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 built Tiding, an autonomous systems lab. I rebuilt the operating model for a growing artisan food retail business: management structure, live dashboards, EPOS integration, AI-assisted workflows. 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.
Two ways in
I run the Leanpreneur Community for small business owners and intrapreneurs who want to build the same way. Workshops, peer accountability, real conversations about what works. And I work directly with founder-led businesses on the operating problems that keep founders stuck: management structure, workflows, systems, visibility, and the dependency on you being in every room.
Every engagement starts the same way: a Workflow Assessment. One week of operator time inside the business, then a clear go or no-go on the engagement. I’ll tell you straight if I think I can help.
What else I build
The community is the front door. Alongside it, I run and partner in a handful of businesses. The same operating philosophy runs through all of them.
Advisory and partnerships
Board advisor (SIAS). Principal (Satori Partnership). Selected venture partnerships with operators I believe in.
Bolt Search
Executive search and advisory in education, training and edtech. Ten years, 1,000+ appointments made.
Websites I own and operate
Find A Training Provider and Boltjobs.com, UK platforms in training and recruitment, built to run lean.
Partner with me
I take on a small number of founder-led businesses each year to install leaner systems alongside the team. Start with a Workflow Assessment.
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.