Hackmasters
Hackmasters is a London-based strategic futures studio founded in 2014 that helps governments, C-suite leaders, and enterprises align on future scenarios through facilitated workshops, scenario planning labs, and proprietary AI-powered foresight tools.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Hackmasters does
Hackmasters is a London-based strategic futures studio founded in 2014 by Saher Sidhom. The company helps organisations, governments, and senior leaders align on future scenarios, future consumers, and future value through facilitated workshops, multi-day scenario planning labs, and innovation hackathons. Its client base spans UK and UAE government (UK Government, GCHQ, UK Home Office, FCDO, Dubai Customs, Dubai Future Foundation, UAE Prime Minister's Office, Smart Dubai), global enterprises (Ford, Unilever, Deloitte, NEOM, Dubai Airports, St James Quarter), and academic institutions (Queen Mary University of London, University of the Arts London, ISM Lithuania). The company self-reports a decade-plus of operating with Prime Ministers and C-suite leaders, and cites outcomes such as future-proofing billion-dollar investments, reducing government policy timelines from years to months, and delivering 5 prototypes for Dubai Airports in record time.
Hackmasters firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Hackmasters
- Legal name
- Hackmasters
- Website
- https://hackmasters.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Hackmasters is a London-based strategic futures studio founded in 2014 that helps governments, C-suite leaders, and enterprises align on future scenarios through facilitated workshops, scenario planning labs, and proprietary AI-powered foresight tools.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Hackmasters is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Hackmasters business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Future Lab Programs: Strategic alignment and foresight consulting engagements where clients engage Hackmasters to facilitate future scenario planning, typically through multi-session lab programs with government and enterprise clients. Provides strategic alignment, reduces organisational uncertainty, and creates thought leadership networks.
- Future Hack Workshops: Structured workshop programs (typically 3-hour taster sessions or multi-day immersive hacks) delivered at conferences and for client organisations. Revenue generated through workshop fees for both public events and private corporate engagements.
- Innovation Hack Programs: Transformation journey programs through the lens of preferable futures, backed by innovative solutions and delivering prototypes, proof points, and strategic recommendations to client organisations.
- Online Playbooks and Tools: Subscription or access model for proprietary tools and methodologies including Scenario Plotter, Momentum 4i, Trend Boiler, and other strategic planning frameworks available through their online platform.
- Masterclass Programs: Premium educational programs delivered as immersive 3-hour master classes covering specific methodologies like Wartime Scenario Planning for business leaders and government officials.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | 3-Hour Taster Session |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Hackmasters product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Hackmasters is a London-based strategic futures studio that helps organisations, governments and senior leaders align their vision and teams around future vision, future consumer and future value through facilitated scenario planning and strategy workshops. Its core services include Future Lab multi-session strategic foresight programs and Future Hacks innovation workshops/hackathons that deliver protopias, prototypes, and proof points of preferable futures. These consulting engagements are supported by a proprietary AI-powered technology platform (Special Agents, Scenario Plotter, Custom Scenario Plotter, Power 100, Momentum 4i, Trend Boiler, and related tools) and backed by the curated Top 100 Masters expert network.
Product overview
Hackmasters is a London-based strategic futures studio offering a multi-product portfolio centered on futures thinking, scenario planning, and innovation methodology. The core offering comprises Future Lab (strategic alignment workshops) and Future Hacks (innovation hackathons), supported by a suite of proprietary tools under the Playbooks brand including Scenario Plotter, Custom Scenario Plotter, Special Agents (AI agent simulation), Power 100, and various planning tools (Trend Boiler, Meta-cognition, Canary, Momentum 4i, Audience Synthesiser). The company also produces Speculative Futures projects (Art of Living, Project NEW, MindPiece, Deep Fakes, Buddy, Visible, Makerspace, CLEAR, Transparent) as provocations exploring alternative futures. The portfolio architecture combines consulting services with software tools and creative research outputs.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Future Hacks: Transformation methodology using preferable futures lens backed by innovative solutions and energised cultures
- The Praxis of Adapting
- Special Agents
- Scenario Plotter
- Momentum 4i
- Audience Synthesiser
- Power 100
- Trend Boiler
- Meta Cognition
- Canary
- IP Evaluator
- Hacker Platform
- Gen.i.deas
Products and services
- Future Lab Multi-session strategic foresight and scenario planning engagement that enables leaders to understand future scenarios, create strategic choices, reduce organisational uncertainty, and build thought leadership networks through facilitated workshops with the Top 100 Masters expert network. Targeted at government and enterprise clients.
