Aftercare

What do they actually do

Aftercare provides AI that turns surveys into short, threaded conversations. It offers an end-to-end survey platform with a visual workflow builder and conversation view, plus a separate API suite that teams can plug into existing tools. The system can auto‑generate follow‑up questions (Lite or Enriched), return response‑quality metrics, auto‑code open text into themes/brands, and flag low‑quality answers (docs; follow‑ups; enhanced API; AI coding; data quality).

Teams can either run studies entirely in Aftercare or keep their current survey stack and call the APIs from platforms like Qualtrics, Forsta/Decipher, and Alchemer using prebuilt connectors (integrations). Pricing and onboarding are handled via sales, with custom plans for API volume and enterprise needs (pricing).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Market‑research and insights teams: They spend hours reading and hand‑coding open‑ended answers and often miss clarifying follow‑ups, leading to slow, inconsistent analysis. Aftercare automates follow‑ups and coding to surface themes faster (follow‑ups, AI coding).
• Research‑ops / survey‑stack owners at larger organizations: They can’t easily replace Qualtrics/Forsta/Alchemer but need AI that fits current workflows. Aftercare’s APIs and connectors augment existing stacks without a platform rip‑and‑replace (integrations, docs).
• Product managers and UX researchers: They get short or vague responses and lack bandwidth for manual follow‑ups. Automated conversational follow‑ups probe in real time to capture clearer, more actionable feedback (follow‑ups, site).
• Enterprise research teams needing reliable, auditable data: They struggle with low‑quality or nonsensical responses and require deterministic gating for compliance. Aftercare’s enriched follow‑ups and data‑quality scoring provide metrics to disqualify or branch responses and automate workflows (enhanced API, data quality).
• Analytics teams and survey/platform vendors: Manual thematic coding is slow and inconsistent, delaying dashboards and models. Aftercare’s auto‑coding API generates code frames and assigns responses to speed structured labeling (AI coding, docs).

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led, white‑glove pilots with known research teams and agencies (incl. YC intros) to prove ROI, focusing on customers already using Qualtrics/Forsta/Alchemer to showcase connector value (docs, integrations, YC).
• First 50: Leverage early case studies for outbound to similar research‑ops teams; publish how‑to content and API examples highlighting add‑on use without stack migration; run paid, standard playbook pilots (integrations, docs).
• First 100: Add channel/reseller partnerships with survey vendors/consultancies and build self‑serve SDKs/templates for PM/UX; grow enterprise sales for SLAs and custom onboarding while promoting the API‑first story (enhanced API, pricing, AI coding).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Industry coverage from ESOMAR puts the global insights industry around US$153B, with the research‑software/platform slice roughly US$56–62B—an upper bound for Aftercare’s category (Research World summary; ESOMAR report listing).

Bottom-up calculation:

Near‑term SAM aligns to online survey software (~US$3.9B in 2025) plus customer‑feedback software (~US$2.47B in 2025), implying a practical ~US$6–7B market for embedding AI follow‑ups, coding, and quality checks (online survey market; customer feedback market).

Assumptions:

• Use recent (2024–2025) third‑party estimates in USD; categories vary by publisher.
• Focus on software/platform spend (not services), mapping to follow‑ups, coding, and data‑quality modules Aftercare can replace/augment.
• Practical SAM limits to survey and feedback platforms; excludes adjacent analytics/consulting budgets that would require broader product scope.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Qualtrics: Dominant enterprise survey and experience‑management platform; incumbents would compare its native features to adding Aftercare or use Aftercare as an add‑on via API.
• Forsta (Decipher): Enterprise insights platform with survey tooling widely used by agencies and large research teams; a common system where Aftercare integrates.
• Alchemer: Survey platform used by mid‑market and enterprise teams; Aftercare can augment it with AI follow‑ups, coding, and quality checks.
• SurveyMonkey: Widely used self‑serve survey platform with enterprise tiers; an alternative for lighter use cases that may overlap with parts of Aftercare’s offering.
• Thematic: AI‑driven text analytics for survey feedback; competes most directly with Aftercare’s auto‑coding and theme detection.