01 — Scale Thesis
Scale without a thesis is just hiring. The thesis sets what we say yes to, and — more importantly — what we keep saying no to even when the cheque is large.
What we are scaling
- Hybrid cohort delivery — the unit of value. Everything else exists to make a cohort land well.
- The coach bench — accredited, supervised, retained. Bench depth is our true capacity ceiling.
- The evidence machine — Sprint 8's Evidence Room is the moat. Scale must increase the confidence factor, not dilute it.
- Repeatable client outcomes — measured against the four-tier framework, not anecdotes.
What we are NOT scaling
- Bespoke consulting work — accept rarely, price punitively, never let it exceed 10% of revenue.
- Clinical services — out of scope. Educational signposting and warm handoffs only (see project memory).
- Unaccredited coach delivery — never. The accreditation gate is non-negotiable, even when the bench is thin.
- Headcount as a vanity metric — utilisation and gross margin matter more than logo counts on the team page.
The three constraints we manage to
| Constraint | Why it binds | Where it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Accredited coach supply | Quality gate cannot be skipped (Sprint 7 §06) | Capacity model §03; bench KPI |
| Cohort gross margin | Below 55% and we cannot reinvest in evidence/coaches | Unit economics §04; pricing discipline |
| Confidence factor on outcomes | Below 0.7 and the moat erodes | Evidence Room (Sprint 8 §05) |
If a scale move improves one constraint at the expense of another, it is not a scale move — it is a trade. Trades go to the QSR (Sprint 9 §05).
Stages of scale (used throughout this sprint)
| Stage | FTE | Active cohorts (steady state) | Regions | Indicative ARR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 — Founder-led | ~10 | 8–12 | 1 (UK) | £1–2m |
| S2 — Repeatable | ~25 | 20–30 | 2–3 (UK) | £3–6m |
| S3 — Regionalised | ~60 | 50–70 | UK + 1 intl | £8–15m |
| S4 — Multi-region | ~120 | 120+ | UK + 2–3 intl | £20m+ |
Numbers are illustrative anchors, not forecasts. §10 turns them into a real operating plan.
Principles (apply at every stage)
- Quality before quantity. A delayed cohort is cheaper than a poor one.
- Hire behind demand, not in front of it. Bench fat at S1/S2 kills runway; lean bench at S3/S4 kills delivery.
- Standardise the boring, leave room for craft. Operations standardise; coaching judgement does not.
- Local presence, global standards. Evidence methodology and safeguarding thresholds are global; market entry is local.
- Reversible bets first. Two-way doors taken fast; one-way doors taken slowly with board on the page.