FOR FOUNDER-INFLUENCED 7-FIGURE BUSINESSES
Build the trusted operator your business needs for its next stage.
When too many decisions, customer issues and pieces of know-how still come back to the founder, growth creates more pressure—not more freedom.
The Business Apprenticeship develops an emerging leader through live business work, practical systems thinking and sponsor-backed learning—so they can take on meaningful responsibility and help the business become less dependent on you.
Review the roadmap, programme options and investment below.
Places are assessed for sponsor, apprentice and business fit.
Not sure whether your business is ready? Take the Sponsor Readiness Diagnostic.
Build capability that does not keep coming back to the founder.
The Business Apprenticeship is not classroom-only training and it is not a generic leadership course. It is a two-year, applied development pathway for an emerging leader or trusted team member inside a live, founder-influenced business.
Your apprentice learns through real work: understanding how value moves through the enterprise, using commercial information, improving day-to-day operations and contributing to the business challenges that matter now.
The aim is practical. Build someone who can see more of the system, make stronger decisions and take on meaningful responsibility—so useful improvements do not depend on the founder, an external adviser or another heroic workaround.
See the business as a system
Your apprentice learns how the enterprise creates, delivers and captures value—not just how to complete their individual role. They build practical commercial awareness, customer understanding and systems thinking.
Apply learning to real business work
Learning is connected to live challenges, real decisions and the business’s operating reality. The sponsor validates progress through meaningful contribution, not passive course completion.
Grow into a
trusted operator
Your apprentice develops the confidence to improve work, coordinate people, use information well and take on more responsibility over time—within the boundaries and support of your business.
The goal is not to create a miniature founder. It is to develop a capable operator who can help the business see, decide and improve without every issue returning to you.
A two-year applied pathway—from business awareness to trusted contribution
The Apprenticeship develops capability in stages. It starts by helping the apprentice see how the business works, then builds their ability to use commercial information, improve operations and contribute to strategic execution. Each stage is designed to create useful value for the business while preparing the apprentice for greater responsibility.
The 12 Modules Overview ⬇️
Each phase builds practical capability your apprentice can apply to real business work—helping the enterprise see more clearly, make stronger decisions and improve how it operates.
The Business Foundations (Modules 1–3)
See the whole business, not just a job
Outcome:
Your apprentice understands how your business actually works – how you make money, who your customers are, and why your offers create value.
Key Skills:
Business modelling, customer value, basic financial awareness and commercial thinking.
Financial & Market Literacy (Modules 4–6)
From guessing to using real numbers
Outcome:
They stop guessing and start using data. They can read your key numbers (sales, costs, cash and basic P&L) and support simple, practical marketing and lead‑generation tasks.
Key Skills:
Financial fluency, marketing execution, compliance awareness and clear communication.
Operational Excellence (Modules 7–9)
Less on your plate, more done well
Outcome:
They begin to take real weight off you by improving processes, using digital tools and supporting basic team coordination and customer delivery.
Key Skills:
Digital productivity, systems thinking, problem solving, people coordination and resilience.
Strategic Integration (Modules 10–12)
Contribute as a trusted operator
Outcome:
They develop the systems view, commercial judgement and practical confidence to connect priorities, people and day-to-day work. They are better equipped to contribute to live business challenges, support stronger execution and take on more meaningful responsibility as the business grows.
Key Skills:
Strategic alignment, execution systems thinking in action, commercial judgement, communication, practical leadership and change support.
Build the capability your business has been missing.
Most founders learn how to run a business the hard way: through pressure, mistakes, long hours and constant problem-solving. Few are taught how value, money, operations, people and strategy fit together before they are expected to lead it all.
Your apprentice learns that business literacy through real work inside your enterprise. With mentoring, opportunity and time, the right person may grow from a capable team member into the trusted operator, project leader or genuine second-in-command who helps turn strategy into action.
You are not buying a course. You are building the next layer of capability your business needs to grow without depending on you for everything.
Tell us about your business, proposed apprentice and the live challenge they could learn through.
Not sure whether the right conditions are in place? Start with a short readiness assessment.
Built by someone who learned the apprenticeship way.
Hi, I’m Ash.
