Company Profile · Research Technology
Askable
The Brisbane company that turned the least glamorous job in product research - finding people to talk to - into an AI platform selling human evidence at AI scale.
The Brisbane company that turned the least glamorous job in product research - finding people to talk to - into an AI platform selling human evidence at AI scale.
Most product decisions are made on opinion. Someone in a meeting is confident, the deadline is close, and a feature ships on a hunch. Askable exists because that is an expensive way to build software - and because the alternative, actually talking to the people who will use the thing, has always been slow, fiddly and unglamorous.
The company began in 2017 in Brisbane, Queensland, as an internal experiment - reportedly "Product Idea #43" - inside a digital agency called Orange Digital. The frustration was concrete: a UX designer needed real people to test designs with, and recruiting, scheduling and paying those participants ate the days that were supposed to go into the research itself. So the team built software to do it. The early pitch was blunt and effective - the "Uber for user testing."
What makes Askable worth a second look is less the origin story than the order of operations that followed. The company stayed bootstrapped and profitable for roughly six years, winning enterprise customers before it took a cent of venture capital. When it finally raised - a A$22M Series A led by AirTree Ventures, announced in December 2024 - it did so from a position most startups never reach: not needing the money.
Today Askable describes itself as an AI research platform - the tagline is "human evidence at AI scale." It is a deliberately unfashionable position. Much of the market is racing to remove people from research entirely; Askable's bet is that AI is most useful when it scales real humans rather than replaces them.
What it does. Askable brings three things that normally live in separate tools into one platform: a global panel of verified research participants, a community of certified human researchers, and research-specific AI. A product team can recruit the right people, run a study, and get insights back without stitching together a recruiting tool, a scheduling tool, a moderation tool and an analysis tool.
Who uses it. Product managers, UX researchers and market-research teams - from scrappy startups to enterprise. The company markets to "10,000+ research and product teams" and names customers including Atlassian, Canva, Afterpay, Wise, Visa, Toyota, Sony, PlayStation, Mars and Deliveroo.
The problem it solves. Traditional research is slow. A study booked through an agency can take four to six weeks. Askable's claim is that the same evidence can arrive in roughly 48 hours, because the panel, the scheduling and the incentives are already handled inside the platform.
The deeper problem. Tool sprawl and guesswork. Research teams juggle a fistful of point solutions and still struggle to get customer evidence in front of decisions in time to matter. Askable's answer is consolidation plus speed - one system, weeks compressed into days.
Customer names as listed on Askable's own site and press coverage. Logos represented as text tiles.
Self-serve, AI-assisted methods: moderated and unmoderated interviews, prototype testing, surveys, card sorting, tree testing, plus five-second and first-click tests.
A global panel of verified participants across 50+ countries, with incentives handled inside the platform and a high study show rate.
Research-specific AI, including AI Moderated Interviews that can run in 15+ languages - the core of "human evidence at AI scale."
Continuous, automated delivery of human insight - an "autopilot" for teams doing ongoing discovery rather than one-off studies.
AI search across a large library of interviews to surface benchmarks and cross-study patterns.
Fully-managed studies run end-to-end by Askable's community of certified researchers, for teams without in-house research capacity.
Askable is a marketplace wrapped in a SaaS subscription. On one side sit research teams; on the other, a supply of verified, paid participants. Historically the company charged a per-participant recruitment fee, with roughly half passed through as the participant's incentive - the classic marketplace economics of taking care of supply so demand keeps coming back.
It now sells subscription plans - a Pro tier and a custom Enterprise tier with SSO, data redaction and custom contracts - marketed on transparent pricing: unlimited studies, unlimited seats, incentives included and every method in the box. The pitch to buyers is consolidation: replace four or five point tools with one, and cut cost along the way.
*Valuation figure reported in press coverage and approximate. Bars are illustrative, not to precise scale. Series A led by AirTree Ventures, with Skip Capital, Sam Kroonenburg, Ben Thompson and Robert Kawalsky among backers.
The research-tech market is crowded and specialized. Some tools only recruit participants (User Interviews, Respondent, Prolific). Some only test (UserTesting, Maze, Lookback). Some only analyze (Dovetail). Askable's strategy is to be the one platform that spans all three - and to add AI moderation and certified researchers on top.
| Capability | Askable | Recruit-only tools | Test-only tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verified participant panel | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Run studies & testing | Yes | No | Yes |
| AI moderated interviews | Yes | No | Varies |
| Certified human researchers | Yes | No | No |
| Managed end-to-end delivery | Yes | No | No |
Comparison reflects Askable's positioning against categories of competitors; individual products vary. Not an endorsement or a benchmark.
Askable is, at its core, a father-and-son company: co-founder and CEO John Goleby built it alongside his father, Scott Goleby, with co-founders including Andreas Zhou and Vivien Chang - the UX designer whose recruiting frustration set the whole thing in motion. The team now numbers around 130 people across five continents, with offices in Brisbane, London and Chicago.
The culture reads as product-led and unshowy. The company went years without a fundraise announcement, and when it finally spoke publicly, the CEO's explanation was characteristically dry.
Launches as participant-recruitment software - "Product Idea #43" out of agency Orange Digital, the "Uber for user testing."
Wins major clients and thousands of users within months of launch while staying bootstrapped and profitable.
Adds fully-managed studies via a certified-researcher community, broadening from recruitment into Project Delivery.
Raises its first external capital, led by AirTree Ventures, at a reported ~A$100M valuation to fund AI and US/UK growth.
Rolls out AI Moderated Interviews in 15+ languages, Insight Streams and AI search across thousands of interviews.
Askable's public video is hosted on its official YouTube channel (@askableai). Individual video links may change over time.
It is an AI-powered user research platform that recruits verified participants, runs research methods like moderated and unmoderated interviews, and delivers insights - combining a global panel, certified researchers and research-specific AI in one system.
It was founded in 2017 in Brisbane, Australia. Co-founders include John Goleby (CEO), his father Scott Goleby, Andreas Zhou and Vivien Chang, with roots in digital agency Orange Digital.
A A$22M Series A led by AirTree Ventures, announced in December 2024 at a reported ~A$100M valuation - its first outside capital after roughly six years bootstrapped and profitable.
Product and UX research teams at companies including Atlassian, Canva, Wise, Visa, Toyota, Afterpay, PlayStation, Mars and Deliveroo. The company markets to 10,000+ research and product teams.
Rather than a single point tool, Askable positions itself as an all-in-one platform - panel, certified researchers and AI - meant to replace four to five separate tools and compress research from weeks to roughly 48 hours.
Profile compiled from public sources. Funding, valuation and scale figures reflect company statements and press reporting and are approximate. Details verified as of July 2026.