What was already there, however, was the idea to integrate consumers in the development of new products. But instead of licensing the technology for it, innosabi provided consulting services. Today, we still benefit from this period of working hands-on with various innovation methods and developing our own way of applying them.

 

During that time we first-handedly refined innovation methods and developed new ones. We learned how to reach thousands of people all over the world in a couple of minutes and condense their input into actionable insights. We learned how to ask the right questions to get to the core of consumer needs and expectations. And of course, we learned how to iteratively form ideas into real product concepts.

The second chapter in the history of innosabi starts with a big shift: We moved away from consulting projects and took our idea of customer collaboration one step further.

 

We took all the learnings and methods and started to build our own innovation community. Instead of passing on the ideas and insights from end-users to our clients, we started to put them into direct contact. We started to build our first online innovation platform unserAller.de and began to offer projects on it.

 

Gradually, more and more users joint the community and participated in massively successful projects like the co-creation of new nail polish for Manhattan or the design of interior concepts for Ford. We provided innovation projects as a service. And unserAller grew to become the largest co-creation community for consumer goods in Germany with over 20.000 active users.

We continuously improved the unserAller platform and developed new features or project formats. Until it became clearer and clearer that there was no comparable technology out there. That we did not only offer Germany’s largest co-creation community but – more importantly – a perfectly tailored software tool.

 

So why not white-label it and enable companies to build their very own communities? That’s when we left the project business and became a real software-as-a-service company. It was a step that was as hard as it was significant. But eventually, once we sold our first long-term platform licenses, it kick-started the growth of innosabi at exponential rates.

With a foothold in the software industry, an expanding customer base, and a growing team we had to ask ourselves: What’s the next step? Obviously, we did not want to be just another provider for innovation management software. We wanted to become the company that sets the agenda and leads the entire industry.

 

This meant two things for us. First, we intensified our pursuit of becoming thought leaders in the realm of innovation and digitalization. We shared our vision in talks and keynotes, we wrote and published our first book, and we were even invited to discuss the digital future of Germany with the chancellor. Secondly, we evolved our software and methods towards what they are today.

 

We moved beyond the original idea of customer co-creation platforms and applied the principles to other areas. Whether it is collaboration within organizations or joint innovation activities with suppliers: We created the tools and methods to engage all relevant stakeholders. In doing so, innosabi eventually could offer much more than the community platforms we developed at the early stages of our software business.

We are endlessly curious about the future. Especially all the possibilities that new technologies and current developments bring with them. We want to keep on pioneering and finding new ways to use them for enabling innovation.

 

We are working with Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to gain even more insights from the data on our platforms. We are building a network of specialized communities to be accessed on demand via our software. There is not enough space here to mention all the other great advancements we are making. It is a truly exciting time for us and we try to once again remain flexible and keep an open mind. The next big chapter-defining step is surely coming.

The innosabi journey has been going on for over ten years now – and we wouldn’t be innosabi if it didn’t continue in an exciting way. The next chapter is named “innosabi. A Questel company”.

 

Now we are ready for the next step. We have always wanted to grow beyond our domestic market and show the rest of the world what we can do! 2021 is the time for this step. But why take such a big step alone when we have found the perfect match for us? That is exactly why we have decided to join forces with Questel – for the next big step into the future.

We are the opposite of those over-funded, cliché start-ups. And to be honest quite proud of it. Since the beginning, we wanted to build a healthy business and to have the freedom to grow on our own terms without the pressure of pleasing investors. Today, innosabi is still owned by its four founders who keep it on its successful, self-reliant course.

The people at innosabi come from a very broad range of backgrounds and are highly motivated to acquire new skills. Within their own responsibilities as well as from other areas to broaden their perspectives. Everyone brings some unique talent to the table and is encouraged to find ways how to best contribute one’s personal strengths to our shared vision.

We are proud and ambitious. Our vision goes far beyond anyone else’s. Fearlessly we push the frontier of digitalization and bring change to the furthest corners of all industries. We are all very passionate about innosabi. It‘s more than just a job. We see it as the pursuit of a shared vision and the quest to build a great company. All of us try to contribute our personal strengths and skills to make innosabi successful.

 

So for us, being passionate does not only mean to enjoy what you are doing. It means asking yourself where you can contribute the most, aligning your personal goals with the ones of the company, and most importantly being eager to constantly learn new things that will help to advance innosabi.

We know what we are doing and others look to us for guidance. Our knowledge and technology is unparalleled and refined through countless successful projects. We lead the pack in thought and action. To make this all work, we have to be agile. Rather than trying to predict the unpredictable and account for all possible situations, we function best by staying flexible.

 

Every day we set immediate goals, shift priorities, and break challenges down into basic blocks that are distributed according to the strengths of each team member.

We love what we are doing. And we love to inspire others with our openness and curiosity. Our team is more than co-workers. Our clients are more than buyers. We are all on this great adventure together.

 

We believe in openness and that the best things happen when the right people get together. This is not only reflected in our methods and software, but even more so in our personalities. Sharing ideas and talking with each other is the key to our success. As pioneers in uncharted territory, we are constantly facing new challenges that we can only solve together.