I did not begin in a boardroom or business school. I began as an Army apprentice, learning to diagnose technical systems where a visible fault was rarely the whole problem.
That lesson stayed with me: the issue in front of you is often a symptom, not the whole problem. The real answer may sit in the handover, the information, the decision, the operating condition or the way the wider system is working together.
Over more than 30 years, that foundation has carried through Defence, major programmes, consulting, strategic execution and MBA education. I have seen the same pattern in organisations of every size: people are often asked to carry responsibility before anyone has taught them how the business actually works.
The Business Apprenticeship gives your emerging leaders the business literacy, systems thinking and practical mentoring that most founders had to acquire the hard way—so they can apply it to real work, take on more meaningful responsibility and help the business become less dependent on you.
Ash Holliday, Founder of Pragmatic People
- 30+ years — Systems thinking across technical, operational, strategic, people and culture systems
- 20+ years — Root-cause analysis and practical problem-solving in complex operating environments
- MBA teaching — Facilitating Systems Thinking, Strategic Alignment, Leadership and Influencing in the University of Adelaide’s online MBA environment
- 15+ industries — Defence, engineering, transport, aviation, healthcare, government, education and more
What changes when capability stays inside the business
The Business Apprenticeship is designed to create useful contribution while people learn—not simply a completed course at the end of it.
“Working with apprentices has delivered real ROI—not just in productivity, but in mindset.”
They think commercially, challenge decisions and bring new ideas that sharpen performance across the business.
That shift has freed me to focus more on strategic growth rather than daily management. We are building stronger teams, smarter operations and measurable bottom-line results.
Ricardo Catahno
Owner & Manager Catanho Group
“They have challenged how we operate—and elevated how we lead.”
The Apprenticeship has changed how we view and run the business. Our apprentices bring a fresh, commercially minded perspective, asking questions that challenge the way we operate and support smarter decisions across the team.
The ripple effect has been powerful: stronger culture, improved data and operational practices, and a renewed sense of innovation throughout the business.
Anastasia Mamaeva-Catanho
Owner & Manager Catanho Group
Is your business ready to build a trusted operator?
The Business Apprenticeship is for owner, CEO ofounder-influenced businesses with a real capability need—not simply a training budget. It works best when the business can give an emerging leader meaningful work, practical support and room to grow.
You are likely ready if:
- You are still carrying too many decisions, customer issues, exceptions or pieces of business-critical knowledge.
- You have an emerging leader or trusted team member with the motivation and capacity to take on more responsibility over time.
- There is a real, bounded business challenge through which they can learn, contribute and build confidence.
- A founder or senior sponsor can provide appropriate access, feedback, authority and time for the learning to translate into practical value.
If those conditions are in place, review the programme options and investment below.
If they are not yet clear, start with the Sponsor Readiness Diagnostic. It gives you an initial view of founder dependency, capability gaps and whether there is a credible Apprenticeship pathway to build on.
Choose the pathway that fits the challenge in front of you
Start with the Business Apprenticeship if the priority is developing internal capability. Add an Accelerator pathway where the business also needs structured support to resolve a clear operating constraint or strengthen the wider enterprise for its next stage.
Business Apprenticeship
Pilot 2
€4,980
Per year, excluding taxes
Designed as a 2‑year journey, billed annually
Develop an emerging leader who can understand the business, take on meaningful responsibility and help reduce founder dependency over time.
Pilot 2 founding rate: €4,980 per year, excluding taxes
Standard programme rate after Pilot 2: €9,960 per year, excluding taxes
What you get:
- An onboarding and alignment session for the sponsor and apprentice.
- A two-year, 12-module applied Apprenticeship pathway.
- Learning connected to real business work, decisions and challenges.
- Sponsor support to align the learning with the enterprise and its priority needs.
- An Apprentice Portal to track progress, application and outcomes.
- Sponsor participation in relevant sessions and practical discussions.
Note:
Pilot 2 applications are assessed for sponsor, apprentice and business fit.
FOR ONE OR TWO PRIORITY ISSUES
Business Apprenticeship + Pragmatic SME Focus Accelerator
€7,430
Per year, excluding taxes
(Pilot 2 rate—€250 below the planned standard bundle rate)
Develop internal capability while resolving one or two recurring complexity issues that are creating disproportionate drag.
