One day David Brain, a marketing and communications person, was watching a research presentation given by David Talbot (a researcher). In it David T presented a rough prototype of a chatbot that could ask users questions and record their answers. Later that night, over a curry (butter chicken!), they discussed some of the challenges of existing forms of research and how something like this engaging little bot might be the answer. “If only we knew some people who could help”, they might have said. Happily, as it turned out, David B knew Brody Nelson and Kyle Hickey (both digital business builders). As is often the way, one thing led to another and a business plan was hatched. This plan (all eight pages of PowerPoint) was then presented to David T’s colleagues at UMR research (New Zealand’s leading market research company). They jumped in with their expertise and resources, we all dipped into our pockets, and Stickybeak was hatched!