About

Rigorous research at the speed of agile teams.

Accelerant Research is a market research and insights firm founded in 2008 and based in the Charlotte metro area (Matthews, North Carolina). We help insights leaders, brand and marketing managers, and product teams make smarter decisions faster.

Our edge is versatility plus sample quality. We run the full research pipeline, qualitative and quantitative, unmoderated and moderated, panel and full-service, all in-house. That control is what lets us deliver insights at sprint speed without compromising on sample quality.

Work With Us

Our story

A different call, made in 2008

Accelerant Research was founded in 2008, in the middle of the Great Recession, by Bill McDowell and Paul Rubenstein, Ph.D.

The market was cutting research budgets and the industry standard was to outsource the work. Bill and Paul made the opposite call. They brought every part of the research process in-house: panel, fieldwork, analysis, and reporting. That decision is still the foundation of the firm. Controlling the whole pipeline is what lets us hold sample quality to a high standard, move quickly, and keep costs efficient at the same time.

That model has held up across every kind of client, from Fortune 500 brands to mid-market companies. The work has not changed shape. The standard set in 2008, do it in-house and do it right, is the same standard we hold today.

What we believe

The principles that run through every engagement

A partner, not a vendor

We diagnose the business problem first, then prescribe the right study. Quant for the what, qual for the why, built to your decision rather than a single platform we are trying to sell.

Quality is not negotiable

Sample quality is where most research goes wrong, so we own the panel and the fieldwork ourselves. High-touch recruiting and active fraud screening, not third-party sample we hope is real.

Speed is a design choice, not a shortcut

We match the method to the decision in front of you, and use AI to accelerate the work, never to replace the human judgment that turns data into a decision.

Independent and honest

Privately held, with no outside pressure to chase short-term wins. We report what the data says, even when it challenges the brief, and shape the narrative without distorting the facts.

Our team

One roof, one standard

Accelerant is led by operators who built and ran insights in-house at Fortune 500 companies, backed by a full in-house bench: data science, quantitative and qualitative research, project management, and strategic insights. The people who design your study, field it, and analyze it all work under one roof. Nothing is handed to an anonymous subcontractor.