Brainmates

What Brainmates does

Brainmates Pty Ltd is an Australian product management and product marketing consultancy headquartered in Sydney, founded in 2004 by Adrienne Tan and Nick Coster as the first dedicated product management firm in the ANZ region. It sells a portfolio of professional services built around proprietary IP — the Brainmates Product Management Framework, the Brainmates Capability Framework (a 2x2 covering 24 capabilities across strategy, execution, market focus, and solution development), and the Product Operating Model methodology — plus the Product Capability Self-Assessment Framework, Organisational Maturity Assessments, and discovery sprints delivered as consulting engagements.

Monetisation is multi-stream professional services: enterprise consulting and advisory (organisational maturity assessments, operating model design, capability uplift, 4–6 week discovery sprints), structured training programs (eight public/private courses including the flagship 3-day Essentials of Product Management, AI Masterclass, Product Strategy Program, Product Opportunity Assessment, Financial Fundamentals, Commercial Acumen, Customer Interviewing & Insights, and Product Thinking, priced from A$949 to A$3,200 per seat), flexible coaching and contracting services, and the annual Leading the Product conference. The go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales across Australia and New Zealand, supported by digital content, the self-assessment tool as a top-of-funnel asset, and community leadership. Customers span government (Standards Australia, Transport for NSW), banking and financial services (Commonwealth Bank, Cuscal), retail (Woolworths, One Stop), media (Foxtel), real estate (Lendlease), energy (Alinta Energy), technology (Airtasker, Seeing Machines, Smokeball), gambling (Tabcorp), and nonprofit (Compassion), with the company stating 40%+ of the ASX 100 trust its frameworks.

The business is privately held by the co-founders with no institutional capital, a headcount of 11–50, and a 2026 co-branded research partnership with AWS on the ANZ Product Leadership Pulse study.

Name

Brainmates

Legal name

Brainmates Pty Ltd

Website

https://brainmates.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Brainmates is an Australian product management consultancy selling proprietary frameworks, enterprise consulting, training, coaching, and the Leading the Product conference to large organisations across Australia and New Zealand.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Product Management Consulting & Training

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Product Management (Core) (EDABAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sponsorship, Exhibitor & Partnership Management Services (THAHACAK)

Keywords

• Product management consulting
• Product capability assessment
• Product training courses
• Product operating model
• Organisational maturity assessment

Headquarters

HQ city

Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Training Courses: Public and private training programs including Essentials of Product Management (3-day course), Product Thinking, Product Strategy Program, Product Opportunity Assessment, Financial Fundamentals, Commercial Acumen, Customer Interviewing & Insights, and AI Masterclass. Delivered live online or in-person.
2. Consulting & Advisory Services: Strategic consulting engagements including organisational maturity assessments, product strategy and leadership advisory, capability uplift programs, and product operating model design and implementation.
3. Coaching Services: Flexible coaching services embedding experienced product coaches within teams or offering structured coaching programs for individuals and leaders.
4. Contracting: On-demand product management expertise to fill short-term gaps or augment capability with product managers and leaders backed by Brainmates frameworks.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Brainmates provides product management consulting, training, and coaching services to medium and large organisations across Australia and New Zealand. Core offerings include Organisational Maturity Assessments, Product Operating Model design, Capability Uplift programs, Product Strategy & Discovery Sprints, and a portfolio of live training courses (Essentials of Product Management, AI Masterclass, Product Thinking, Product Strategy, Product Opportunity Assessment, Financial Fundamentals, Commercial Acumen, Customer Interviewing & Insights). The firm also offers flexible coaching and on-demand contracting services backed by its proprietary Brainmates Product Management Framework, Capability Framework, and Product Operating Model methodology.

