People First
People First Consultants P Ltd is a Chennai-headquartered, 28-year-old HR consulting firm offering end-to-end talent hiring, leadership development, executive coaching, and proprietary assessment tools (InStrengths Profiling, Insight Cards) to enterprise clients across 22+ industries globally, with quote-based multi-year contracts.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1995
- HeadquartersChennai, India
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What People First does
People First Consultants P Ltd is a Chennai-headquartered HR consulting firm founded in 1995 by Arul Dev and Uma Narayanan. The company operates two integrated business lines: (1) People Hiring — end-to-end recruitment across 22+ industry verticals including IT, BFSI, Pharmaceutical, Aerospace, Automotive, FMCG, Legal, and Investment Banking — encompassing JD crafting, multi-sourcing, holistic validation, strength assessments, interview follow-ups, reference checks, and onboarding support; and (2) People and Organization Development — customized leadership development, executive/group/life coaching, succession planning, organizational culture building, and facilitator-led retreats. The firm also offers proprietary assessment and coaching IP including the InStrengths Profiling Tool, InStrengths Insight Cards (60-card deck plus iOS/Android apps), the Integral Inner Presence Framework, the Workstyle Orientations Framework, and the Coaching with Depth Methodology — the latter now extended into a coach-training curriculum with Foundation and Mastery courses delivered in conjunction with IIT Madras.
The firm serves enterprise clients through direct, relationship-based consulting engagements with quote-based, customized pricing under multi-year contracts, supplemented by productized revenue from InStrengths Insight Cards (one-time license for the physical deck; app is complimentary) and recurring access to the InStrengths profiling tool via beingadvantage.com. Distribution is direct-to-client with no intermediary channel partners; marketing is primarily organic social (LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram), content marketing via website case studies, and a referral network built over 28 years. The candidate zone (iSmart database) serves as a mid-funnel asset for talent acquisition.
The firm is privately held, founder-owned, with no disclosed external funding, parent company, or subsidiaries. It employs 30+ senior consultants and claims 200+ client relationships and 12,000+ careers shaped cumulatively. There is no public revenue disclosure and no AI/ML capabilities are evidenced in the proprietary technology stack, which is built on copyrighted human-assessment frameworks rather than machine learning systems.
People First firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- People First
- Legal name
- People First Consultants P Ltd
- Website
- https://peoplefirst.co.in
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1995
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- People First Consultants P Ltd is a Chennai-headquartered, 28-year-old HR consulting firm offering end-to-end talent hiring, leadership development, executive coaching, and proprietary assessment tools (InStrengths Profiling, Insight Cards) to enterprise clients across 22+ industries globally, with quote-based multi-year contracts.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
People First industry classification
Industry- Product category
- HR Consulting Services
- NAICS
- Human Resources Consulting Services (541612), Employment Placement Agencies (561311)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Employment Agencies (7361)
- akta.pro primary industry
- People Analytics, Assessment & Psychometrics Consulting (BPAHAGAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry) (BPACAFAA), People Analytics & Workforce Planning (BPACAPAK)
Keywords
Where People First is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chennai
- HQ country
- India
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
People First business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- People Hiring Services: End-to-end recruitment and talent acquisition services including JD crafting, multi-sourcing, holistic validation, strength assessments, interview follow-ups, reference checks, and onboarding support. Revenue generated through professional consulting fees for talent placement.
- Coaching Services: Executive/Leadership Coaching, Group/Team Coaching, Life/Transformation Coaching, Career and Parenting Coaching. Services offered as on-demand and structured programs delivered through individual sessions, group sessions, and retreats.
- Training and Development Programs: Customized experiential facilitations, training workshops, retreats, and development journeys for behavioral, attitude, purpose, culture, leadership and organizational development.
- InStrengths Profiling Tool Access: Access to the InStrengths profiling tool for team profiling, coaching, training, and developmental interventions. Revenue from tool administration and interpretation reports.
- InStrengths Insight Cards: Sale of 60-card physical deck and app access for individual and team profiling and inner strengths coaching.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom Professional Services |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
People First product offering
Product offeringCore offering
People First is an HR consulting firm offering end-to-end people hiring (executive search, lateral hiring, succession planning) and people and organization development (leadership development, coaching, culture building, organizational transformation) services. They leverage proprietary copyrighted tools including the InStrengths Profiling Tool, InStrengths Insight Cards (physical and app), Coaching with Depth Framework, Workstyle Orientations Framework, and Integral Inner Presence Framework to deliver assessments, coaching, workshops, retreats, and recruitment projects across 22+ industries.
Product overview
People First is a 27-28 year old HR consulting company offering a unified portfolio of talent hiring and people development services. The core offerings consist of People Hiring (end-to-end recruitment across 22+ industries), People and Organization Development (training, coaching, culture development), and proprietary tools including the InStrengths Profiling Tool and InStrengths Insight Cards for self-awareness and team profiling. Additional offerings include Leadership Development Programs, Succession Hiring, Organization Development and Culture services, and the Coaching with Depth Framework with certified coach training courses. The company operates primarily as a consulting services firm with proprietary assessment tools accessible through its beingadvantage.com platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- InStrengths: Profiling and self-awareness tool - InStrengths Profiling Tool and InStrengths Insight Cards for individual, team profiling, and inner strengths coaching
- Being Advantage
- Coaching with Depth
Products and services
- People Hiring Services End-to-end talent acquisition services including market mapping, multi-sourcing, holistic validation, strength assessments, interview follow-ups, reference checks, and onboarding support across industries and geographies for enterprise clients.
