Stage 1 · Premise
What has to be true for this to work.
How we operate, in detail
Four disciplines, applied to the group's own businesses with its own capital.
Program 01 · Cheaply, before committing
Testing new ventures
Most ventures can be tested for a fraction of what launching them costs: one location, one product line, one month of real customers paying real money. We do that first, and we write down beforehand what result would count as a no.
Stage 2 · Test
The smallest version that is real.
Stage 3 · Evidence
Measured against the stated threshold.
Stage 4 · Decision
Build, adjust or stop. In writing.
Stage 1 · Structure
Its own entity, licences and insurance.
Stage 2 · Systems
Books, payroll and operations from day one.
Stage 3 · People
The first hires, chosen slowly.
Stage 4 · Launch
With enough runway to learn.
Program 02 · Properly, once decided
Launching & building
Once a test passes, half-funding it is the most expensive mistake available. We set the business up properly: its own entity and licences, working systems from day one, the right first hires, and a plan that survives the first bad month.
Program 03 · So each one is not alone
Operating & shared support
A small business carrying its own bookkeeping, payroll, compliance and software decisions spends management time on none of its actual work. Sharing that across the group means each business gets a standard of back office it could not justify alone.
Stage 1 · Baseline
Monthly numbers that are actually produced.
Stage 2 · Standardise
One way of doing the boring parts.
Stage 3 · Cadence
A management meeting that decides things.
Stage 4 · Support
Hiring and systems help when needed.
Stage 1 · Review
Actual against expected, no excuses.
Stage 2 · Options
Reinvest, change, sell or close.
Stage 3 · Decision
Written down, with reasons.
Stage 4 · Execution
Including obligations met on closure.
Program 04 · Decided on purpose
Reinvest, restructure or close
The hardest discipline in a group is closing something that works slightly. We review each business against what we expected, decide where the next dollar and the next month of attention goes, and when the answer is to close, we do it properly and quickly rather than letting it drain the others.
Working on something adjacent?
A first conversation costs nothing. If we are not the right fit, we will say so quickly.