Everything still depends on me.

The client's question

The owner funds several businesses and wanted to back new ones. Every idea, every hire and every report still came to him. He wanted a small team above the businesses that would study new ideas, recommend which to back, and oversee them once they launched.

He did not know what that team should do, how it should be organised or how it should report to him. An earlier attempt at such a team had stalled for lack of a method and of regular reports.

What was at stake: the next ventures, the capital behind them, and the owner's own time.

What we built together

Weekly working sessions with the owner and his coordinator over seven weeks. Each step was discussed on slides and signed off as a document. The client's files stay with the client; the pages shown come from our teaching case, written to the same standard.

1. Agree what the team is for

   The owner set the team's scope: new ventures only, studied before any money is committed.

   ProducedA business model for the team, a company policy in 13 sections, and five business areas broken into 23 responsibility areas.

   

2. Draw the path of a venture

   From idea to launch and review, with the decision the owner takes at each step.

   ProducedA venture lifecycle of seven phases and four gates, with the amounts each role may approve.

3. Design the team

   Four core roles, hired one after another as the work arrives, not all at once.

   ProducedAn organisation chart, job descriptions, interview guides and a one-page monthly scorecard per person.

   

4. Write down how the work runs

   Every recurring task described once, with its form, its owner and its report.

   Produced28 processes, 50 procedures and 54 forms; 12 reports and 6 meetings on a set calendar; KPI trees for the team and each venture.

   

5. Plan the first three months

   Who does what from week one, until the team's director is in post.

   ProducedAn establishment strategy and a twelve-week plan, handed to the owner's coordinator.

What the client is now able to do

• Decide on a new venture at a gate, on a study, not alone

  Evidence. The owner's own rule, set in the second session: no venture launches without the team's study.

• Hire the team in order, against written roles

  Evidence. Four roles agreed with their job descriptions and interview guides; first hire planned for December 2026.

• Receive reports instead of questions

  Evidence. To confirm after handover: the first monthly reports reach the owner on the set dates.