century working in local tech. Also, Jay talks about why Recollective is finding such traction with its customers these days and what artificial intelligence might mean to market research in years to come.