What If Innovation
What If Innovation is a privately held, London-headquartered innovation consultancy (founded 1992) that helps global enterprises invent new products, brands and businesses and build innovation cultures, delivered through six offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1992
- HeadquartersShanghai, China
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What What If Innovation does
What If Innovation (legal entity: What If Holdings Limited, registered in England and Wales, Company Number 03745474) is a privately held innovation consulting firm founded in 1992 by Matt Kingdon and Dave Allan. The firm partners with large global enterprises to invent new products, brands, services and business models, and to build the leadership, culture and capabilities required to sustain innovation. Its offering is organised as two flagship practices — 'Building Growth Futures' (Adaptive Strategy, Asset Driven Innovation, New Offer Incubation) and 'Leading Growth Cultures' (Energizing Leaders for Growth, Behavioral Experimentation, Experimental Organizations) — underpinned by a proprietary 'Experiment Engines' methodology and the 'Assumptionator' diagnostic tool, combining design thinking with lean startup principles.
The firm delivers engagements through six owned offices across three regional hubs: Americas (New York, Chicago), Europe (London, Amsterdam) and Asia (Shanghai, Singapore). Named enterprise clients include BP, Pfizer, AB InBev / ZX Ventures, KFC, Steinway & Sons, Mondelez/Kenco, Centrica and AARP, with reported outcomes ranging from the Steinway Spirio launch (80% incremental sales lift, ~50% higher margin) and Kenco Millicano (nearly 1 million packs in four weeks) to enterprise-wide training of 100,000 Pfizer employees. Recent leadership additions include Sal Pajwani as CEO, with co-founders Matt Kingdon and Dave Allan remaining active.
The business model is bespoke, quote-based professional services: engagements are sold directly through named regional contacts and a New Business Enquiry Form, with no published pricing or tiering. Revenue is generated from multi-year transformation retainers, project-based consulting, accelerator program design and large-scale training engagements, with a content-led marketing motion (multi-author blog, 'Innovation in Action' newsletter, 'The Innovator' interview series, 'The Founders Podcast') supporting inbound enterprise demand.
What If Innovation firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- What If Innovation
- Legal name
- What If Holdings Limited
- Website
- https://whatifinnovation.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1992
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- What If Innovation is a privately held, London-headquartered innovation consultancy (founded 1992) that helps global enterprises invent new products, brands and businesses and build innovation cultures, delivered through six offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
What If Innovation industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Innovation Consulting
- NAICS
- Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Management Consulting Services (541618)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Innovation, Product & R&D Consulting (BPAHACAM)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Innovation Leadership & Leading Growth (EDABAAAO)
Keywords
Where What If Innovation is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Shanghai
- HQ country
- China
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices6 records
Markets served
What If Innovation business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Professional services / innovation consulting engagements: Core revenue stream derived from bespoke consulting engagements with global enterprises, including new product/brand incubation (e.g., Spirio for Steinway, Millicano for Kenco, Popcorn Chicken for KFC, Invigorate for BP), growth strategy work, innovation-culture transformation programs (Pfizer 'Dare to Try', AARP Disrupting Aging), and accelerator/incubation program design and facilitation (AB InBev/ZX Ventures 11-week program with 16 teams). Mix of project-based work, multi-month sprints and longer-running transformation retainers.
- Enterprise training & capability-building programs: Large-scale training engagements to embed innovation tools and behaviors inside client organizations (e.g., 100,000 Pfizer employees trained globally; 1,000+ AARP employees trained; 50+ AB InBev employees upskilled through action learning). Typically bundled with broader transformation programs.
- Growth Cultures & Growth Futures service lines: Two flagship offerings: 'Building Growth Futures' (vision, products, services, brands, new business) and 'Leading Growth Cultures' (leadership, culture, capabilities). Each contains sub-modules (Adaptive Strategy; Asset Driven Innovation; New Offer Incubation; Energizing Leaders for Growth; Behavioral Experimentation; Experimental Organizations). Sold as bundled transformation programs.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Quote-based bespoke consulting engagements with no publicly listed price points |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
What If Innovation product offering
Product offeringCore offering
What If Innovation is a management consulting firm that helps large corporations build and embed innovation capability. It sells three service lines: Building Growth Futures (growth strategy and futures work), Leading Growth Cultures (organizational culture and capability transformation), and the Experiment Engines methodology (a proprietary approach to rapid prototyping, testing, and validation of new business concepts).
