Aqute Intelligence

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Marketing Officer of a software company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are the global leader in digital media and digital marketing solutions. Our creative, marketing and document solutions empower everyone – from emerging artists to global brands – to bring digital creations to life and deliver immersive, compelling experiences to the right person at the right moment for the best results. In short, we are everywhere, and we’re changing the world through digital experiences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• We wanted competitor features, customer sentiment analysis, competitor pricing, various other things. The research was driven by our product marketing team, who were refreshing out strategy for the fiscal year ahead.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Eight week project, five competitors in four markets, with analysis for their targeting of customers in SMB and enterprise. For each one, we wanted a feature table, some customer interviews (the customers of those competitors, not ours), and a pricing and discounts table. Output deliverables were in PowerPoint, mainly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We haven’t quantified the outcomes, but the research has been of benefit to our salespeople, and our marketing team (who support our salespeople). I don’t doubt that the research has paid for itself.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes they delivered on time, according to the timeline defined in the scope for the eight week project. Aqute responded to our requirements and requests during the duration of the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Strong primary research. Aqute Intelligence used a wide range of research methods. Mystery shopping is good and represents different ICPs. Ultimately, the salespeople find the data really helpful and it’s accurate.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

Not really. They did a great job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CPO of an it services company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're one of the world’s leading providers of technology and communications services. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, we serves companies of all sizes—from small businesses to global enterprises—helping them transform through technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• We hired Aqute to do some competitor analysis, around our strengths, also benchmarking against competitors. We chose three main competitors. We wanted to understand their go-to-market strategies, how they priced, who were their key customers, and we wanted feature comparison tables or something similar to that. We used all this information to update our sales battlecards and create some internal presentations.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

There were three competitors. For each one, we wanted a flow analysis of their go to market, how their sales calls worked and so on; also we wanted detailed pricing tables, which we got. Customer interviews for sentiment/buying decisions. And a feature table. We got all this in PowerPoint, although the interviews also came in tabular format in Excel.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

It did help with our sales and marketing strategy but it’s difficult to quantify like, how much additional revenue was generated, or how much more marketing spend did we do because of this research. Salespeople particularly liked the feature tables.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes they delivered on time, it was a seven week project and there was an interim presentation after five weeks. I’d say Aqute were responsive although we didn’t have many request, other than the research scope..

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I guess the mystery b2b shopping. It’s hard to set up for doing that and Aqute executed well and on a tight timeline. Ultimately, the data was accurate and comprehensive, which is the main way one would judge any project like this.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

No. We continue to work with Aqute.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Enterprise Account Manager of a manufacturing company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our mission is to shape the future of technology to help create a better future for the entire world. With more ingenuity and creativity inside, our work is at the heart of countless innovations. From major breakthroughs to things that make everyday life better— they’re all powered by our technology. With a career with us you can help make the future more wonderful for everyone.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• Aqute helped our product development team understand the market for a new application that we were about to launch. We needed insights into customer needs, competitor offerings and pricing models so that we could position ourselves in the market. Aqute’s research informed our go-to-market strategy, and we used their findings to create customer personas and refine our messaging.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We needed a comprehensive analysis of the market for our new software application, including customer pain points, competitor strengths and weaknesses and pricing strategies. Aqute conducted interviews with about 200 sources including competitor customers, industry experts, competitor employees, etc. They analyzed five key competitors. Deliverables included a detailed report, a set of customer personas in PDF format, a competitor comparison matrix in Excel, and a 90-minute presentation to our executive team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project gave us clear direction for our product features and pricing strategy. We incorporated many of Aqute’s recommendations into our product roadmap, and their personas are now a core part of our marketing strategy. Post-launch, early customer feedback aligned closely with their findings, validating the research.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Aqute were highly organized and required minimal oversight. They provided a clear timeline upfront and met the deadlines. We had check-ins every 2 weeks to review progress, and they were quick to adjust when we requested additional focus on a specific competitor. Their final deliverable was presented a week ahead of schedule.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Aqute Intelligence's ability to translate raw data into strategic recommendations was unique. Their report didn’t just dump data — it told a story about the market and gave us clear next steps. We cross-checked their competitor pricing data with our own sources, and it was accurate.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

