Riders&elephants

What Riders&elephants does

Riders&elephants (R&E) is a Wellington, New Zealand-based private company founded in 2016 that builds tools, frameworks, and learning programs for managing emotional culture in organizations. Its core product is The Emotional Culture Deck (ECD), a card-based tool used to surface and shape workplace emotions, which sits at the center of the broader Emotional Culture System — an integrated set of canvases, handbooks, conversation guides, rituals, and design methods. The product line has expanded to include The Customer Experience Deck (CXD) and The Wellbeing Deck, alongside ECD Specialist Courses covering four specializations (Emotional Culture Crafting, Emotional Leadership Development, Emotional Change Strategy, and Emotional Stakeholder Engagement), a tiered ECD Certification Pathway (Practitioner, Consultant, Master), the Elephant Rider Community, and the ECDTV video platform.

The company operates a hybrid go-to-market model combining direct e-commerce for deck products, self-paced online courses, and a global network of ECD Certified Partners who deliver in-person courses, workshops, and bespoke consulting engagements across 42+ countries. Revenue is generated through one-time deck sales, recurring course and certification subscriptions, a monthly community membership option, and partner-licensing economics. R&E is a bootstrapped 1–10 person operation with no disclosed external funding, and claims usage of its tools and training by over 500,000 people across 70+ countries, 1,000+ organizations including KPMG, Panasonic, Westpac, KiwiBank, IBM, and the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and a community of 2,000+ ECD practitioners.

Name

Riders&elephants

Legal name

riders&elephants

Website

https://ridersandelephants.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Riders&elephants is a Wellington, New Zealand-based company that provides card-based tools, courses, and certification programs to help organizations and consultants manage emotional culture, leadership, change, and stakeholder engagement across 70+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Organizational Development and Leadership Training Services

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Wellness Program Design & Accountability Coaching (HSADAGAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Behavior Change & Motivational Coaching (HSADAGAF)

Keywords

• Emotional culture tools
• Leadership development courses
• Organizational change consulting
• Workplace culture training
• Practitioner certification programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. ECD Specialist Courses: Self-paced and in-person courses across four specialisations delivered online by R&E or through Certified Partners. Courses are the entry point to certification and the first step in becoming an ECD Certified Practitioner.
2. Product Sales: Sale of physical and digital card decks including The Emotional Culture Deck, The Customer Experience Deck, and The Wellbeing Deck through the e-commerce store.
3. Certification Programme: Certification pathway from Practitioner through Consultant to Master level, with advanced training and endorsement to certify new practitioners.
4. Partner Network: Global network of ECD Certified Partners who are independently operating consultants authorized to deliver ECD courses and services, paying for certification and endorsement.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Riders&elephants designs and sells card-based emotional culture tools (The Emotional Culture Deck, The Customer Experience Deck, and The Wellbeing Deck), self-paced and in-person ECD Specialist Courses, and a tiered ECD Certification Pathway that together form the Emotional Culture System. The system helps organizations and practitioners name, express, and shape the emotions that drive workplace performance, culture, leadership, change, and stakeholder engagement.

Product overview

Riders&elephants (R&E) offers a suite of card-based tools and learning programs centered on The Emotional Culture Deck, which sits at the heart of their Emotional Culture System. The core product portfolio includes The Emotional Culture Deck (for workplace culture), The Customer Experience Deck (for customer experience), and The Wellbeing Deck (for personal wellbeing). These tools are supported by ECD Specialist Courses (available online and in-person through Certified Partners), a tiered ECD Certification Pathway (Practitioner to Consultant to Master), and the Elephant Rider Community for ongoing practitioner support. The system is organized around four specializations: Emotional Culture, Emotional Leadership, Emotional Change, and Emotional Stakeholder Engagement. R&E serves over 500,000 people across 70+ countries through their tools and training programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Emotional Culture Deck (ECD): The world's leading tool for managing and moving the emotions that drive culture
• The Customer Experience Deck (CXD)
• The Wellbeing Deck (WBD)

