shikhar

Co-founder/CTO @joinpogo

[shikhar @ShikharMohan6]

Wild idea: before making million-dollar decisions off customer research, maybe verify they were customers.

[Dom Wong @domwong]

The dirty secret about consumer research? It’s overrun by fraud.

Survey bots. People lying to qualify for interviews.

Today, Pogo is launching the world’s only AI researcher that lets brands talk to verified buyers of any product - at scale, in hours.

Backed by $32M to date.

For 6 years, we’ve built the consumer network that makes research with real, verified buyers possible:

• 3M+ opted-in U.S. consumers
• Visibility into 1 in every 150 U.S. shopping trips
• $470B in observed transactions
• Ranked #1 Loyalty App in the U.S. by Newsweek, two years running

Watch the full story 👇

[Dom Wong @domwong]

The biggest rivalry in America isn’t politics.

It’s Coke Zero vs. Diet Coke - a fierce divide chronicled by The WSJ.

This week on Humans of Pogo, we went straight to the data - 65,155 receipt verified Diet Coke and Coke Zero drinkers in the past 90 days - to see what’s really driving the loyalty.

What we heard is that this rivalry isn't about much more than taste. It's about identity.

"Coke Zero to me is like the bougie Coke. I feel like it's a very rich person drinking with their pinky up - never drinks out of the can. Whereas Diet Coke just gets the can, opens it, and drinks it."

And the loyalty runs deep on both sides. Coke Zero is winning new drinkers who see it as the modern pick, with volume up 14% last year. Diet Coke stayed flat - but it's holding onto lifelong fans.

Comment POGO below to get the full study on The Coca-Cola Company 👇

What topic should we run next?

[shikhar @ShikharMohan6]

$SPCX 👀

[Dom Wong @domwong]

This week on Humans of Pogo, we're talking @Starlink.

We talked to 4,630 frequent flyers (over $5K annually) to see if Starlink Wi-Fi changes how people fly.

Starlink's parent company, @SpaceXAI, just pulled off the largest IPO in history - with Starlink's airline deals a big part of the pitch.

@united @AmericanAir @lufthansa @AlaskaAir have all signed with Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi.

@Delta bet differently: on Amazon Leo, with rollout not starting until 2028.

Will Delta regret the wait?

We went straight to the data: 4,630 real frequent flyers who spend over $5K/year on flights, verified by linked card transactions, to see if in-flight Wi-Fi actually changes how people fly.

What we heard: in-flight WiFi has become a booking decision. A meaningful share told us connectivity now decides which airline they choose. Some said they'd pay a premium for it.

"I would probably even pay $50 more to fly that airline just to know that I'm having that experience."

Congrats to the Starlink team on the IPO and leading the in-flight Wi-Fi race: @elonmusk, @Gwynne_Shotwell, @LaurenDreyer, @chadgibbs88

Watch the full episode 👇

[shikhar @ShikharMohan6]

RT @domwong: This week on Humans of Pogo, we're talking @Starlink.

We talked to 4,630 frequent flyers (over $5K annually) to see if Starli…

[Dom Wong @domwong]

Suno just raised $400M at a $5.4B valuation.

This week on Humans of Pogo, we went straight to the data - 3,743 real Suno subscribers, verified by linked card transactions - to see what's really behind the hype.

What we heard is that @suno has become something far bigger than an AI music generator.

For many subscribers, it’s the first time they’ve felt the shock of making something that sounds real.

“I got the chills. I started breathing a little heavy. I can’t believe I made something like this.”

For others, it has become even more personal: a way to preserve memories, finish old ideas, and bring something meaningful back to life.

One subscriber told us about using Suno to finish a song for a bandmate who had passed away years earlier:

“A friend of the band had passed away years ago and we had samples of her voice for a song that she never got to perform, and that allowed me to perform that song, finally.”

Congratulations to the Suno team for bringing the joy of music to millions - @MikeyShulman, @GeorgKucsko, @fut_ure, @jackdbrody, and their backers @daegwonchae, @amywumartin, @mignano, @antrod, @scottbelsky, @AravSrinivas, @natfriedman, @danielgross, @levie, @karpathy, @demi_guo_

Watch the full episode 👇

[Dom Wong @domwong]

🚀 Launching Humans of Pogo.

Everyone's got takes on the story of the day. We asked the people who actually bought the product.

3M+ verified buyers. $470B in real transactions. Just the truth behind the headlines while it’s still happening.

First episode drops tomorrow 👇

[Dom Wong @domwong]

ofi (Fortune 500 private label CPG) ran one Pogo study. The result?

