Why Accenture Strategy’s Stijn De Vriendt left to lead Tightrope, RyanCap’s boutique strategy play targeting mature mid-tier and high growth scale-ups

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Most Australian mid-size businesses and up in Australia have hired very smart consultants, developed new business strategies and growth plans … and then seen most or all of the work shelved. “It’s about 90 per cent opportunity, 10 per cent frustration,” says Tightrope’s Managing Director Stijn De Vriendt, the former Strategy Director at Accenture Strategy. Tightrope is RyanCap’s new boutique strategy consultancy, which has a sweet spot positioned just below the big end of consulting and strategy advisors like Bain, McKinsey, Accenture and the big four audit and consulting giants. Typically they’re too big – and perhaps too expensive - for mature mid-tier companies grappling with business transformation programs and high-growth scale-up companies needing to go to the next level but lacking the internal horsepower to get there. Tightrope is pulling the best attributes from agencies and consulting firms to target digital pureplays – aka “the disruptors” – and helping them scale, as well as legacy bricks and mortar businesses – aka “the disrupted” – to help them go digital. But instead of just writing a report and leaving, Tightrope wants to do more. “We don’t just stop at strategy,” De Vriendt says. “We want to go beyond and develop prototypes, test those with customers, and help a client get ready to actually scale.” And Tightrope says the balancing act is already working.

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