Business Coaching for Ambitious Founders
We work with ambitious business owners — especially those building tech-led businesses with global potential — to develop the capability, strategy, and focus needed to grow without burning out.
What MoreLess means
Most business owners are working harder than they expected. The business needs them for everything. Growth feels random. And somewhere along the way, the goal got blurry. We help you change that.
More of
Profit and business value
Customers you actually want
Clarity and focus
Time doing what you love
Confidence in your direction
Less of
Stress and overwhelm
Firefighting and distraction
Time stuck in the weeds
Uncertainty about what's next
Trying to figure it out alone
How we do it
We combine proven frameworks — including Roger Martin's Playing to Win — with hands-on coaching to help you make clearer choices, build stronger capability, and create a business that can grow without depending on you being in it every minute.
A word on strategy
They're not the same thing — and the difference matters more than most people realise.
Goals, KPIs, timelines, budgets, milestones. Plans operationalise things. They don't create competitive advantage by themselves — they assume the strategy already exists.
Who exactly are we serving? What do we do better than anyone else? What are we deliberately not doing? Why should a customer choose us over alternatives? Strategy positions you to win.
Most small businesses have plans without strategy. Some have strategy without a plan. Very few have both, clearly articulated. If we narrowed the question to "do you have a written strategy that positions you to win?" — the honest answer for most businesses is no.
How we work with you
Start with a half-day workshop to pressure-test your strategy, or commit to a deeper coaching engagement to transform how you lead your business.
A hands-on strategy workshop using Roger Martin's Playing to Win framework. Challenge your assumptions, find your gaps, and leave with a clear view of whether your strategy is built to win — or whether it needs rethinking.
Learn more → Coaching · 3 or 6 monthsA structured coaching programme for ambitious owners ready to scale. Build capability, sharpen strategy, and shift from working in your business to working on it. Available as a 3 or 6 month engagement.
Learn more →What people say
"The workshop stimulated some really great conversations and gave us a useful framework to make a clearer strategy. The timing could not have been better."
SquareKicker
"It brought real clarity to our growth priorities and helped turn big-picture thinking into practical, actionable steps. Direction we could immediately apply as we continued to scale."
Beep Limited
Ready to start?
Join a workshop, explore a coaching programme, or just have a conversation to see if MoreLess is the right fit for you.
Half-Day Strategy Workshop
A hands-on workshop for SME owners and leaders who want to step back, challenge their assumptions, and find out whether their strategy is truly built to win — or whether something needs to change.
The big questions
Many business owners are too close to the day-to-day to step back and ask the hard questions. This workshop creates the space — and the framework — to do exactly that.
Not a plan — a genuine strategic position that tells you what you're choosing to do, and what you're not.
If you can't explain your strategy in one clear paragraph, chances are your team can't either. Clarity starts here.
Most businesses have blind spots. This workshop helps you find them — before they cost you.
What you will gain
Using Roger Martin's Playing to Win framework — one of the most respected strategy tools in the world — you'll leave this workshop with a clear, honest picture of where you stand and what to do next.
Examine the market forces, trends, and competitive dynamics shaping your industry — and how your business sits within them.
Work through your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats with fresh eyes and the benefit of peer challenge.
Objectively evaluate your competition and understand where you have — or need to build — a genuine edge.
Map your strategy onto the Playing to Win canvas and assess whether it's genuinely competitive — or whether it needs a rethink.
How the day runs
Intensive but practical. You'll work alongside a small group of fellow business owners — no more than 12 — so there's genuine depth of conversation and time for your specific context.
Investment
The full workshop plus your follow-up coaching session is $500 + GST per delegate — and there's a good chance you can significantly reduce that through co-funding.
$500 + GST
Per delegate · Includes workshop and 1-hour follow-up coaching
Through the Regional Business Partners Network, eligible businesses can apply for 75% co-funding — bringing the net investment down to $125 + GST.
Your facilitators
Ian and Neville have spent their careers working with ambitious Kiwi businesses — from early-stage tech firms through to companies growing into global markets.
Business Growth Advisor
With over a decade accelerating high-growth New Zealand firms at Callaghan Innovation, Ian brings deep expertise in business strategy for science and technology businesses. He partners with leaders to navigate challenges and unlock new opportunities.