- Future Hacks Immersive innovation workshops and hackathons facilitating transformational scenario development with clients, delivering protopias, prototypes, and proof points of preferable futures at scale. Delivered as 3-hour taster sessions or multi-day hacks, on-site or at industry conferences.
- Special Agents AI agent simulation platform with six specialised agents (Team Leader, Deep Researcher, Data Scientist, Designer, Developer, Storyteller) that process challenges and return pre-built output decks including strategy, research, prototype logic, interface direction, and pitch narrative. Aimed at corporate strategy and innovation teams.
- Playbooks (Scenario Plotter, Custom Scenario Plotter, Power 100, Momentum 4i, Trend Boiler, Audience Synthesiser, Meta-cognition, Canary, IP Evaluator, AI Judge, Hack Platform, Online Playbooks) Suite of proprietary online strategy and planning tools including Scenario Plotter (signal analysis), Custom Scenario Plotter (Tavily-integrated), Power 100 (sector influence mapping), Momentum 4i (momentum tracking), Trend Boiler, Audience Synthesiser, Meta-cognition, Canary (signal detection), IP Evaluator, AI Judge, Hack Platform, and Online Playbooks for foresight methodology delivery.
- Praxis of Adapting Culture transformation toolkit and program for hacking organisational transformation, providing exercises, tools, and roadmap for developing new identity, values, and behaviours across leadership teams.
- Wartime Scenario Planning Masterclass Premium 3-hour immersive masterclass covering military-grade scenario planning methodology, delivered to senior business and government leaders. Aimed at adaptive strategy development and disruption response.
Quantifiable outcome
- Reduced government policy-making from years to months
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Hackmasters
Customer profileNamed customers15 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Hackmasters technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability11 records
Feature13 records
Hackmasters partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- University of the Arts LondoncoreAcademic collaboration on creative computing and speculative futures. Conducted masterclass on creative computing and collaborated on projects exploring the future of fashion and creative industries.
- Queen Mary University of LondoncoreAcademic partnership for speculative futures projects including Future of Fashion (Project NEW), National Memory Service (MindPiece), and other protopia explorations.
- ISM University of Management and EconomicscoreAcademic collaboration hosting workshops on Future of Lithuanian Industries and executive education involvement. Partnership for developing education and training at business schools.
- Capital Club DubaicoreCollaboration on wartime scenario planning masterclass for business and government leaders in Dubai's financial, logistics, and hospitality sectors.
- World Retail CongresscoreOngoing partnership hosting workshops at World Retail Congress, including Future of Retail sessions and WRC Accelerator programme activities.
- Dubai Future FoundationcoreCollaboration on Dubai AI Week and Agentic AI Hackathon event, working with Dubai's innovation ecosystem to drive futures thinking.
- Dubai CustomscoreGovernment partnership for strategic futures and innovation engagement, with team photos and project work documented on website.
- Dubai AirportscoreStrategic partnership delivering rapid prototyping - took 5 propositions and delivered 5 prototypes in record time.
- NEOMcoreStrategic planning engagement for the Saudi Arabian smart city megaproject focused on future urban development.
- GCHQcoreUK intelligence agency collaboration on strategic foresight and futures planning capabilities.
- UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development OfficecoreGovernment partnership for strategic futures and international development planning.
- UK Home OfficecorePartnership on deep fakes project working with cross-section of government departments, security agencies, and science labs to explore scenarios around AI-generated content.
