What verynice does

verynice is a collaborative design strategy practice founded in 2008 and headquartered in Los Angeles, operating as a for-profit social enterprise. The firm provides consulting services in brand strategy, user experience design, and strategic foresight to businesses, nonprofits, healthcare providers, and government agencies, with a stated commitment to give half of its services away for free or at steep discounts to resource-constrained organizations. Client engagements are delivered by a small core team of 11-50 employees drawing on a curated network of more than 1,000 global collaborators, and since founding the firm reports work with 850+ organizations including Apple, Google, American Heart Association, UNICEF, Disney Imagineering, REI, and Sutter Health.

The company's product surface spans two distinct lines. The first is a traditional professional-services engagement model covering short- and long-term consulting, workshops, and training programs billed on a sliding scale (pro-bono for grassroots 501c3s under $1MM, up to 50% discount for $1-5MM budgets, up to 25% for $5-10MM, and up to 10% for larger organizations and for-profit social enterprises). The second is a digital product line, the Reginald publishing house, which distributes more than 30 downloadable design strategy toolkits on a pay-what-you-want model via Gumroad; these toolkits cover topics such as naming, visualization, bias management, responsible branding, remote work, and strategic foresight and have reached 250,000+ participants in 175+ countries.

The underlying 'technology' is a human-centered design strategy methodology, not a software platform. Its differentiators are a 17-year track record, a published methodology library, a global collaborator network, and a social-enterprise positioning that funds the discounted segment through market-rate enterprise work. Distribution is sales-led for consulting and self-serve e-commerce for toolkits. The firm has no external funding, no parent company, and no disclosed M&A activity; ownership and operating control remain with founder Matthew Manos.

Name

verynice

Legal name

verynice

Website

https://verynice.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

verynice is a Los Angeles-based design strategy practice founded in 2008 that delivers brand, UX, and foresight consulting to businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies while publishing 30+ design toolkits through its Reginald publishing house on a pay-what-you-want model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Client Services: Consulting engagements for brand strategy, user experience design, and strategic foresight. Serves businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. Balances paid, pro-bono, and discounted engagements.
2. Toolkit Sales: Pay-what-you-want toolkits distributed through Reginald publishing house and Gumroad. Includes various design strategy methodologies and frameworks.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

verynice is a collaborative design strategy practice that delivers consulting engagements covering brand strategy, user experience design, and strategic foresight for businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. In parallel, the firm publishes a portfolio of design strategy toolkits through its Reginald publishing house, distributing them online via Gumroad on a pay-what-you-want basis. The practice operates as a social enterprise, balancing paid client work with pro-bono and discounted services for resource-constrained organizations.

Product overview

verynice is a collaborative design strategy practice that operates as a service-based company with two core offerings: (1) Client Services - consulting engagements in brand strategy, user experience design, and strategic foresight, including custom workshops and training for internal teams; and (2) Toolkits - a digital marketplace of downloadable design strategy toolkits published through their Reginald publishing house, available on a pay-what-you-want model. The toolkit portfolio includes over 30 named products covering brand building, ideation games, communication skills, remote work, bias management, and organizational development. The company operates a social enterprise model, giving half of services away for free to nonprofits.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Reginald: Publishing house through which verynice makes all of its methodologies available to the public.

Products and services

• Design Strategy Services Collaborative design strategy consulting engagements covering brand strategy, user experience design, and strategic foresight, delivered to businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. Engagements range from long-term strategic advisor work to short-term projects.
• Workshops and Training Programs

Quantifiable outcome

• $50M+ market value offset through pro-bono and open-access services
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• IRC (International Rescue Committee)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed 'So What?' toolkit - a step-by-step framework for setting goals and identifying, capturing, and evaluating impact of work. Published through airbel.rescue.org.
• CHLA (Children's Hospital Los Angeles)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed 'Risky Business' toolkit empowering creative thinkers in risk-averse industries to catalyze innovation.
• Riggs PartnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-published 'The Responsible Brand' toolkit with 52 pages of activities to define Organizational Culture, Business Strategy and Brand Marketing.
• Sqr OneminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed 'Understanding & Managing Bias' toolkit with 22 pages of activities on empathy and bias relationship.
• Quarter ZerominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed 'First 50 Days' toolkit - a 50-day plan for entrepreneurs from idea to execution.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Boston Consulting Group (BCG Platinion / BCG Design): BCG operates a global design and innovation practice (BCG Platinion, BCG Design) that competes with verynice for corporate strategy engagements, particularly on digital transformation and customer experience.
• McKinsey & Company (McKinsey Design): McKinsey's design practice offers strategy-to-execution transformation services for the world's largest organizations. As a broad incumbent, it competes with verynice for enterprise design strategy mandates at vastly larger scale and price points.

Direct peers

• Wolff Olins: Wolff Olins is a global brand and design consultancy offering brand strategy, identity, and organizational transformation. Comparable to verynice in serving mission-driven and enterprise clients with integrated strategy and design engagements.
• Livework: Livework is a service design consultancy that applies design strategy to service and organizational innovation. It shares verynice's collaborative, methodology-driven approach to solving complex social and business problems.
• RKS Design: RKS Design is a human-centered design consultancy that combines research, strategy, and design. Like verynice, RKS applies psychoanalytic and design strategy methods to deliver brand and product innovation for diverse clients.
• frog (Capgemini Engineering): frog is a design and innovation consultancy offering brand strategy, design research, and product design to global enterprises. Now part of Capgemini, frog competes directly with verynice for enterprise design strategy engagements while operating at significantly larger scale.
• Designit (Wipro): Designit is a global design strategy and innovation firm now owned by Wipro, delivering brand, product, and service design. Comparable to verynice across strategy-to-execution offerings and global nonprofit/enterprise clientele.
• IDEO: IDEO is the pioneering design strategy and human-centered design consultancy that verynice explicitly references as a methodological ancestor. Both firms sell brand strategy, UX design, and innovation workshops to enterprises, nonprofits, and government. IDEO is the scaled version of the niche verynice occupies.
• Pentagram: Pentagram is a partner-led design consultancy delivering brand strategy, identity design, and creative direction. Both Pentagram and verynice serve nonprofit and enterprise clients with strategy-to-design pipelines, though Pentagram is far larger and more brand-focused.

Emerging players

• Manual: Manual is a smaller design and brand strategy firm focused on early-stage companies and nonprofits. Comparable to verynice as a boutique alternative to larger consultancies with a mission-driven orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/verynicedesign
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/a-verynice-design-studio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 verynice