DRAFT. Anything tagged TO CONFIRM isn’t confirmed yet.

Neil Witten in a dark denim shirt, half smiling, against an orange wall.
Pigs In Flight

Take amonth off.What breaks?

You won’t take the month. So give me a day, and I’ll tell you.

Book a call Not ready to talk? Read the guide.

Neil Witten. For founders doing £2m to £20m.

Greetings from your

Keep scrolling What could possibly go wrong?

  1. You / Day 1

    Out of office on. Lovely.

  2. Office / Day 4

    Eleven “quick questions” by lunchtime.

  3. Office / Day 8

    A big quote sits unsigned. Only you can approve it.

  4. Office / Day 12

    Ask three people the plan. Get three answers.

  5. Office / Day 17

    Your best person quits. Nobody saw it coming.

  6. Office / Day 22

    A rival undercuts you. Nobody can say why you’re better.

  7. Office / Day 26

    Month end. Sales up. Profit down. Nobody knows why.

  8. You / Day 30

    You’re back. And you realise you didn’t miss it.

If your business had a voice, this is what it’s been

You can’t hear it, because you’re too close. So I teach founders to see the business as an asset, separate from them. Then the important decisions get a lot easier.

An old engraving of a man in a three-piece suit, bellowing through a speaking trumpet.

So who tells you the truth?

Your team need their jobs.

Your investors need their return.

Your family need you home.

I don’t need you to like the answer. I just care how this turns out.

If I’m not adding value, stop. TO CONFIRM

What do you need this month?

  • Hello today I’m yourAdviserwhen you’ve got a big call to make
  • Hello today I’m yourCoachwhen the problem is you
  • Hello today I’m yourMentorwhen it’s your first time and I’ve done it
  • Hello today I’m yourConsultantwhen someone needs to dig into the detail
  • Hello today I’m yourNon-execwhen the board needs someone who’ll say no
  • Hello today I’m yourStrategistwhen I can see the problem and you can’t yet
  • Hello today I’m yourCritical friendwhen nobody else will tell you
  • Hello today I’m yourDigital consultantwhen the tech is holding you back

I’m all of them. Different ones at different times.

HOW IT WORKS

The ruined West Pier off Brighton at sunset.

Greetings from not your office

1DAY

It starts with a day.

We get you out of the office, to Brighton or London, away from your phone and your team. A different setting changes what you can see. We comb through everything: the market, the numbers, the people, and you.

I’ll follow up with loads of questions. Then I’ll tell you what would break, what’s really working and what to do about it. You get your strategy on a page, short enough that you’ll actually use it:

  • Now What to do first
  • Near What to build next
  • Far Where it’s all heading

Some founders stop there, and that’s fine.

The white cliffs of the Seven Sisters above the sea.

Greetings from outside the business

2HOURSAMONTH

Then, if you’re loving it, we keep going.

Two hours on a call, working on the business and not in it. We find the decisions. Sometimes you’ll know what they are, sometimes I’ll tease them out. I’ve seen these patterns over and over, so I’ll tell you what I see.

Every quarter, we get out of the office again for a full day. It’s hard to see your business properly from inside it.

Fees depend on the business. You’ll know them on our first call. Three months to start, then a month’s notice. TO CONFIRM

Usually it’s some mix of the same stuff.

  • Single points of failure

  • Positioning that’s lost the market

  • Innovating in the right places

  • Where you’re going

  • Finding and developing the team

  • Standing out from your competitors in the right way

  • More money without working harder

  • More fun. I’m serious.

I built a company that runs without me. Eight years on, it’s

  1. Failed

    My first proper venture, in my early twenties: the biggest global talent competition on the internet, with Graham Norton. Yes, that Graham Norton. We took on YouTube and raised over £1m. Wrong strategy, loads of fun.

  2. Started

    I left a safe job at 24 and started Bite Studio, an award-winning creative digital agency. We made work for the likes of Gap, 20th Century Fox and Porsche, and bootstrapped it to a seven-figure business.

