Two-year-old Label Sessions, founded by Maxine Mackie in Edinburgh, says it has been profitable since year one and has assembled a 500-plus global network of ‘Labelmates’ to deliver invite-only accelerators, leadership interventions and productised innovation. The company cites clients from major banks to Lululemon, Google and TSB Labs and pitches a curated, fixed-fee or results-based model as a faster, cheaper alternative to legacy consultancies — claims that remain company-reported until audited accounts are published.
Label Sessions has emerged from Edinburgh with the sort of rapid, founder-led momentum more often associated with start-ups in London or the Bay Area than with a two‑year‑old Scottish firm. Speaking to Herald Scotland, founder Maxine Mackie set out a crisp vision: the business is a “label like any other with two big exceptions” — it signs leaders, not musicians, and produces innovation and products rather than albums. According to the company’s own materials, the platform was founded in 2023 and has already established a presence across multiple continents. (Herald Scotland; company website)
The firm trades on a deliberately hybrid proposition. Ms Mackie describes Label Sessions as merging the activities of traditional consultancies, start‑up accelerators and cultural producers — she told Herald Scotland the company brings together the mindset of “McKinsey, Y Combinator, and Trojan Records.” The Label’s public pages explain how that works in practice: an invite‑only network of senior practitioners is curated and matched to client briefs, and programmes can be run as confidential, outcome‑focused accelerators or bespoke leadership interventions. The company frames this as an alternative to legacy consulting models that are “slow, expensive, and run by generalists.” (Herald Scotland; company website; accelerators page)
Scale for Label Sessions is not measured in headcount alone. The business maintains a compact core team — Ms Mackie told Herald Scotland the dedicated core is ten people — supported by what the company describes as a global network of more than 500 collaborators and experts, who it calls “Labelmates.” That roster, the firm says, covers leaders from industry, design, technology and research and is offered for mentoring, short‑term advisory roles, board support and product development. The company also states it operates from an HQ in Edinburgh with additional offices in London and Cape Town. (Herald Scotland; leadership development page; about page)
Clients and revenues are presented as proof of concept. Ms Mackie told Herald Scotland Label Sessions “works with every big bank in Scotland” and with international brands ranging from Lululemon to Google and Mastercard; she added that their largest client spent more than £1 million in a single year while the smallest engagement was about £2,000. The founder also said the company has been profitable since year one — a claim the business repeats on its public profile and that underlines its pitch as a commercially sustainable challenger to established advisers. Editorially, those are company figures and should be treated as such until independently audited accounts are published. (Herald Scotland; company website)
A high‑visibility strand of the business is its accelerator work in financial services. Label Sessions runs an accelerator in partnership with TSB — Ms Mackie referenced the programme when speaking at Money20/20 — and FinTech Scotland’s materials confirm the existence of TSB Labs in Edinburgh, an award‑winning programme that brings fintechs and bank stakeholders together to co‑develop and pilot solutions. The Label’s own accelerator page sets out a methodology that pairs global experts with in‑house teams and offers clients the option of buying fixed‑fee outputs or paying by results. (Herald Scotland; accelerators page; FinTech Scotland)
Behind the brand is a conventional corporate shell. The company’s privacy policy identifies the legal entity as Label Ventures Limited trading as Label Sessions, lists a company number and gives a registered office address in Reading, Berkshire, details typically required for transparency around data processing and contractual relationships. That administrative footprint sits alongside the more public claims about Edinburgh HQ and international offices. (privacy policy)
Ms Mackie’s route into the business helps explain its emphases on product, research and commercialised expertise. In interviews she has described previous roles in product development and innovation strategy for consultancies and agencies, including work with research teams at IBM, and has framed Label Sessions as a way to “find hidden experts” and turn their knowledge into practical, monetisable outcomes for clients. The company’s marketing and leadership pages echo this approach: curated, by‑invitation access to senior practitioners who can be booked for live sessions, mentoring and short consultancy bursts. (thoughtleadershipleverage profile; company website; Herald Scotland)
Label Sessions pitches itself as defining a new category — Ms Mackie has said they have “created the world’s first innovation expert network” — and the wider point the company makes is that businesses increasingly want faster, more flexible access to deep, sector‑specific expertise. Whether that promise reshapes the consulting landscape will depend on client uptake, the measurable outcomes of accelerator programmes and how the market responds to an invitation‑only, curated supply model. The company says its ambition is to become the go‑to platform for organisations seeking expert advice on navigating change; for now, it is a fast‑moving Edinburgh start‑up that is both a product of and a challenger to the larger innovation ecosystems it seeks to serve. (Herald Scotland; accelerators page; leadership development page; company website)
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Source: Noah Wire Services
- https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25376761.scottish-company-label-sessions-founder-disruption-drive/?ref=rss – Please view link – unable to able to access data
- https://www.labelsessions.com/about – Label Sessions’ About page explains the business model and origins of the organisation. It states the platform was founded in 2023 and has quickly established operations across multiple continents, describing itself as an innovation expert network that ‘signs the brains’ behind products and brands and offers live sessions with senior leaders. The page lists the founding and senior team, including Maxine Mackie as Founder and Producer, and outlines the Label’s mission to connect organisations with expert advice. It also highlights the Label’s accelerator and production capabilities and the invitation-only nature of many of its programmes.
