Since 2013, Siberia has been quietly working behind NDAd doors driving digital product and service innovation for some of the world’s most forward-thinking organisations. Following a management buyout from United Talent Agency in 2023, they turned their innovation expertise inward to rethink what it means to straddle the line between product studio and boutique management consultant, creating a new model they call a micro-consultancy.
How did you get into the business of digital innovation?
I actually started my career in print at Condé Nast in 2003 as an intern at Traveler, just as the internet really started to take a bite out of traditional media. After graduating I joined CARGO, and got a front seat to what mass market disruption looks like, as they promptly folded our publication. Luckily, a friend of mine who was working as a flash designer/developer helped open some doors for me at what would now be referred to as a Product Studio. I ran the business end of managing web platform design and builds. Ironically my first big project was travelandleisure.com. I was just able to get my feet wet as a PM before Facebook blew up and the iPhone launched - people with that skill set were in demand at the time, and from there I just naturally found a path helping clients and teams navigate big shifts and new technologies. To give some context, my career has put me on teams delivering work like the first iPhone app for The Met, one of the first Spotify Wrapped programs, and my personal favourite, a stint managing the Domino’s Pizza Tracker.
Tell us about the business – what it is, who you work with, how you connect with clients and so on?
Our mission is to “chart and navigate a future where technology has improved, but not over-optimised the human experience”. First and foremost that means we practice human-centred design and are constantly asking ourselves questions about whether or not there is a true human need behind what we’re creating. It also means that we do our best when there’s an element of the unknown. That “chart” means we’re working through some kind of frontier, and the “navigate” means we need to move quickly and get to the making, or our clients are left behind. As far as how we meet clients, most are referred to us, and naturally find a fit in the nimble and practical approach we take to problem solving. We care less about working in a specific field, or following rigid processes, and more about diving into the chaos, making sense of it, and driving through to a vision and course of action. We thrive on it!
How does a “mico-consultancy” work exactly?
Although we work with global companies like Ford, Novo Nordisk and Bloomberg, we are a super tight core team of just five partners. Three are responsible for work delivery and sit across our core disciplines of Product, Design and Engineering, and the other two are myself (I manage business strategy and client relationships) and a fifth who runs Talent and Operations. Everyone is very accomplished, and we all take our work very seriously, but we’re also friends and work to keep our relationships strong - business is hard, so they need to be!
From just the five of us, we work with clients to create a bespoke project strategy and process, and create super specific talent briefs that we then cast against to put together a super group for every project. Keeping that talent network fresh is a big task, as is setting up some basic guidelines and toolkits that we call our Field Guides. We consider our clients part of that super group, and we are VERY lucky to work with all of the talented and interesting people we do from all sides of the table. It’s a little bit like how a highly curated cast and crew get put together to make a movie. Or a Steely Dan album. You can read more about the operating model in our open sourced handbook.
Is there an argument that hiring such a small company comes with inherent risk?
Yes, of course. If you work with any independent agency (and by independent I mean a firm without financial backing from a larger investment oriented group), you are forgoing some level of scalability or stability. I would argue that the good ones have a long enough standing track record to mitigate that risk. On the flip-side, if the agency you hire is owned by a publicly traded holding company, or venture/PE-backed network, there is only one end goal, and that’s profitable growth. It is capitalism at its purest form, and money needs to make more money. So along with that stability, you are entering a relationship with a fairly clear value exchange. When you work with indie shops, motivations are much more open ended. Relationships play a bigger role. Lower margins or flat growth might be acceptable to work on projects with purpose or affinity. Money matters, but it's not always everything. This is not to say that there’s not a certain size or scale project that fits Accenture or AKQA, but I think brands should be a bit more scrutinous of the fee splits between talent, overhead and margins. To quote Moneyball: “keep the money on the field”.
We have to ask, what’s behind the name “Siberia”?
There actually is a pretty cool backstory that ties to Steve Jobs while he was pushing hard inside Apple to innovate around the Macintosh computer. It's fun lore to research. We like to keep things a little bit quiet and mysterious, and ultimately it just has a vibe.
How do you manage staying current with emerging tech and trends like AI, blockchain, and mixed reality?
We’re lucky in that we really get to learn on the job. Our clients tend to come to us at an inflection point where there’s at least some inclination that a new or emerging piece of technology might be able to remove friction or entirely enable a new experience or concept. It's our job to crystalize the opportunity (and we always bring it back to human-centered), envision a blue sky solution, and then vet a viable solution to enable that solution. A lot of times that means dipping our toe into new spaces, and sometimes it means onboarding deep experts in a given field, which plays well into our model. Staying current is an occupational hazard, and everyone has their own follow list and newsletter subscriptions to stay on top of things. We try to balance a healthy amount of skepticism with our tech optimism. A lot of the cycles we’ve worked through - like mobile for example - take a good five to ten years before they really reach maturity. Small, calculated and measurable bets are the surest way to avoid chasing your tail.
What advice do you have for people looking to drive innovation in-house, where opportunities may be less frequent or well resourced?
Start NOW, and work with what you have. If you have a hunch that there may be an opportunity to rethink a process, product or service, or strategic position, you already have a head start. A lot of our most exciting projects start with a napkin sketch or skunkworks presentation that a client started on in their spare time. It's a very exciting time with how AI enabled SaaS platforms are reducing barriers to things like data generation and analysis, content creation, and even code automation. With just a bit of reading and experimentation, anybody can whip up a proof of concept and run a quick validation study. Don’t overthink it! As an old colleague of mine used to say, “Use your brain. Just go”.
And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?
My daily routine is so standard I won’t bore you with the details - it involves a 5 year-old budding comedian, a brand new Cardigan Corgi pup, train rides to NYC and a lot of remote collaboration. I’m not one for rules, but I’ve always been super focused on keeping my life in balance. Something that’s been really useful lately is a little natural time out I’ve been taking every Saturday morning. My daughter takes Jiu Jitsu in town, and in the back of the studio they have a little zen garden with saunas, hot tubs and cold plunges. While she’s learning how to choke out her dad, I’m out back doing a few circuits and having a little mental check-in to make sure I’m keeping all things in balance between family/friends, my own wellness and interests, and the business. It’s like a half ass replacement for therapy or meditation.
Chris Mele is the owner and Managing Partner of Siberia.
