Manchester-based UX and digital consultancy Pixeltree is scaling its enterprise footprint after a remodelling phase.
Founded by CEO James Hamilton, the business helps organisations design, test and build digital products through design sprints and rapid delivery.聽
It is now working consistently with large international clients following its involvement in GM 老九品茶 Growth Hub鈥檚 inaugural ASCEND programme.
Hamilton once again joined the Growth Hub in Lisbon for Web Summit, Europe’s biggest tech conference, late last year after its impact on him in 2024 – and he told me that the last 12 months have marked a clear shift.
鈥淭here was a big strategic remodel of where I wanted the business to go,鈥� he says.
鈥淎SCEND was a big part of helping to reshape that – speaking to lots of other founders and mentors.鈥�
The reset has translated into new high-profile wins, including contracts with the International Cotton Association, Yakult Europe and Big Bus Tours, the world鈥檚 largest hop-on, hop-off tour operator.
Moving up the market
Pixeltree鈥檚 client base has steadily evolved over time, but Hamilton says this year marked a step change.
鈥淗istorically it was predominantly really small companies – startups, small businesses,鈥� he explains.聽
鈥淲e鈥檝e progressed over the last three, four, maybe five years, but this year we鈥檝e really reached that level where we鈥檙e onboarding clients at that level pretty consistently now.
鈥淓ven 12 months ago, we might have onboarded one or two of them (enterprise clients) a year at most.聽
鈥淣ow we鈥檝e been able to scale and start to onboard them consistently.鈥�
A smaller core
As the client profile has grown, the company has deliberately moved in the opposite direction when it comes to headcount.
Hamilton explains: 鈥淲e鈥檝e actually gone to a smaller core team, with eight people in the core.
鈥淩ather than expanding permanently, we鈥檙e pulling in specialist expertise as needed.
鈥淲e leverage real specialists for areas that projects need – high-end animation, in-depth data analysis.
鈥淭he team is quite lean, but the people we employ are really senior generalists.
鈥淧robably all of them have 10-plus years鈥� experience, working with big companies, either in-house or agency side.鈥�
Automation and AI聽
Hamilton says one of the company鈥檚 defining changes has been removing traditional agency layers and replacing them with automation.
鈥淥ne of the big challenges with agencies is higher day rates and layers of account managers,鈥� he says.聽
鈥淭he client never really gets to interface with the people that have the real knowledge.鈥�
Pixeltree鈥檚 response has been to put clients directly in touch with senior consultants, which is a model supported by automation and AI.
鈥淔or us to do that, you can鈥檛 just pull out account managers,鈥� he explains.聽
鈥淪o we had to replace a lot of what they were doing with automation.
鈥淚nternally, AI and connected systems now handle many previously manual project management tasks.聽
鈥淓xternally, we are using automation to reduce time spent on low-value activity for clients.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 think the value is in the manual work, it鈥檚 the analysis and the action.鈥�
A bootstrapped model
Pixeltree has grown without external funding since launching more than a decade ago.
Hamilton recalls: 鈥淢y initial investment was a startup loan – about 拢5,000.
鈥淚t bought me a laptop and a few bits. That was kind of all we needed.
鈥淲e鈥檝e never done outside investment.
鈥淭here’ve been poor years, difficult years and good years – this year has been a really good one.鈥�
Doubling down
Looking ahead, the man spearheading the business is aiming for huge targets.聽
鈥淲e鈥檇 like to double revenue in 2026,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e done more than that this year (2025).
鈥淲e鈥檙e interested in really cool, interesting projects.
鈥淏ig showcase clients where we can solve big challenges and be recognised for that.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about having 100 new clients next year; it鈥檚 about having a smaller pool of clients that we work with more deeply, build long-standing relationships with and deliver real value for.鈥