The project went smoothly overall. If anything, we would have liked more frequent updates during the survey phase to get a sense of early trends, but this didn’t impact the final quality. They delivered what we asked for within the agreed scope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Games Coordinator at a government agency. 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our organization is a government-owned agency dedicated to growing a successful screen industry in the state. The agency supports locally produced films, series and digital games, and secures international and interstate production and post-production into Queensland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• Our objective in hiring Aqute was to analyze competitor strengths and weaknesses for a clearer market positioning. We needed a comprehensive view of how competitors engage customers, structure deals, and differentiate themselves. Aqute’s findings allowed us to refine our messaging and better equip our sales team with competitive insights.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our collaboration with Aqute covered an end-to-end competitive intelligence review of our top five competitors. Their work involved primary and secondary research, product feature audits, pricing comparisons, and sales strategy evaluations. Key deliverables included a detailed report with strategic takeaways, and an executive briefing to align our leadership on the findings.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our sales team saw an increase in competitive deal wins, with enhanced tools for addressing objections and positioning advantages.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Aqute met the deadlines, conducted progress reviews, and made sure that project delivery was timely and efficient.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What impressed us most was Aqute’s expertise in obtaining intelligence beyond public sources, such as sales demos and product roadmaps, which transformed our competitive strategies.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

Maybe more frequent interim updates? Otherwise it was all good, and the output was excellent.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Product management of an information technology company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a technology-driven company specializing in providing innovative software solutions. Our primary focus is on delivering scalable SaaS products designed to streamline business operations and enhance productivity for our clients. As part of our service suite, we offer comprehensive technical support, product management expertise, and customized software integrations tailored to meet specific industry needs in the Technology sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• We needed some analysis of four competitors who kept showing up in our deals. Our brief to Aqute covered the competitor's pricing structures, how they positioned themselves against us, what their customers thought of them and where their product had gaps. The outputs were going to feed into a repositioning exercise and a refresh of our sales training.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Online Search
• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Four competitors. For each competitor we wanted to understand their go-to-market motion, like how they pitched, what objections they raised against us, how they handled pricing conversations, and some other areas of research. We also wanted customer sentiment from people who had actually bought from the competitors. Output was as a slide deck.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Hard to put a number on it, but our win rate against one specific competitor improved. More generally, sales managers also said the research landed well with their sales teams.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We had a kickoff, then a check-in midway through and we had a final readout. They kept us in the loop as the project progressed and delivered on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The quality of the primary research. The level of detail in the pricing, and in the customer interviews.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

Not really? Everything was fine.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Major in Marketing Manager @Fortinet | Shaping the Future of Cybersecurity and AI Transformation for Enterprises of Fortinet

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Fortinet makes possible a digital world that we can always trust through its mission to protect people, devices, and data everywhere. This is why the world’s largest enterprises, service providers, and government organizations choose Fortinet to securely accelerate their digital journey.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• Earlier this year, we hired Aqute to conduct a deep dive into competitive pricing strategies and customer sentiment, because we wanted to benchmark an upcoming new application.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Online Search
• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Aqute delivered the main report in PPT/PDF format, including detailed customer feedback analysis and competitor pricing breakdowns. Also we got an executive summary deck and battlecards. We cut and pasted a lot of that into our internal decks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

It’s a bit hard to quantify these things, but the product’s been growing since and we’ve had good feedback from salespeople. You can’t really attribute that to one thing, but Aqute certainly helped.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yup. Very well organized, kept us up to date, had clear timelines and proactive updates. Deliverables were on schedule.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Aqute can deliver hard-to-find data. We already had all the public data and I was sceptical about whether Aqute could deliver what they promised, but they did. Their research was thorough and clear.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

More transparency about their research methods, maybe, but I understand why they aren’t transparent.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Procurement Manager at Arcus Biosciences of Arcus Biosciences

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Arcus Biosciences is a rapidly growing, clinical-stage, global biopharmaceutical company developing differentiated molecules and combination medicines that may have the potential to help people with cancer live longer. Located in the San Francisco bay area, Arcus Biosciences offers a competitive compensation and benefits package, including aggressive participation in the growth of the company in the form of stock option grants. Arcus has an ambitious undertaking and expects to become a force in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel combination therapies to treat cancer in areas of high unmet need. Our employees enjoy operating in an exceptionally dynamic and team-driven environment in which the “rule book” has not yet been written.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• My team hired Aqute to analyze market trends and provide a detailed report on competitor product positioning, for a couple competitors, for our upcoming product launch.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Deliverables were all in Powerpoint and included feature lists for the competitors we chose, also product screenshots. There were some benchmarking slides for us vs. the competitors’ products, and a section on what customers thought.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Early days but the work did give us a better market fit because we knew what our competitors offered, what customers wanted and where there were gaps we could address. Certainly our launch was more successful because of this analysis, but it’s hard to quantify why.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Professional project management, there’s never any drama, deadlines are all met, and we were updated regularly. Most importantly, the work was exactly what we needed.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Accuracy of the data, which is what this kind of project stands or falls on. Also, Aqute was able to get data such as enterprise pricing which is really difficult, well, impossible, for us to get ourselves and we didn’t see any other agency that could get that.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

Nope. They did a great job and we will work with them again in the near future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Head of Product Marketing at a software company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

