Working with external innovation teams: faster, smarter, and built for action

Challenge

Corporates often face a familiar innovation dilemma: Should they assign internal staff, bring in freelancers, or partner with an external innovation agency? Internal teams can get bogged down by bureaucracy. Freelancers lack cross-functional support and structure. And traditional consultants? Great at reports, not always great at building.

Approach

At expx, we offer flexible ways of working that combine the autonomy, expertise, and speed of a startup team, without cutting the corporate team out of the loop. From fully embedded external squads to hybrid models with internal liaisons, we’ve built a model that blends deep collaboration with real ownership and momentum.

Outcome

Our clients gain access to a dedicated team of entrepreneurial builders who drive ideas from concept to execution. By working slightly outside corporate constraints, we move faster, test smarter, and reduce risk, while keeping internal stakeholders aligned and in control. The result? Less red tape, more progress, and validated ventures ready for scale.

Why the model matters

When innovation managers look to push new products or validate big ideas, they often start by sourcing freelancers or assigning existing team members to take it on “on the side.” The thinking is: we just need one or two people to figure this out.

But the reality is very different.

Without structure, support, or cross-functional expertise, those freelancers or internal staff get stuck. Projects slow down. Nobody really owns the outcome. And ideas that should take months to test take years, if they survive at all.

That’s where working with an external innovation team (like us) changes the game.

1. You get a full team, not just warm bodies

With expx, you're not just hiring a person. You're hiring a venture-building unit. One point of contact working directly with your internal project owner, supported by specialists. From customer interviews and prototyping to experimentation and business modelling.

The benefit? We hit the ground running with speed and skill, rather than assembling a team from scratch or relying on individuals juggling multiple roles.

2. You stay in control without slowing things down

One of the biggest fears corporates have with outsourcing innovation is losing control. That’s why we build collaboration into the process.

There’s always a connection point between our team and yours, a stakeholder who stays close, keeps oversight, and ensures internal buy-in. You stay informed. You steer when it matters. But the day-to-day decisions and delivery are on us, so progress isn’t held hostage by weekly alignment meetings and 47-person email chains.

3. You skip the red tape (but not the compliance)

Here’s a hard truth: internal innovation often drowns in process. Want to test a landing page? Cue legal reviews, compliance flags, and three months of back-and-forth, just to run a simple prototype experiment.

With expx, we do this outside the firewall. We move faster, take smart risks, and validate before bureaucracy kicks in. Once the idea is proven and ready to scale, we bring it back in. Fully tested and compliant.

That’s how we can get projects done in 4 months that would take internal teams 2 years.

4. We don’t just consult, we build

Let’s be honest. A lot of big-name agencies show up with polished decks, packaged frameworks, and a team of suits who disappear once the report’s delivered.

We’re not here to impress you with buzzwords or PDFs.

We’re here to launch something real. We’re entrepreneurs who’ve built startups, not consultants who analyse them. Our work ends with a validated business or product, not another “strategic recommendation.”

The flexibility to move fast and stay connected

Every project is different, so we adapt our model. Whether you want:

• A fully external team building under the radar

• A hybrid squad with an internal champion

• Or embedded support where we lead but you stay close

  
  

We make it work without compromising speed, clarity, or outcomes.

Ready to try a better way of building?

If your last innovation initiative got stuck in meetings, overrun by compliance, or wrapped in strategy slides… let’s try something different. With expx, you get a senior team that builds, not babysits.

→ Let’s talk