Sideways 6
Sideways 6 is a London-based SaaS provider of AI-powered idea management software for enterprises, integrated with Microsoft Teams and intranets to capture, evaluate, and implement employee ideas at scale. Customers include British Airways, M&S, Nestlé, Balfour Beatty, and Diageo.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Sideways 6 does
Sideways 6 is a London-headquartered SaaS provider of AI-powered idea management software for mid-to-large enterprises. The platform enables organisations to capture, evaluate, prioritise, and implement employee ideas, with native integrations into Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva Engage, Workplace from Meta, and Interact Intranet that let employees submit and engage with ideas inside the tools they already use. The core product combines workflow tooling, AI-based idea quality enhancement ('Improve with AI'), automated deduplication ('AI-Detected Similar Ideas'), and two analytics dashboards (Business Impact Dashboard for ROI/cost-savings/sustainability tracking, and Engagement Dashboard for participation metrics).
The business model is enterprise SaaS subscription with annual contracts and customised pricing, complemented by a freemium Lite tier (free up to 10 users; $3/user/month up to 500) and professional services revenue from implementation and campaign design (typical 3–6 week onboarding). Distribution is multi-channel: direct enterprise sales with 30-minute demos, Microsoft marketplace listings (AppSource, Teams Store, Azure Marketplace), and integration partnerships (most notably with parent Interact Software). The customer base is concentrated in verticals with distributed or frontline workforces — retail (Marks & Spencer, Primark, Currys), built environment (Balfour Beatty), travel/transportation (British Airways, Avanti West Coast, Virgin Trains), food & beverage (Nestlé, Diageo), pharmaceuticals (AstraZeneca), utilities (Centrica) and telecommunications (Vodafone). Reported platform-level outcomes include 4 million engaged employees, $500M+ in cumulative customer savings, 7–15x first-year ROI and a 4-month payback.
Sideways 6 was founded in 2014, received a $624k round from 24 Haymarket in April 2017, and was acquired by Interact Software in April 2023, after which it has continued operating as a brand within Interact's employee engagement suite. Headcount is in the 11–50 range; revenue is not publicly disclosed. Leadership includes CEO Will Read and Chief Delivery and Product Officer Tashya Sendanayake. The company holds Microsoft 365 Certification, is GDPR-compliant, and was named a Gartner Peer Insights 'Voice of the Customer' vendor (2023) and a G2 Spring 2023 #1 across six idea-management categories.
Sideways 6 firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sideways 6
- Legal name
- Sideways 6
- Website
- https://sideways6.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Sideways 6 is a London-based SaaS provider of AI-powered idea management software for enterprises, integrated with Microsoft Teams and intranets to capture, evaluate, and implement employee ideas at scale. Customers include British Airways, M&S, Nestlé, Balfour Beatty, and Diageo.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sideways 6 industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Innovation Management Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Enterprise Work Management & Collaborative Workflow Platforms (HDAEAHAI)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ)
Keywords
Where Sideways 6 is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Sideways 6 business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription - Enterprise: Enterprise tier subscription model providing full platform access with advanced features, dedicated support, and custom configuration. Includes Business Impact Dashboard and enterprise integrations.
- SaaS Subscription - Lite: Free tier for up to 10 users, and $3 per month per user for up to 500 users. Provides basic idea management functionality within Microsoft Teams.
- Professional Services: Implementation, configuration, and consulting services for enterprise customers including campaign design, platform setup, and rollout support. Enterprise onboarding takes 3-6 weeks.
- Enhanced Support Services: Premium customer support services beyond standard business hours support, sold separately at additional cost.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Lite - Free for small teams |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise - Full platform access |
| Subscription | Annual | Subscription term and renewal |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Sideways 6 product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sideways 6 provides an AI-powered idea management software platform that enables enterprise organizations to capture, evaluate, collaborate on, and implement employee-submitted ideas. The platform integrates natively with Microsoft Teams and major enterprise intranets (Viva Engage, Workplace from Meta, Interact Intranet), allowing employees to contribute ideas within their existing daily workflows. It includes AI-driven idea enhancement and duplicate detection plus built-in business impact analytics tracking cost savings, revenue, engagement, and sustainability outcomes from implemented ideas.
Product overview
Sideways 6 is an all-in-one idea management software platform with AI-powered capabilities. The core product consists of the main Sideways 6 Platform for enterprise idea management, with specialized components including the Ideas Lite app for Microsoft Teams (free tier for small teams), the Ideas by Sideways 6 Teams application (native integration), and AI enhancement features ('Improve with AI' and AI-detected Similar Ideas). The platform includes two analytics dashboards: the Business Impact Dashboard for tracking ROI, cost savings, and sustainability metrics, and the Engagement Dashboard for monitoring participation and interaction. Sideways 6 was acquired by Interact Software in April 2023 and now operates as part of Interact's employee engagement suite.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ideas by Sideways 6: The AI-powered idea management app for Microsoft Teams, featuring AI-enhanced functionalities for idea submission, collaboration, and quality enhancement.
- Ideas Lite
- Business Impact Dashboard
- Ideas from Anywhere™
Products and services
- Sideways 6 Enterprise Platform Enterprise SaaS platform for capturing, managing, evaluating, and implementing employee ideas across large organizations; integrates with Microsoft Teams, Viva Engage, Workplace from Meta, and Interact Intranet; includes AI-powered idea enhancement, duplicate detection, and business impact analytics dashboards. Targeted at mid-market and enterprise customers across retail, travel, built environment, and utilities sectors.
- Ideas by Sideways 6 for Microsoft Teams Native Microsoft Teams application that lets employees submit, comment on, vote for, and track ideas directly within Teams. Available in a free Ideas Lite tier for smaller organizations and paid tiers for larger deployments; available through Microsoft AppSource and the Teams App Store.
