German startup StrategyFrame has developed an AI-powered strategy operating system for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). Instead of outsourcing to consultants, the AI startup helps SME management teams develop and finetune their own strategy from data analysis and strategy formulation to strategy implementation.
“It’s really about helping SMEs navigate and survive in increasingly turbulent times,” says CEO and Co-founder Christian Underwood. “To achieve that we focus on democratizing strategy work, making strategic clarity and guidance accessible to every company, not just the few who can afford traditional consulting.”
After helping companies to devise their strategy the Dusseldorf-based startup’s AI analyzes progress on an ongoing basis, detecting deviations at an early stage and providing specific recommendations for action before projects get out of hand, says Underwood. StrategyFrame also does real-time monitoring of market and environmental changes, linking with external data sources, automatic import of trends, regulatory developments and competitive information. Starting early next year the service will be voice activated and mobile first, allowing executives to talk through various scenarios with AI on a daily basis as a normal part of their decision -making process, Underwood says.
About 40% of clients use StrategyFrame’s basic Software-as-a-Service package to develop and handle their strategy on their own. The other 60 additionally use a human coaching program that involves up to two workshops and maximum 3 days per month over a six-month period, he says.
Underwood’s family runs an SME that makes doors and windows and he himself used to work as a consultant, so he says he understands the pain points of Germany’s Mittelstand. An entrepreneur and consultant with over 15 years of consulting experience in strategy, transformation and innovation processes in SMEs, family and listed companies, Underwood holds a Master’s degree in Political Science South Asia from Heidelberg University, an MBA in General Management from German business school WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and a Post Graduate Diploma in Digital Business from EMERITUS (MIT Sloan + Columbia Business School). His co-founder is Prof. Dr. Jürgen Weigand, a Professor of Microeconomics and Industrial Economics at WHU.
About 100 Mittelstand companies are currently using Strategy Frame’s product. The company, which was founded in 2022, also has customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein and one in China. It is planning expansion into the U.S. market in 2026.
The Reinvention of the Consulting Model
StrategyFrame’s technology is not aiming to replace the big consulting firms, but AI and other nimble startups are threatening to encroach on the traditional consulting business.
The Harvard Business Review, Economist and Wall Street Journal have all run articles in the last few months suggesting that firms like McKinsey and Accenture will have to adapt their own organizations for the age of AI.
They are already doing so. In August The Wall Street Journal reported that artificial intelligence can increasingly do the work done by McKinsey’s highly paid consultants, often within minutes.
That reality is pushing the firm to rewire its business. AI is now a topic of conversation at every meeting of McKinsey’s board, Bob Sternfels, the firm’s global managing partner, told the Journal. The technology is changing the ways McKinsey works with clients, how it hires and even what projects it takes on.
McKinsey is rapidly deploying thousands of AI agents. Those bots now assist consultants in building PowerPoint decks, taking notes and summing up interviews and research documents for clients. In the not-too-distant future Sternfels told the Journal that McKinsey may have one AI agent for every human it employs.
“ The traditional consulting firms are fighting for their old business models and will still charge a lot of money,” says Underwood. “We are not using AI to make ourselves more efficient we are giving an AI platform to the customer so they can do it on their own, which makes us more of a software company than a consulting company.”
The Rise Of AI-Native Boutique Consulting Firms
AI-powered software startups have started encroaching on the consulting business in different ways. The Harvard Business Review lists a number of AI-native boutique consulting startups including:
Monevate, a firm focused exclusively on pricing strategy, it combines deep expertise with AI-enabled playbooks and modeling tools to deliver advice without a traditional analyst layer.
SIB, which specializes in cost reduction, uses AI agents to scan invoices and vendor contracts for savings opportunities, deploying human experts only when needed.
Unity Advisory, launched by former partners of the Big Four professional services firms and backed by $300 million in private capital, it represents perhaps the most deliberate reinvention of the consulting model at scale. Unity, which is AI native by design, relies on agile pods of senior consultants who work in close coordination with proprietary AI tools to deliver high-speed, high-quality strategy support. It doesn’t hire large, entry-level analyst cohorts or rely on hierarchical, middle management structures; it has eliminated the classic leveraged pyramid of billable hours in favor of fast, expert-driven delivery.
Disruptive Edge is applying similar tactics. Rather than have junior consultants spend weeks building foundational knowledge, its kick off engagements with AI-powered deep research reports that synthesize vast amounts of information quickly.
Underwood says he does not consider any of these startups as direct competitors.
AI-Powered Strategy and Strategy Planning Technologies
StrategyFrame’s approach fits into American research and advisory firm Gartner Group’s Hype Cycle for Strategy and Strategic Planning Technologies 2025, which covers AI-enhanced strategy engagement advisor, agentic AI for strategy context monitoring, strategic portfolio management , competitive and market intelligence tools, strategy communication and cascade solutions, trends spotting, strategy performance monitoring solutions and visual collaboration applications. The German startup is doing all these things so does not fit neatly into any one of those buckets, Underwood says.
Startups such as Cascade Strategy and Asana also offer strategy execution but do not offer the trends spotting and strategic performance monitoring services offered by StrategyFrame, Underwood says.At least three German companies offer competitive and market intelligence. StrategyFramework is partnering exclusively with the AI-powered leader and selling their services as part of its own SaaS package, he says.
“Our differentiator is that we’re not just automating strategy — we’re enabling every company to think and act strategically in real time,” says Underwood. “While others use AI to make consulting faster, we use AI to make companies smarter. StrategyFrame turns strategy from a static document into a living, adaptive system that evolves with the business.”
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