I’ve been the operator you are right now.
20 years building and running businesses. 15 of them my own. I help other people do the same, with better systems and more leverage per person.
From recruiter to system builder
I’ve been in business for over 20 years, 15 of them running my own. I started in recruitment, founding Bolt Search in 2016 and spending the best part of a decade building it. I was good at it. But somewhere along the way I realised the thing I was best at wasn’t recruiting. It was building the systems that made the recruiting work without me.
So I started doing more of that. I built FATP, a UK training provider marketplace that now runs semi-autonomously. I rebuilt the operating model for a growing artisan food retail business: management structure, live dashboards, EPOS integration, AI-assisted workflows. And I built the operating system my own businesses run on. I replaced most of my own team with systems and kept the revenue.
In March 2024 I coined the term “Leanpreneur” to describe what I was becoming: someone who builds lean, leveraged businesses using modern tools and old-fashioned business sense. Not an AI guru. Not a tech bro. A business operator who happens to be very good with technology.
Now I’m building a business around that worldview.
Who I work with
If you’re a leanpreneur, a solo operator or someone running an intentionally lean business, the place for you is the Leanpreneur Community. Workshops, peer accountability, real conversations about what works, and 1:1 work for those who want me closer in.
If you run an SME, I work with you in a variety of ways: the ROI for AI Bootcamp for getting you and your leaders enabled, fractional operating support inside the business, and high-level transformation work, strategy and architecture rather than bodies on the ground. I’ll tell you straight if I think I can help.
Endeavours and interests
The same operating philosophy runs through everything I run, partner in, and sit on the board of. This is the proof the method works.
Websites I own and operate
Find A Training Provider and Boltjobs.com, UK platforms in training and recruitment, built to run lean.
The Satori Partnership
Principal at Satori, the vehicle through which I work with the recruitment sector.
Thomsett Lockey
My M&A partnership. Thomsett Lockey advises owners on buying, selling and preparing businesses for exit.
SIAS
Board advisor at SIAS, the end-point assessment organisation for science and engineering apprenticeships. Early careers in STEM matter to me.
Stripe Community Newcastle
I host the Stripe Community chapter in Newcastle, a room for founders in the North East.
Bolt Search
Executive search in education, training and edtech. Twenty years in the sector, 1,000+ appointments. I take on selected projects on an exclusive basis.
Business fundamentals first. Technology second.
AI is one tool in the kit, not the identity. Build first, subscribe later. Own your tools where you can. Implementation, not theory. Direct access to the decision-maker. No committees, no gatekeepers.
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 10x their size. The winners combine good business sense with the right technology in the right places.
Based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Working with lean operators and founder-led businesses globally.