Business Growth Advisor
Neville has led technology companies throughout Australia and New Zealand, and managed a group of ambitious tech exporters at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. With deep experience in strategy, market expansion, business development, and sales leadership, he knows what sustainable growth actually looks like.
From past participants
"The workshop stimulated some really great conversations and gave us a useful framework to make a clearer strategy. The timing could not have been better."
SquareKicker
"It brought real clarity to our growth priorities and helped turn big-picture thinking into practical, actionable steps. Direction we could immediately apply as we continued to scale."
Beep Limited
Next Level Coaching
A structured coaching programme for ambitious business owners who are ready to get more from their business — more profit, more customers, more freedom — and less of what's been holding them back.
Who this is for
Next Level Coaching is designed for business owners who are past the startup phase, have real momentum, but sense that something is getting in the way of the next level of growth. Often, that something is a lack of clear strategy, unclear priorities, or the owner still being the bottleneck in too many parts of the business.
You're not starting from scratch. Your business is working — but you know there's a bigger opportunity that you're not quite reaching yet.
You're involved in too much. Growth is constrained by your own capacity. And the business still depends on you for things it probably shouldn't.
You want to make deliberate, well-informed decisions about where to focus, what to stop doing, and how to build a business that can grow without you being in it every day.
Choose your programme
Both programmes follow the same methodology. The 6-month option gives us more time to embed changes, work through tougher challenges, and make sure the shifts you make genuinely stick.
Ideal for business owners who need to get clarity fast — on strategy, priorities, and what needs to change. Three focused months of coaching that cuts through the noise and gets you moving.
For business owners who want deeper transformation. Six months to build real capability, embed better habits of leadership, and create measurable momentum toward the business — and life — you actually want.
The MoreLess approach
We don't just give you frameworks and leave. We work alongside you — helping you build the thinking, habits, and decisions that create lasting change in how your business performs.
Before anything else, we get clear on where you're playing and how you're winning. Because without strategy, activity is just noise.
We identify the gaps — in thinking, skills, systems, or team — that are limiting your growth, and work systematically to close them.
Part of our work is helping you stop doing things. The best-performing businesses are ruthlessly selective about where they put their energy.
The end goal is a business that gives you more freedom — not less. We help you build the structure and team to make that possible.
Start the conversation
There's no obligation — just a straightforward chat about where you are, where you want to get to, and whether we're the right fit to help.
Book a conversation →About MoreLess
MoreLess was created because too many good businesses stay smaller, messier, and more stressful than they need to be. Not for lack of effort — but for lack of the right strategy and thinking to point that effort in the right direction.
We work with ambitious business owners — particularly in tech-led businesses with genuine growth potential — who are ready to be more intentional about how they build.
Too often, business owners are so busy working in the business that they never get the chance to work on it. Strategy stays in someone's head. Priorities are unclear. Growth is left to chance.
MoreLess creates the space, the frameworks, and the coaching support to change that — so you can build a business that genuinely gives you more of what you want, and less of what you don't.
Strategy is about choices — not documents. A real strategy tells you what you're doing, who you're serving, and just as importantly, what you're not doing and who you're not chasing.
Growth doesn't have to mean chaos. The best businesses are focused, capable, and deliberately designed — and the owner has space to lead rather than just survive.
New Zealand has world-class businesses in the making. We want to help more of them get there.
The team
Between us, we've led technology companies, worked with New Zealand's most ambitious exporters, and spent years helping founders build businesses that genuinely perform.
Business Growth Advisor
With over a decade accelerating high-growth Kiwi firms at Callaghan Innovation, Ian brings deep expertise in business strategy for science and technology industries. He has worked with founders and leaders across a wide range of sectors to navigate complex challenges and build the capability needed to scale. Ian's approach is direct, practical, and firmly grounded in what actually works for ambitious New Zealand businesses.
+64 (0)27 809 3209
Business Growth Advisor
Neville has led technology companies across Australia and New Zealand, and managed a portfolio of ambitious tech exporters at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. With extensive experience in strategy, business development, market expansion, and sales leadership, he brings a global perspective and a practical understanding of what it takes to grow a tech business beyond the home market.
+64 (0)27 440 6812
No pressure, no pitch. Just a straightforward conversation.
Get in touch →Get in touch
Whether you want to register for a workshop, find out more about coaching, or just ask whether MoreLess might be a good fit for you — we'd love to hear from you.
Register for the next workshop
Register now →Send us a message