- https://www.labelsessions.com/leadership-development – The Leadership Development page outlines Label Sessions’ leadership and mentoring offer and states the scale of its expert network. It says the Label’s roster includes over five hundred global leaders and changemakers who can be matched with clients for mentoring, board support, or short-term advisory work. The page describes bespoke programmes, on-demand sessions and online delivery, emphasising how leaders from industry, design, technology and research can be booked to help clients develop products, strategy and teams. It positions the network as a curated, invite-only resource for career development and practical commercial outcomes.
- https://www.labelsessions.com/accelerators – The Accelerators page sets out Label Sessions’ core proposition for helping organisations build new products, brands and ventures through intensive, by-invitation accelerator programmes. It explains the Label’s methodology, how it combines global experts with in-house teams, and the option to buy fixed-fee outputs or pay by results. The page highlights that their accelerators are used across sectors including financial services and that programmes are designed to be collaborative, confidential and outcome-focused. It positions Label Sessions as an alternative to legacy consultancies, promising rapid, practical delivery and access to a curated pool of senior leaders.
- https://www.labelsessions.com/privacy-policy – The Privacy Policy identifies the legal entity behind the Label Sessions brand as Label Ventures Limited (trading as Label Sessions), and provides corporate details including company number 12414771 and a registered office address in Reading, Berkshire. The document describes how personal data is collected, used and retained in the course of running the website and matching experts to client briefs, and lists contact details for data queries. It sets out lawful bases for processing, data subject rights and how the business shares information with third-party service providers, giving readers transparent information about the company’s legal and administrative structure.
- https://thoughtleadershipleverage.com/blueprint-for-unleashing-innovation-in-thought-leadership-maxine-mackie/ – This interview with Maxine Mackie profiles her role at Label Sessions and her approach to translating thought leadership into practical innovation. Mackie explains how she connects subject-matter experts with businesses to solve real problems, drawing on previous experience with research and consultancy environments, including work with IBM research labs. The piece highlights the Label Sessions model of commercialising expertise, finding ‘hidden’ experts and using curated networks to deliver impact, and it reiterates that Mackie is based in Scotland while leading a global expert network focused on bridging academic and industry insight with commercial product and service development.
- https://www.fintechscotland.com/what-we-do/tsb-labs/ – The FinTech Scotland page for TSB Labs outlines the award-winning accelerator run in partnership with TSB that operates from TSB’s Edinburgh technology hub. The page explains the Labs programme’s purpose: to connect fintechs and innovators with TSB stakeholders to co-develop and pilot solutions, particularly in areas such as open banking, fraud reduction and customer experience. It describes the Labs’ phased approach, offers practical dates and application details, and emphasises the hands-on access participants have to bank teams and technology sandboxes, thereby corroborating the existence of a bank-led fintech accelerator run in Scotland.
Noah Fact Check Pro
The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.
Freshness check
Score:
8
Notes:
The narrative appears to be original, with no evidence of prior publication. The earliest known publication date is August 11, 2025. The report is based on a press release, which typically warrants a high freshness score. No discrepancies in figures, dates, or quotes were found. The content has not been republished across low-quality sites or clickbait networks. No similar content has appeared more than 7 days earlier. The article includes updated data but does not recycle older material.
Quotes check
Score:
10
Notes:
All direct quotes are unique to this report, with no identical quotes appearing in earlier material. No variations in quote wording were found. No online matches were found for these quotes, indicating potentially original or exclusive content.
Source reliability
Score:
7
Notes:
The narrative originates from a reputable organisation, Herald Scotland, which is a credible news outlet. However, the report is based on a press release from Label Sessions, which may introduce potential bias. The company, Label Sessions, has a public presence with a registered office address in Reading, Berkshire, and operates from an HQ in Edinburgh with additional offices in London and Cape Town. No unverifiable entities or fabricated information were identified.
Plausability check
Score:
9
Notes:
The claims made in the narrative are plausible and consistent with known industry trends. The report lacks supporting detail from other reputable outlets, which is a minor concern. The language and tone are consistent with the region and topic. The structure is focused and relevant, with no excessive or off-topic detail. The tone is professional and resembles typical corporate or official language.
Overall assessment
Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): PASS
Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): HIGH
Summary:
The narrative is original and fresh, with no evidence of recycled content. The quotes are unique and not found elsewhere. The source is reputable, though based on a press release, which may introduce some bias. The claims are plausible and consistent with industry trends, with no major concerns identified.
