Traditional agencies and Big Consulting firms operate a payroll model, i.e., they have a set number of employed consultants on their books, paid monthly to work on projects and business development. Payroll models are great at replicating existing processes and proven frameworks – e.g., running a quantitative panel or a commercial due diligence process. They can also be a pretty lucrative business model, provided that the projects sold are replicated enough times. But when it comes to innovation and strategy, traditional models can actually be bad news. Access to talent and skills is limited by whoever is on the books. Running profitable projects often means replicating existing thinking and stretching senior, experienced consultants thin. All of those dynamics tend lead to projects that are run efficiently – but with limited strategic impact or original thinking. In an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, those traditional models fail to deliver the intricate and original strategies that businesses need to stand out. So after decades of experience in large and traditional outfits, we wanted to find a way to unleash the power of expertise and provide services that could truly help our clients reach their growth ambition. That’s why we’ve created our hybrid model: part agency, part independent network. It allows us to supercharge our teams with the specialized independent talent needed to make the difference, self-select for entrepreneurial types and encourages original thinking – while our agency staff makes sure that we can match the delivery impact of big consulting firms.

No. We are part agency, part network. This hybrid model enables us to identify the right blueprint and assemble the right individuals for every challenge. The agency part provides the structure required to deliver projects successfully, manage senior stakeholders and ensure we apply the correct talent and blueprint to every challenge. The network part provides the real-life expertise of entrepreneurs, the deep sector-expertise and the originality required to make the difference. Knowing who to bring in, why and how is our special sauce.

There’s two elements to that. First, our agency staff is comprised of experienced program managers and consultants. They are consulting experts who know what it takes to deliver on time, on budget, with senior stakeholder alignment. We have created a consulting toolkit to ensure results, efficiency and precision. Second, our independent talent pool – the experts and the entrepreneurs who supercharge insights and experience on our projects – do not need a full-time contract to be deeply committed to delivering results. We like to say that independents and entrepreneurs are only as good as their last fight. Their reputation is a critical asset and delivering flawless results is in their DNA.

Yes. We do take part in ‘pitch’ processes and very happily respond to RFPs, so long as they are in our capabilities sweet spot. UNPITCHD translates our willingness to become "the leading antidote and alternative to Big Consulting", in the words of one of our clients. Decades of combined experience agency and client-side have also shown us that pitch processes are not the best starting points to consulting projects. Depending on your challenge, we’d rather invest our resources into a free, rapid diagnosis ‘project’ (a short burst of deep research for 1-3 days) that will drive clarity and alignment than respond to an RFP. Get in touch if that is of interest.

Of course! Consult the Community page of our website for details on how to join our events and access our free resources.

Why yes, shrewdly observed. Thanks for reading.