Companies who need or want teen users have discovered something important: You can find out more about what they actually do and need by asking them.

This approach powers The Ambassadors Company, run by 17-year-old CEO Maxine Marcus. Her team of teen ambassadors, a crew of around 100 young people, are determined to give raw but cogent feedback on product, app, and service, by using them in the wild of everyday life at school, sports, and activities.

Got It Study, an app designed to unlock the power of one-on-one homework tutoring for all, knew they had to reach one of the US’s toughest, savviest, and most overwhelmed demographics: high school students. They had a unique resource to give teens, more than 20,000 live tutors waiting to help with homework and other study tasks, connected for short real-time chats via a proprietary AI system.

Got It knew they had to get the user experience and model just right. As they rolled out new features and models, they turned to Ambassadors Company, seeking input at every stage. “They have had us walk with them on their entire app development process,” explains Marcus. “They had us test their original app with twenty ambassadors, who then looked at screenshots of an update to see if it fixed the problems. Then we tested the update with a fresh 20 teens.”

Marcus and her team gather direct and honest input from teens, who use the product for a set period of time as they go about their busy lives. She then gleans ideas and suggestions worth passing along to the client, as well as organizes the raw feedback, so that clients can see everything. Marcus has been testing and reporting on products and services since her early teens, and she’s passed along some of her approach to a growing number of teen testers.

In Got It’s case, The Ambassadors’ feedback included the usual comments on functionality and user experience Got It founder and CEO Peter Relan expected. But it also pointed out several key aspects of the service that led the company to change its pricing model. “There were a couple of major a-ha moments,” Relan says. “We got real insight into what teen habits are. We learned that they are really tuned into Spotify and Netflix as a way to think about a subscription service. ”

The Ambassadors drew an unexpected parallel with Spotify, which inspired Got It to package its offerings differently. “We as builders didn’t think that way, but the teens did,” Relan continues.
“They saw us as a service, though we are connected to real live tutors. We decided to present Got It as a subscription package, allowing users to access a set number of hours of tutoring time per month. The Ambassadors Company collaboration helped us find this new model, as well as the right price point on par with Spotify’s monthly subscription rates.”

“We’ll only spend our money if we have something we relate to, especially if it’s our money, vs our parents’,” explains Marcus. “We explained that basic thought process. That helped Got It guide their pricing.” And unlock the potential of a regular cadre of dedicated subscription users.

About The Ambassadors Company

The Ambassadors Company is a research, testing, and marketing consulting firm that harnesses the power of real, raw feedback from more than 100 teens. Going far beyond focus group testing, ambassadors work with products, apps, and services in their everyday lives, giving honest insights into exactly what works for busy teens. Founded by 17-year-old Maxine Marcus, the company provides exciting work for young people and valuable insights for companies like SoundHound, Got It, and numerous start ups.

Since she turned 13, Maxine Marcus has been fielding questions from her tech investor father. What did she think about this app? Did this product make sense from her perspective? How would she change it to make it better?

Instead of answering and getting back to her life, a different idea dawned on Marcus: What if she offered teen expertise, designed to be organic and honest, to companies who needed it?

The idea for The Ambassadors Company was born. “I had the business model in mind before I ever thought I’d start a company,” says Marcus. “I wanted to do more than work for companies here and there. I wanted to make it my own. I felt I had the right set of tools to bring to the table.” Now 17, Marcus transformed herself from informal advisor to CEO.

The tools Marcus brings are the systems and relationships to elicit quality, honest feedback from a group often dismissed, while being simultaneously courted. The Ambassadors Company gathers input from a team of 25 teenagers, selected from a team of 100, who test products, apps, and services. Instead of awkward hours in sterile focus-group rooms, product response and critique flows as teens integrate products into their natural environment to get the most raw response.

Marcus then harnesses this energy and distills it into incisive analysis for clients, including SoundHound and GotIt! “We provide the brutally honest teen perspective through insights and ideas,” Marcus explains.

Marcus set up a win-win situation for teens, a way for young people to contribute and find meaningful jobs that fit complicated lives. “This kind of work helps teens. It’s a great job that gets them out of the rut of having few employment options,” Marcus explains. “Lots of them get really excited about the work, and it engages the community in a way that helps both sides.”

Clients gain important insights, often early in the development process, into how young people actually make decisions around their product and engage with its features. Marcus tailors each campaign to the client’s stage and needs. “It’s very customizable,” she notes. “We can vary the number of ambassadors and the scope, from testing just one aspect or doing a deep dive into an entire platform.” Marcus then gives her fellow teens five to seven days to interact with the product, giving clients both raw data direct from the ambassadors as well as a summary report.

Teens are the perfect testers in many ways, even for products designed for the general market. “If you’ve grown up with tech and it’s ingrained in your life, you know what works. It’s second nature. It’s intuitive,” reflects Marcus. “If we can’t get it, no one will. We can articulate what products need to do and what makes sense to us. We are being thrown all sorts of stuff. We put on the blinders and look for what’s really good.”

Marcus knows her family’s involvement in tech, as well as her parents’ support and care, has been instrumental in founding her own successful company in her teens. She sees it as a gift she passionately strives to pay forward by helping other young people and showing what teens can do, given the right resources.

“When you’ve been given a lot, you have to do something with it. It’s not fair for you to squander this opportunity. You need to use it,” she opines. “It’s important that I take what’s been given to me and use it in a positive way. I want to build value and create interesting jobs. I want to inspire.  I want to be a voice that helps open that door for other people.”