Our Story
Alter Innovation was founded with a straightforward premise: the gap between strategy and execution is where most value gets lost. Too many good ideas die in slide decks. Too many products fail because nobody stress-tested the business model before tooling up.
We exist to close that gap. Our work spans business strategy, customer experience, product development, and market entry, often within the same engagement. We think in systems, build in sprints, and measure what matters.
Our Team
Daniel Santamaria
Managing Partner / Madrid
Over 20 years in FMCG, including 18 at a Fortune 500 company undergoing one of its industry's most ambitious self-disruptions, where he held roles across brand activation, consumer experience, retail, innovation, and sustainability in Spain, Portugal, Indonesia, Switzerland, and the UAE. Part of the transformation from its earliest stages, leading teams through new product categories, new business models, and new ways of reaching consumers.
Alongside his corporate career, he has founded and launched his own ventures across consumer goods and wellness.
Trained in innovation at Stanford d.school and sustainable transformation at IMD Lausanne, and a guest lecturer at Berkeley Haas.
At Alter Innovation, Dani leads strategy, CX, and business design, bringing the perspective of someone who has both operated inside large-scale transformation and built ventures from scratch.
Prem Balani
Partner / Hong Kong / China
Born and raised in Hong Kong, with a deep understanding of Chinese business culture, manufacturing ecosystems, and how to get things done across Asia.
Over two decades of entrepreneurial experience in consumer electronics, manufacturing and product development, including co-founding BoomPods, building it from concept into a brand sold in markets around the world.
Hands-on expertise across the full product lifecycle: industrial design, sourcing, tooling, supply chain management, and international trade between Asia and Europe.
At Alter Innovation, Prem leads sourcing, production, and manufacturing partnerships, making sure what we design actually gets built, shipped, and delivered.
Our Approach
Our thinking is grounded in design thinking principles. We learned to treat innovation as a discipline, not a buzzword. Years of working on global projects across industries and geographies taught us the rest: that the best strategy is worthless if it can't survive execution, and that building something real is the fastest way to learn what actually works.
We start every engagement by understanding and framing the problem deeply before thinking of any solution. Then we work in sprints: short, focused cycles with clear deliverables at each stage, whether we're designing a CX framework or moving a hardware prototype through tooling. No six-month plans that arrive too late. No reports designed to be admired rather than acted on.
We stay until the thing is live, shipped, or measured.