Author: Matías Nso, CEO & cofounder of Kuorum

Kuorum is an engagement consultancy company. They help governments, enterprises and organizations to open participatory processes. And they do it with an awarded proprietary technology. We talk with its co-founder and CEO Matías Nso, who thinks online engagement has become a commodity for many organizations.

How does Kuorum work?

We help governments, enterprises and organizations to open participatory processes. And we do it with an awarded proprietary technology, a Relationship Management tool that our customers use to open online debates, surveys and events. They can choose between a subscription model or the development of a white-label product with their look & feel.

How is your solution different from other companies’?

There are some providers that charge real fortunes for their participation software, even those working with open source tools. Their clients invest all of their budget in the software and have no money left for dissemination. This model is frustrating and pushes customers to never repeat again. Therefore we decided to develop a SaaS version of our software that anybody can use for free. And we only charge to those clients that need support with their campaigns and to those who have more expertise and are looking for a more customized solution.

What is the value proposition for common users?

We do not acquire users for ourselves. We just acquire users when one of our clients is trying to have an impact in a specific segment of population. And then, the value proposition for those new users is normally established by our customers. Sometimes they give something to users in exchange for their contributions, but most of the times users are just happy to have the chance to participate and give their opinion.

Why is participation important precisely now?

The cultural revolution that came with the internet is often compared to the one that came with the invention of the printing press in the XV century. Gutenberg’s technology transformed our society and we stopped simply believing in preachers’ words to start being active readers and interpreters of the Bible, which divided the Church in Europe. With the internet we changed from information consumers to broadcasters. There is a full generation that grew up with this paradigm. And they won’t understand a different and more passive way of communicating, even if their enterprises and governments think otherwise.

What did Area31 brought to your entrepreneurial trip?

IE Business School is a world leader in entrepreneurship and innovation. And you can feel that from the moment you step into Area31. They saw in Kuorum an interesting opportunity and they invited us to the incubator when everybody else was still skeptical about a business related to participation. Now we are closing deals with our first big clients in Spain and overseas. None of this would have been possible without the advice and support of the professors of IE Business School and the people involved in the community of Area31.

What is the main challenge Kuorum.org is facing today

Our focus now is growing our customer base in Spain and the UK. Then we will try to raise funds in order to automate some of the services that we provide, and thereby increase our operating margin. In the long run we want to expand to the US and Latin America.