Best when a founder and owners bottleneck, handover, delivery problem, margin leak or trapped capability keeps returning and the fix does not hold.
Pilot 2 bundle rate: €7,430 per year, excluding taxes
Standard programme rate after Pilot 2: €12,410 per year, excluding taxes
What you get:
- One year of Business Apprenticeship Pilot 2.
- A six-month Pragmatic SME Focus Accelerator for one or two priority complexity issues.
- Onboarding and a working session to clarify the priority gap and establish the initial focus.
- Monthly small-group sessions centred on action, accountability and removing the chosen bottlenecks.
- Access to coaches between sessions for practical questions and support.
- Tools and resources to help prioritise, test and embed high-impact improvements.
- Six months’ access to the Accelerator community.
Note:
Includes Accelerator confidence protection and Apprenticeship selection safeguards.
FOR BUSINESSES ENTERING THEIR NEXT STAGE
Business Apprenticeship + Pragmatic SME Scale Blueprint
€11,930
Per year, excluding taxes
(Pilot 2 rate—€850 below the planned standard bundle rate)
Develop internal capability while strengthening the enterprise design needed for the next stage.
Best for founders, owners, CEOs and COOs who can see that the business has outgrown the way it currently works—and need strategic and operational support alongside internal capability-building.
Pilot 2 bundle rate: €11,930 per year, excluding taxes
Standard programme rate after Pilot 2: €16,910 per year, excluding taxes
What you get:
- One year of Business Apprenticeship Pilot 2.
- A 12-month Pragmatic SME Scale Blueprint, combining strategic and operational support to strengthen the business for its next stage.
- Onboarding and a structured enterprise view to clarify priorities, current conditions and future requirements.
- Quarterly strategy days to set and review 90-day execution priorities.
- Review of relevant value flow, systems, roles, decision rights, key processes and commercial drivers.
- Two live master-group sessions each month: one strategic and one operational, with a 30-day accountability rhythm.
- A dedicated client portal with resources, templates and AI-supported tools.
- Priority access to the Pragmatic People team for ongoing questions.
- Twelve months’ access to a higher-commitment founder community.
Note:
Includes Accelerator confidence protection and Apprenticeship selection safeguards.
Start with the pathway that matches the work ahead
You do not need to buy the largest option to make meaningful progress. The right choice depends on the capability you need to build, the clarity of the business challenge and the level of support required to make improvement hold.
Not sure which next step fits your business?
Is an Apprenticeship right for us, and can we sponsor it well?
What is making the business harder to run, and what might matter most?
A practical investment, with sensible protection
Business Apprenticeship applications are assessed for sponsor, apprentice and business fit before enrolment. These safeguards are designed to protect your investment while giving you enough confidence to begin.
Your learning investment stays with the business:
Knowledge Transfer Guarantee
If your Business Apprentice leaves before completing the first year, you may nominate another suitable team member to continue the programme at no additional programme fee.
Where practical, the replacement can catch up on the learning completed to date and join the current cohort. If joining the current cohort is no longer practical, they may start again with a future cohort at no additional programme fee.
This ensures your business retains the value of its learning investment and can continue building internal capability.
Replacement participation is subject to reasonable timing, available cohort places and confirmation that the proposed participant is suitable for the programme and that the business can provide appropriate sponsor support. Any catch-up plan will be agreed based on the stage of the programme and the learner’s starting point.
First-Session Confidence Guarantee:
If you add a Pragmatic SME Focus Accelerator or Pragmatic SME Scale Blueprint, attend the first working session and decide the Accelerator is not the right fit for the challenge, contact us within seven days and we will refund 100% of the Accelerator fee.
We ask only that you arrive ready to engage, so you have a fair opportunity to experience the work and decide whether it is right for the challenge in front of you.
Selection comes before enrolment
Business Apprenticeship applications are assessed for sponsor, apprentice and business fit before enrolment.
This guarantee applies to the Accelerator component of the Focus + Apprenticeship and Scale + Apprenticeship pathways. The Business Apprenticeship remains subject to its separate selection, suitability and Knowledge Transfer terms.
