Lean operating systems for professional services firms and operator-led businesses. Modern tools where they fit. No hype, just what actually works.
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I get inside businesses, understand how they run, and make them run better. Two shapes of paid engagement, plus the Community.
Single sessions or packs, for anyone who wants focused thinking on a real problem. Solo operators, execs, intrapreneurs. We get the answer, you go and build it.
For businesses with a real operating problem to solve. We diagnose, we install, we make sure it sticks. Tools fit the problem, not the other way round. Long-term partnership often follows when there’s a fit.
I work primarily with professional services firms - legal, recruitment, accountancy, training, awarding bodies - but the approach works for any business that runs on people, process, and expertise.
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Not thought pieces. Operating work I’ve done inside real businesses that still runs today.
A bakery that had doubled in size and was creaking operationally - forced closures from understaffing, no systems, everything on paper. I stepped in to triage: hired 7 staff, restructured leadership, installed digital scheduling, built a custom revenue and labour-cost dashboard, and replaced a legacy costing tool with an AI-powered system that ingests costs from photos, PDFs, and spreadsheets automatically. Eight months later: both owners fully removed from day-to-day operations, year-on-year growth maintained, and the business won a national craft bakery award for the second time.
A UK marketplace I built and run connecting employers with training providers. Five automated processes sync government data, generate quarterly provider rankings, and nudge stale profiles. Over 2,100 programmatic SEO pages. Currently transitioning to AI-agent-managed operations for content generation, outbound campaigns, and data freshness.
An executive search and board-advisory firm I founded and built in the education, training, and edtech sectors. 3,400+ companies in the network, 1,500+ senior contacts mapped. Proof that I’ve spent a decade inside the sectors I now help transform - I don’t advise from the sidelines.
I’ve spent twenty years building businesses - recruitment, marketplace platforms, consulting, autonomous systems. What I’ve learned is that the best businesses run lean. Fewer people, smarter systems, higher margins. Technology accelerates that, but it doesn’t replace the fundamentals.
I believe the future of business is lean. Not zero-human. Not bloated. Lean. AI and modern tools mean individuals and small teams can operate at the scale of companies ten times their size. The goal isn’t to replace people - it’s to stop wasting their time on work that doesn’t need them.
The winners combine good business sense with the right technology in the right places. Build first, subscribe later. Own your tools where you can. Direct access to the decision-maker. No committees, no gatekeepers. Implementation, not theory.
Real quotes from people I’ve actually worked with. Bakery owners, sector principals, CEOs.
A private space for founders and operators building lean. Monthly workshops, bi-weekly show-and-tell, office hours with me. Real people building real businesses, sharing what’s working.
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How a leaner operation actually runs in your sector. Pick yours.
What changes for solicitors and law firms when the operating layer gets leaner. Research, drafting, intake, KM.
Read the guide → RecruitmentWhere leverage shows up in a recruitment business. BD, sourcing, screening, ops. Without losing the judgment.
Read the guide → AccountancyHow a leaner practice runs. Client comms, doc prep, advisory hours, where to start, what to leave alone.
Read the guide → Training providersApprenticeship and training delivery, redesigned around modern tools. Coaches, assessors, IQAs, ops.
Read the guide → Awarding organisationsStandards, qualifications, EPAOs. Compressing cost without weakening the regulator-facing posture.
Read the guide →Practical notes on building lean. No hot takes, no 10-step listicles, no AI slop.
Four serious builders, one architecture. YC's Tom Blomfield gave it a name this month: the Company Brain. This is the substrate every business will run on. Here is the version I am still building, what I learned from each of them, and the awkward truths about installing one inside a company.
Most business models assume you need more: more staff, more funding, more infrastructure. The Leanpreneur model starts from a different premise.
A real autopilot doesn't fly the plane. It holds the course you set, adjusts for turbulence, and frees you to think about where you're going. I built one for my businesses.