Multi-million dollar impact.

ofi - the manufacturer behind many of the coffee, spices, and snack nuts in your cabinet - had a problem most CPGs share: they’re often blind to who their actual customers are.

Prior to Pogo, ofi had relied on a widely used survey platform to understand their shoppers, but had doubts about the data due to concerns about respondent quality and survey fraud.

Pogo gave them something different: the ability to talk directly to purchase-verified buyers of their products across retailers, within hours.

What came back was clear. The new pepper grinder design ofi had launched in stores wasn’t landing with early shoppers.

They caught it fast, redesigned the product, and avoided a much bigger problem, while solving their customer’s needs.

As Shannon Clayton, Head of Private Label Marketing at ofi, put it:

“With the receipt verification, we felt so much more confident in the data. I presented the information that came from the Pogo platform and we immediately made a business decision. That doesn’t usually happen. Ultimately, that’s going to lead to a multi-million dollar business impact for us.”

This is what happens when CPGs can finally hear from their actual customers.

Thank you to Shannon Clayton, John Carney and the ofi team - for trusting us early and pushing the platform in ways we didn’t even anticipate.

Curious what this could look like for your brand?

We’re offering free custom studies for a limited time.

Comment POGO and we’ll follow up. 👇

[Jonas @jonaasw1]

Today we're officially launching @thecollectiv3e.

Billion-dollar companies don’t come from ideas alone. They come from access to people and resources at the right time.

We’ve built The Collective to be a space for ambitious young people to supercharge their life’s work.

Over the last year, we've met thousands of the most talented young builders - people who are carving their own paths and aren't afraid to do things the unconventional way.

In the last 6 months alone:
- $15M+ raised by members
- $2M+ in revenue driven for members
- 5+ companies launched

Up until this point we've been 100% in person - we’ve never even had a group chat.

Today we're sharing the platform we've built to directly address pain points we keep hearing - hiring, finding co-founders, fundraising, distribution, and more.

Members will get access to:
- our talent pool + directory
- regular member-only events
- a private member portal + Slack
- warm intro concierge to partners
- $500K+ in perks (@stripe, @ElevenLabs, etc.)

Currently accepting:
- Founders (any stage)
- Top talent open to startup work
- Operators, creators, and freelancers
- Select investors

Come build with us.

[Omer Goldberg @omeragoldberg]

Lucky to see the product early, and it’s absolutely sick.

So many companies work tirelessly to connect and better understand their users; Pogo has solved this for large parts of the market.

One of the strongest product/AI teams I’ve met.

Congrats @domwong @ShikharMohan6!

[Ryan Tedder @RyanTedder]

This is amazing

[Dom Wong @domwong]

The dirty secret about consumer research? It’s overrun by fraud.

Survey bots. People lying to qualify for interviews.

Today, Pogo is launching the world’s only AI researcher that lets brands talk to verified buyers of any product - at scale, in hours.

Backed by $32M to date.

For 6 years, we’ve built the consumer network that makes research with real, verified buyers possible:

• 3M+ opted-in U.S. consumers
• Visibility into 1 in every 150 U.S. shopping trips
• $470B in observed transactions
• Ranked #1 Loyalty App in the U.S. by Newsweek, two years running

Watch the full story 👇

[Sophia Amoruso 3.0 @sophiaamoruso]

One of the few AI products I’ve seen recently that feels genuinely defensible. Congrats @domwong and the @joinpogo team. Proud angel investor!

[Austin Lee @theaustlee]

Finally sharing what we've been building for the last year!

We’re just getting started and I’m looking for designers to join us!!

If we hire someone you refer, we'll send you $5k

[Ashley Mayer @ashleymayer]

Squint and you can see it: Pogo is building Mercor for everyday Americans.

In six years, @domwong & team have never wavered from their founding belief that people have a right to earn from their own data. That network of 3M+ people combined with Pogo's AI researcher now enable some pretty amazing things.

Proud/lucky angel!

[shikhar @ShikharMohan6]

@domwong 👀

[shikhar @ShikharMohan6]

👀🚀

[Dom Wong @domwong]

big announcement tomorrow morning, 6.5 years in the making...

[shikhar @ShikharMohan6]

@zachrose51 https://t.co/7fF7fWk5He

[shikhar @ShikharMohan6]

@andreamichi depthfirst

[Nate @nathanael_smith]

Just shipped crit - visual qa for ios apps, built for coding agents.

capture screenshots from your ios app, pin feedback, and hand it off to your agent. agent gets passed annotated screenshots and comments via json - everything it needs to fix issues without guessing.

docs below! 👇

[Omer Goldberg @omeragoldberg]

State of things