What Cascade Insights does

Cascade Insights, LLC is a privately held, U.S.-based professional services firm operating from Portland, Oregon with a fully distributed team that delivers two service lines to B2B enterprise clients. Its foundational offering is B2B market research — covering buyer personas, jobs-to-be-done, win-loss, competitive landscape, brand, message testing, customer satisfaction, channel/partner, and go-to-market research — with engagement-based custom pricing. The second line, AI Advisory, consists of AI Strategy Sprints (fixed fee), Fractional Chief AI Officer engagements, AI Consulting and Solutions (design, prototype, deploy), AI Training for Teams, and an Executive AI Cohort. Two proprietary methodologies — Fluid Intelligence® (the skill of directing AI with judgment) and the RISE Framework (Routine, Interpretation, Strategy, Engagement) — anchor the firm's positioning around human-AI collaboration rather than AI replacement of human research.

The firm's client roster is heavily weighted to enterprise technology buyers, with named engagements at AWS, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce, Intel, Cisco, HP, Adobe, Dell, Dropbox, Okta, Databricks, DocuSign, Cloudflare, Twilio, HubSpot, T-Mobile, and others, and a stated service reach of Life Sciences, FinServ, Manufacturing, Education, Government, Legal Tech, GreenTech, and Retail. AI capability is applied — not built — using third-party tools for transcription, NLP sentiment/theme extraction, anomaly detection, and predictive analytics, with no proprietary model development disclosed. Revenue is project-based and not publicly disclosed; the firm is privately held with no parent company, no institutional funding history, and no disclosed M&A activity. Distribution is direct consultative enterprise sales, supplemented by a content engine (blog, LinkedIn newsletter, case studies, AI tool reviews) functioning as top-of-funnel demand generation.

Name

Cascade Insights

Legal name

Cascade Insights, LLC

Website

https://cascadeinsights.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cascade Insights is a privately held B2B professional services firm that delivers custom market research and AI advisory engagements to enterprise technology clients and adjacent verticals, leveraging proprietary Fluid Intelligence® and RISE frameworks.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting (B2B Market Research & AI Advisory)

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

Keywords

• B2B market research
• Competitive intelligence services
• AI advisory consulting
• Buyer persona research
• Win-loss analysis

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. B2B Market Research Services: Custom engagement-based professional services including buyer persona research, jobs-to-be-done research, win-loss analysis, competitive landscape analysis, brand research, message testing, thought leadership research, customer satisfaction research, and go-to-market research. Engagements are project-based with custom scoping.
2. AI Advisory Services: AI strategy consulting including AI Strategy Sprints (fixed-fee engagements), Fractional Chief AI Officer leadership, AI Consulting and Solutions (design, prototype, deploy AI), and AI Training for Teams. Custom engagement pricing.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Cascade Insights is a B2B market research and AI advisory firm that sells custom primary research engagements (buyer persona, jobs-to-be-done, win-loss, competitive landscape, brand, message testing, go-to-market) and AI advisory services (AI Strategy Sprints, Fractional Chief AI Officer leadership, AI Training for Teams, and AI implementation consulting). Engagements are project-based and priced per scope, with the firm operating as a virtual team delivering qualitative and quantitative research to enterprise B2B technology companies globally.

