Start with one conversation, not a six-month bet
For B2B teams with a product that's hard to explain, a pipeline that has stopped growing, or AI still stuck on a slide. There are two ways to work with us: a designer embedded in your team, or a project with a clear finish line.
- Red Dot Design Award
- 40+B2B companies
- 5ventures built
- MITDesign Lab background
The first call is where we scope it
Tell us what's stuck. On the first call we work out what to fix or build first, and roughly what it costs, before anyone asks the board for more.
- Product: where buyers and new users get lost in your interface, onboarding and product flows.
- AI: where it would save hours or money in how your business actually operates.
- Website and story: why the right buyers don't understand what you do, or never get in touch.
Then pick the shape that fits the work
If you have a live product that ships every sprint, go embedded. If the work has a finish line, a project suits it better.
Embedded, half-time
A senior designer working inside your team on a monthly basis, without six months spent hiring one.
Embedded, full-time
Full-time senior design capacity for when design debt is growing faster than you can pay it off.
Fixed project
Usually three to six months, with one agreed outcome, such as a brand and website, a rebuilt product or a partner program, and the scope set up front.
Start with one job. Add more once it pays
CapillaryFlow began with a rename from Capillary Concrete. Four years on, the work covers one website for four verticals, a partner portal and the FlowTrack monitoring product.
CapillaryFlow closed a major deal in a new product area within nine months of launch.
- +777%
CapillaryFlow: equestrian direct sales leads up 777% year on year.
Up Strategy Lab first helped us move away from selling at trade fairs and onto a system that finds serious buyers. Seven years later they're still with us, and the work has shifted from generating leads to attracting the right ones. As we've moved toward managing the whole manufacturing journey, from prototype to delivery, they've rebuilt how we present ourselves around the customers we actually want to work with. They keep asking who we serve and why, and the sales conversations we have now are better for it.
Eric BengtsonCEO, Sourcing Allies
Cost, timing and fit, answered
What does a project with Up Strategy Lab cost?
It depends on the scope. Our projects have ranged from about €5,000 to well over €100,000: a focused website sits near the bottom of that, a brand, website and product rebuild near the top. Tell us your budget in the form or on a call and we'll show what fits inside it, including whether a smaller first step makes more sense.
What is the difference between embedded design and a fixed project?
Embedded design is ongoing: a senior designer works inside your team half-time or full-time, at a monthly rate agreed up front. A fixed project has an agreed scope and outcome and usually runs three to six months. Embedded suits a live product that keeps shipping. A project suits a defined piece of work.
How long does a project with Up Strategy Lab take?
Full engagements usually take three to six months. Up Strategy Lab's published projects have run from one month, with Lolo, to over a year, with FreePower. Viking Analytics ran nine months across three workstreams: website and go to market, a partner program and the MultiViz 2.0 platform. Frontgrade Gaisler took six months for brand, website and aerospace SEO.
Do you work alongside our in-house team?
Yes. Up Strategy Lab works alongside your in-house developers, product and marketing people rather than around them. The team also stays on through adoption after launch, so the work gets used, not just handed over.
Do you work with companies outside Sweden?
Yes. Up Strategy Lab was founded in Gothenburg in 2018 and works with clients across Europe, the US and Asia. Embedded work and fixed projects are open to clients in all of those regions.
Can we start with AI rather than design?
Yes. We start by mapping where AI would save time or money in how you operate, and rank what to build first by effort against value. From there, Up Strategy Lab builds the tools with you, so AI ends up in daily use rather than in a strategy deck.
Tell us what's stuck
One line about the problem is enough. We'll tell you which way in we'd choose, and why.