Historically – and when I say historically, I mean since 2007 – our agency has always focused on two sides of the market. On the one hand, startups and startup ecosystems (tech clusters, incubators, accelerators, investors, public organizations). On the other hand, large-scale organizations (multinationals and a handful of prominent European administrations).
But it's not the whole story.
These last five years, I have had more and more opportunities to work with 'small giants.' Companies that have been in the market and quite profitable for many years, sometimes decades even, are performing very well and have carved a specific niche in their market. These companies don't aim for maximal market reach but have decided to further reinforce their positioning and value-added. These companies might not ring a bell as they are mostly below the radar and oftentimes privately held, but if you're in their market, you know who they are. They are companies like NGE, Amaris Consulting, Collections Rivages, and a few others.
Small giants in their own right.
What has been dramatically interesting for me is that a) it leads to highly strategic discussions and approaches to how they could or should innovate further, b) plain 'growth' (whether it's organic or by external acquisition) is mostly not the get-go answer, and c) when they decide to go for an innovation push, they act fast.
I must say, I'm more and more interested in focusing on such businesses.
Rest assured, the rest of our activities and focuses go nowhere, as we have accrued quite an effective experience in innovating with startups and multinationals, to say the least, but this third activity pillar is now out in the open.