- Professional Services Implementation, configuration, change management, training, and consulting services to help enterprise customers deploy and drive adoption of the Sideways 6 idea management platform.
Quantifiable outcome
- 4 million+ engaged employees
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use Sideways 6
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Sideways 6 technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
AI capability3 records
Feature5 records
Sideways 6 partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor, flagship and core.
- Avanti West CoastminorCustomer engagement: Avanti West Coast launched 'Ignite a Change' employee suggestion program using Sideways 6's AI-powered platform. Sideways 6 provides cloud-based technology integrating with existing Avanti West Coast tools for capturing, reviewing, and acting on staff suggestions.
- MicrosoftflagshipDeep integration partnership with Microsoft for Teams, Viva Engage, AppSource, and Azure Marketplace. Sideways 6 Ideas app with AI-enhanced functionalities available on Microsoft AppSource and Teams Store. Sideways 6 is a signatory of the Microsoft Partner Pledge committing to talent development, equality & diversity and sustainability.
- WhitespacecoreCollaboration agreement with Whitespace, innovation specialists driving growth through technology. Partnership focuses on enhancing platform user experience and unlocking potential of digital retail innovation. Whitespace develops digital innovation strategies, design and build technology IP for organizations including GlaxoSmithKline, Shell, IBM, and Pfizer.
- Interact SoftwareflagshipAcquire relationship: Interact Software, a leading intranet solution provider, acquired Sideways 6 to integrate idea management as standard intranet components. Acquisition enables seamless integrated idea management within Interact's enterprise intranet suite serving customers like Domino's, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Levi's, and Sony PlayStation across North America and EMEA.
- Interact IntranetcoreIntegration partnership with Interact Intranet software for seamless idea management within enterprise intranet platforms. Allows employees to engage with ideas programs directly through existing intranet interface.
- Workplace from MetacoreIntegration with Workplace from Meta enabling idea management through Workplace channels and bots. Extends platform reach to organizations using Workplace for internal communications.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Sideways 6 competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Miro: Miro is a collaborative whiteboard platform increasingly used for brainstorming and idea capture; while not a dedicated idea management suite, it is often evaluated alongside purpose-built tools like Sideways 6 for ideation workflows.
- Wazoku Crowd Intelligence: Wazoku provides crowdsourced innovation and idea management software to enterprises including challenges, idea campaigns, and innovation reporting - a comparable niche player competing for similar enterprise innovation budgets.
- Qmarkets: Qmarkets offers enterprise idea and innovation management software with strong presence in EMEA, including gamification, crowdsourcing, and collaborative idea evaluation workflows - a comparable niche vendor in the same space.
Direct peers
- HYPE Innovation: HYPE Innovation offers an enterprise idea and innovation management suite including crowdsourcing, idea evaluation, and program management - a direct peer serving the same enterprise innovation buyer.
- Brightidea: Brightidea is one of the largest dedicated enterprise idea and innovation management platforms, offering idea crowdsourcing, innovation programs, and challenge-based tooling to large enterprises - a direct competitor to Sideways 6 across the same customer profile and use case.
- Viima: Viima is an idea management software vendor with freemium and enterprise tiers, focusing on collaborative innovation and idea campaigns for mid-market and enterprise customers - directly comparable to Sideways 6's Lite/Enterprise hybrid model.
- Planview Innovation (formerly Spigit): Planview Innovation (Spigit) is an enterprise innovation management platform competing in the same category with idea management, innovation programs, and portfolio-level reporting for large global enterprises.
- IdeaScale: IdeaScale provides enterprise crowdsourced idea management software with structured campaigns, evaluation workflows, and integrations with collaboration suites - directly comparable to Sideways 6's idea collection, review, and implementation tracking offering.
Broad incumbents
- Monday.com: Monday.com is a broad work management and collaboration platform that enterprise customers sometimes use (via custom boards/apps) to replicate idea management workflows, making it a competing incumbent for IT budget allocation.
- Microsoft Viva: Microsoft Viva is Microsoft's employee experience platform that includes engagement, communities, and knowledge-sharing modules that overlap conceptually with idea management, making it both a powerful integration partner and a potential competitive incumbent for Sideways 6.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Sideways 6 social profiles
Digital presenceSideways 6 compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Sideways 6 financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sideways 6 leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Sideways 6 funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sideways 6 M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Sideways 6
What does Sideways 6 do?
Sideways 6 provides an AI-powered idea management software platform that enables enterprise organizations to capture, evaluate, collaborate on, and implement employee-submitted ideas. The platform integrates natively with Microsoft Teams and major enterprise intranets (Viva Engage, Workplace from Meta, Interact Intranet), allowing employees to contribute ideas within their existing daily workflows. It includes AI-driven idea enhancement and duplicate detection plus built-in business impact analytics tracking cost savings, revenue, engagement, and sustainability outcomes from implemented ideas.
Is Sideways 6 a public or private company?
Sideways 6 is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Sideways 6 founded?
Sideways 6 was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Sideways 6 based?
Sideways 6 is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Sideways 6 make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. SaaS Subscription - Enterprise is the primary driver. The others are saaS Subscription - Lite, professional Services and enhanced Support Services.
Who are Sideways 6's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Miro, Wazoku Crowd Intelligence and Qmarkets. Direct peers are HYPE Innovation, Brightidea, Viima, Planview Innovation (formerly Spigit) and IdeaScale. Broad incumbents are Monday.com and Microsoft Viva.
Does Sideways 6 have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sideways 6.
What industry is Sideways 6 in?
Sideways 6's product category is Innovation Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAHAI, Enterprise Work Management & Collaborative Workflow Platforms, with a secondary code of HDAEANAJ, AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.