FAQ
1. The Time Commitment
Question: How much time will this take from me and my apprentice?
Answer:
The Business Apprenticeship is designed to fit around real operating work—not add a separate academic burden. Your apprentice should allow roughly 3–5 hours each week for structured learning, reflection and applied Business Impact Tasks.
As sponsor, your role is to provide direction, appropriate access and feedback. A 15-minute monthly alignment check is the minimum formal rhythm, with additional touchpoints where a live challenge, decision or piece of work needs your input.
The aim is not to create more activity. It is to turn existing business work into structured capability development and useful contribution.
2. Continuity if the apprentice leaves
Question: What happens if our apprentice leaves before completing the programme?
Answer:
People do move on. That is why the programme is designed to build capability that stays with the business, not only with one individual.
Under the Knowledge Transfer Guarantee, if your Business Apprentice leaves before completing the first year, you may nominate another suitable team member to continue at no additional programme fee. Where practical, they can catch up and join the current cohort. If that is not practical, they may start again with a future cohort at no additional programme fee.
Replacement participation is subject to appropriate timing, available places and confirmation that the new participant is suitable and has sponsor support.
3. Business value and ROI
Question: When should we expect to see useful value in the business?
Answer:
The programme is designed to create useful contribution as learning develops, not only at the end of two years. Early work typically helps the apprentice understand how the business creates value, how customers are served and where information, handovers or commercial signals need more attention.
The exact timing and scale of value depend on the business challenge, the apprentice’s starting point, the sponsor’s support and the opportunity to apply learning in real work. You should expect better questions, clearer visibility and more useful contribution early; more independent responsibility develops over time.
The goal is not an artificial ROI promise. It is a stronger internal capability base that helps the business make better decisions, improve work and reduce founder dependency.
4. The Selection and fit
Question: How do I know whether we have the right person and conditions for the Apprenticeship?
Answer:
Business Apprenticeship Pilot 2 is by application because success depends on more than choosing a capable individual. We consider the proposed apprentice, the founder or senior sponsor, the live business challenge they can learn through and the operating conditions needed to support practical application.
If you are unsure whether those conditions are in place, start with the Sponsor Readiness Diagnostic. It provides an initial view of founder dependency, capability gaps, sponsor commitment and whether there is a credible Apprenticeship pathway to explore.
If we determine the Apprenticeship is not the right pathway for your business during the suitability process, the Business Apprenticeship portion of your payment is fully refundable.
5. Sponsor involvement
Question: Do I need to attend the sessions, or can I simply send my apprentice?
Answer:
You do not need to attend every session. However, the Apprenticeship works best when a founder or senior sponsor stays connected to the work.
Your formal commitment includes a monthly alignment check, plus appropriate access, feedback and support when the apprentice is working on a live business challenge. Sponsors are also welcome to attend relevant sessions and practical discussions where this will improve alignment and help embed the learning.
The programme is not designed to turn the apprentice into a miniature founder. It is designed to build a more capable contributor who can understand the business, make stronger decisions and take on meaningful responsibility over time.
6. Which assessment should I start with?
Question: Should I take the Sponsor Readiness Diagnostic or the Business Complexity & Scale Readiness Scorecard?
Answer:
Choose the Sponsor Readiness Diagnostic if your main question is whether the business is ready to develop an internal trusted operator through the Business Apprenticeship. It focuses on founder dependency, capability gaps, the potential apprentice, sponsor commitment and the availability of a live business challenge.
Choose the Business Complexity & Scale Readiness Scorecard if the business is becoming harder to run but you are not yet sure whether the priority issue is capability, decision-making, execution, value flow or the wider operating model.
Both provide an initial view, not a full diagnosis or an automatic programme recommendation.
Ready to build a trusted operator inside your business?
If you have an emerging leader, a live business challenge and the commitment to develop capability inside the business, apply for Business Apprenticeship Pilot 2.
We will assess sponsor, apprentice and business fit—so you can decide whether this is the right pathway for the work ahead.
Not sure whether your business is ready?
Take the Sponsor Readiness Diagnostic.
If the business challenge is still unclear?