The Ship Something Real Programme

The premise

Operators inherit systems. The ones thriving right now build new ones.

Most senior commercial leaders are operators of inherited systems. The ones thriving right now are building new ones, with AI as the engine. This programme teaches that move: lead, build, and ship like a founder, inside the role you're already in.

It is commercial leadership for the AI era: the four-level progression from personal fluency to AI in the proposition you sell, woven through with fifteen years of deal craft from insurance, financial services, and automotive mobility. I teach the methods I use: the AI operating system in the sessions is the one I built and now run my own company on - every operation at Kinship runs on it.

Illustration: a workshop desk seen from above - boat sketches on paper, a pencil, a mug of coffee, and one finished orange model boat

The ten weeks

A progression, anchored to your live work

1	Diagnostic and onboarding - a 45-minute 1:1, define your live deliverable, baseline your AI fluency.
2	AI for yourself - your personal stack, prompts, workflows; leave with a working system.
3	Commercial craft I - building propositions that don't yet exist.
4	Commercial craft II - building complex B2B deals; pricing, structures, the commercial narrative - with an optional regulated-market session for those who need it.
5	AI for your team - bringing direct reports into fluency without losing them.
6	London in-person day - executive presence, pitch practice, live coaching on the work you're shipping.
7	AI across your function - workflow design, what stays human, the operating model.
8	AI in your proposition - the strategic layer: AI in what you sell, not just how you work.
9	Shipping week - no new content; you work your deliverable, with office hours.
10	Final session and 1:1 - review what shipped, plan your next ninety days.

Format

Built around a senior diary

Ten weekly live group sessions, 90 minutes each, on UK hours.
Two private 45-minute 1:1s - the diagnostic at the start, your 90-day plan at the end.
A London in-person day at week six - executive presence, pitch practice, live coaching. Included in the seat price.
A private community during the programme and for three months after.
8-12 seats per cohort; the programme runs from six confirmed seats.

Illustration: a facilitator at a whiteboard leads a small cohort seated around a table with laptops and papers, an orange pendant lamp lighting the room

Investment

One seat, one conversation to approve

£5,500

Founding cohort seat. List price £7,500 from cohort two.

Typically funded from L&D, proposition, or strategy budget. At Director level this is usually a one-conversation approval - and this page is written for that conversation: a defined format, a defined deliverable (your own live work, shipped), and a fixed price.

Founding seats carry one condition: a short written testimonial at the end, on the record.

Fit

This works if - and only if

For you, if you are

A senior commercial leader at Director, Head-of, or VP level - partnerships, business development, new business, or a wider commercial remit - in a complex organisation. Regulated markets are my home turf, but the method travels
Ten to twenty years in, with live work this quarter - a proposition, a partnership, a commercial model, or a bid
Privately aware the AI transition is moving faster than you are
Ready to ship work during the programme, not just attend it

Not for you, if you want

A cohort to observe - every seat ships something
Tool tutorials - this is commercial leadership, not software training
A certificate for its own sake - the exit standard is work out the door
To join without live work this quarter - join the next cohort instead

Questions

What participants ask first

How much time does it take each week?

One live 90-minute session, plus the London day at week six. The work between sessions is your live deal - work you'd be doing anyway, done differently. Week nine has no new content at all: it's protected time to ship, with office hours if you want them.

I'd be bringing a live deal into a group. How does confidentiality work?

Nobody presents deal specifics to the group. You work on your own artefact and share only what you choose - the method is common, the deal stays yours. Your 1:1s are private, and anything you show me stays within your confidentiality requirements. I never name clients or deals publicly.

I'm not technical. Will I keep up?

Yes. Nothing requires code, and no session assumes a tool you don't have. If you can run a deal, brief a team, and mark up a draft, you have the skills - the levels are about operating method and judgement, not software.

How do I get it paid for?

Most seats are funded from L&D, proposition, or strategy budget, and at this level it's usually one conversation. Forward this page - it states the format, the deliverable, and the price, which is what a budget holder needs. If your organisation wants an invoice against a purchase order, that's fine.

What exactly do I need to bring?

One live piece of commercial work with a real deadline this quarter: a proposition you're building, a partnership you're pitching, a commercial model you're making the case with, or a bid you're answering. It becomes your deliverable in week one. If you don't have one, this cohort isn't for you - join the next.

What happens after week ten?

The final 1:1 turns what you shipped into a plan for your next ninety days, and the community stays open for three months after the programme. There's nothing to renew and no upsell built into the ending.

Ten weeks. One rule: ship something real.