Built by people who know
the research pipeline
Most surveys start as Word docs. Once the doc is final, someone has to manually program the whole thing by hand — a process that can take days or even weeks. Questra was built to turn those weeks into minutes.
The team
An AI technologist inspired by his researcher wife, and a 16-year market research veteran who lived the pain firsthand. Together, the perfect founding pair to fix survey programming.
David Thor
Founder & CEO
Has spent 15 years building AI products and tools that make teams more productive — from Confirm.io (acq. by Facebook) to Architect.io. Holds two patents in AI-powered document authentication. Started Questra after watching his wife Emily, a market research consultant, deal with long wait times between survey drafts and revisions just to get studies into field.
Connor Duffey
Co-Founder
Has spent 16 years on the front lines of market research — from running data collection projects at SSI (now Dynata) to leading client services at ResponsivMR and selling enterprise platforms at FocusVision (Forsta) and DISQO. Joined Questra to help build the tool he wished he had for the last decade.
Our story
The problem hits home
David’s wife Emily, a market research consultant, lived the pain every day — long timelines, tight budgets, and hours of manual effort just to turn a Word doc into a programmed survey. After a career building AI products (Confirm.io, acquired by Facebook) and tools that make teams more productive (Architect.io), the problem felt like a perfect intersection of everything David had built before.
A year of focused execution
A year of late nights, constant iteration, and getting the details right. Connor Duffey — with deep market research experience from Forsta and DISQO — joined as co-founder to keep the product grounded in what researchers actually need. Questra comes out of stealth with support for Decipher, ConfirmIt, Qualtrics, and Alchemer.
Growing the platform
Expanding to more survey platforms, adding AI-powered link testing, and building toward a future where survey programming is a solved problem — not just another AI product, but something that fits into real workflows.
Our mission
There's a lot of opportunity in research software, but there's also a lot of fear and pressure as AI jargon floods conversations. We're here to build something practical and useful — not just another AI product that doesn't fit into real workflows.
Good research remains a critical competitive advantage despite all AI advancements. Our goal is to be champions for research teams — eliminating the manual bottleneck of survey programming so researchers can focus on what actually matters: the research.