  3. Sold

    Bite Studio, in a slightly mad deal to go all in on StoryStream.

  4. Scaled

    StoryStream: an eight-figure business, backed by a $5m+ Series A, with software used by Porsche, Mercedes-AMG, Volkswagen Group and Volvo. TO CONFIRM

  5. Bought

    Small software businesses like Sheet2Site, which I still run. TO CONFIRM

  6. Stepped back

    StoryStream’s still running and still growing. Without me.

  7. Now helping

    Other founders learn from my mistakes, so they don’t have to make them all themselves. TO CONFIRM

    £8m+ revenue

    Profitable. Never raised a penny.

    BeforeAfter
    Team2 founders and a dog80+ people
    BaseA shed4 offices, 3 countries
    FundingNoneStill none

    £20m+ revenue

    10x in five years.

    BeforeAfter
    TeamAbout 10, mostly mates~200 people
    MoneyLoss-making£20m+ revenue
    1. Year 1
      £2m
    2. £6m
    3. £12m
    4. Year 5
      £20m+

And I did all the stuff I’m telling you not to do. Hiring. Payroll. Operations. All of it sat with me for far too long.

So I spent years working myself out of every job I had, until I wasn’t the single point of failure any more. Here’s what I wrote when I stepped back.

I still build things, so I haven’t forgotten what it’s like. And I’m still working out how to take my own medicine. I reckon that helps.

I live in Shoreham-by-Sea, just outside Brighton, where I was born and bred.

Don’t take my word for it

50+ founders

I’ve worked one to one, on retainer, with more than 50 founders over the last eight years, getting their businesses unstuck.

The cover of Better Business On Purpose.

Amazon bestseller

Want to DIY what I do? Go buy the book. Better Business On Purpose, which I co-wrote with Nikki Gatenby and Tim Healey.

Buy the book →

 Neil Witten on stage at TEDx Brighton.

TEDx Brighton

How to change: the super skill you never knew you needed.

Watch the talk →

Moderator, Hampton London

Stop making $50M decisions alone.

I’m a Moderator for Hampton London. It’s a private network for high-growth founders, who act as each other’s personal board.

8 to 10 foundersOne roomEvery month

What’s Hampton? →

To get in, you need one of these:

  • $3m+ revenue
  • $3m+ raised
  • $10m+ exit
 LifeDoneDifferent.ly podcast artwork.

Podcast

LifeDoneDifferent.ly

Why some people actually do the thing everyone else only talks about.

Have a listen →

Writing

Finding Freedom

  • Why your purpose-driven business looks like everyone else’s
  • Everything you want is on the other side of cringe
  • Stop fighting nature (you’ll lose)

Yours, Neil

Have a read →

NEIL.LAND

Neil as a toddler, waving from the open boot of a car.

Everything else. The companies, the mess, the whole story.

Have a nose →

“Neil has

in his pockets”

Gary Anderson, Chairman of various businesses TO CONFIRM

Still to come: a specific line from Gary, and two founder quotes. TO CONFIRM

Who this is for

You’ve built a good business, doing somewhere between £2m and £20m. You started as an operator and you’ve become a reluctant manager. And you’d like selling, staying or stepping back to be your choice.

Who it isn’t for

  • If you’re still finding product market fit, you need someone else.
  • If you want a cheerleader, I’m not your guy.
  • If you want a quick fix, this won’t work.

Wish you were here?

BOOKACALL

You’ve done the hard part. You built something real. So book 30 minutes with me. We’ll work out what’s actually going on. If I can’t help, I’ll tell you, and I’ll try to point you to someone who can.

Dear Neil,

If I took a month off, this would break: (tick any, or skip it)

I’ll only use this to reply to you. See the privacy policy.

Not ready to talk? Read how I’d run your month TO CONFIRM a free guide to the board meetings, numbers and habits that let a business run without you.