AlphaSights is an information services company, specializing in connecting clients with experts, and oftentimes it is also referred to as an expert network. The company has clients from different backgrounds such as professionals operating in management and strategy consulting, investment management, private equity, and corporate and professional services firms with interests in a range of markets including technology, industrials, consumer goods, telecommunications, utilities, healthcare, financial services, consumer services, and oil and gas.
AlphaSights’ headquarter is in London and it has offices in New York, Dubai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo.
The AlphaSights story
Like any great startup story, the story of AlphaSIghts began at Stanford Business School in California. Our two co-founders, Max Cartellieri and Andrew Heath, while bust playing beer pong and getting their MBAs in the late 90s. Both had developed their entrepreneurial spirit while completing their MBAs and then went on to start companies in their native in Germany.
Max Cartellieri went on and founded Ciao, a price comparison and consumer review website, which with his dedication and hard work grew to 300 working employees and when saw the right opportunity, sold it to Microsoft. Andrew Heath on other hand established GoIndustry which is an online marketplace that trades surplus industrial goods, which went public in London in 2006.
Andrew and Max both had entrepreneurial experiences as they both built businesses driven by digital connectivity. Max built a company that increases access to information (Ciao) and Andrew built GoIndustry which helps in maintaining the flow of physical goods. Having enough experience in starting and growing a company, they set their sights on an exciting but yet untapped space: The flow of critical business knowledge. Realizing each other’s potential, the two came together in early 2007 to start planning their next venture, AlphaSights.
As soon as they launched AlphaSights, Andrew and Max recognized that in today’s economy, competitive advantage is no longer derived from real assets, instead, it is derived from human assets which are non-codified, experience-based knowledge present in people’s heads. This knowledge gives companies and investors an edge. The aim of the founders from the beginning was to build a company that would increase the ease and speed with which specialist professional knowledge could be accessed and shared across sectors and geographies. AlphaSights aims to improve professional decision-making, drive innovation in the right direction and accelerate progress.
AlphaSights initially had only 30 people, and it became operationally profitable in mid-2010. They expanded their global footprint to New York in 2011, Hong Kong in 2012, and Dubai in 2013. In 2013, AlphaSights had employed over 200 professionals globally and was recently ranked as the 3rd fastest-growing company in the Uk by the Sunday Times.
In April 2017, AlphaSights was named one of the fastest-growing and most disruptive companies headquartered in Europe by the Financial Times.
Future of AlphaSights
In an interview, Max Cartellieri was asked to describe the company now to which he said, “I would call it an early adolescent – full of energy, somewhat unruly, but slowly taking shape, and with all the hopes and dreams of a long and happy journey still ahead of it”. He further stated that what he as a founder is mostly proud of is that he loves observing how young, driven, confident graduates develop into accomplished professionals autonomously managing our biggest clients. Talking about the future he said,“ We will continue to push the boundaries en route to becoming a highly respected, truly global company that the best clients rely upon and the best people want to work for”.
The story of AlphaSights is of determination, grit, and that attitude of never settling in life. The founder’s Max Cartellieri and Andrew Heath could have settled after founding their first company, but they wanted more, they wanted to accomplish more and give back to the community. They started AlphaSights with an aim to connect clients with experts and even though they were not profitable initially they didn’t give up on themselves and continued by providing the best services to clients all around the world. Now AlphaSights is considered one of the fastest-growing companies globally.