Working with SMEs
I work with MDs, directors and founders of £1M to £50M businesses on building leaner, more profitable operations. Better systems, sharper workflows, more from every person. For technical teams I bring a business mind. For business teams I bring a technical one.
I fix how the business runs, not just the tech
Most firms reach for technology as the answer. That is backwards. Business fundamentals first, then the tools that fit. Sometimes the change is software. Often it is simpler: stopping something, combining two roles, or redrawing who owns a decision.
I diagnose what is actually slowing you down, install the systems that fix it, and stay long enough to make sure they stick. Where a tool earns its place, we use it. Where a specialist partner fits better, I bring one in.
There is no fixed programme here. The work takes the shape of the problem, so start with the door below that sounds most like you, or book a call and we will work it out together.
If you're this, here's how we work
Four shapes the work takes. Different doors, same operating philosophy: business fundamentals first, technology where it earns its place.
You want yourself and your leaders properly enabled
The ROI for AI Bootcamp, run with The Performance Academy. Eight live working sessions on your own numbers. The foundations of transformation, starting with the people who carry the P&L.
ROI for AI Bootcamp →You want an operator inside the business
A fractional partner role: structure, systems, margin and growth, worked alongside you and your team. Generalist by design, always with a tech-enablement flavour. This is how I work with businesses like the bakery.
Book a conversation →You have one big thing that needs doing
Transformation and special project work. High level: strategy, architecture, systems design, then your team owns the running of it. Limited and scoped, not open-ended.
Scope it with me →You need something more specialist
Some work runs through dedicated vehicles. Buying or selling a business: Thomsett Lockey, my M&A partnership. Recruitment sector work: The Satori Partnership, where I'm a principal.
Ask me which fits →What I help you do
Every engagement is scoped to your business. These are the transformations they usually deliver.
Take yourself out of the day-to-day
Structure, delegation and systems so the business stops depending on you being in every room.
Lift margin without adding headcount
Redesign the workflows that quietly eat time and money, so each person covers more ground.
Install AI where it earns its place
Real workflow change your team owns, not licences gathering dust. And we leave it out where it does not pay.
Build capability that lasts
Your team learns to run what we build, so the gains hold after I step back, not unravel.
See the business clearly
Dashboards, numbers and decision rhythms that tell you what is actually happening, in time to act.
Sector-specific leverage
Deep work in recruitment, training and education, and the professional services where this is moving fastest.
Common triggers
Not every business needs an operating partner. The founders I work best with usually have one of these on their plate already.
You are the bottleneck
The business only really works when you are in the room, and growth means more hours you do not have.
You have bought tools that changed nothing
The licences are paid, the training happened, the work is unchanged. You need someone to take them the last mile, into the workflows, with the team.
Growth has outrun the operating model
More clients, more headcount, more cost, and it is getting harder to steer, not easier.
You need senior delivery without a permanent hire
The role is too senior for one full-time seat, or headcount is constrained. A fractional partner gives you the operator at the cadence you actually need.
Just a few of the patterns. If you are seeing something else and the shape feels familiar, a discovery call is the place to test it.
How engagements take shape
Not a rigid programme. Some leaders start in the bootcamp and want nothing more. Some go straight to fractional or project work. Whatever the door, the pattern inside the work is the same.
Understand
We start with a conversation, then time inside how the business actually runs. The problem gets named before any solution does.
Install
We build the systems and change the workflows, alongside your team, so they learn it as we go rather than having it done to them.
Embed
I step back to a lighter rhythm while your team takes over delivery, and we keep improving how it runs.
The approach holds anywhere margin and time matter. I've gone deepest in recruitment, training and education, but the operating patterns translate across service businesses. Browse the guides to see how, or book a call and we will work out whether it fits.
We will work well together if...
- You are founder-led and can make the call without a committee
- You have a real operating problem and the budget to fix it
- You have revenue and a business that works, and you know it could run leaner
- You want change installed, not a strategy deck
- You and your team will commit time alongside mine
Probably not the right fit if...
- You want a report handed over and no implementation
- You want training or motivation more than change
- You are not ready to change how the business actually runs
- Decisions need a committee and a long procurement cycle
What if we are not technical?
That is exactly who this is for. The people I work with are founders, managing partners and practice heads, not developers. I handle the technical side. You focus on the business.
Is this just about AI?
No. AI is one lever. Most of the work is operating: workflow redesign, structure, systems, and the decisions that get made. Where a tool earns its place we use it. Where a specialist fits better (deep dev, training delivery, CFO, M&A, data, security), I bring them in.
How do we start?
A 30-minute conversation. If the right first step is the bootcamp, I will say so. If it is fractional or project work, we scope that directly. The door depends on the problem, not on a fixed programme.
How much does it cost?
Each engagement is priced to its shape and length. The bootcamp is priced on its own page; fractional and project work is scoped and priced on a discovery call.
Start with a conversation
Thirty minutes on your business, no pitch deck. We work out which door fits: the bootcamp, fractional support, a scoped project, or one of the specialist routes.
Book a 30-minute call