In over a decade working with innovators, like Innocent, Skype and Zoopla, we learnt how to drive real change by doing things ‘on the inside’ that inspire the business to move in a new direction.

Here are some of the business problems we've helped with recently:
“Our business is growing strongly, but we’ve got a bad feeling about the future. Can you help us figure out why, and what to do about it?”
“Regulatory changes have forced us into a merger. But I think there’s more potential, to really change the industry and make a difference for customers. Can you help?”
“It’s finally time to do something about digital. We know the answer isn’t to just get an app, but we don’t know what it is. Can you help us figure it out?”
“We’ve spent 8 years developing groundbreaking technology but the b2b route to market isn’t working. Can you help us figure out what to do?”
“Our growth is plateauing. We need to do something new, but what should it be? A new product, new customers, new regions?”

What we actually do to solve those problems can be quite hard to explain, because we don't have fixed products to sell. We don’t know what the solution might be when we start, but we know it will be the right one for your business because we work hard to intimately understand the needs of the user; whether that be a customer, client or employee.

So for Just, who needed to turn a forced merger into a category reinvention, we created a social purpose and a team of employee champions. For Ada, who needed to pivot from b2b tech provider to global healthcare business, we created a new brand and product. For Compare the Market, who needed to figure out why they couldn't deliver anything, we created an innovation lab to model new ways of working.

We bring together a small, agile team (made up of Albion people and our clients) to start to solve the problem we’ve aligned around. Depending on the problem, we’ll bring together the right smart people.

We have the best strategists who are learning from industry and market insights. We have the best creatives who are always looking to be brave and bold. We have the best communicators who relish creating a narrative that people believe in. And, we have the best product designers who want to innovate. Above all else, everyone wants to solve a problem that benefits either people, customers and society. If we can do all three, then that’s even more satisfying.

We look for existing changemakers, existing pockets of new behaviors. The best new product ideas are the ones your smart people have already had.

We’re good at starting things. We think big, start small and scale fast. Rather than spend ages in planning, we want to get experiments going as soon as possible with maybe just one corner of your business. That’s the best way to learn really quickly, and then extend to 3 more teams, then 30.

This approach means; 1) we’re more cost effective than larger consultancies that will try to sell you something off the shelf, 2) we deliver something that’s working quickly to help you satisfy internal stakeholders rather than wasting your money on PowerPoint decks (unless that’s what you need!), 3) our style of working means we’re building your capability to do stuff for yourself in the future.

The Startup Kitchen is a charity, founded and supported by KBS Albion, that pairs ambitious young founders with proven successful entrepreneurs, advisors and business experts for 1-1 mentoring and masterclasses.