Product overview

Cascade Insights® is a B2B market research and AI advisory firm organized into two primary service lines. The AI Advisory portfolio includes AI Strategy Sprint (fixed-fee planning engagement), Executive AI Cohort (peer learning program), Fractional Chief AI Officer (senior AI leadership), AI Training for Teams (Fluid Intelligence® skill development), and AI Implementation Services (design, prototype, and deploy AI workflows). The Market Research portfolio spans Brand Research, Message Testing, Thought Leadership, and Research Activation® under Brand and Messaging; Buyer Personas, Key Buying Criteria Research, Jobs-To-Be-Done Research, and Customer Satisfaction Research under Buyer Research; and Competitive Landscape Analysis, Win-Loss Research, Partner/Channel Research, and Go-To Market Research under Market and Opportunities. The company also offers proprietary methodologies including Fluid Intelligence® (AI direction skills) and the RISE Framework (Routine, Interpretation, Strategy, Engagement for AI adoption). These services are positioned as a unified offering to help B2B companies read their markets and redesign their work in an AI-centric world.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI Strategy Sprint A fixed-fee AI Strategy Sprint engagement that shows client teams exactly where AI can change how the team works and provides a plan to execute, targeted at B2B organizations looking to begin making effective use of AI investments.
• Executive AI Cohort An executive cohort program offering AI leadership development and peer learning for senior leaders responsible for AI initiatives at B2B organizations.
• Fractional Chief AI Officer A fractional senior AI leadership engagement that coordinates a client's AI efforts, manages the human side of AI adoption, and keeps AI initiatives tied to business outcomes, sold to enterprise B2B organizations.
• AI Training for Teams Training programs that teach client teams to direct AI with judgment inside their real workflows, not just prompting it, with a focus on building Fluid Intelligence® skills for sustained AI adoption.
• AI Consulting and Solutions (AI Implementation Services) An AI implementation service that designs, prototypes, and deploys AI into client workflows where it creates value, delivered so the client team can own the resulting system.
• Brand Research Custom research services that help B2B companies understand and optimize brand positioning and brand perception in their target markets.
• Message Testing Systematic evaluation and feedback collection on B2B messaging to determine what resonates with target audiences.
• Thought Leadership Research Research-backed content development to establish thought leadership positioning for B2B companies in their target markets.
• Research Activation® A service that activates research findings by drafting final messaging frameworks and other strategic outputs that B2B clients can directly implement across marketing and sales functions.
• Buyer Persona Research Custom research to develop detailed profiles of target B2B buyers, including pain points, jobs-to-be-done, and buying committee dynamics.
• Key Buying Criteria Research Research to identify and prioritize the factors that drive purchasing decisions in B2B buying processes.
• Jobs-To-Be-Done Research Research methodology that uncovers the underlying jobs B2B customers hire products and services to accomplish, applied to inform product, messaging, and go-to-market decisions.
• Customer Satisfaction Research Custom research to measure and understand B2B customer satisfaction levels and identify opportunities for retention and improvement.
• Competitive Landscape Analysis Comprehensive analysis of competitive positioning, competitor capabilities, and market dynamics for B2B technology companies.
• Win-Loss Research Qualitative primary research with buyers who won or lost deals, used to understand decision factors and competitive dynamics at B2B technology companies.
• Partner / Channel Research Custom research to understand B2B partner and channel dynamics, partner perceptions, and channel opportunities.
• Go-To-Market Research Custom research to inform and validate go-to-market strategies for new B2B products, markets, or initiatives.

Named customers53 records

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Gartner: Gartner is the dominant IT and B2B technology research and advisory firm. Comparable as a buyer of market intelligence and AI advisory services and as a broad incumbent offering similar research and advisory on AI strategy, but with a much broader portfolio and global delivery model than Cascade Insights.
• IDC (International Data Corporation): IDC is a global provider of market intelligence, advisory and events for the IT and B2B technology markets. Comparable as a much larger incumbent doing syndicated and custom research and AI advisory for many of the same enterprise tech buyers Cascade Insights serves.
• Point B: Point B is a mid-sized management and technology consulting firm that offers strategy, AI advisory and digital transformation services to enterprise clients. Comparable on the AI advisory side of Cascade Insights' business, with significant overlap in mid-market and enterprise tech buyers.
• Forrester Research: Forrester is a large, established B2B technology and CX research firm with syndicated and custom research plus advisory services. Comparable at the category level (industry & sector research for B2B tech buyers), but operates at much greater scale and scope than Cascade Insights' focused custom-engagement model.
• West Monroe Partners: West Monroe is a management and technology consulting firm with a defined AI and customer experience practice serving enterprise and B2B tech clients. Comparable for the AI Strategy Sprint / AI Implementation work Cascade Insights sells, though materially larger and broader in scope.
• Bain & Company (Customer Strategy practice): Bain & Company's Customer Strategy and AI practices serve many of the same enterprise technology buyers as Cascade Insights with primary research, segmentation and AI strategy engagements. Comparable for strategic-research and AI advisory work, though Bain operates globally across far broader service lines.
• SiriusDecisions (now part of Gartner): SiriusDecisions (now within Gartner) was historically a B2B sales, marketing and product research and advisory firm with a similar focus on operating models, buyer research and GTM benchmarking. Comparable for sales/marketing enablement and GTM research work that overlaps with Cascade Insights' Market and Opportunities service line.

Direct peers

• Klue: Klue is a B2B competitive intelligence platform and services provider targeting B2B technology vendors, with a similar audience of product marketing and CI leaders. Comparable because it serves the same buyer (competitive intelligence buyers at B2B tech firms) with both software and research services, much like Cascade Insights' CI/buyer research offerings.
• Heinz Marketing: Heinz Marketing is a B2B marketing agency specializing in research-driven demand generation, persona development and sales enablement for technology companies. Closely comparable in size, services (buyer persona, JTBD, messaging research) and customer base (mid-market and enterprise B2B tech).
• Crayon: Crayon is a competitive intelligence platform and research services firm serving B2B technology companies. Directly comparable because it monetizes the same competitive intelligence and market research workflow with a blend of software and services aimed at the same enterprise B2B tech buyer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cascadeinsights
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cascade-insights

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cascade Insights