I install AI capability inside businesses, with internal teams who own it .

Strategy. Transformation. Build internal practitioner capacity. Scoped to your business, like a fractional executive.

Book a Strategy Assessment → Join the Leanpreneur Community

Coined ‘Leanpreneur’

Operates 4 businesses

10+ years building lean

two tracks, one approach

Which one sounds like you?

Pick the door that fits how you work today. Both lead into the same operating philosophy.

For CEOs and founders

You run a business that is paying for AI tools your team is not operationalising. You have read the case studies but you are not sure what to do first. You want someone to look at how you actually run, name the workflows that matter, and tell you whether a full engagement is worth it.

Start with a Strategy Assessment. We name the workflows that matter, quantify the impact, and decide together what the engagement looks like. Fee deducts from implementation if you proceed.

Book a Strategy Assessment →

For small business owners and intrapreneurs

You are building a leaner business, or running a leaner function inside a bigger one. Fewer people, smarter systems, higher margins. You want pattern recognition from operators who actually run businesses, not coaches who sell courses.

Join the Leanpreneur Community. £129 per month. Workshops, show-and-tell, office hours, skills library. Real people building real businesses.

Join the Community →

how we work

Three phases. One engagement.

Elastic by month, structured by phase. Like a fractional executive, not a project plan.

Months 1 to 2

Strategy

C-level workflow diagnostic. Where AI multiplies the revenue engine. What to do first. Priorities mapped, roadmap written, leadership aligned. Strategy KPIs set.

Months 2 to 6, overlapping

Transformation

Workflows installed alongside the internal team. Build as you go. Practitioners pair with the operator to learn what they will own. Capacity layer in motion. Monthly reviews against the strategy KPIs.

Month 6 onwards

Embedded Operations

Fractional-executive rhythm. Internal team takes over delivery. Operator supervises, corrects, keeps strategy in motion. Monthly cadence, quarterly review, annual reset. Capacity layer keeps building.

in practice

Real businesses, real outcomes

Not thought pieces. Operating work I’ve done inside real businesses that still runs today.

7 staff hired ·30% YoY growth ·National award winner

Award-winning artisan bakery - owner-operators fully removed

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.

2,100+ SEO pages ·5 automated jobs ·1,273 providers listed

Find a Training Provider - 1,273 providers, running autonomously

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.

3,400+ companies ·1,500+ contacts ·10 years in sector

Bolt Search - 10 years in education & skills recruitment

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.

More about my work →

how I think

AI is a tool. Business fundamentals are the strategy.

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.

20+Years in business

4Companies built

5+Years hands-on with AI

More about me →

three rungs, one ladder

Ways to work with me

One entry into the operator side. Alongside, a community for small business owners and intrapreneurs. Pick the rung that matches where you are.

Strategy Assessment

the entry

A one-week diagnostic. We look at how you actually run, name the workflows that matter, quantify the impact, and decide together what an engagement would look like. The fee deducts from implementation if you proceed, and for eligible businesses the week itself can be fully funded.

C-level workflow diagnostic
Impact quantified before any commitment
Clear go or no-go on the engagement at the end

Book a Strategy Assessment →

Fractional Chief AI Officer

the engagement

Scoped from the Assessment. Runs short or long, narrower or wider, lighter or heavier on my time, depending on what the Assessment surfaced. Strategy, transformation, building internal practitioner capacity. The role you would hire for, on a fractional basis.

Limited, by application.

Strategy, transformation, embedded operations
Internal team learns to own the work
Funded delivery layer underneath where eligible

Start with a Strategy Assessment →

Leanpreneur Community

the parallel track

£129 per month

For small business owners and intrapreneurs. Workshops, show-and-tell, office hours, skills library. Real people building real businesses.

Workshops, show-and-tell, office hours
A working skills library, not a course library
Cancel any time

Join the Community →

The Assessment is the single entry into paid work, whether the engagement ends up being a focused sprint or an eighteen-month embed. One decision, everything downstream flows from what the Assessment surfaces.

kind words

What people say

Real quotes from people I’ve actually worked with. Bakery owners, sector principals, CEOs.

I was working seven days a week and the business was tough to run - we even had to close on one of the busiest days of the year. Eight months later I don’t need to be there and it’s still growing.

Andrew Cotterell

CEO, Grants Bakery

Alex is a tech / AI guru who has built solutions but has the ability to identify a challenge and find an automated way to solve it.

Steve Carter

Principal, Satori Partnership

Very professional and straightforward to work with, with an impressive network in the learning and skills space.

Mark Smith

CEO, Ada National College

for small business owners and intrapreneurs

The Leanpreneur Community

A private space for owners and intrapreneurs building lean. Workshops, show-and-tell, office hours with me. Real people building real businesses, sharing what’s working.

Live workshops
Show-and-tell sessions
Office hours with Alex
Skills library

£129 / month

Join the community →

Prefer to try free first? Grab the Content Engine plugin →

sector guides

Long-form, sector-specific

How a leaner operation actually runs in your sector. Pick yours.

Legal

What changes for solicitors and law firms when the operating layer gets leaner. Research, drafting, intake, KM.

Read the guide → Recruitment

Where leverage shows up in a recruitment business. BD, sourcing, screening, ops. Without losing the judgment.

Read the guide → Accountancy

How a leaner practice runs. Client comms, doc prep, advisory hours, where to start, what to leave alone.

Read the guide → Training providers

Apprenticeship and training delivery, redesigned around modern tools. Coaches, assessors, IQAs, ops.

Read the guide → Awarding organisations

Standards, qualifications, EPAOs. Compressing cost without weakening the regulator-facing posture.

Read the guide →

Writing

Practical notes on building lean. No hot takes, no 10-step listicles, no AI slop.

leanpreneur May 2026

Make Hay, Then Reinvest

Most people sell shovels. A few sell shovels and quietly buy the land. The three hedges, the bakery test, the long-term partnership spectrum, and the audit every operator should be sitting with this year.