We back good people
building good businesses.
Capital, practical experience, useful tools and connections for owner-founders building profitable businesses that work for them — not the other way around.
How we help.
Different founders need different things at different times.
Sometimes it’s capital. Sometimes it’s experience. Sometimes it’s the right tool, idea or introduction.
And sometimes the best way to learn is to build something yourself.
Capital
Capital when opportunity arrives.
We invest our own money in established businesses where capital can unlock a clear commercial opportunity.
Founder tools
Practical help to build a better business.
Useful tools, ideas, experience and AI designed around the realities of building and running an owner-led business.
Labs
We build businesses too.
Good Things Labs is where we build, test and share businesses and ideas ourselves — including what worked, what didn’t and what we learned.
Build a better business.
Not just a bigger one.
A successful business shouldn’t just produce more revenue. It should produce profit, opportunity and — ultimately — choices.
Some founders want to build an empire. Some want to build something valuable enough to sell. Some want a highly profitable small company. Others want a lean business that gives them more time for family, travel, another venture or simply life outside work.
They’re all valid definitions of success.
What do you want your business to give back to you?
What makes a good business?
Profit.
It needs to create genuine economic value.
Purpose.
It should create something worthwhile beyond simply existing.
Freedom.
Eventually, the business should work for the founder — not the founder for the business.
ProfitPurposeFreedomA good business
We don’t think bigger automatically means better.
A good business should make money, create something worthwhile and ultimately give its owner more choice over how they spend their life.
What’s your return on time?
Every founder understands Return on Investment.
But there’s another return worth measuring.
Return on Time.
Your time is finite.
A business that grows while consuming every hour you have may be getting bigger — but is it actually getting better?
ROI measures what your money creates.
ROT measures what your business gives back to you.
- More choice.
- More freedom.
- More time for the people and things that matter.
A better business should improve both.
- Purpose
- Profit
- Cash
- Sales
- Systems
- People
- Founder dependency
- AI leverage
- Network
- Freedom
The Good Things ecosystem.
Purpose
tells you why.
People
give you capacity.
Systems
give you consistency.
AI
gives you leverage.
Networks
give you experience.
Capital
gives you opportunity.
Freedom
Start with something useful.
The Good Business Score
How good is your business — really? Score your business across ten areas in about ten minutes.
Start the scoreThe Founder Freedom Score
How dependent is your business on you? Find out where you sit on the journey from trapped to free.
Find your scoreThe 10-Hour Challenge
What would you do with an extra 10 hours every week? List what you do, then decide what to keep, delegate, automate, simplify or stop.
Start the challengeThe Founder's AI Toolbox
The tools we actually use, what each one is best for, and how to get value from it quickly.
Open the toolbox
We don’t just write about building businesses.
We build them too.
Good Things Labs is where we share businesses, ideas and experiments we’re building ourselves — including what worked, what didn’t and what we learned.
Good Things Vending
Can you build a commercially successful vending business that also creates measurable benefits for local communities? We’re finding out.
Capital to make Good Things happen.
Sometimes the thing preventing a good business becoming a better business is capital.
Good Things invests our own money into established UK businesses where capital can unlock a clear and measurable opportunity.
Typical investment
£25,000–£200,000
We’re interested in businesses with
- Real customers
- Existing revenue
- Proven demand
- Strong management
- Healthy underlying economics
- A clear use for capital
What we believe.
Useful before impressive.
Evidence before claims.
People before algorithms.
Profit with purpose.
Profit isn’t the opposite of purpose.
It’s what makes the next Good Thing possible.
Building something good?
Tell us about your business — whether you’re after capital or just somewhere useful to start.