Boulder’s SurveyGizmo is a young, fast-growing online survey software company that aims to give business-to-business companies, researchers, non-profit organizations and educational institutions the tools needed to create online surveys, questionnaires and forms.

A privately-owned company, SurveyGizmo has nearly 150,000 users in more than 60 different countries. The company reached a milestone this past year, as a total of 200 million surveys were completed through their software. In 2012, the firm looks to double its office space by March and add 20 to 30 new employees.

The Camera recently caught up with SurveyGizmo co-founder and CEO Christian Vanek and talked with him about his company’s history, current services and what the future holds.

The interview below has been edited for clarity and space purposes.

1. What is the backstory of SurveyGizmo?

SurveyGizmo is a bootstrapped startup in every sense. The co-founder and I began SurveyGizmo in 2006 without investment capital or employees — both of us kept our day jobs full time that first year. The idea for SurveyGizmo came from our consulting clients who expressed the need for an affordable survey product that had all of the features that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For about three months we worked very closely with 10 or so interested customers — they told us which features to build and how they worked. To thank them, they received free lifetime use of the software (most of whom still use the product today).

This approach was very different from the first company I started, where I built a software product without customer input based on my own designs. The evangelistic believe that working closely with customers is really what started SurveyGizmo growing. Today nothing is more important to our product design process than the input we get from customers — we’ve built some strong relationships with customers and they’re helping us succeed because they feel a sense of ownership in the product.

Read entire story 5 Questions with SurveyGizmo co-founder and CEO Christian Vanek

SurveyGizmo is all about customer happiness. Since the start the company’s focus has been to provide its customers powerful online survey software and deliver unmatched customer support. Customers include Fortune 1000 firms, as well as small and medium sized companies, researchers, educational institutions and non-profit organizations. Today SurveyGizmo has more than 150,000 users in 60 countries.

The company’s growth strategy relies very much on word of mouth. “Our beyond-exceptional customer service is what created the customer evangelism we needed to grow early on, and it continues today,” says Christian Vanek, CEO and co-founder of SurveyGizmo. Each customer who contacts the Customer Support team is asked to rate their experience. “For us, a higher net promoter score is more important than higher revenue,” adds Vanek. A company’s net promoter score is a measure of how likely a customer is to recommend that company’s product or service.

SurveyGizmo is also proud to be among the nominees for the 2012 edition of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service. The general public is invited vote for their favorite provider of customer service through February 10. To vote, go to People’s Choice Favorite Customer Service Award.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of call center, customer service, and sales professionals worldwide. Final Stevie Award results will be announced at the 2012 awards gala and presentations at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday, February 27. SurveyGizmo’s Customer Support team will be represented at the event.

SurveyGizmo, a privately-owned online survey software company, reached a milestone when 200 million surveys were completed during 2011. This equates to nearly 580,0000 online surveys being completed every day using its online software application. SurveyGizmo’s enterprise-class online survey software allows customers to create and distribute online customer satisfaction surveys, market research surveys, online job applications, and virtually any type of form used to collect data online.

SurveyGizmo customers include Fortune 1000 consumer and business-to-business companies, as well as smaller companies, researchers, non-profit organizations and educational institutions. The company relies on customer word of mouth and sales have grown 278% in the past three years with little marketing. Its investment in its Customer Support team is well above the software industry standard.

“Our customers drive everything we do at SurveyGizmo, and it’s fair to say we’re a little fanatical about keeping each one of our customers happy,” says CEO Christian Vanek. “The insight we get from our customers every day guides product design. They give us feedback and ideas for new features we had never considered; I believe our customer relationships have become our competitive advantage.”

In 2007 customers began asking SurveyGizmo customer support representatives how to pull their survey data into their own databases or CRMs, and the company responded by developing the SurveyGizmo Restful API. Few online survey tools have an API, and none have one as robust. SurveyGizmo’s new Marketplace is a direct response to customers wanting to create customized surveys that are more engaging and interactive. Marketplace is an online store within the application offering dozens of one-of-a-kind survey question types and advanced features customers can purchase and add to their account with a click.

“Today customers rely on online software to do business, but they’ve come to expect poor customer service from online companies. Our customers are surprised by the personal attention they get when they call and talk to us. Our growth proves that being committed to making customers happy is just good business,” says Vanek. In 2012 SurveyGizmo will create powerful integrations with dozens of companies so customers can do even more with their surveys and their data, and SurveyGizmo’s open platform and API make this easy to do.

About SurveyGizmo
SurveyGizmo is an online survey software company that gives enterprise and business-to-business companies, researchers, non-profit organizations and educational institutions powerful tools to create online surveys, questionnaires and forms – allowing capture and analysis of virtually any type of data essential for business.

Founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, SurveyGizmo is an industry thought leader focused on bringing its customers new solutions for gathering and managing data, while delivering unparalleled support. SurveyGizmo has developed some of the most innovative technologies in the online survey industry, and its API provides easy integration of its robust data collection platform with external enterprise software. SurveyGizmo has more nearly 150,000 users in more than 60 countries.

He doesn’t believe in top-down management. He doesn’t believe a workplace needs to be stiff and formal. And he doesn’t believe in sitting in his office behind a closed door.

In fact, the CEO of SurveyGizmo doesn’t even have a door.

“I took it off to kind of make a statement,” Vanek says. “I’ve lived in organizations when people lived in fear of the CEO. This is my way of making sure this wouldn’t happen. You close your door, you back away from what’s happening in your organization.”

SurveyGizmo was founded in 2006, when Vanek was working as
 a consultant.

“I noticed that my clients weren’t satisfied with the survey software out there,” Vanek says. “I knew what they wanted and what they didn’t like. We didn’t know the company would be such a success.”

Vanek and one partner started with one server, which was $79 a month. He worked for no pay, and continued his contract business to bring home a paycheck.

“One of the things I tell young entrepreneurs is to stick to their dreams,” he says. “Don’t let anything stop you. Finding venture capital isn’t always necessary.”

What started small has grown into a company with more than $3 million in annual sales. The SurveyGizmo Web application has more than 150,000 users, with customers in more than 60 countries.

Read full story: http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/genxyz-christian-vanek/

Story by Maria Cote

The 2011 Inc. 500, unveiled in the September issue of Inc. (available on newsstands August 23 and on Inc.com), is a group of companies that are smaller but much faster-growing than last year’s crop. Aggregate revenue is $10.5 billion, with a median three-year growth of 1,275 percent. The companies on this year’s list employ more than 46,000 people and generated over 35,000 jobs in the past three years. Complete results of the Inc. 500, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found on Inc.com/500.

Boulder, Colorado-based SurveyGizmo was founded in 2006 and is NO. 13 among software companies in the Inc. 500. The company provides robust online survey software used by researchers and small to enterprise companies to create online surveys, questionnaires and forms. A technology innovator, its API provides easy integration of its data collection platform with external enterprise software. Today SurveyGizmo’s powerful technology is integrated with dozens of enterprise class software applications. The company delivers award-winning customer support to its 150,000 users, including live phone support and dedicated account management by survey experts.

Methodology

The 2011 Inc. 500 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2007 to 2010. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2007. Additionally, they had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2010. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2007 is $100,000; the minimum for 2010 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.’s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at www.inc.com/500.

About SurveyGizmo

SurveyGizmo is a web-based software company giving researchers, and small to enterprise companies powerful tools to create online surveys, questionnaires and forms – allowing the capture and analysis of virtually any type of data essential for business.

Founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, SurveyGizmo is an industry thought leader focused on bringing its customers new solutions for gathering and managing data, while delivering unparalleled customer support. SurveyGizmo has developed some of the most innovative technologies in the online survey industry, and its API provides easy integration of its robust data collection platform with external enterprise software. SurveyGizmo has more than 150,000 users, with customers in more than 60 countries. Learn more at www.surveygizmo.com.

About Inc. Magazine

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 710,106, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit us online at www.inc.com.

Media Contact:
Julie Jensen, Julie@surveygizmo.com, 800-609-6480 x710

For those of you who don’t know it, Jive Software makes business intelligence social. Think of it as the ‘glue’ that holds together an organization – it lets you share relevant data, organize projects, and collaborate between users across an entire enterprise.

The collaboration allowed by Jive Software’s dashboard-centric approach seems like the perfect place to share survey results – so that’s just what we’ve done. Using the SurveyGizmo survey API, we’ve partnered with Jive to natively integrate our application with the Jive platform.

The SurveyGizmo Jive App allows you to access your SurveyGizmo dashboard and reporting from within Jive. It’s now incredibly easy to see and share results with collaborators across your company who have the app installed. From within the Jive app you now have easy access to work with data from all your SurveyGizmo surveys.

To add the SurveyGizmo Jive App to your Jive dashboard, simply login to Jive and head to the Jive Apps Market. From there, you’ll be able to install the SurveyGizmo app with one click.

Jive is just one of the partners using SurveyGizmo’s API to enrich their applications – we’ve partnered with several companies like Mailchimp, Survey Deck, WordPress and more to bring SurveyGizmo’s data into their apps.

Interested in finding ways to integrate your systems directly with SurveyGizmo? Check out SurveyGizmo Developer’s Corner for resources to help you integrate with SurveyGizmo using our API.

