Your Next Strategic Decision Deserves Better Than a Guess
More impact. Faster than anyone.
Thirty years of research leadership that moved AT&T, Eastman Kodak, and Coca-Cola — now accelerated 10x by Claude AI. Not a platform. Not a marketplace of freelancers. One proven expert, delivering senior-level research and competitive intelligence in days, not the months a new hire or agency retainer would cost you.
The Real Cost Isn't What You Spend. It's What You Don't Know.
Every quarter without a clear read on your market is a quarter your competitors are moving on information you don't have.
Decisions Get Made Anyway
Pricing, positioning, and product calls don't wait for perfect information — they get made on instinct, last year's data, or whoever argued loudest in the room.
Your Competitors Aren't Waiting
The AT&T positioning work that created $8B in market value worked because it moved before competitors could respond — not after the window closed.
A Twelve-Month Hire Costs You Twelve Months
Recruiting, onboarding, and ramping an in-house research or CI lead takes the better part of a year — before they've produced a single insight.
The question isn't whether you need this. It's what it's costing you to keep guessing.
Why The Research Experts
Senior research leadership, delivered at a speed no agency, AI platform, or new hire can match.
Proven at the Highest Level
Managed more than $1 billion in research investment and drove billions in incremental revenue and market value — real, verifiable results, not borrowed case studies.
AI-Accelerated Speed
Claude AI compresses weeks of analysis into days. You get a senior expert's judgment at a platform's speed — not a twelve-week agency timeline.
Built for Any Category
Telecom, technology, healthcare, CPG, real estate, hospitality, consumer goods — deep leadership across categories most consultants only ever work in one of.
Strategic Intelligence
Not just data collection — data translated into a decision. Competitive analysis, market mapping, and positioning your leadership team can act on immediately.
Regulatory-Grade Rigor
Extensive experience substantiating methodology and competitive findings before the FTC, FCC, NAD, and other regulatory and legal bodies — insight that holds up under scrutiny.
A Person, Not a Black Box
Claude AI multiplies my speed — it doesn't replace my judgment. Every insight is reviewed and stood behind by someone with a $1B track record, not an algorithm alone.
How The Research Experts Compares
The same question, answered three different ways.
Research Agencies
Platforms
Experts
Research Capabilities
Full-stack research capability, applied wherever your business needs answers.
Primary Research
- Surveys & Focus Groups
- In-Depth Interviews
- Ethnographic Studies
- Concept & Product Testing
Analytics & Modeling
- Demand Forecasting
- Predictive Modeling
- Economic Analysis
- ROI Attribution
Competitive Intelligence
- Market Mapping
- Threat Assessment
- Positioning Analysis
- Regulatory Substantiation
Strategic Insights
- Customer Segmentation
- Go-to-Market Planning
- Business Model Innovation
- M&A Due Diligence
What We Solve
Whatever the question, I can find the answer — faster than you're used to.
Product & Innovation
- New Product Development
- Product Optimization
- Concept Testing
- Design & UX Research
- Portfolio Optimization
Pricing & Revenue
- Pricing Research
- Revenue Management
- Willingness-to-Pay
- Price Elasticity
- Value Proposition
Marketing & Brand
- Advertising Strategy
- Brand Positioning
- Brand Research
- Campaign Testing
- Message Development
Market Intelligence
- Competitive Analysis
- Market Mapping
- TAM Modeling
- Market Entry Strategy
- Threat Assessment
Analytics & Forecasting
- Demand Forecasting
- Media ROI Analysis
- Sales Analysis
- Customer Segmentation
- Trend Analysis
Go-to-Market & Strategy
- Go-to-Market Strategy
- Customer Journey
- Business Model
- Digital Transformation
- M&A Due Diligence
Real Impact
Insight is easy to buy. Impact — measured in revenue, market value, and cost savings — is what gets delivered.
Market Positioning & Competitive Advantage
Challenge: AT&T needed defensible, data-backed competitive claims in a crowded, high-churn market.
