according to tempo newspaper, lsi was founded in 2005 by denny ja. before founding lsi, denny founded lembaga survei indonesia and served as its director. denny ja founded lingkaran survei indonesia as a statement that a survey and consultancy institution can be profitable. the swa sembada magazine wrote that denny wished to build an institution not only focusing on committing political survey but can also perform political consultancy. armed with the experience of securing the victory for the team that made susilo bambang yudhoyono's claim to presidency possible in 2004, denny ja founded lsi with the focus of doing political surveys as well as providing political consultancy for political parties and candidates.