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I work with owner-managed businesses on two things, using AI to remove the low-value work slowing your team down, and rebuilding how the business runs so the founder can step back without it falling apart.

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An SME owner at a desk reviewing a thirty-seven tab operations spreadsheet alongside a half-configured new system on a second screen

From spreadsheets to systems: when an SME outgrows its data setup

The spreadsheet was the right answer at five people. At twenty-five, it is the bottleneck. Four signs to watch for, and a proportionate migration sequence that does not retire the spreadsheet on day one.

AI in Practice

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A founder reading a long block of text on her laptop at her kitchen table in the evening, with a printed term sheet and pencil notes beside her

Pre-mortems with AI before you commit

Twenty-four hours from a £600k partnership your gut is not entirely sure about. Your advisors all approved. The cheapest insurance policy left in the room is a pre-mortem with AI as the dissenter.

A founder at a kitchen table reading a long block of text on a laptop, with notes and a coffee mug beside her, in mid-morning light

AI as a sparring partner for hard decisions

Hard decisions don't need more research, they need stress-testing. AI is unusually good at arguing the side you don't want to hear, fast, in writing, without taking it personally.

A woman in her late 40s walking along a canal towpath on a crisp morning, holding her phone near her face as she dictates, looking forward rather than down

Thinking out loud with AI, the dictation-and-respond loop

Walking and talking out loud has been a thinking technology for centuries. Dictation plus AI as the active listener is the same technology with a faster feedback loop.

A founder at a kitchen table marking up a printed page by hand, an open laptop pushed to one side, mug of tea beside the paper.

Drafting first passes with AI, the rhythm of handing the keyboard over and taking it back

The blank page is the most expensive piece of paper in your week. AI removes it in seconds, your editing puts your voice back in. The rhythm is what separates a founder writer from a content factory.

A founder at a wooden desk with an open laptop and a paper notebook, writing by afternoon window light.

Standing prompts, the personal prompt library that runs your routine work

The single highest-yield AI artefact a founder can build is not a tool, it is a markdown file of fifteen to thirty standing prompts, named, callable, and pruned every month.

A founder at a home office desk reading a printed AI-drafted email aloud, pen in hand, with a laptop open beside her showing the same draft

Reviewing AI's output, the editor's eye you still need

AI output looks plausible. That is the danger. The editor's eye is the one skill personal AI practice quietly demands you sharpen, not soften.

A founder at a home study desk reading a phone message while her laptop calendar shows several auto-scheduled meetings, a printed weekly plan and coffee cup beside her

When AI replaces a VA, and when it doesn't

A founder paying £2,400 a month for a VA who handles three things. Two of them are now AI's job. The third is why the relationship still earns its keep.

A woman at a kitchen table sorting through post-it notes next to an open notebook and a laptop

When to delegate to AI vs delegate to a person

Three variables, confidentiality, judgement, and relationship, usually settle the AI vs person vs you call before you even pick up the task.

A founder at a wooden home-study desk with two screens, a paper notebook with three labels written down the side, and a coffee, working on a deliberate AI stack

Building your AI delegation stack: who does what

A well-built AI delegation stack has three named workers, not eight: a generalist drafter, a researcher, a thinking partner. Here is the case for keeping it small, what each is for, and how to know when one starts to slip.

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