Rapid, AI-oriented rivals emerge from McKinsey, BCG, and Deloitte’s consultant pool, exhibiting speed and smaller stature.
Modern, Nimble Consulting Startups are Using AI to Compete with Industry Giants
Smaller, specialized consulting firms are shaking up the established corporate world, employing AI to take on the big players and offer services tailored to a broader client base.
These firms often focus on specific sectors like pricing strategy or operational cost reduction. They strive to make consulting more accessible to various businesses, not just the big guys.
For years, the consulting industry has been dominated by two groups: the MBB – McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group – and the Big Four – PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and Ernst & Young. However, a surge of AI-powered startups is gradually challenging this status quo.
Many of these new firms' founders have come from traditional consulting backgrounds. Their experiences have given them valuable skills and helped them recognize new opportunities in the industry.
Boutique Firms Embrace AI Consulting
These are smaller consulting firms, often led by a team of a few to a few hundred employees. They focus on areas such as pricing strategy, cost reduction, or refining presentation materials. Crucially, they all rely on AI.
Several reported that their AI-powered methods helped them dismantle old-school bureaucracy, offer more competitive prices, and alleviate the human workload of consulting.
Here are eight U.S. boutique firms that are gradually redefining the classic consulting model:
Xavier AI
Xavier AI describes itself as the world's first AI strategy consulting firm. Co-founder and former McKinsey consultant Joao Filipe claims that Xavier AI's chatbot can deliver clear, actionable business insights and results, like a 60-page business plan, sales presentation, or detailed marketing strategy. According to Filipe, their proprietary reasoning engine, tailored to business applications, delivers detailed sources without the hallucinations found in other chatbots.
Perceptis
Alibek Dostiyarov, a former McKinsey consultant, and Yersultan Sapar, a former Apple engineer, founded Perceptis. The company aims to help smaller firms compete with industry giants by streamlining some of the more labor-intensive processes in consulting, such as writing proposals.
Perceptis is now focusing on business development, using AI to conduct industry research, identify opportunities that suit the client's skills and background, and create customized, detailed proposals.
SIB
SIB specializes in helping organizations, like restaurants, hospitals, and government agencies, identify and achieve cost savings, particularly in fixed costs like telecommunications fees, utility bills, waste disposal, and software licensing.
Monevate
Monevate, founded by James Wilton, an alumnus of McKinsey, Kearney, and ZS Associates, focuses on pricing strategies for software-as-a-service and high-growth technology companies.
Keystone
Keystone, founded in 2003, helps technology companies, biotech firms, governments, and law firms by delivering AI-powered insights to optimize core business functions like supply chain management, inventory, pricing, and forecasting.
Fusion Collective
Fusion Collective offers a range of consulting services, including cloud transformation and AI alignment. The firm emphasizes a realistic approach, advising clients to first have a solid understanding of their infrastructure, data management policies, and security before jumping into AI implementation.
Slideworks
Slideworks focuses on creating powerful slides for businesses, offering high-end PowerPoint templates and consulting toolkits specifically designed by former consultants from Bain, BCG, and McKinsey.
Unity Advisory
Unity Advisory, a new firm launching in June, will focus on tax and accounting services, technology consulting, and mergers and acquisitions. The firm will be backed by private equity firm Warburg Pincus with up to $300 million and aims to offer a more customer-focused, AI-driven, and conflict-free approach compared to the established consulting firms.
- Xavier AI, a startup founded by Joao Filipe, a former McKinsey consultant, is the world's first AI strategy consulting firm, offering services like delivering 60-page business plans and detailed marketing strategies using an AI chatbot.
- Perceptis, founded by Alibek Dostiyarov, a former McKinsey consultant, and Yersultan Sapar, a former Apple engineer, assists smaller firms in streamlining labor-intensive consulting processes, such as writing proposals, by utilizing AI technology.
- SIB specializes in helping organizations identify and achieve cost savings, particularly in fixed costs, with a focus on sectors like telecommunications, utilities, waste disposal, and software licensing.
- Monevate, led by James Wilton, an alumnus of McKinsey, Kearney, and ZS Associates, provides pricing strategies for software-as-a-service and technology companies, leveraging AI to optimize core business functions like supply chain management, inventory, pricing, and forecasting.
