Why We Exist

The road to innovation is paved with uncertainty.

Organizations that have explored, invested, and iterated through innovation initiatives all reach one common conclusion: organizations don’t innovate, people do.

To succeed, organizations must transform their culture, teams, and skills to adapt to the requirements of innovation.

We couple operational experience with lightweight processes to help you maximize your innovation opportunities.

Who We Help

We work with operating teams, innovation groups, and executives alike to provide the skills, tools, and advice necessary to internalize innovative opportunities.

We work in one-on-one, team-by-team, and in workshop environments to help every member of your organization plan and deploy new ideas, concepts and experiments.

How We Help

We help on two fronts: training and advisory.

We have developed a number of workshops and interactive training sessions that leverage our operating experience as entrepreneurs and innovators to give you the knowledge you need as succinctly as possible.

We continue to support our clients over time to implement these new tools, provide guidance, and challenge/validate pivotal assumptions.

Let's Get Started

We offer both a suite of workshops designed to jumpstart your innovation efforts and advisory services to support your long-term innnovation initiatives.

Our Team

Gregarious Narain

Greg is a serial entrepreneur, having launched a dozen businesses in the last 25 years.

His most recent company, Chute (YC W12), raised $16MM+, grew to millions in revenue, and employed 50 employees before being acquired in 2018.

Prior to Chute, Greg was the first employee and V.P. Product at Klout.

Experience

Founder

28 years
Designer

24 years
Developer

21 years
Product

20 years
Marketer

9 years
Sales / BD

5 years

Ruth Yomtoubian

Ruth is a corporate strategist and business planning professional, with extensive experience evaluating, testing, and scaling products and processes throughout organizations.

Most recently as the Director of the AT&T Foundry, she drove alignment and adoption of numerous new startup solutions across the greater AT&T.

Ruth is known as an innovation guru, having created thought leadership assets to catalyze projects based on culture and technology trends.

Experience

Strategic Planning

18 years
Team Management & Motivation

18 years
Competitive Market Positioning

14 years
Process Improvement

14 years
Business and Data Analytics

12 years
Executive Presentations

10 years

What Our Customers Say

We worked with the team at Before Alpha to help with our emerging company partner strategy. They were able to curate several high growth and sought-after companies from a few key segments.

We were impressed with both their speed and the quality of their insight. Additionally, they had every company prepared, polished and ready to speak to our needs."

Zaki Fasihuddin, Global Head of Digital Business Development @ McDonald's

Perspective, process and prescience. These guys know what they’re talking about, helped concentrate our efforts, and speed up our results. Smart and easy to work with, I’d recommend them strongly.

Ed Kleban, Director Digital Strategy - Marketing Innovation @ News Corp

Before Alpha's team of digital veterans are fully capable of transforming the digital ecosystem of an any large organization.

Bjarne Hareide, CEO & Founder @ Digilabscandinavia AS

Before Alpha's team of digital veterans are fully capable of transforming the digital ecosystem of an any large organization.

Brian Sathianathan, CDO and Co-Founder @ Iterate.ai

Questions & Answers

The Team

How do I know Before Alpha is a good fit for my organization?

We are happy to discuss your situation confidentially, and will immediately let you know whether or not we think we are a good fit for your organization. Set up a complimentary call.

Where can I learn more about Before Alpha?

Before Alpha’s Partners, Gregarious and Ruth, regularly post a show called “alphathoughts” on Before Alpha's LinkedIn sharing off the cuff thoughts and answering questions about innovation.

We consider ourselves approachable, transparent and truly enjoy pulling from a deep experience in the innovation trenches to help our clients and the business community benefit from true innovation (not faux-innovation).

Do you work with companies outside of the United States?

Yes, we work with companies all over the world, from Mexico City to Stockholm to New York.

The Workshops

How many people can participate in the workshops?

It’s important to have everyone on the same page, and we’ve seen how these workshops can get teams aligned. We have run workshops for large groups of 50 but have found that our workshops are most effective with a 10-person group of key stakeholders. Ultimately, the optimal number of participants depends on the needs of your organization.

Do you keep in touch before and after the workshop?

The workshops include a prep phone call with participants to help build rapport before the workshop. After the workshop, we’ll debrief and present an Executive Summary of key learning and strategic recommendations, informed by the workshop.

My company has very proprietary information. Do you sign non-disclosure agreements?

Once we have determined that there is a good match between your needs and Before Alpha’s capabilities, we typically agree to most non-disclosure agreements. As a consulting team enabling organizations to create the future, a significant portion of our projects is in fact confidential in nature.

The Advisory

I need to identify relevant innovation trends to my company and industry in a week or less. Can you help me?

We go the extra mile for our clients, therefore we can set up one day working sessions with you to unearth opportunities, prioritize ideas for experimentation and execution for those with a short time-frame.

Are you able to spend time on-site in an advisory capacity?

We realize projects can change quickly based on the needs that arise and can also be on site periodically to be a resource for general assistance.

I am an innovator or entrepreneur seeking one on one support from someone who has operationalized innovation in the past. Do you offer coaching to individuals?

Yes, there are two opportunities for coaching led by Before Alpha Partners. FounderCraft provides entrepreneurs with coaching sessions….XXXX… Innovator Check-up sessions provide innovators with tools and guidance to address a specific issue (like focusing tight budgets, winning over a internal executives, partnering with startups), or can cover a broader discussion about best strategies for bringing innovation into your company.