Alirity

About the partnership

Alirity is a change and transformation consultancy based in Brighton, led by chief executive Charlie Symonds. It helps organisations simplify, modernise and deliver complex change, bridging the gap between business and technology. Its work rests on four pillars, agility, clarity, sustainability and data-driven decision-making, and it’s an accredited delivery partner of the Agile Business Consortium. Alirity works through a core team and a wider network of specialist associates.

Always Possible and Alirity have worked together for several years, and the relationship runs both ways. Alirity’s data and analytics specialists have strengthened our research on projects including labour market and skills analysis for Future Skills Sussex and the Crawley Cultural Quarter feasibility study. Richard Freeman, Always Possible’s founder and CEO, is also one of Alirity’s featured associates, bringing his place, economy and workforce expertise to their work.

Our biggest joint venture is Logical Progression, a business-led research initiative asking why Brighton and Sussex produce so many start-ups but so few scale-ups. We set it up with Alirity, The Golden Acre and ScaleUp Sussex, and the partnership has since grown to include Sussex Innovation and Kreston Reeves. The first phase tested five hypotheses about what holds scaling firms back, covering markets, leadership, talent, finance and infrastructure, against national data and interviews with founders of some of the region’s fastest-growing businesses. The hypotheses held, suggesting the region’s scale-up gap is structural rather than a matter of circumstance.

In July 2026 the partners shared the findings at a Scaling Sussex event, with Richard setting out the wider picture on industrial strategy and devolution and Charlie leading the discussion on practical levers for change. A second phase is now being shaped.