New Product Innovation Portfolio
Challenge: Design and validate new products for a business mid-way through digital transformation.
In-House Research Capability
Challenge: Scale from outsourced studies to a full in-house research capability managing 50+ studies annually.
From First Call to Answer, Not Months of Process
No procurement maze. No account team. A direct, four-step path from question to decision-ready insight.
Discovery Call
A focused conversation about the decision you're facing and what's currently unknown.
Same weekScope & Approach
A clear, fixed-scope proposal — methodology, timeline, and cost, no surprises.
1–2 daysAI-Accelerated Research
Senior-led research and analysis, compressed by Claude AI from weeks into days.
Days, not monthsExecutive-Ready Findings
A clear recommendation your leadership team can act on immediately — not a data dump.
Decision-ready30+ Years of Research Leadership
Prior in-house market research & competitive intelligence leadership roles at
G&W Electric
Proof, Not Just the Pitch
Same rigor, same speed — across categories that couldn't be more different.
Rescue Dog Wines
Fractional strategy and brand research for an award-winning, mission-driven winery.
Tailwaters Lodge
Brand activation and growth strategy for one of the Southeast's premier fly-fishing lodges.
Catalyst by Wellstar
Research, due diligence, and go-to-market strategy support for a healthcare-focused venture team.
Fran Linnane
I've led research and competitive intelligence for some of the most demanding organizations in the world — from AT&T's high-stakes network positioning battles to Eastman Kodak's global digital transformation, Coca-Cola's brand activation, and category leadership work at ConAgra, P&G, and Kraft. Along the way, I learned what it actually takes to turn data into decisions that move markets.
Over three decades, I designed and managed more than $1 billion in marketing research, led teams across more than a dozen countries, and served as a strategic advisor on M&A, product launches, pricing, and organizational transformation — most recently building an in-house research capability at RentPath that saved $3 million a year.
The game changed in 2022. That's when I became an entrepreneur, launched The Research Experts, and discovered Claude AI's potential to transform how research gets done. I'm now in the top tier of Claude power users, delivering research and strategic analysis in days that used to take weeks.
Today, I work directly with growth-driven companies and their leaders — no account managers, no bench of juniors, no waiting on a marketplace to match you with a stranger. Claude AI lets me move at a speed traditional research simply can't, so you get senior-level capability exactly when you need it. My goal is simple: to be your Chief Research Officer. Understand your business, your market, your challenges — and deliver insights that matter, faster than anyone else can.
Core Strengths
Before You Reach Out
The honest answers to what most people are actually wondering.
How is this different from hiring a research agency?
An agency sells you a team — usually a senior partner you meet once, then juniors who do the actual work. Here, you get the senior person for the entire engagement, with Claude AI doing the heavy lifting an agency would staff a research team to do manually. That's why the turnaround is measured in days, not months.
How fast can we actually start?
Most engagements begin with a discovery call within the week you reach out, and a scoped proposal within a day or two after that. There's no procurement cycle or RFP process to navigate first.
What does an engagement actually look like?
It depends on the question, but most projects follow the four-step process above: a discovery call, a fixed-scope proposal, AI-accelerated research and analysis, and an executive-ready readout with clear recommendations — not a raw data dump.
Is this just AI-generated research?
No. Claude AI accelerates the analysis — it doesn't replace the judgment. Every finding is shaped and stood behind by someone with a $1B+ track record managing research that held up under regulatory and legal scrutiny at the FTC, FCC, and NAD.
What size companies do you work with?
Growth-driven companies and their leaders — from mid-market and high-growth private companies to PE-backed portfolio companies and large enterprises outside the very largest global conglomerates. If you're making decisions with real dollars behind them, this is built for you.
Is our data and competitive information kept confidential?
Yes. Confidentiality is standard on every engagement, and formal NDAs are available whenever your organization requires one.
Let's Work Together
Every week without an answer is a week your competitors might already have one.
Let's Talk Most conversations turn into a scoped engagement within a week.