Product overview

Brainmates offers a portfolio of product management consulting services and training programs. The core offerings include the Product Capability Assessment framework (an online self-assessment tool for individual product managers evaluating 24 capabilities), the Organisational Maturity Assessment for evaluating product function maturity, and the Product Operating Model consulting service that designs tailored operating frameworks for organisations. These are complemented by Product Training & Courses including the flagship 3-day Essentials of Product Management, AI Masterclass, Product Thinking, Product Strategy Program, Product Opportunity Assessment, Financial Fundamentals, Commercial Acumen, and Customer Interviewing & Insights courses. Supporting services include Coaching, Contracting, and Product Strategy & Discovery Sprints. The company also organises the annual Leading the Product Conference.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Product Capability Assessment A free online self-assessment framework that helps individual product managers and leaders understand their strengths and development areas across 24 core product capabilities, taking 45-60 minutes to complete.
• Organisational Maturity Assessment A diagnostic assessment service that evaluates a product function's processes, culture, structure, and leadership to uncover capability gaps and provide a maturity baseline.
• Product Operating Model A customised framework that defines how product teams work, including team principles, lifecycle stages, roles and responsibilities, operating cadence, and practical playbooks for organisations.
• Product Strategy & Leadership Consulting and advisory services that partner with product leaders and executives to sharpen strategy, drive alignment, and improve leadership effectiveness.
• Capability Uplift Programs designed to build consistency, clarity, and confidence across product organisations by defining capabilities, designing learning pathways, and supporting team development.
• Product Strategy & Discovery Sprints 4-6 week focused sprints that help teams shape strategy, drive discovery, and accelerate decision-making with expert product thinking support.
• Coaching Flexible coaching services embedding experienced product coaches within teams or offering structured coaching programs for individuals and leaders.
• Contracting On-demand product expertise through a trusted team of product managers and leaders to fill short-term gaps or augment capability.
• Essentials of Product Management A 3-day live online foundational course building core product management skills with the Brainmates Product Management Framework, leading to Brainmates Certification.
• AI Masterclass A private, hands-on workshop series for Product teams that explores how AI can enhance real product work, tailored to environment, challenges and goals.
• Product Thinking An interactive private course equipping designers, engineers, delivery managers, and cross-functional partners to apply product thinking, uncover customer problems, and validate opportunities.
• Product Strategy Program An intensive private program across four immersive workshops helping product teams think clearly, make sharper strategic choices, and communicate strategy effectively.
• Product Opportunity Assessment A 1-day intensive course helping product teams assess market opportunities and drive confident investment decisions using the Brainmates Opportunity Canvas.
• Financial Fundamentals A 1-day course building financial fluency to help product teams understand profit generation, assess financial performance, and make informed investment decisions.
• Commercial Acumen A 1-day course helping product teams build commercial confidence through frameworks covering market positioning, revenue models, value exchange, and operational efficiency.
• Customer Interviewing & Insights An 8-week learning program empowering teams to design impactful research, execute effective customer interviews, and transform findings into actionable insights.

Quantifiable outcome

• 34% increase in product launch success rates with strong product management practices
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint initiative on the 2026 ANZ Product Leadership Pulse research study examining AI and the evolving role of Product Managers. Collaboration between Brainmates and AWS to produce industry research.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Product School: Global product management training and certification provider offering courses, conferences (ProductCon), and corporate training. Direct competitor to Brainmates' training and conference business, with the scale advantage of a global footprint versus Brainmates' ANZ focus.
• Mind the Product: Global product management community and content platform running flagship events (Mind the Product conferences), workshops, and content. Closely comparable to Brainmates' Leading the Product conference and training portfolio, though operating at larger global scale.
• Reforge: Premium product, growth, and engineering leadership development programs for senior practitioners at tech companies. Comparable to Brainmates' capability uplift and coaching offerings, particularly for senior product leaders, though Reforge targets a more tech-centric global audience.
• 280 Group: US-based product management and product marketing consulting firm offering assessments, training, and advisory services. Closely aligned with Brainmates' consulting, Product Operating Model, and capability framework offerings, with similar methodology-led positioning.
• Roman Pichler Consulting: Independent product management consultancy offering training, workshops, and advisory services based on proprietary frameworks (e.g., product vision board, product strategy). Closely comparable as a methodology-driven, founder-led PM consultancy serving enterprise clients.

Broad incumbents

• ProductPlan: Established product management platform combining software (roadmapping tool) with content, training, and community. Comparable as a broader PM enablement player where training is part of a wider product portfolio, contrasting with Brainmates' services-only model.
• Aha!: Product development software company offering roadmapping, strategy, and ideas portals with embedded product management best-practice content and training. Adjacent competitor for PM training and operating model adoption, but anchored in software rather than consulting.
• Pendo: Large product experience platform offering analytics, feedback, and guidance software for product teams. Comparable at the broad PM enablement category level, with training and best-practice content layered on top of its enterprise software footprint.

Emerging players

• ProdPad: Product management software platform with a strong content and training dimension aimed at helping teams adopt modern product practices. Comparable on the training and methodology side, though rooted in software rather than professional services.
• Kickstart Labs: APAC-focused product management training and consulting firm offering certifications and corporate programs. Regional competitor to Brainmates within Australia and New Zealand, with a more course-centric rather than operating-model-centric positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/brainmates
• Facebookfacebook.com/brainmates
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/brainmates
• Xx.com/brainmates

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Brainmates