Don’t have your own development team? No problem. Talk to our Professional Services team, who can easily integrate our application with your systems for you!

Presented by The Boulder County Business Report, two lists spotlight the top 50 companies with annual revenue of more than $2 million and those under $2 million. To make the lists, a private company must have its headquarters in Boulder or Broomfield Counties.

Founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, SurveyGizmo has become an industry thought leader in the online survey industry, focused on creating new features customers want and providing unparalleled support.  SurveyGizmo has developed some of the most innovative technologies in its industry, and its API provides easy integration of its robust data collection platform with external enterprise software products.

With growth of 280% from 2008 to 2010, and the number of employees doubling since this time last year, SurveyGizmo has thrived despite the economic climate. CEO and Co-founder Christian Vanek believes SurveyGizmo’s value proposition of offering many features at a modest price, combined with a loyal corps of customers who are SurveyGizmo’s evangelists, as key factors. Fostering strong customer relationships with customers has always been paramount to SurveyGizmo. Today feedback from customers drives product development, with the product team shaping new offerings based on what they hear from users – it’s not uncommon for a new feature many customers are requesting to be launched in a matter of weeks.

SurveyGizmo CEO and Co-Founder Christian Vanek is an East Coast native transplanted in Boulder who appreciates all that Boulder has to offer young technology companies, and he has found a wealth of tech expertise in this town of around 300,000 that is just 30 miles from Denver. SurveyGizmo’s office is a casual environment that reflects the Boulder lifestyle – bikes are stowed in offices and shorts are considered business casual. The rooftop patio deck features a view of downtown against a backdrop of the Flatirons, a set of rocky mountain peaks that are Boulder’s most recognizable tourist attraction.

SurveyGizmo is in good company in Boulder, which is home to more than its share of technology, software, aerospace and alternative energy companies. In a May, A New York Times article spotlighting the concentration of tech-driven companies in the area cited Boulder’s money, universities, high-tech talent pool and appealing lifestyle as just a few reasons some wonder if Boulder might become “the next Silicon Valley.”

The Small Business Web is comprised of quite a few like-minded companies that want to do their best to provide products and services to help out the small business owners of the world.

As part of this, we get to work with one of the founding companies, that I’m sure a lot of you use on a daily basis, FreshBooks. Just in case you don’t use them yet, FreshBooks is one of the easiest to use invoicing, time tracking, and billing online software.

They have an open API, and a variety of accounts that boast a ton of great features (just like SurveyGizmo!). And that’s a little bit of about FreshBooks.

If you’re already using them, then you’re going to love our new integration. We have just made it a lot easier to survey all your FreshBooks clients.

With our new integration with FreshBooks, all you have to do is create a survey, and when you’re ready to email out the link, just click on the FreshBooks integration, and we’ll automatically pull in all your FreshBooks contacts, so you can send out follow-up surveys to them.

Now you can easily survey your clients on:

- How they like your services
- How likely they are to be a repeat customer
- How likely they are to tell their friends about you
- What improvements you can make to make your service better

Surveys are a great way to help you better understand your customers, and this integration is just another step towards making it extremely easy for you to run your business.

To learn how to use the new FreshBooks integration, just head over to our new Freshbooks integration tutorial, and we’ll walk you through step-by-step instructions on how to get everything set up. And as usual, if you’re currently using the integration and want to let us know how you like, just leave some comment love.

So let’s kick this week off with a feature that you’ve been asking for for a long time – an easy integration with a panel company.

SurveyGizmo now offers you an easy, couple click integration with Cint – one of the world’s leading panel companies.

With this integration you’ll be able to pick your respondent’s:

- Gender
- Country of origin
- Age range
- Education level
- Occupation status

You can choose from 10 to 1,000 answers for your survey, select the demographics you want your respondents to hold, pay Cint quickly through our easy integration, and start getting answers within 7 days.

All of this is done through the SurveyGizmo interface, and you no longer have to worry about setting up proper quotas and giving the correct link out to the panel company — we’ve taken care of all the hassle of using a panel company, for you.

To learn more on how to us the integration, please check out the Cint Integration tutorial and as always, if you have any questions or you just want to tell us how much you love the Cint Integration, leave it in the comments.

You’re in luck! With the help of our stellar Professional Services team, anything that you could think of using SurveyGizmo can most likely be done!

They’re there to help you when you’re in a time crunch or have an idea you think SurveyGizmo can do, but you just need a little help to see it through fruition.

Our Professional Services team can help you with:

-Custom survey builds
-Creating custom scripts
-Designing custom reports
-Helping analyze survey data

And those are just a few of the things that our Professional Services team can help you out with. To see the full list or to ask them to help you with a project, just head over to the Professional Services page or give them a call at 800.609.6480.