Discuss.io Hires Tariq Mirza to Lead London Launch

Seattle-based online qual firm Discuss.io has opened an office in London, where it has appointed former Kinesis Survey Technologies MD Tariq Mirza as Managing Director, Europe.

Discuss.io provides an online platform for real-time focus groups and other qual research. Using a massive pool of respondents, it enables users to target their desired niche and get answers at any time on questions from product development and optimization to brand and segment exploration, plus ad and concept testing. The company has just closed a c.$5m Series A round of funding, which it is using to further develop its platform and expand its engineering and sales teams.

Mirza (pictured) joins with more than 23 years' experience in market research software sales and development. From 2011 to last year, he worked for survey and panel management software firm Kinesis Survey Technologies as MD for Europe, leaving the company after it was acquired by FocusVision. Before this, he led UK business development initiatives for Dutch online reporting specialist Intellex Datamanagement; served as MD of research software firm NEBU UK; and set up operations for MR software and computer telephony firm Voxco. He began his career with Quantime, which is now part of IBM-owned SPSS.

Discuss.io says the additional location will help it better support its UK and Europe-based clients, while gaining new customers in the region. Founder Zach Simmons comments: 'The addition of a London office will facilitate Discuss.io's expansion in the region and Tariq Mirza is highly qualified to lead these efforts. We are very pleased to have him join our team'.

Web site: www.discuss.io .