Demand Metric at 20: Built Together, Still Evolving
On November 8, Demand Metric turned 20.
Looking at our incorporation documents brought me back to the early days, and to the people who have helped shape everything we’ve built since.
Jesse founded the business in 2006. I joined six months later. In those early years, we slept on floors in lofts, ate almost every meal together, and experienced the ups and downs of building a business side by side. Demand Metric became family to me.
That family has grown through every chapter. Colleagues past and present, members, clients, research sponsors and participants, association partners, contributors, coaches, and the friends and families supporting us behind the scenes have all helped make these 20 years possible.
To everyone who has ever put on Demand Metric merch, contributed their expertise, shared our work, or trusted us with a challenge: thank you.
Over the years, Demand Metric has taken many forms: a resource library, a research partner, a software provider, and a source of advisory, coaching, and practical support. Each chapter has taught us something about what people need to make progress.
For many, their relationship with us began with a template.
A marketing plan. A budget. An assessment. A presentation needed for an upcoming meeting. Something that provided a useful starting point when time was short and the blank page wasn’t helping.
Those resources remain an important part of Demand Metric, but helping people apply them is shaping what comes next.
Supporting the development of the ANA’s 2026 Marketing Capabilities Framework brought something into sharper focus for me. As we explored the capabilities marketing teams need, I kept coming back to the people behind them: their ability to contribute, their confidence in their own value, and the support they need as their work changes.
Human judgement sits at the centre of that.
People still have to understand a customer’s situation, decide which evidence deserves weight, recognize an assumption, and work through competing priorities. They bring experience, relationships, curiosity, and an understanding of consequences. As AI becomes more capable, developing and exercising that judgement becomes even more consequential.
That realization has stayed with me. Helping someone learn a skill is valuable. Giving them opportunities to apply it, receive feedback, and develop confidence helps that learning carry into the next challenge. I explored this more in The Value Beneath the Skills.
Recent workshops brought those ideas to life.
I recently had the opportunity to watch deep industry expertise paired with practical, modern coaching techniques. An experienced industry leader could recognize the nuances of a customer problem and connect it to situations they had personally navigated. A skilled coach could help participants examine that situation, implement am AI-enabled approach, and work through the decisions themselves.
The combination is powerful.
It reinforced something I want us to carry forward: expertise has tremendous value when people can use it to strengthen their own thinking and actions.
Dr. Paul Stoltz’s work has also influenced how we think about the conditions that make this possible.
His approach to harnessing adversity has helped us think about difficulty as fuel for learning, adaptation, and progress. When an assumption proves wrong, a project encounters resistance, or circumstances change, our response helps determine what becomes possible next.
That perspective has affected our own mindset as much as our work with others. Twenty years of building a business has given us plenty of opportunities to practice it. We’re still learning how to respond constructively, take ownership of what we can influence, and use difficult experiences to improve.
Together, these experiences are shaping how we connect mindset, skills, and practical tools - and how we incorporate AI into our DIY content.
The templates, frameworks, assessments, and playbooks people know are the foundation. We’re developing more guidance around them so users can apply that content to their own circumstances.
AI can help someone organize information, explore alternatives, question an assumption, or develop a working draft. The quality of that support depends on the context people provide and the judgement they bring to reviewing and using it. Our AI-Enabled Guided Pathways™ are being developed around that relationship, and that connected approach is an important part of our next chapter.
If you’ve relied on Demand Metric’s DIY resources over the years, this evolution is being built with you in mind. The people doing the work retain ownership. Our aim is to help them make progress while strengthening the judgement and confidence they bring to future challenges.
Our website is beginning to reflect that broader picture: research, practical resources, peer learning, Growth Projects, coaching, and Academies. These provide different ways to get support, whether someone is working independently, collaborating with a team, or leading a larger initiative.
There is more to share in the months ahead.
In December, we’ll release our 2027 research agenda, outlining the questions we plan to explore and opportunities to help shape the work. Our research sponsors, partners, and participants make that work possible, and I’m grateful to everyone who contributes their support, experience, and perspective.
We’ll also share more of the AI-enabled DIY content and Guided Pathways we’re developing, along with what we’re learning about combining experienced practitioners, practical coaching, and a mindset that helps people move forward through difficulty.
The ambition is straightforward: help people make meaningful progress on the work in front of them and become more capable through the experience.
Thank you for being part of Demand Metric’s first 20 years, and for helping shape what comes next.
- John