- People and Organization Development Customized developmental interventions including workshops, coaching, retreats, training programs, and experiential learning journeys for leadership, culture, and organizational development for enterprise clients.
- Leadership Development Programs Comprehensive leadership development solutions including coaching, facilitated workshops, and retreats focused on internalizing vision, strategic planning, breakthrough achievement, and collective synergy for enterprise leaders and leadership teams.
- Succession Hiring Services Strategic succession planning services including identifying critical roles, crafting ideal successor requirements, designing selection processes, and developmental strategies for leadership continuity.
- Organization Development and Culture Culture-building solutions using custom-curated assessments, focus group pulse sessions, facilitated retreats, workshops, and coaching sessions to nurture organizational culture and integration.
- Coaching and Coach Training Services Coaching services including Executive/Leadership Coaching, Group/Team Coaching, Life/Transformation Coaching, Career and Parenting Coaching, alongside coach training programs built on the Coaching with Depth Framework (Foundation and Mastery courses).
- InStrengths Profiling Tool A self-awareness and self-accessing profiling tool that helps individuals understand their inner presence across eight parts of being, including thinking process, emotional states, internal sense of power, degree of joy, and state of well-being, used for team profiling, coaching, training, and developmental interventions.
- InStrengths Insight Cards A deck of 60 inner resource cards designed as a DIY toolkit to explore, discover, and connect with inner strengths, available in both physical copy and app forms (Android & iOS) for individual and team profiling and coaching.
Quantifiable outcome
- 1 hire per 5-8 profiles sent for clients, demonstrating high candidate quality and fitment accuracy
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use People First
Customer profileNamed customers15 records
Segments8 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
People First technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
People First partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Infosys BPOnotableRecognized by Infosys BPO with the Top Performance Award for outstanding lateral hiring support during 2010-2011. This partnership milestone reflects People First's enduring commitment to excellence and partnership in talent acquisition for Infosys BPO.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
People First competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Heidrick & Struggles: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm serving MNCs across industries. Closely comparable on the recruitment and senior leadership advisory side, with overlapping BFSI and industrial client profiles.
- SHL: Global leader in psychometric assessment and people analytics for hiring and development. Directly comparable to People First's InStrengths Profiling Tool and Insight Cards assessment IP, though at much larger scale and with deeper validation.
- Korn Ferry: Global organizational consulting firm combining executive search, leadership development, and proprietary assessment tools (e.g., KF Advance, Voice assessments). Most direct comparable given People First's parallel mix of permanent placement, leadership development, and assessment IP.
- Egon Zehnder: Executive search and leadership advisory firm with proprietary assessment methodology and a strong culture/values-based consulting practice. Highly comparable in the assessment-led, purpose-driven positioning People First emphasizes.
- Spencer Stuart: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm with deep industry verticals and proprietary board/executive assessment tools. Directly comparable on enterprise hiring and leadership consulting services.
- Hogan Assessments: Provider of validated personality and leadership assessment tools widely used in executive coaching and selection. Comparable on the personality/psychometrics and leadership development overlap, with stronger third-party validation.
Emerging players
- BetterUp: Tech-enabled coaching and leadership development platform with proprietary AI-driven assessments. Overlaps with People First's Coaching with Depth and InStrengths coaching applications, but with a fundamentally different scalable, productized delivery model.
- CoachHub: Digital coaching platform combining proprietary AI matching with leadership development. Comparable to People First's coaching and leadership development offerings, particularly in serving MNC enterprise clients globally.
Regional players
- PeopleStrong: India-based HR technology and talent management platform offering recruitment, learning, and performance solutions. Comparable as an India-headquartered HR services peer, though operating more as HR tech vendor than bespoke consulting.
- ABC Consultants: One of India's largest executive search firms with multi-industry coverage. Closest India-based direct competitor to People First's permanent placement business across BFSI, IT, Pharma, and Manufacturing verticals.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
People First social profiles
Digital presencePeople First financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
People First leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
People First funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
People First 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 People First
What does People First do?
People First is an HR consulting firm offering end-to-end people hiring (executive search, lateral hiring, succession planning) and people and organization development (leadership development, coaching, culture building, organizational transformation) services. They leverage proprietary copyrighted tools including the InStrengths Profiling Tool, InStrengths Insight Cards (physical and app), Coaching with Depth Framework, Workstyle Orientations Framework, and Integral Inner Presence Framework to deliver assessments, coaching, workshops, retreats, and recruitment projects across 22+ industries.
Is People First a public or private company?
People First is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was People First founded?
People First was founded in 1995. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is People First based?
People First is headquartered in Chennai, India, in the Asia region.
How does People First make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. People Hiring Services are the primary driver. The others are coaching Services, training and Development Programs, inStrengths Profiling Tool Access and inStrengths Insight Cards.
Who are People First's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Heidrick & Struggles, SHL, Korn Ferry, Egon Zehnder, Spencer Stuart and Hogan Assessments. Emerging players are BetterUp and CoachHub. Regional players are PeopleStrong and ABC Consultants.
Does People First have an API?
No public API is recorded for People First.
What industry is People First in?
People First's product category is HR Consulting Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAGAH, People Analytics, Assessment & Psychometrics Consulting, with a secondary code of BPACAFAA, General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry). Its NAICS code is 541612 and its SIC code is 8742.