It's top secret, Jason Cyr said.
Microsoft will issue a press release in two weeks, confirmed the owner of information technology company.
"We were in contact with Microsoft to help with an initiative they are doing in the fall," Cyr said.
A year ago, Cyr, Mark Nickson and Gesvyn Tjandra set up Tristorm Product Design, a Squamish-based technology company. With an employee base that has grown from six to 17, including contractors and interns, the company has been focusing its efforts on its marketing research application called Tiipz.com. Without giving the secret away, it looks like Tiipz.com has caught a big fish.
Tiipz invites customers to answer a wide variety of fast online social media questions about business and services a.k.a. "micropinions." In turn, the participants are encouraged to provide information for Tiipz point incentives: tokens that can be redeemed for anything from product discounts to free merchandise.
The lure for business is the application provides immediate, easy-to-understand results, Cyr said, plus an understanding of the demographic it serves. What Tristorm has discovered is that people want to form relationships with products and companies they use, Cyr said, noting Coca-Cola has 35 million followers on Facebook.
"What we are trying to do is use social media and mobile technology to turn market research on its head," he said.
Setting up shop in Squamish has helped propel Tristorm forward, Cyr said. The District of Squamish, local businesses and the community in general have been quite supportive of the company, Cyr said. If Tristorm had opened in a larger municipality, Cyr said, he doubts it would have received the same level of backing.
The company will likely not immediately expand as a result of the Microsoft deal, he noted, but the news does help with evolving projects.
"We are extremely excited," Cyr said.