Products and services

• The Emotional Culture Deck (ECD) A card-based tool described as the world's leading tool for managing and moving the emotions that drive culture, designed to help people talk about how they feel at work and why that matters. Sold in physical and digital formats.
• The Customer Experience Deck (CXD) A card-based tool for creating more emotionally connected customer experiences through structured conversations.
• The Wellbeing Deck A card-based tool to help individuals and teams create their definition of wellbeing through emotional awareness.
• ECD Specialist Courses Focused, self-paced and in-person learning experiences that introduce the Emotional Culture System through four specializations: Emotional Culture Crafting, Emotional Leadership Development, Emotional Change Strategy, and Emotional Stakeholder Engagement. Include 90-day community access upon enrollment.
• ECD Certification Pathway Structured certification programme with three levels (Practitioner, Consultant, Master) and six status tiers (Rising, Advanced, Senior, Pro, Expert, Elite) across four specializations. Consultant-level holders are authorized to deliver ECD courses and certify new practitioners, and Master level represents global leader recognition.
• Elephant Rider Community Global community of ECD practitioners who share experiences, swap ideas, and support each other's learning journeys. Available to ECD Specialist Course graduates with 90-day all-access pass included and optional paid monthly continuation.
• ECD Certified Partners (delivery network) Authorized network of independent consultants and Master practitioners who deliver official ECD Specialist Courses, bespoke training, workshops, and immersive ECD programmes to client organizations across multiple continents.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 500,000 people in 70+ countries use R&E's systems to flip performance and culture
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ECD Certified Partners NetworkcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorGlobal network of independent ECD Certified Partners authorized to deliver official ECD Specialist Courses, bespoke training, workshops, and immersive ECD programmes. Partners are trained in R&E's Culture System and certified across four specialties: Culture, Leadership, Change, and Stakeholder. Partners span Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and UK, with notable partners including Lotty Roberts (New Zealand, first Master globally), Denise Hartley-Wilkins (New Zealand, Master level), and Lili Mesesan (Romania, first in Eastern Europe).

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Culture Amp: Employee engagement and culture platform used by thousands of organisations to measure and act on culture. Comparable in addressing organisational emotional culture with measurement-led tooling, though heavier on surveys than R&E's card-based approach.
• Humu: Science-backed nudge platform that uses employee data to drive behaviour change and culture improvement. Closely comparable in concept — moving employee emotions/behaviours through structured, low-friction interventions rather than traditional surveys.
• BetterUp: Enterprise coaching and emotional intelligence platform serving leaders and teams globally. Directly comparable as a digital-first, emotion and leadership-focused development offering sold to the same enterprise buyer as Riders&elephants.
• Barrett Values Centre: Provider of values and culture assessment tools (e.g., Cultural Values Assessment) used by organisations and certified consultants globally. Comparable methodology product (card/assessment-driven) and partner-led distribution model.

Emerging players

• 15Five: Continuous performance management and employee engagement platform with lightweight check-ins and pulse surveys. Comparable in targeting culture and leadership outcomes for mid-market and enterprise HR teams.
• TinyPulse: Employee feedback and engagement platform providing pulse surveys and anonymous insights. Overlaps with R&E's culture measurement positioning for SMB and mid-market HR buyers.
• Lattice: Performance management and employee engagement SaaS used by HR teams to run reviews, goals, and engagement programmes. Adjacent in serving culture/HR buyers; intersects with R&E's culture and leadership development use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Gallup: Global leader in employee engagement surveys, strengths-based development, and culture research. Overlaps with R&E's emotional culture and leadership development offerings, but at vastly larger scale and with a measurement-led, survey-centric approach.
• Ken Blanchard Companies: Long-standing leadership development and management training provider with a global network of certified coaches and consultants. Comparable in leadership training, certification pathways, and partner-delivered enterprise programmes.
• O.C. Tanner: Established employee recognition and culture consulting firm serving large global enterprises. Comparable as a culture-and-engagement provider to enterprise clients, with a broader portfolio than R&E's emotion-focused niche.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ridersandelephants

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Riders&elephants