Clarity Sprint
Four to six weeks on the question that matters most, so your next steps feel safer to take.
You can feel something needs to shift. You’re just not sure where to start.
It often starts with a job description sitting half-written in drafts, or a funding form open in another tab. Something already half-decided, and underneath it, a question that hasn’t quite been asked yet.
We start there.
The question you bring is rarely the one holding things up
Most founders arrive with something quite specific. Should I hire? Should I raise? Is phone worth trying again?
They’re good questions, and they usually sit on top of other ones, like what you’re hoping the role will do for you, or what the money would really need to make happen. Get clear on that, and the question that needs answering often looks quite different.
That’s what the sprint is for. We find the question underneath and work it through properly, so when you do hire, raise or try something new, you can back the decision confidently.
How the Sprint tends to go
It starts before we meet. You share whatever you’ve got, the numbers, past proposals, plans, even that half-written job description, and I read all of it. Whatever your question, we work from what’s really happening in the business, so every decision has something solid underneath it.
Then we sit down together for a few longer sessions to get underneath things and surface what matters most. In between, I go away and build, designing and drafting first versions for us to test and shape together. That might be a forecast, a sales approach tried for real, or a role mapped out and costed before anyone’s hired. You get to test things before you commit to them.
It all happens across four to six weeks, so it moves quickly, but most of the work in between sits with me. Your time goes on the conversations that need you in them.
Your team comes along when it helps, so they’re ready to run with what we land on.
You leave with your question answered, your next steps in order, and the confidence to take the first one.
From £3,600, depending on what your question needs
What you walk away with
A clear, visual Roadmap. One place for the priorities, the projects already in motion and what needs attention next, in the order they need to happen. It’s built so anyone could pick it up, you, your team, or whoever comes in next.
Plus the tool your question needs. That might be a financial view you check every month, a sales approach you’ve tested, or a role shaped and costed before anyone’s hired. Whatever happens next, it all stays with you.
So the next decision lives somewhere everyone can see it, and anyone you bring in knows exactly what they’re there to do.
Three founders, three questions
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Just Helpers is an ethical, Living Wage-accredited cleaning agency in London. We ran an 8-week Sprint, with a sales specialist on the calls.
Antoinette knew outbound was what the business needed, she just wasn’t sure phone could work in a way that fit her values. So we tested three audiences with a consultative call approach (listened rather than sold) with a specialist I brought in and managed. We’d hoped for 20 to 30 conversations, and had 93 in six weeks, with four leads before any direct selling started. The answer was yes, phone is worth investing in.
“I’m not a salesperson, but I think it’s clear that we’ve got legs here.”
Antoinette could invest in phone knowing it works for Just Helpers, with a plan to bring sales in-house that worked commercially.
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Wayforward helps charities, councils and purpose-led organisations figure out what matters, find a way forward and make it happen. We ran a 6-week Sprint to design the next stage of growth.
Rob wanted to bring someone new in to the business part-time and share a rough JD. When I asked what he hoped the role would do for him, he said, “I realised, I don’t know.” So we spent our sessions surfacing where Wayforward was heading, and built a Roadmap of 18 projects in the order they need to happen to get the business to the next stage.
Seeing his Roadmap for the first time: “God, it’s really beautiful.”
Rob made the call on who to bring in with a clear brief to hand them, and eight months on, the Roadmap is still the plan they follow.
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Courage Lab helps leaders and teams have courageous conversations, through mediation, training, team days and leadership programmes. We ran a 6-week Sprint to see if investment was the right growth lever.
Beccie was curious about what bringing money into the business could really do. We built one view of her numbers from real bank statements and invoices, then shaped three roles and modelled them against cash before anyone was hired. A clear Roadmap ready for an investor pitch.
“This suits my brain better, to be honest. Everything about it.”
Beccie knows what roles she need, what each role needs to do, and a clear narrative for funders.
Why I suggest starting here
After years of building businesses and sitting alongside founders, I keep coming back to the same three places: revenue, team and capacity, and the founder’s own role. They’re connected, so pull one thread and the others usually move too. That’s why the thing shouting loudest isn’t always the thing that needs attention.
I’ve been on both sides of it. I’ve been the first hire juggling everything with no clear brief, and I’ve been the founder holding on to everything, because letting people in felt riskier than doing it all myself.
So I’d always rather spend a few weeks working out which thread to pull first. Figuring that out is most of the job, and it’s what makes everything after it feel a lot less of a gamble.
Want to start on your own?
I put together the Roadmap Starter Kit, a short exercise to help you step back and see where revenue, capacity, or your own role might need attention.
“I don't ever want to lose this resource." - Rob Alcroft, Wayforward
A few things you might be wondering
How long does it take?
Usually four to six weeks. If your question needs testing in the real world, it can run a little longer, and we’ll agree that up front.
Can my team be involved?
Of course, wherever it helps. It means they’re ready to run with what we land on.
Do I need to have anything ready?
Not a thing, we can start from wherever you are. Whatever you’ve got is enough, messy is fine.
What happens afterwards?
You keep the Roadmap and the tools. Some founders run with it themselves, and some ask me to stay alongside them.
Got a question you keep coming back to?
Tell me what’s on your mind, even if it’s still a bit of a tangle. We’ll work out together whether a sprint is the right place to start, so your next step feels safer to take.