Product overview
What If Innovation (legal entity: What If Holdings Limited, registered in England and Wales) is a single-brand innovation consultancy rather than a software vendor. Its offering is organised as a platform-plus-modules architecture delivered through consulting engagements: the two core practices, 'Building Growth Futures' (customer-facing growth innovation, made up of the Adaptive Strategy, Asset Driven Innovation, and New Offer Incubation modules) and 'Leading Growth Cultures' (capability and culture transformation, made up of Energizing Leaders for Growth, Behavioral Experimentation, and Experimental Organizations), are underpinned by the proprietary 'Experiment Engines' methodology. Adjacent editorial offerings such as the 'Innovation in Action' monthly newsletter and 'The Innovator' interview series round out the portfolio and are used to nurture prospects.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Building Growth Futures A strategic consulting service that helps corporations identify and pursue new growth opportunities through futures work, market insight, and growth strategy formulation. Targeted at senior executives, chief strategy officers, and corporate strategy teams responsible for long-term growth.
- Leading Growth Cultures An organizational change service that helps companies build internal cultures, leadership behaviors, and operating capabilities to sustain innovation and growth over time. Aimed at CEOs, chief people officers, and leadership teams responsible for culture and capability development.
- Experiment Engines A proprietary methodology for rapid prototyping, testing, and validation of new business concepts, products, and services, designed to compress the time from idea to market. Used by client innovation, product, and corporate venture teams to systematically run growth experiments.
Quantifiable outcome
- Steinway Spirio delivered 80% incremental sales lift at ~50% higher margin than standard Steinway products across 8 pilot cities, then rolled out across North America, Europe and China
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use What If Innovation
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
What If Innovation technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature5 records
What If Innovation partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators13 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights4 records
What If Innovation competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- McKinsey & Company (Design practice): Global strategy giant whose design and innovation practice competes for the same enterprise innovation-transformation budgets, but as part of a much broader transformation portfolio.
- Boston Consulting Group (BCG X / BrightHouse): Global consulting incumbent with dedicated innovation, design and venture-building units. Overlaps with What If Innovation on growth strategy, new-offer incubation and culture transformation mandates.
- Accenture Song (incl. FJORD): Global consulting incumbent with FJORD design studios and Accenture Song covering design, product innovation and growth transformation at enterprise scale, often competing for the same C-suite mandates.
- Deloitte (Deloitte Digital / Doblin): Big-Four consulting and advisory firm with a significant innovation, design and human-centered practice competing for enterprise transformation and growth mandates.
Direct peers
- frog (Capgemini Engineering): Design and innovation consultancy (now part of Capgemini) that helps global brands invent products, services and experiences. Highly comparable in mission, methodology and enterprise client base to What If Innovation.
- IDEO: The archetypal design and innovation consultancy. Closest direct peer: similar boutique size, design-thinking heritage, methodology-led engagements with global enterprises and a comparable mix of product/brand incubation and capability-building work.
- R/GA: Global innovation, design and technology consultancy working with Fortune 500 brands on products, services and digital experiences. Direct peer in the brand-led innovation and product-launch space.
- Board of Innovation: Boutique innovation consultancy operating globally with a focus on corporate innovation, new venture building and capability programs. Comparable offering (innovation strategy + accelerator-style programs) at a similar scale.
Emerging players
- Synapse: Product innovation consultancy that partners with global brands to develop and launch new products. Comparable on the product-innovation and go-to-market side, with a more product/engineering-leaning profile.
- Livework: Service-design and innovation consultancy that works with large organizations on new services and growth offerings. Comparable on service-design and human-centered methods, though smaller and more regionally concentrated.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
What If Innovation social profiles
Digital presenceWhat If Innovation compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
What If Innovation financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
What If Innovation leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
What If Innovation funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
What If Innovation 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 What If Innovation
What does What If Innovation do?
What If Innovation is a management consulting firm that helps large corporations build and embed innovation capability. It sells three service lines: Building Growth Futures (growth strategy and futures work), Leading Growth Cultures (organizational culture and capability transformation), and the Experiment Engines methodology (a proprietary approach to rapid prototyping, testing, and validation of new business concepts).
Is What If Innovation a public or private company?
What If Innovation is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was What If Innovation founded?
What If Innovation was founded in 1992. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is What If Innovation based?
What If Innovation is headquartered in Shanghai, China, in the Asia region.
How does What If Innovation make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Professional services / innovation consulting engagements are the primary driver. The others are enterprise training & capability-building programs and growth Cultures & Growth Futures service lines.
Who are What If Innovation's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are McKinsey & Company (Design practice), Boston Consulting Group (BCG X / BrightHouse), Accenture Song (incl. FJORD) and Deloitte (Deloitte Digital / Doblin). Direct peers are frog (Capgemini Engineering), IDEO, R/GA and Board of Innovation. Emerging players are Synapse and Livework.
Does What If Innovation have an API?
No public API is recorded for What If Innovation.
What industry is What If Innovation in?
What If Innovation's product category is Innovation Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHACAM, Innovation, Product & R&D Consulting, with a secondary code of EDABAAAO, Innovation Leadership & Leading Growth. Its NAICS code is 54161 and its SIC code is 8742.