Dutch consulting disruptor takes aim at City’s ‘five-to-one’ markup
Sweav, a Dutch-founded freelance consulting platform, is launching in the UK to challenge the traditional professional services sector on pricing.
Speaking to City AM, Joeri Schouten, co-founder of Sweav, said: “The UK is the biggest professional services market in Europe [but] the culture is still much more traditional, very hierarchical, and has an even more terrible work-life balance, with higher prices compared to mainland Europe.”
He argued that the standard five-to-one markup, where clients pay up to £4,500 daily for mid-level consultants who take home £800, is no longer sustainable.
With the influx of AI and businesses tightening the purse strings, Schouten noted that firms are increasingly rejecting expensive, theoretical PowerPoint decks in favour of professionals who stay on to execute strategy and drive impact.
Rather than trying to replace McKinsey or Boston Consulting Group (BCG) at work where clients want a big-name stamp, Sweav will focus on the implementation that follows a strategy project. The alternative consultancy platform offers experienced mid-level consultants for longer engagements, aiming to deliver practical results more leanly and cost-effectively.
The group, founded in 2022 by consultants Schouten and Thijmen Kaster, currently operates in Amsterdam and Belgium and has turned over between £25m and £30m. Sweav is currently hiring a local UK co-founder to spearhead the regional roll-out and eyeing up a co-working space in Kensington.
Sweav brings flexible model to UK
Schouten said some consultants are keen to become independent, but many remain hesitant because freelancing is less established in the UK.
“These people are so incredibly smart, but they are scared of how to arrange a pension scheme. Do I need to do my own bookkeeping? What about taxes, insurance, etc.? So we provide [a lot of] services to them to lower the barrier for the insecure overachievers caught up in a rat race to pursue this life of more freedom,” he explained.
There have been a lot of redundancies in the professional services industry over the last couple of years, especially in consultancy. The co-founder, whose company aims to hire only consultants, described the layoffs at large firms as a potential source of talent for the company.
The Dutch founder also noted that Sweav culture is more informal and human, without the expectation of wearing suits or working long hours to demonstrate commitment. Although he usually wears sneakers and jeans to prospective client meetings, he admitted this attire is more accepted in the Netherlands than in the UK.