Cincinnati entrepreneur buys market research firm AcuPOLL

Cincinnati entrepreneur, consultant and former P&G brand manager Jeff Goldstein spent most of his career helping businesses sell great products faster. Now, as the new owner of AcuPOLL Precision Research, he's expanding his reach through this market research firm with an entrepreneurial edge.

"Instead of helping one or two clients at a time, we'll be working with 40 or 50 clients at a time," Goldstein says. "(AcuPOLL) is more consultative than other market research firms, and more willing to contribute ideas, stick their necks out really, to the market research process."

Goldstein was a Procter & Gamble brand manager in the '80s and '90s before leaving for consulting. He then launched +Repelle, a hair color stain protectant for skin that sold in Walgreens, CVS and other stores. He continues to sell that brand through Sally Beauty Supply and via salon distributors, and was president of Ingenuity Advisors marketing and innovation consultancy when he formed RVG Acquisitions, Inc. a financial holdings firm, to acquire AcuPOLL.

Goldstein purchased the company through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 7a loan program from Huntington Bank, a local SBA partner agency. Without the program, it would have been very difficult to purchase the business, which is successful but didn't have the collateral a traditional bank loan expects.

"A lot of people aren't aware of the SBA loans, but it was a great option for the situation I found myself in," he says. "That's a problem for a lot of (service) businesses that are not asset intensive."

Goldstein sees AcuPOLL as a natural expansion of his career and experience. He recently purchased the company, based in Newtown, and founded in 1991 by another former P&G brand manager to discover, accelerate and improve innovation results.

"The more I learned about the company, the more I realized it's really a mix of research and consulting," Goldstein says. "It's not a surprise because it was formed by P&Gers looking for better and faster ways to innovate."

AcuPOLL was founded on a system designed to lessen the percentage of new product innovation failures. The company, which has about two dozen employees, has tested more than 40,000 new products and ideas. The market research firm works with businesses across the globe, from startups to Fortune 100 companies. AcuPoll works in a wide range of industries, including consumer package and durable goods, quick-service restaurants, financial services and telecommunications.

By Feoshia H. Davis
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