THE SITUATION
An established business owner, author and leadership coach approached Oak Consult with the ambition of creating a new UK e-learning and coaching business.
The owner had spent more than ten years researching, developing and refining the thinking behind the proposition. There was a substantial body of intellectual property, practical experience and training material from which to build.
The challenge was turning that knowledge into a coherent e-Learning business.
Oak Consult initially worked with the owner to develop the marketing and go-to-market strategy. This was then translated into a practical delivery plan, beginning with a technology pilot while the brand, proposition and marketing capability were developed in parallel.
The work was not simply about launching a website or promoting a collection of e-learning courses. It involved creating the commercial, technical and operational foundations of a new business while allowing the owner to continue running their existing company.
CLARITY
The first task was to turn a considerable amount of research, experience and intellectual property into a proposition that customers could understand and buy.
This meant establishing:
- Who the initial customers would be.
- Which problems the training would help them address.
- How the learning would be delivered.
- What should be included in the initial pilot.
- How the courses and coaching services should be packaged and priced.
- What technology and specialist expertise would be required.
- How the new business would be marketed, sold and supported.
- What the owner and existing team could realistically deliver themselves.
It quickly became clear that specialist support would be required across several areas.
The project needed creative design, brand development, website construction and a suitable learning platform. The platform then had to be configured, tested and populated with course content.
At the same time, the team needed to develop the pilot proposition, pricing, customer processes and the marketing capability required to take the offer to market.
These were not separate projects. Each element depended on the others, and decisions made in one area could affect the proposition, technology, customer experience or commercial model elsewhere.
OVERSIGHT
This was a new business being built from the ground up, with many of the typical challenges associated with bringing a new proposition to market.
The greatest constraint was not the quality of the underlying thinking. It was the resource and management capacity required to turn that thinking into a functioning business.
The owner had deep subject-matter knowledge but was also continuing to operate an existing company. Multiple external specialists were contributing to the new venture, each responsible for a different part of the delivery.
Without clear coordination, there was a risk that the brand, website, learning platform, course content and commercial proposition would develop independently rather than as one coherent customer offer.
Oak Consult therefore took on a significant fractional Technology and Marketing Director role.
This included:
- Maintaining the overall project and go-to-market plan.
- Translating business requirements into practical delivery activity.
- Identifying and bringing in suitable specialist partners.
- Coordinating creative, technical and marketing suppliers.
- Managing dependencies between the proposition, platform, content and website.
- Supporting decisions on priorities, scope, pricing and launch readiness.
- Maintaining momentum while the owner continued running the existing business.
Oak did not simply provide recommendations. It became part of the delivery team and helped move the venture from concept through pilot and into the market.
REALITY
Some parts of the project progressed relatively smoothly.
The foundations of the brand could be developed from the owner’s existing knowledge, experience and point of view. The initial website could then be built around the emerging proposition.
However, both continued to evolve as the intellectual property was translated into structured digital learning products.
The learning platform presented the greatest challenge.
An effective e-learning business requires much more than somewhere to upload course material. The platform had to support a complete learning experience while also being practical for the business to operate and maintain.
This required the team to consider:
- How extensive source material should be divided into clear and usable courses.
- How learners would move through the content.
- The balance between written material, video, activities, assessment and feedback.
- How progress and completion would be managed.
- How administrators would add, update and organise content.
- How the platform would support different types of learner and customer.
- What information the business needed to capture and manage.
- How the technology, website and commercial proposition would work together.
- How the platform could accommodate future courses without requiring the business to start again.
The proposition itself was also changing.
The initial focus on leadership development expanded as the work progressed. Opportunities emerged to create courses for managers and employees as well as established leaders.
That created commercial potential, but it also affected the course structure, website, platform configuration, marketing messages and intended customer journey.
The original plan therefore could not remain fixed. The strategy and delivery approach needed to evolve as the product developed and the team learned more about what customers and learners required.
EXECUTION
Oak Consult worked as an integral member of the team for approximately four years.
The initial approach was deliberately phased. Rather than attempting to build the complete business before testing it, the team developed and delivered a pilot that could validate the technology, learning experience and proposition.
Oak helped coordinate the work required to:
- Create the brand and market positioning.
- Develop and launch the initial website.
- Select, build and configure the learning platform.
- Translate the owner’s intellectual property into structured digital courses.
- Develop the pilot proposition and pricing.
- Establish the supporting customer and administrative processes.
- Coordinate specialist creative and technical partners.
- Develop the initial marketing and go-to-market capability.
- Gather learning from the pilot and apply it to the next stage of development.
Following the successful pilot, the proposition was expanded beyond its original leadership focus.
New management and employee courses were introduced, creating a broader learning offer and increasing the potential market for the business.
Throughout the engagement, Oak helped the team balance ambition with the practical realities of technology, resources, timescales and the owner’s continuing commitments elsewhere.
THE RESULT
The pilot was successfully delivered, providing a working foundation from which the wider business could develop.
The company established:
- A distinctive brand and market position.
- A functioning e-learning platform.
- A structured portfolio of leadership, management and employee courses.
- A customer-facing website and supporting marketing capability.
- Practical processes for managing and developing the learning offer.
- A platform and proposition capable of evolving as the business grew.
Oak’s direct involvement eventually came to an end, but the business continued to grow and develop.
The original body of research and intellectual property had been transformed into a functioning commercial proposition and an established brand within its chosen market.
Oak Consult had played a fundamental role in turning the owner’s vision into a viable e-learning and leadership development business.
THE CORE LESSON
Creating a new business requires more than a strong idea.
The owner already possessed the expertise, research and intellectual property. The real challenge was bringing together the proposition, technology, content, brand, processes, people and commercial model needed to take it successfully into the market.
Clarity turned ten years of thinking into a proposition and an achievable starting point.
Oversight connected the different workstreams and kept multiple partners working towards the same objective.
Reality recognised that the product would evolve, resources were limited and the original plan would need to change as the team learned.
Execution meant rolling up our sleeves, bringing in the right people and staying involved long enough to move from strategy to pilot and from pilot to a growing business.
The lesson is not that every change of direction represents a failure of planning. When a new product is being created, learning changes the plan. The important discipline is to retain a clear objective, understand what reality is revealing and adapt the strategy and execution without losing momentum. That is the kind of problem CORE is designed for.