What if consumers were always in the room when decisions get made? This week on Soul & Science, Jason Harris talks with Joshua Nu’u-Steele, co-founder and CRO at Ideally, about why traditional market research has become too slow, too expensive, and too disconnected from the pace brands need to move at today. Having built his career at Booking.com and Parkable before co-founding Ideally in 2023, Joshua has been rethinking what makes businesses thrive— and now he's applying that curiosity to research. Joshua explains how Ideally lets marketers test ideas with real consumers overnight instead of over six weeks, why synthetic audiences fall short for fast-growing organizations, and how speed lets brands push bold ideas past cautious retailers. He also shares his outlook on where research is headed next, and what it means to build a company where the consumer is always in the room. Key Takeaways ✅ Speed lets brands test ideas early enough to still shape them ✅ Synthetic audiences fall short for fast-growing organizations ✅ Consumers can’t always tell you what they want, but they can tell you what they don’t ✅ Real-time research helps brands push bold ideas forward ✅ Research is shifting from a one-time study to an always-on conversation with consumers Memorable Moments 💡 “I don’t believe ‘research’ will be a word in five years.” 💡 “Businesses don’t die by starvation; they die of indigestion.” 💡 “Consumers cannot tell you what they want.” 💡 "It's answers that arrive before a decision’s already being made." 💡 “The consumer just happens to be in the room with them.” ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:10 From New Zealand to Booking.com to Parkable 04:30 What Is Ideally? 06:30 Why Speed Changes the Research Game 07:45 Where Synthetic Audiences Fit 10:20 Curiosity and Comfort Being Wrong 11:20 Pitching a New Way to Research 12:50 Consumers Can’t Tell You What They Want 13:40 The Lesser Evil Story 15:20 Why Ideally’s Synthetic Data Will Be Different 17:10 Gut Feel vs. Research for Early-Stage Brands 18:35 Why AI Without Purpose Is Just an Expensive Mirror 19:50 Why “Research” Might Not Be a Word in Five Years 22:00 The Hardest Part of Building a Business 24:25 The Best Part of Building Ideally 25:45 Where the Name “Ideally” Came From 27:00 Joshua’s Mantra: Businesses Die of Indigestion 27:55 The Hardest Leadership Decision 29:20 The Future of Ideally 32:00 Chairing the Autism Kids Collective 34:10 Lightning Round Brought to you by Mekanism.