By: Georgette Virgo
The student consulting powerhouse Ascend Consulting Group expanded its reach within a few months of launching and building a growing network of members across university chapters. With plans to launch at additional universities soon, the team is focused on steadily expanding its presence. Founded by William Host and Mac Cutler in 2024, the group connects consumer tech startups with valuable Gen Z insights through a mission-driven team of carefully selected and trained student consultants.
What’s driving Ascend Consulting Group’s impressive early momentum?
From Gen Z, For Gen Z
Ascend Consulting Group’s unique strength lies in its authentic understanding of Gen Z perspectives, as the company itself is led by the demographic it studies and serves. This close connection helps Ascend Consulting Group gather insights that reflect genuine experiences, complementing traditional market research approaches. Its carefully selected and trained student consultants bring an understanding of Gen Z behavior, preferences, and trends shaped by their own experiences.
This perspective can offer value to startups aiming to better engage with Gen Z consumers. By sharing firsthand knowledge of how their generation interacts with products and services, the firm’s student teams highlight cultural nuances and emerging trends that might not be as apparent through conventional methods.
This authentic understanding helps startups make informed decisions that resonate with their target audience, significantly helping their chances of success in the competitive Gen Z market.
Sharing Valuable Insights
Rather than simply providing market research, Ascend Consulting Group’s teams work directly with startups to craft marketing strategies and product recommendations that resonate with Gen Z audiences.
Weekly feedback cycles allow for ongoing adjustments and timely responses to user needs. This approach supports early-stage tech startups in refining their product development process and potentially avoiding unnecessary expenses.
“Our vision is to be the nation’s leading student consultancy, empowering current and future innovators,” Ascend Consulting Group’s co-founder William Host mentions. “We’re helping shape the next generation of consumer tech products while providing valuable real-world experience to student consultants. This dual impact drives our growth and sets us apart on campus and in the eyes of our clients.”
Ascend Consulting Group in Action
Aside from remarkable growth numbers, Ascend Consulting Group also takes pride in its diverse portfolio of successful partnerships–from social gaming to AI SaaS to hardware products–demonstrating its versatility in translating Gen Z insights into tangible business outcomes across various technology sectors.
For instance, its partnership with Takes exemplifies this impact. Weekly student focus group sessions led to a full product redesign. Through strategic guidance, Takes implemented engaging social gaming components, developed sophisticated point architectures, and introduced competitive leaderboards that dramatically improved user retention and interaction.
Additionally, Capitol AI, a Y-Combinator-backed startup collaboration with Ascend Consulting Group, demonstrates its approach to addressing user experience challenges. Through weekly consultations, Ascend’s student teams worked with Capitol AI to identify areas for improvement in their platform. For instance, they observed that some users were not engaging with Capitol’s advanced prompting features, leading to the suggestion of an interactive tutorial system and adjustments to the feature layout to enhance user onboarding and feature engagement.
Ascend Consulting Group is broadening its scope through a new partnership with Dijie, focusing on hardware product testing. Co-founder Mac Cutler notes that the student teams are working to offer feedback on both hardware and software elements as Dijie gears up for a planned 2025 launch.
Implementing these changes will establish that Dijie’s novel consumer product debuts with a refined and user-friendly experience tailored to the tastes and preferences of Generation Z consumers.
Cutler mentions, “As a startup, having these clients demonstrates the value of our products and our versatility in translating Gen Z product vision into tangible business outcomes across tech sectors. We look forward to helping more consumer-obsessed clients build for the future.”
Jump Starting 2025
As it reflects on its early progress, Ascend Consulting Group remains focused on exploring new approaches to student consulting. The team acknowledges the importance of staying adaptable and responsive, particularly when working with a demographic characterized by evolving preferences and behaviors.
In January, Ascend Consulting Group plans to establish chapters at the University of Michigan, Boston College, and the University of California, Berkeley. This expansion aims to bring diverse perspectives from dynamic and engaged student communities to its client projects.
Published by Drake M.