Ange is the founder of AddMaple, the browser-based analytics platform built to turn the unruly survey data, online reviews, and support feedback into clear, statistically sound insight in seconds. Previously she led user-research and insight work at MoneyHub, Parmenion (Aberdeen), AI Music, and CX Partners for GOV.UK, and the same frustration kept resurfacing: traditional BI dashboards and stats packages handle numbers well but fall apart when the data comes from humans. From her home in Slovenia - while raising two children and caring for a sibling - she bootstrapped AddMaple to solve that gap, winning Paddle’s global AI Launchpad and now supporting teams at Greenpeace International, Specialized, Sunbelt Rentals and more. At IIEX she will share practical methods for mining what people say online to uncover the themes, sentiment, and drivers that shape a brand, showing how anyone with a dataset and curiosity can move from raw text to confident decisions without waiting in an analyst queue.
Sessions
Oct 27
11:05 AM - 11:25 AM PDT
Red Stage
What Happens After You Win? Five Years of Insight Innovation
Winning the Insight Innovation Competition is a moment; building what comes next is a much longer journey. Bringing together five consecutive IIEX North America winners offers a rare look at companies at very different stages, from a recent winner still in the scrappy growth phase to businesses navigating organic growth, leadership transitions, significant outside investment, and potential acquisition. Karen Lynch asks what changed after the winning pitch, what the market validated or challenged, and how each leader now defines progress and impact. Key takeaways: 1. How the opportunities and challenges facing an innovation change as the company matures 2. What different paths to growth, including outside investment, organic expansion, and leadership transition, can mean for a company and its founders 3. What startups should understand about the journey from entering an innovation competition and pitching investors to building and scaling a viable business
