Facts and Stories GmbH

What Facts and Stories GmbH does

Facts and Stories GmbH is a Hamburg-based boutique innovation and strategy consultancy founded in 2017 by Karin Kiesl (CEO) and Kathrin Jander (Deputy CEO). The firm serves consumer goods (FMCG) brands and B2B companies, focusing on innovation strategy, brand development, and category-level advisory work. Over a seven-year operating history it has delivered 500+ projects for 180+ brands, indicating a sustained client base within the German and adjacent European FMCG innovation ecosystem.

The company operates with a deliberately small team of six employees and has remained bootstrapped since inception, taking no external funding. This structure positions the firm as a senior-led, owner-operated boutique where the founders are the primary client-facing assets. Service delivery is project-based consulting rather than a productized, subscription, or platform model, with revenue tied directly to engagement volume and average project size. The lack of external capital and the headcount cap of six implies a controlled-growth strategy that prioritizes margin and ownership over scaling.

The business model is conventional professional services: the firm sells expert time and structured innovation outcomes to brand owners, typically under project or retainer engagements. There is no disclosed proprietary technology stack, no platform offering, and no productized digital asset visible in the input. The moat is therefore practitioner reputation and the cumulative portfolio of 180+ brand engagements rather than any technology, data, or distribution advantage. The structure is consistent with a lifestyle consultancy rather than a venture-scalable business.

Name

Facts and Stories GmbH

Legal name

Facts and Stories GmbH

Website

https://factsandstories.de

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Facts and Stories GmbH is a Hamburg-based boutique innovation and strategy consultancy founded in 2017 that serves FMCG brands and B2B companies with project-based advisory work, having completed 500+ projects for 180+ brands.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Strategy Consulting

NAICS

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

akta.pro primary industry

Product & Brand PR (Consumer & B2B) (BPAFADAH)

Keywords

• Innovation consulting
• Brand strategy services
• Consumer insights research
• Strategic storytelling
• Narrative innovation

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Innovation and Strategy Consulting: Core consulting engagements for established brands requiring strategic innovation direction, brand strategy development, and consumer understanding research. Delivered through structured workshops and ongoing advisory relationships.
2. Training, Workshops & Talks: Keynotes, sprints, workshops, and trainings on topics including Strategic Storytelling, Data Storytelling, AI Empowerment, Narrative Innovation Process, and Brand Strategy. Offered as 60-90 minute keynotes, half-day sprints, or 1-2 day workshops.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Facts and Stories GmbH is an innovation and strategy consultancy that helps established FMCG and B2B brands move from ideas to executed outcomes. It delivers five integrated consulting services: Strategic Innovation, Brand Strategy, Customer Understanding/Consumer Insights, Strategic Storytelling, and Trainings, Workshops & Talks. Each engagement is grounded in proprietary methodologies (Narrative Innovation Process, Brand TicTacToe) and AI-supported analysis to connect consumer insights, brand logic, and organizational reality.

Product overview

Facts and Stories GmbH is an innovation and strategy consultancy (not a software/SaaS company) offering five integrated consulting services: Strategic Innovation with their proprietary Narrative Innovation Process (Story Mining → Story Framing → Story Prototyping), Brand Strategy featuring the Brand TicTacToe tool, Customer Understanding/Consumer Insights, Strategic Storytelling with tools like Story Tree and Message House, and Trainings/Workshops & Talks. These services are interconnected—the Narrative Innovation Process provides the overall methodology while Brand TicTacToe serves as the strategic alignment tool, and Strategic Storytelling tools (Story Tree, Message House, Story Bank) translate strategies into communicable narratives. The company also publishes whitepapers and books as supplementary knowledge resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Innovation Consulting engagement that connects consumer insights, brand logic, and organizational reality to develop defined innovation fields with clear brand logic, prioritized concept directions, and decision-ready foundations for the next innovation investment. Targeted at established FMCG and B2B brands.
• Brand Strategy Consulting engagement that sharpens brand positioning, defines a clear Brand Promise, identifies growth and innovation fields that fit the brand, and builds jointly developed decision-making foundations teams stand behind. Uses the Brand TicTacToe tool to compress Prime Target Group, Brand Promise, Purpose, Vision, and Brand Assets onto a single page.
• Customer Understanding / Consumer Insights Research-based consulting service covering market opportunity, pricing, design, and communication. Combines qualitative depth with quantitative robustness and translates customer knowledge into clear recommendations for brand and innovation decisions rather than data presentations.
• Strategic Storytelling Communication discipline that translates complex strategies, brand decisions, and future visions into language that people understand, remember, and act on. Deliverables include a Core Strategic Narrative, Message House, Story Bank, and Story Tree.
• Trainings, Workshops & Talks Knowledge transfer services for conferences, company events, and internal teams. Available as 60–90 minute keynotes, half-day sprints, or 1–2 day workshops covering Strategic Storytelling, Data Storytelling, AI Empowerment, the Narrative Innovation Process, and Brand Strategy.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 500 projects completed with more than 180 brands and companies

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature7 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Interbrand: Interbrand is one of the world's largest brand consultancies, offering brand strategy, brand valuation, and innovation services globally. It competes with Facts and Stories for enterprise brand strategy mandates, particularly with multinational FMCG and B2B clients like NIVEA.
• Landor & Fitch: Landor & Fitch is a global brand and design consultancy with deep FMCG and industrial client rosters. It competes for major brand strategy and innovation projects and offers a comparable mix of strategy, consumer insight, and narrative work.
• Scholz & Friends: Scholz & Friends is one of Germany's leading creative and brand agencies, providing brand strategy, advertising, and innovation services. It competes for similar enterprise FMCG and B2B clients in the DACH market.
• Prophet: Prophet is a global consultancy specializing in brand, marketing, and growth strategy, with offices in Europe including Germany. It targets similar enterprise clients in FMCG and B2B sectors and competes for innovation and brand positioning engagements.
• SinnerSchrader (part of Accenture Song): SinnerSchrader is a Hamburg-based digital and brand consultancy with strategy, experience, and storytelling capabilities. Its geographic proximity and focus on innovation and customer understanding make it a relevant regional competitor.

Direct peers

• MetaDesign: MetaDesign is a Berlin-based brand strategy and design consultancy with deep German roots and a global roster. It overlaps with Facts and Stories on brand strategy, innovation work, and storytelling for established enterprises.
• KMS Team: KMS Team is a German brand strategy consultancy that builds brand-driven transformations for major corporates. Like Facts and Stories, KMS Team operates from Germany as a mid-sized firm focused on brand strategy, purpose, and innovation work for established enterprises.
• brandcoaching.de / brandnewday: brandnewday is a German strategy and brand consultancy with similar service offerings in brand strategy, innovation, and communications for B2B and consumer brands. Comparable boutique size and methodology-driven delivery make it a direct regional competitor.
• UEBER/Berlin and UEBER/New York: UEBER is a German brand consultancy focused on brand strategy and narrative work for ambitious brands. Comparable boutique size and emphasis on storytelling and strategic positioning make it a direct peer.

Emerging players

• Kolibri & Friends / Karen Brumby: Kolibri & Friends is a smaller German strategy and brand consultancy focused on brand-led growth and purpose-driven work. Comparable boutique positioning and mid-market FMCG client base make it a relevant emerging peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/facts-and-stories-gmbh
• Instagraminstagram.com/facts.and.stories

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Facts and Stories GmbH