Headquarters:
Washington, DC
Additional Offices:
Denver, Atlanta, Raleigh, NC, Toronto, Tel Aviv
Service Lines:
IT, Strategy, Financial Consulting
Client Industries:
Financial Services/Banking, Communication, Hospitality, Retail
Billable Consultants:
2016: 19
2017: 30
2018 (projected): 50
Revenue (in millions):
2016: $2.8
2017: $4.7
2018 (projected): $10
The story of ImagineX Consulting really begins back in 2005 when Shaun Bank, Co-Founder and Managing Director, and five other founding partners worked together at a Big 4 consulting firm. The six of them were hunkered down on a big transformational project called “Project Imagine.”
Following that project, their careers went off in different directions but they kept in touch. Ten years later, they were back together again, this time launching their own firm focused on emerging technologies, one that would help clients through the mess of transformation and disruption.
“We named the company as an homage to the project that we all worked on together but also for the X-factor that we all felt came from us working together,” Bank says. “That has always led us to amazing results. So, that’s what we’re hoping to achieve with the company and we’re well on the way to that.”
ImagineX Consulting officially launched in late 2015 with a few clients who gave the firm its first opportunities and it’s grown from there. The firm added 11 billable consultants and grew at an impressive 68 percent clip last year. This year, the projections are set even higher—aiming to end 2018 more than doubling revenue to more than $10 million while increasing headcount to 50. “That’s experienced talent coming into the firm from either consulting or industry,” Bank says. “We also have an intern program that will also help us identify more junior talent, too. That will be important as we continue to grow.”
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing in 2017. Dan Wheeler stepped down as CEO due to some personal matters, and Scott McGuiney stepped into the position, and the firm’s performance hasn’t missed a beat.
“Last year was a critical year for us. We ended the year with 68 percent revenue growth from 2016 to 2017,” McGuiney says. And 2018 is going to be a huge year for us. It’s really what I consider our ‘Launch Year,’ after two years of start-up and building our foundational book of business.”
Currently ImagineX’s plans are to have 100 to 150 percent top line growth year over year between 2017 and 2018, and McGuiney says early indicators are suggesting the firm is at the upper end of that range. “We have a more than four times increase on bookings for 2018 revenue right now, than we did at this time last year,” McGuiney says. “This is rooted in our position at four to five marquee client accounts now, none of which existed at this time last year, which make up about 75 percent of our first quarter revenue.”
ImagineX has doubled its client base each year—from 10 to 20 to 43 and has successfully delivered over 70 projects since its inception. “When we started the company, we thought client acquisition was going to be the really big challenge for us,” Bank says. “But the clients are finding us because they’re hearing about the work we’re doing.”
One area that will continue to fuel that growth, Bank says, is cybersecurity and vulnerability management that has led to work with several new clients and a new CyberSecurity Center in Tel Aviv. The firm also launched a government vertical in Washington, DC. ImagineX may expand its reach, too. Both Dallas and the Bay Area are possibilities, Bank says.
By the end of 2020, Bank says he envisions ImagineX will be more than $25 million and 150 consultants. “We’re going to grow based on demand,” he says. “We want the growth to be organic; we’re not going to sacrifice our work, our processes and our talent for the sake of growth.”
