From Lone Visionaries to Collaborative Strategists

The Challenge

A Thought Leadership Corporation brought together 15 fast-paced, high-growth startups — each already valued at over £100 million — for an intensive eight-week accelerator designed to take them to their next level of profitability.

• The cohort was full of brilliant but fiercely independent entrepreneurs — creative, bold, and used to leading, not collaborating.

• The umbrella company wanted to accelerate collaboration so that participants could leverage each other’s expertise during the programme.

• The challenge: get a roomful of risk-takers, visionaries, and “move fast and break things” types to slow down, connect, and think strategically together.

The Solution

A targeted group development process built around high support and high challenge, helping founders recognise how their strengths could both enable and derail progress.

• Used NLP-based frameworks to help participants identify behavioural patterns — “what you spot, you own” — highlighting both positive and limiting traits.

• Facilitated structured conversations to build trust, vulnerability and mutual respect among entrepreneurs who were used to working solo.

• Designed and delivered a real-time collaboration challenge: working from a minimal brief, teams had to co-create a business model under time pressure.

• Debriefed on the experience to reveal a shared blind spot — a collective tendency to rush into action without adequate planning or reflection.

• Shifted focus toward strategic thinking, teaching the value of pausing for clarity rather than defaulting to constant hustle.

The Results

• Behavioural awareness: Participants recognised how impulsive execution was limiting long-term scalability.

• Collaborative growth: Founders began to value input from peers and leaned into joint problem-solving rather than competition.

• Strategic discipline: Many implemented structured reflection and planning time in their calendars post-programme.

• Sustained business impact: Each company left with clearer strategic processes and a renewed ability to balance vision with execution — turning go-getter energy into grounded, profitable growth.