Top 20 Under 40: Kapiche founder Ryan Stuart, 34

Understanding “tens of millions” of pieces of customer feedback has seen this Queensland software engineer work with everyone from silicon valley social media giants to the world’s biggest automotive manufacturers.

WITH a background in software engineering Ryan Stuart, 34, launched Kapiche in 2017, because he saw that companies now and into the future would be competing “not on price or product but the experience they provide”.

His text analytics software has since allowed businesses around the globe to understand “tens of millions” of pieces of customer feedback.

Stuart says it was “ludicrous” that companies had the data on how much people spend and how frequently they visit but not using tech to drill down into customer feedback on experience.

entrepreneur Ryan Stuart - tech engineer created Kapiche, algorithms solving customer service problems.

In just three years the business, co-founded with Kris Rogers, has been used by organisations across Australia, Europe and the US.

These include a Silicon Valley social networking app which can’t be named, American Express, Nissan, Toyota, Target and Schindler, growing from a five-person team to 12 staff on its books.

“I’m excited by the progress we have made, we have grown revenue by ten times over the past two years.”

To cater for growth Stuart says there are plans to open offices in the US by the end of 2020 and beyond that his business goal is for Kapiche to be a “ $2 billion company by 2030”.

He also wants to ensure that “the voice of people is considered when businesses make decisions, not just how they behave or spend.”