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§ Private Profile · The Glassworks, London, United Kingdom
?What If! Innovation Partners is a company.
Key people at ?What If! Innovation Partners.
?What If! Innovation Partners is a strategic consultancy that helps organizations generate new growth opportunities. The firm utilizes an experimentation-driven methodology to de-risk and accelerate bold solutions to market, fostering a culture of continuous innovation. They specialize in developing new products, brands, business models, and capabilities, posing critical "what if" questions to unlock future potential.
Co-founded in 1992 by Matt Kingdon and Dave Allan, the company originated from an insight that businesses require a systematic approach to challenge paradigms and explore new avenues for growth. Their vision centered on leveraging structured experimentation to transform ambitious ideas into viable market realities, fundamentally reshaping corporate innovation.
Serving a broad range of organizations, ?What If! empowers clients to become more innovative and cultivate an experimentation-driven mindset. The firm guides them in inventing new businesses, building stronger brands, and evolving strategic capabilities. Their mission is to equip companies with methodologies to adapt, innovate, and thrive, driving sustained growth by translating possibilities into impactful commercial outcomes.
Key people at ?What If! Innovation Partners.
?What If! Innovation Partners, commonly known as ?What If!, is a UK-based innovation consultancy founded in 1992 that specializes in helping large organizations build innovation cultures through experimentation-led approaches, human-centered design, lean iteration, and agile economics.[1][5] Headquartered in London with offices in New York and Shanghai, it served FTSE 100 and leading companies across industries like healthcare, finance, high tech, industrial, mobility, consumer goods, and services, focusing on brand/customer engagement, product innovation, and enterprise innovation—such as aiding a food and beverage company in launching a record-breaking coffee product that sold nearly 1 million packs in four weeks.[1][2] In 2019, Accenture acquired the firm to enhance its front-end innovation capabilities, enabling clients to ideate, prototype, and scale digital solutions; post-acquisition, related entities appear dissolved, with the core operations integrated into Accenture.[1][2]
Established in 1992 in London, ?What If! emerged as a privately owned firm applying provocative thinking and fast iterative testing to foster agile organizations, developing proprietary tools, metrics, and programs to measure innovation and train teams.[1] Co-founder Dave Allan highlighted its 26-year evolution (as of 2019) in reinventing processes rooted in human-centered design to empower internal transformation.[1] Key figures included directors like Derek Boyd Simpson (solicitor), Daniel Kenneth Burton (finance director and managing partner), and others such as innovation leads and inventors like Helena Clare Waters and Meghan Doyle Dawson.[2] The firm grew to 151 employees with £23.26M turnover and served global clients before its 2019 acquisition by Accenture, which scaled its methodologies with broader tech capabilities.[1][2]
?What If! rode the wave of digital transformation in the 2010s, emphasizing front-end innovation to help incumbents compete in agile, experimentation-heavy environments amid rapid tech disruption in consumer goods, finance, and mobility.[1][5] Its timing aligned with the rise of lean startup methodologies and human-centered design, enabling established firms to prototype digitally native solutions faster than traditional R&D—critical as market forces like AI, e-commerce, and sustainability demanded adaptive cultures.[1] By influencing C-suites and ecosystems through tools and training, it bridged corporate inertia with startup agility, amplifying Accenture's role in scaling such practices globally post-acquisition.[1][2]
Integrated into Accenture since 2019, ?What If!'s frameworks now power industrialized innovation at scale, likely evolving with AI-driven experimentation, generative design, and sustainability-focused growth strategies amid accelerating tech convergence.[1] Trends like agentic AI and real-time market adaptation will shape its legacy, potentially expanding "what if" provocations into predictive foresight tools. Its influence endures by embedding experimentation DNA in global enterprises, turning bold questions into enduring business performance.
