How we work with experts
If you are approached by us (or any other expert network) with a request to participate in a project the three questions you need to answer are:
Is this legitimate?
Why should I consider participating?
What’s involved?
This page is designed to answer those questions for you, and let you determine if we’re going to provide an opportunity that you’ll be glad you pursued.
Why you should participate
Legitimacy
The expert network industry is still pretty new and growing fast. So it’s valid to be asking questions around legitimacy. While the industry (not us) ran into some issues years ago, businesses have now established effective compliance processes.
You are protected by the terms and conditions we apply on all projects. The key points include that you won’t be asked to share confidential information and we don’t name you in our work and your identity is not revealed to our clients (or anyone else outside our team).
Experts who have worked with us previously have provided very positive feedback (listed below) and our clients include global consulting firms like Accenture, PwC, Kearney, EY, Deloitte, who themselves have strict expectations on compliance and legitimacy.
Why - our proposition to you
On each project, Accelerated is committed to engaging with the best available experts on the topic. And to enable this aspiration, we’ve built a proposition that’s very different to the rest of the industry.
Rather than the industry standard of hoping that a payment can reflect both the value of your time AND your experience, we think experts should be able to share in a genuine knowledge exchange.
We share with you a summary of insights gained across all of the expert interviews (usually 10+), and discuss with you if you wish.
We take the time to introduce experts to each other if they wish, so you’ll get an opportunity to connect with others on the same topic.
Having seen our model, experts often want to utilise our services, so you also earn a USD5k discount on a future project (some conditions apply).
You’ll receive fast and industry leading compensation for the short time you spend working on any engagement (usually just 1 hour).
We are partnered with the Fred Hollows Foundation, and fund eye surgery that restores sight to someone who is avoidably blind in a developing country for every expert interview we complete.
Shared key insights
We share with you a summary of insights learned from all the experts that contribute to a project (usually 10+), and discuss this with you if you wish.
Compensation
You’ll receive fast and industry leading compensation for the short time you spend working on any engagement (usually just 1 hour).
Grow your own network
We take the time to introduce experts to each other if they wish, so you’ll get an opportunity to connect with others on the same topic.
Discounts on your own projects
Having seen our model, experts often want to utilise our services, so you also earn a USD5k discount on a future project (some conditions apply).
Restore sight
We are partnered with the Fred Hollows Foundation, and fund eye surgery that restores sight to someone who is avoidably blind in a developing country for every expert interview we complete.
OUR EXPERT IDENTIFICATION AND INTERVIEW PROCESS
Throughout your interactions with our team you can expect to be talking with experienced professionals.
We don’t employ graduates as both our clients and our experts deserve efficient communications. The key stages of a typical project are:
OUR EXPERT IDENTIFICATION AND INTERVIEW PROCESS
Throughout your interactions with our team you can expect to be talking with experienced professionals.
We don’t employ graduates as both our clients and our experts deserve efficient communications. The key stages of a typical project are:
Ratings from experts who have worked with us
Satisfaction outcomes
“It’s been a pleasure to work with you and the team”
CIO Australian Government Department
“Speed of communications and sharing the report afterwards”
Chief AI & Data Strategist – Major European Telco
“Very organised and professional”
Head of Advice – Retail Banking (Big 4 Aus bank)
“Responsive and a very nice engagement style/manner”
CIO NZ Utility Retailer
“Easy to work with, great clients and interesting topics”
Acting CIO – Victorian Government Department
“Very good at all the communications, before, during and after the interview. The interview has been conducted both in a pleasant and professional way”
Chief Digital Officer, Artificial Intelligence & Data Science Business Leader – Multinational electrical systems provider
“Great questions and topics of conversation”
Director – Digital Channels, Australian Government Department
“Very satisfied, extremely professional, punctual, prompt and made the entire process happen with minimal fuss”
Lead Business Information Architect – Australian Government Department
“Easy knowledgeable discussion – good report”
Head of Product Development – UK Energy Retailer
“Enjoyable, great consultant asking questions, listened well, articulated questions well, probed answers”
Technical Head supporting Corporate Services Technical Director, leading UK grocery retailer
“The expectations were very clear, and the process was simple and rewarding”
Director, Philanthropic Strategies (US)
“Impressed by your speed, professionalism and approach”
Head of Sustainability, SEA, Multinational Furniture Retailer
Frequently Asked Questions
- If we agree to proceed with an interview you will receive an electronic contract, via DocuSign, for completion. This contract outlines the terms of the engagement from both parties and is where you provide your payment transfer details.
- Payment can be made as a direct transfer to your bank account or via PayPal, or to a charity of your choice.
- Payment is made within 3-5 business days of the interview, and often sooner.
- Yes – unless we agree with you otherwise. We do not disclose your name to our client or any other parties, and the information you share represents your personal opinion.
- In some circumstances our client may wish to take part in interviews. We would always check an expert is comfortable with this before allowing this, because under this circumstance an experts identity becomes known to our clients, as well as our clients becoming known to the expert.
- We offer experts a summary research report and the ability to be introduced to others who participated in the same research. Introductions can facilitate wider networks, but particulation is entirely at the discretion of experts.
- You will receive a meeting invitation from us and details who you will be interviewed by. We typically conduct our meetings via the Google Meet video conference. This is a simple and effective platform that allows you to see who you are being interviewed by, but also turn to audio only mode if there are any bandwidth issues.
- Meetings are typically scheduled for 60 min, unless a different length of time is stipulated. We record the meeting for note taking purposes, so we can focus on the discussion with you, but delete that after notes are completed. If recording the interview is a concern, we will refrain from doing so.
- Generally no. The exception would be where our initial discussion revealed there is some information you do not know, but can find out.
- Typically a list of 4-5 overarching ‘screening questions’ provide the outline of the discussion, but in some instances we will provide a specific interview guide document in advance of the discussion.
No, we work with our clients to remove any overtly confidential questions from our research, and our project terms specifically allow experts to decline answering questions that they deem confidential.
