Building the case for research before anyone asks for it with David Yin
October 6, 2026
What does it take to build a research function that leadership actually uses? In this episode of The Curiosity Current, Stephanie Vance and Molly Strawn-Carreño sit down with David Yin, a fractional research and marketing leader who has built insights functions at companies including Fitbit, Ancestry, Eventbrite, and Poshmark. David shares how researchers can build credibility from scratch, understand stakeholder problems, earn leadership buy-in, translate research data into business action, and turn consumer insights into competitive advantage.
In this episode of The Curiosity Current, Stephanie Vance and Molly Strawn-Carreño sit down with David Yin to explore what it takes to build a market research and consumer insights function from the ground up.
David has repeatedly stepped into organizations where research was either brand new or still struggling to establish its value. He explains why one of the first things researchers should assess is where the demand for research is coming from and what kinds of questions leadership is asking. Senior-level sponsorship can create the access and organizational momentum needed for a research function to develop credibility and influence.
The conversation also explores how researchers can move beyond being known as the “survey person.” David explains why researchers need to understand the problems their stakeholders are actually facing, get curious about how teams work, and translate those challenges into ways research can help. He calls this early relationship-building and problem discovery “the hustle.”
David also discusses the importance of timing. Proactive research can be valuable, but researchers can move too far ahead of the organization and produce work that nobody is ready to use. The goal is to understand when teams need information and make research useful in the moment.
The episode also looks at the changing role of researchers. David argues that researchers need to develop skills in facilitation, education, stakeholder management, and communication alongside research methodology. His advice for first-time insights hires is simple: be useful.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why the source of a research request can determine how successfully a research function develops
- How senior leadership sponsorship can help research become part of organizational decision-making
- How researchers can move from being the “survey person” to a trusted consumer insights partner
- Why understanding stakeholder problems is critical to making research relevant
- How to balance proactive research with the timing of business decisions
- Why research needs to be managed for quality, clarity, and actionability
- How to translate research findings into decisions and business outcomes
- Why facilitation is an increasingly important skill for market researchers
- How repetition can help research insights become part of organizational knowledge
- Why researchers should understand the fundamentals of their methodology instead of outsourcing their judgment to vendors
- How research teams can create competitive advantage through deeper customer understanding
- What first-time insights leaders should prioritize when building a research function from scratch
About the Guest:
David Yin is a fractional research and marketing leader who has built insights functions at companies including Fitbit, Ancestry, Eventbrite, and Poshmark. His work focuses on building research functions, understanding customers, translating research into business decisions, and helping organizations develop stronger research and consumer insights capabilities.
In this episode, David shares practical lessons from building research functions from scratch, including how to establish credibility, understand stakeholder needs, maintain research quality, facilitate the use of insights, and create a culture where research contributes to competitive advantage.
Episode Resources:
The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so