Alex Lockey Start a project
A dashed circle marked possible becomes a solid square marked built Possible Built

The art of the possible, built.

I build the systems that change what a business is worth, then stay until they pay back.

Start a project See examples

Projects.

EDMA

Deal intelligence for an M&A boutique in the education sector

The problem. Two partners covering a whole market, with no analyst team and the knowledge in their heads.

What I built. A living map of every company, owner, deal and signal in the sector, fed each day from public sources. It sweeps the market globally and originates opportunities for buyers and sellers: agents draft the buyer lists, the signal sweeps and the weekly briefing. Nothing sends itself.

Analyst-grade coverage of a market, run by a small team.

Read the case study Visit Thomsett Lockey

Sources: filings and news, then Vault: every company, then Agents: buyer lists, then Review: drafts queue, then Partners: decide and act

Sales intelligence engine

GTM engine for a specialist advisory firm (client under NDA)

The problem. The firm's whole market was buried in scanned company filings that nobody could read at scale, so its sales team was guessing who to call.

What I built. A custom engine that reads every filing, checks each figure with a second independent reader, and backs every correction with a verified quote. Acceptance tests run on every release, and the sales team works from the result.

59,000+ filings read and £1.9bn of addressable market mapped across 3,600 companies.

Read the case study

Filings: 59,000+ scans, then Reader 1: extract figures, then Reader 2: independent check, then Quote: verified source, then Sales team: who to call

Value creation index

Diagnostic and ongoing measurement for an investment and advisory partnership (client under NDA)

The problem. Deals were sourced, diligenced and grown on different spreadsheets, so nobody could say where value was being made or lost.

What I built. One index that runs through the whole life of a deal. A diagnostic scores the business at diligence, then the same measures run on, month by month, so value creation and return are tracked against the same baseline from origination onwards.

One line from first look to return, measured the same way at every stage.

Read the case study

Origination: where deals start, then Intelligence: what we know, then Diligence: the diagnostic, then Measurement: ongoing, monthly, then Partners: act on value created

Bench

Productised service for recruitment agencies on Claude or ChatGPT

The problem. An agency runs on decisions that never get written down. Why a candidate was turned down, what a client really wants, which fee was agreed. When a consultant leaves, it leaves with them.

What I built. One secure brain for the whole agency. It pulls the decisions out of Teams, email, calls and AI chats, and anyone can ask it a question or update the CRM straight from Claude or ChatGPT.

One memory the whole agency owns, and every consultant can ask.

Read the case study Visit recbench.co

recbench.co
Bench, the live site
Capture: Teams, email, calls, then Match: candidate, client, role, then Brain: the why, filed, then Ask: from Claude or ChatGPT, then Consultant: confirms every change

Airspace

Search intelligence for website estates

The problem. A portfolio of sites, no SEO team, and AI assistants changing how people find a business.

What I built. One tool that watches rankings, search console data and where AI answers cite each site, across the whole estate, and turns it into a short list of fixes each week. We run it across our own estate of seven sites.

Search and AI visibility for a whole estate, run by one person.

Sites: the whole estate, then Signals: rankings, citations, then Agents: find the fixes, then Brief: weekly list, then Owner: chooses what ships

How I run

My own operating system for my own businesses

The problem. One operator, several businesses, and every commitment living in memory.

What I built. AFCS, my automatic flight control system: scheduled agents that triage, research, draft and remember overnight. A ledger that never forgets a promise. A brief waiting each morning.

The company flies on autopilot overnight. By day I take the controls: I decide and act.

Read the case study

Inputs: mail and calls, then Agents: triage, research, then Ledger: every commitment, then Brief: each morning, then Alex: decides and acts

ROI for AI

AI returns tool for leaders on the ROI for AI Bootcamp, with The Performance Academy

The problem. Leaders were buying AI tools and could not point to the return on their own P&L.

What I built. A tool that aims AI at the seven drivers of EBITDA. A marginal gain from AI on each driver, 1% at a time, compounds through the P&L, worked on the business's own numbers.

1% on each of seven drivers lifts EBITDA by 67.7% in the modelled example.

Read the case study Visit The Performance Academy

theperformanceacademy.uk
ROI for AI, the live site
Drivers: seven of EBITDA, then AI play: one per driver, then Gain: 1% each, then Compounding: through the P&L, then Leader: chooses where

Got a workflow that should run like this?

Start a project

Websites I own and run.

findatrainingprovider.co.uk
Find a Training Provider home page

Find a Training Provider

Every approved apprenticeship provider, ranked on government data.
www.boltjobs.com
Boltjobs home page

Boltjobs

The UK job board for further education and training.

Build. Advise. Teach.

Build, Advise and Teach, and where each line of work sits between them BUILD Systems that run ADVISE Advice, boards, partnerships TEACH Rooms and programmes Custom buildsAirspaceFATP and BoltjobsMy operating chain AI advice and consultingSatori PartnershipSIAS boardFledglings board Leanpreneur CommunityStripe Community Thomsett Lockey Growth Company ROI for AI Bootcamp Fractional partner

Tap a part of the diagram to see what sits there.

BuildCustom builds, Airspace, FATP and Boltjobs, My operating chain

AdviseAI advice and consulting, Satori Partnership, SIAS board, Fledglings board

TeachLeanpreneur Community, Stripe Community

Build and AdviseThomsett Lockey

Advise and TeachGrowth Company

Build and TeachROI for AI Bootcamp

Build, Advise and TeachFractional partner

Fractional partner: I build, advise and teach the team, inside the business.

“I was working seven days a week and the business was tough to run… Eight months later I don’t need to be there and it’s still growing.”

Andrew Cotterell, CEO, Grants Bakery

Four steps in.

  1. A strategy conversation

    Thirty minutes on what your business could become. Free.

  2. Diagnose and plan

    The ranked list of what to build and what it is worth, credited against the build.

  3. A build project

    I scope it, own the outcome and build it, myself or with a small, named bench.

  4. Fractional partner

    An operator inside the business, keeping what we built paying back.

Start a project How I work

A room for lean operators.

  1. A question in WhatsApp
  2. Answered the same day
  3. A win shared
  4. Monthly Show & Tell
  5. An intro to another member

The Leanpreneur Community, for solo operators and lean teams who want their own business to run the same way.

£129 a month. What you get:

  • A WhatsApp group that answers back
  • One live Show & Tell a month, recorded
  • The members library and the Solve the Day course
  • 1-to-1 onboarding, then ongoing async support
Join the community Fit call first

Writing.

All writing

One email a week.

What I’m building, what’s working, and what it cost. Unsubscribe in one click.

Free. No spam.