My company delivers the AI Data Cloud — a global network where thousands of organizations mobilize data with near-unlimited scale, concurrency, and performance. Inside the AI Data Cloud, organizations unite their siloed data, easily discover and securely share governed data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, my company delivers a single and seamless experience across multiple public clouds. Our platform is the engine that powers and provides access to the AI Data Cloud, creating a solution for data warehousing, data lakes, data engineering, data science, data application development, and data sharing. Join our customers, partners, and data providers already taking their businesses to new frontiers in the AI Data Cloud.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• To build specific competitor function tables and get us some records on competitor pricing strategies. Our product group wished insights for our annual approach review.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Online Search
• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Key deliverables: 3 competitor feature tables, 1 deck of insights and actionable recommendations, 1 spreadsheet with pricing. Project took 6 weeks, covering three competitors. Also Aqute did a couple of presentations to the senior leadership teams.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Salespeople and product teams still use this facts as reference benchmark facts, so it is nevertheless handing over price. Some of it turned into provided to the senior management crew. A lot of it fed into our battlecards.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

You get a venture director who's your factor of contact, and also the assignment leader. Aqute gave us an in depth timeline on the start, and glued to it.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The records they gave us were tough to get, and what Aqute gave us was correct, as supported via each time that our salespeople found some anecdotal records points, which showed what Aqute had advised us.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

More frequent updates during the research project, maybe? It's a six week project and we got updates at the 3 and 6 week mark.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Financial Analyst of a telecommunications company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Welcome to the nation’s largest privately owned 100% fiber-optic service provider! The company started in 2005 in Greencastle, IN and continues to expand to new cities and states across the United States. Our 100% fiber technology allows customers access to some of the fastest symmetrical internet speeds in the world (Multi-Gig speeds available!) We pride ourselves on our cutting-edge technology combined with industry-leading customer care. In 2023, the company was awarded Fastest Internet Service Provider by PCMagazine, and received Fastest Internet and Most Reliable Speeds claims in several cities and states from Ookla. We also received PGMagazine's Best Gaming Internet Service Provider award in 2024. If you are already a customer, thank you for choosing us! If you haven’t signed up for our services, we hope to welcome you into the company's family soon!

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• Aqute helped our sales team deal with two competitors. We needed to know pricing, features, and their sales pitch. Aqute’s report fed into our battlecards and the quarterly sales kickoff. We use some of Aqute’s advice to train salespeople on how to write stronger RFP pitches.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We had two competitors that had been coming up increasingly often in competitive sales pitches. We knew little about them so we needed a full analysis of their go-to-market methods, their partner/distribution system, their product features, what customers think about them and how they set their pricing. Aqute delivered this via PowerPoint presentations that we could share internally, and a spreadsheet of key financial data.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Success was that we got everything we needed. We’ve trickled this into sales enablement/training materials and some of it goes directly into our battlecards and RFP response.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Aqute needed little management from us. They started promptly and delivered on time. We had an interim review about five weeks in, and a final review a couple of weeks later, plus a shorter presentation to the senior leadership team.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The answers that Aqute provides are really good. The data is accurate, I don’t know how they get it all. We’ve validated it with our own salespeople and with customers and Aqute’s slides about pricing and features are spot on.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

Nope. We were careful to define exactly what we needed in the scope, and Aqute delivered to the letter. The output was high quality and delivered on time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic Program Delivery Officer of a SaaS company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are the leading enterprise application and business AI company. We stand at the intersection of business and technology, where our innovations are designed to directly address real business challenges and produce real-world impacts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aqute Intelligence to accomplish?

• Seeking a more effective competitive edge, we hired Aqute to provide intelligence on how other SaaS companies are winning deals. Their work helped us uncover pricing tactics, promotional strategies, and messaging frameworks that informed our sales playbook and improved our close rates.

SOLUTION

How did you find Aqute Intelligence?

• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Aqute Intelligence over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aqute Intelligence were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our project with Aqute provided comprehensive competitive intelligence. It focused on feature comparisons, pricing strategies, and go-to-market insights specifically for our SaaS competitors. They delivered a detailed competitor matrix, a summary report filled with strategic takeaways, and a presentation geared towards our leadership team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our team observed a 15% increase in marketing ROI, supported by optimized messaging informed by Aqute’s insights on competitor positioning.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Their project management was outstanding. Aqute Intelligence delivered every deliverable on schedule, provided regular updates, and conducted interim reviews, ensuring transparency and alignment throughout the 6-week engagement.

What was your primary form of communication with Aqute Intelligence?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Aqute got us answers to all our questions - about the competitor sales demos, enterprise pricing, and future product strategies - with remarkable accuracy.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aqute Intelligence could have done differently?

Maybe offer follow-up sessions for continuous improvement.