- Smart DubaicoreDubai government partnership for smart city innovation and futures planning.
- World Economic ForummajorGlobal organisation collaboration on futures thinking and strategic innovation.
- DeloittemajorProfessional services firm partnership for strategic innovation engagements.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Hackmasters competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- IDEO: Design and innovation consultancy known for human-centered design and futures work with governments and global brands. Comparable to Hackmasters' innovation hackathon and prototype-driven Future Hacks methodology.
Broad incumbents
- Deloitte (Monitor Deloitte / foresight practice): Global professional services firm with dedicated innovation and foresight offerings. Deloitte is both a documented Hackmasters partner and a competitor, representing the broad-incumbent threat to boutique foresight studios.
- McKinsey & Company (QuantumBlack / foresight practice): Global management consulting firm with an established foresight and scenario-planning practice within QuantumBlack. Overlaps with Hackmasters' enterprise client base and strategic advisory work, but operates across a much broader service portfolio.
Direct peers
- Superflux: London- and Delhi-based speculative design and futures studio producing prototypes, films, and installations that envision alternative futures. Directly comparable to Hackmasters' Speculative Futures projects (Art of Living, MindPiece, Transparent, CLEAR).
- School of International Futures (SOIF): UK-based non-profit specializing in strategic foresight for governments and policy makers. Directly comparable to Hackmasters' UK government engagements and Prime-Minister-level policy work.
- Liminal: Strategic foresight and futures consultancy working with leaders on scenario planning and emerging-tech strategy. Closely comparable in methodology, target buyer (C-suite), and futures-thinking orientation.
- Forum for the Future: UK-based non-profit sustainability foresight consultancy working with governments and global enterprises on long-term scenario planning. Comparable to Hackmasters' government-engaged foresight work and partnership-driven model.
- Future Today Institute: US-based strategic foresight firm founded by Amy Webb, producing annual tech and trend forecasts and advising governments and Fortune 500 companies. Directly comparable to Hackmasters' enterprise and government scenario-planning work.
- Shaping Tomorrow: UK-based AI-powered strategic foresight platform offering signals scanning and scenario planning tools to corporate and government clients. Directly comparable to Hackmasters' Scenario Plotter and internet-scale AI methodology.
- Institute for the Future: Long-established non-profit futures research organization based in Palo Alto, running scenario planning, foresight research, and signals mapping for government and enterprise clients. Closest analog to Hackmasters' Future Lab and foresight methodology.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Hackmasters social profiles
Digital presenceHackmasters financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Hackmasters leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Hackmasters funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Hackmasters 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 Hackmasters
What does Hackmasters do?
Hackmasters is a London-based strategic futures studio that helps organisations, governments and senior leaders align their vision and teams around future vision, future consumer and future value through facilitated scenario planning and strategy workshops. Its core services include Future Lab multi-session strategic foresight programs and Future Hacks innovation workshops/hackathons that deliver protopias, prototypes, and proof points of preferable futures. These consulting engagements are supported by a proprietary AI-powered technology platform (Special Agents, Scenario Plotter, Custom Scenario Plotter, Power 100, Momentum 4i, Trend Boiler, and related tools) and backed by the curated Top 100 Masters expert network.
Is Hackmasters a public or private company?
Hackmasters is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Hackmasters founded?
Hackmasters was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Hackmasters based?
Hackmasters is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Hackmasters make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Future Lab Programs are the primary driver. The others are future Hack Workshops, innovation Hack Programs, online Playbooks and Tools and masterclass Programs.
Who are Hackmasters's main competitors?
IDEO is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Deloitte (Monitor Deloitte / foresight practice) and McKinsey & Company (QuantumBlack / foresight practice). Direct peers are Superflux, School of International Futures (SOIF), Liminal, Forum for the Future, Future Today Institute, Shaping Tomorrow and Institute for the Future.
Does Hackmasters have an API?
No public API is recorded for Hackmasters.