What I work on
Having founded and grown businesses, I've got most of these decisions wrong at least once before getting them right. That's the bulk of what I have to offer. It tends to fall into three kinds, usually in this order.
Working out what's actually going on
Mapping how work moves through the business, where it slows down, and what that costs. Most owners know something is off. Fewer know exactly what. It's the cheapest work anyone does, and skipping it is how you end up buying software for a problem you don't have.
Getting more out of what you already have
Most businesses are paying for tools they half-implemented and running processes nobody wrote down. Getting those talking to each other, automating what shouldn't be manual, and getting the numbers close enough to real time to be useful. Often this is the whole answer and it costs less than people expect.
Building what doesn't exist yet
Sometimes nothing off the shelf fits and the honest answer is to build. I've made that call and lived with the bill, so I'll talk you out of it more often than into it. When it is the right call, that's what Thinkers Builders is for.
And separately
A small number of first-time founders, taking an idea through to something people will pay for. Different work, same questions, usually with less to lose.
Advisory
Start with a call. If it turns into something bigger we'll work out what that looks like.
My work
Side quests
Things I'm building mostly for fun. What they turn into, if anything, time will tell.
Who I work with
Established businesses, usually mid-market, across Australia and New Zealand. What they have in common isn't size or industry. It's a business that works and systems that have stopped keeping up with it.
I also work with a smaller number of first-time founders taking an idea through to something people will pay for.
Away from work
Father to two small kids, which mostly means the 2am wake-ups are real and the 2pm productivity cliff is realer. Happiest camping somewhere with no signal, though I'm just as at home in the noise of Jakarta. The food alone is worth the trip.