Startup Junkie to launch innovation consulting group for established companies

Three leaders in the startup space will be lending their services to a new consultancy for existing companies in need of innovation strategy.

The newly named “Innovation Junkie” will be led by Fayetteville-based Startup Junkie’s managing directors, Jeff Standridge, Ed.D., Jeff Amerine, PMP, and Brett Amerine, PMP.

“Innovation Junkie is really a response to the market demand,” Standridge said. “More and more companies are feeling the pressure of global competition, as well as other industry-specific constraints, and are realizing they must do things radically different if they are to remain relevant and competitive. They know our reputation and the work we do with cutting-edge startups, and they are asking us to bring that same level of focused intensity into their organizations.”

“The work of Innovation Junkie runs in perfect parallel to our mission to inspire and empower innovators and entrepreneurs. That’s the core of who we are and our social venture will always be focused on the startup clients of Startup Junkie in NWA and the Conductor in Central Arkansas, as well as the statewide entrepreneurial ecosystem-building our teams do everyday,” Standridge added. “The Innovation Junkie arm allows us to extend our work and success, while continuing to support our current efforts.”

The consultancy’s new arm is a more developed, targeted approach of the startup consultancy geared towards the growth and success of larger, more established, companies.

Innovation Junkie will offer corporate innovation, strategic growth planning, executive coaching, and organizational development services to medium to large organizations around the world, the group said. Their client portfolio already includes global Fortune 500 companies, fast-growing mid-market companies, large non-profits, economic development entities, and government and university institutions.

“We’ve been consulting with larger companies on innovation, strategic growth, and executive coaching for years,” Jeff Amerine said. “However, as the requests have grown, we realized that the services needed to exist in a separate arm of the company to facilitate growth and to enable us to truly market these services as a brand of their own.”

In addition to the managing partners, Innovation Junkie also includes a cast of senior executives and subject matter experts with broad and deep experience across a wide array of industry verticals, depending on the specific needs of the client.

“This is not a one-size-fits-all consultancy,” Amerine said. “We do not simply plug and play packaged materials. We actually sit down with each potential client, look at where they are currently and what they want to achieve, and then become an extended part of their team to aid in charting the path to success through a series of evaluations, services, and solutions.”