CEO Reflection July 2025: Warning Shots Fired for MRAs
Blog | July 7, 2025
By: Terence McCarron
CEO Reflection July 2025: Warning Shots Fired for Market Research Agencies
Ever hear of Andreessen Horowitz (A16z)? They are a massive Venture Capital firm with an estimated $45bn in assets under management.
In the last month, they publicly declared war on the traditional Market Research Industry.
In a recent series of posts, their team called our $140bn industry “slow, fragmented, and expensive.” They pinned a major driver on the fact that investment in software is nil- only a “rounding error”. They called out the industry for having “no benchmarks” and “ripe for disruption” with AI solutions that can generate speed and integration over perfection.
It won’t surprise you to hear that A16z is deeply invested in companies trying to replace human insights with synthetic data. They’re also exploring more ways to add to their AI investments in our industry.
Aside from all of that, one part in their commentary got me very interested: They believe the industry can double in size through more tech.
I have put a lot of content out around my belief that AI will augment our industry, mimicking previous waves of innovation. But I also think any company that replaces human insights with pure synthetic will fail in their marketing.
I have been around long enough to see massive tech players jump in and out of MRX so fast your head would spin. Why? Because they largely have no interest in helping to clean up (or even address) ridiculous value gaps that new shiny solutions often ignore. They ignore that we are an industry built on process, repeatability, and excellence for a century.
However… There can be a middle path.
MRAs can get more integrated.. More benchmarked.. Tighter on execution.. They can be more tech-enabled..
If they do this right..
Projects will be faster, more affordable, and more aligned with a potential next boom coming to our industry. All while proving to clients that the insights aren’t hallucinated.
What’s standing in your way of becoming more tech-enabled?
Email me: TMcCarron@opinionroute.com