Stuart Moore

Founder, Sapient

Stuart Moore has a history of building companies from scratch. As co-CEO of Sapient Corp., Moore and fellow co-CEO Jerry Greenberg started the company with just $20,000 and some credit cards. In the process, the duo pioneered a new approach to business and technology consulting.

Even better, it all began in his parents’ basement. “I actually started a business selling monogrammed jewelry with my father when I was 18,” Moore says. “We started with no more than an idea and $5,000.”

Within months he sold more than $144,000 in product. “My first sales call was to the biggest possible customer I could think of,” Moore says. “They put our products in their Christmas catalog.”

With that first taste of success, Moore was hooked. “It showed me that business is a great thing that can benefit everyone. From that point on, I knew I wanted to start a business.”

When You Think Big, Size Doesn’t Matter

Back in the early days of Sapient Corp., when there were just a dozen employees, Stuart and Greenberg formulated a plan to compete with big consulting firms and successful niche players. The plan involved a unique pricing model, differentiated service delivery and an intense focus on delivering tangible value to the customer.

Sapient hit the market with a fixed cost/fixed time pricing model – practically unheard of in the consulting field, particularly in the late 1990s where project cost overruns were the norm. As with most innovations, the strategy carried significant risk but ultimately helped the company reap huge rewards. Sapient became known as the company that could get the job done, on time and on budget.

Operational Innovation Offers Rich Rewards

Sapient’s pricing innovation required the company to be managed differently than other consulting companies. It required an organizational model where consultant compensation was partly at risk (performance-based incentives), where teams of diverse professionals could successfully solve client problems and where creativity was rewarded in meaningful ways.

When Moore and Greenberg decided to split duties as co-CEOs, Moore focused heavily on client services. From the beginning, he developed an engagement model and set of repeatable processes that demonstrated Sapient’s problem solving methodology and keen focus on client value.

In simple, building block form, part of Moore’s success (and Sapient’s) can be found in the “workshop.” The tool is often used in the consulting business, but in Moore’s world, it represents a launching pad for deep client relationships. “Our clients were soon telling us that we got more done in a week than they could in six months,” reports Moore.

When the market downturn closed many consulting firms a few years ago, Sapient survived, in part because Moore and Greenberg had built a company that could innovate for its own good, as well as for the good of its clients.

Today, the firm is looking forward to celebrating its 15th anniversary in November. “The best business advice I’ve received is that thinking big is no harder than thinking small, so think big,” Moore says.