Lead with AI | 25eight

You've started. Now you want it to be reliable.

Your strategy is clearer than it was. Your business knowledge is organised. You've put AI to work in a few places and seen enough to know it's real.

What you don't have yet is confidence that any of it will hold. The experiments work when you're driving them. They stall when you're not. Nothing is connected to anything else, nobody else is really using it, and you couldn't say with any precision whether it's making a difference.

The next step isn't more experiments. It's turning what works into part of how the business runs, so more work moves forward without depending on you at every step, and you can tell whether it's actually helping.

Who this is for.

If you've proven AI works and want it to hold. You've seen enough in your own experiments to know it's real. Now you want it connected, governed and running without you driving every step.

If you're comfortable with AI and ready to connect it to real work. The Intermediate pathway takes you from using AI to running workflows and agents built on your own business knowledge.

If you're technically minded and want to build something custom. The Advanced pathway adds AI-assisted coding, APIs and custom interfaces, with the discipline that makes a build dependable.

This isn't for you if the foundations aren't there yet. The Snapshot will tell you honestly and point you to the Next-Level Growth Program first. And if you want it built for you rather than with you, we'll introduce you to a technology partner instead.

An owner in conversation at a 25eight session in Footscray

Something running, and the capability to keep it running.

Scope is agreed with you at the start using your AI Opportunity Map, and these are delivered against it.

A working AI workflow or application

One agreed business process, redesigned, built and tested against acceptance criteria you set at the outset.

A system map and operating guide

What connects to what, which knowledge it draws on, who owns it, and how it's maintained.

A performance scorecard and review rhythm

Your baseline, your success measures, the running costs, and a repeatable process for deciding what to improve, extend or stop.

Human oversight and governance

Permissions, approval points, data rules, escalation, failure handling, and a way to pause or roll back.

A 90-day improvement plan

What's next, based on evidence from the build, your capacity and your priorities.

A scorecard measuring more than the hours saved

Depending on what you build, that might be quality, turnaround time, how often a human has to correct it, customer experience, team adoption, or the effort it takes to maintain.

Is it helping? Is it reliable? Who is accountable? What needs to change?

The leadership outcome is being able to answer these four questions about any system in your business. That capability outlasts the build, and it is the reason this is a program rather than a project.

Two ways to build. The same standard of leadership.

Your pathway is recommended by your Capability Snapshot and AI Opportunity Map and confirmed with you before you start, so you don't have to guess at your own level. The table shows the common builds on each track, though with the variables involved it is an indication rather than a promise.

	Intermediate: connected workflows and agents	Advanced: custom tools and AI systems
Starting point	Comfortable using AI, ready to connect it to real work	Technically comfortable, willing to build, test and troubleshoot
How you build	Existing platforms, workflow builders, configured agents	AI-assisted coding, APIs, custom interfaces, more complex integrations
What you end up with	A working workflow connecting your business knowledge, your tools and human decisions	A working custom application, or a more technically complex workflow or agent system
Technical depth	Configuration, permissions, connections, testing, exception handling	The same, plus architecture, code review, deployment, version control and recovery
Shared standard	Measure the value, manage the risk, maintain the system, keep human accountability	The same standard, with controls matched to the complexity of the build

Both pathways redesign the work rather than automating around it. Both need suitable data. Both need governance proportionate to risk, and an Intermediate workflow handling sensitive client information may well need stronger controls than an Advanced internal prototype.

This is the second step instead of the first.

Lead with AI assumes your foundations are already there: documented processes, organised business knowledge, and a system for AI to work with. Most participants arrive from the Next-Level Growth Program with their Business Brain built. You don't need to have done a 25eight program, however you do need the foundations.

AI is a multiplier, and if there are no foundations there's nothing to multiply.

We believe there are two kinds of readiness.

Is the business ready?

The Capability Snapshot looks at your operational foundations and your AI capability and recommends a pathway, or tells you the foundations aren't there yet and points you to the Next-Level Growth Program first. This is quite common, and it isn't a sales manoeuvre: you won't gain value from systems and tools without the foundations. AI amplifies what's already working; when the foundations aren't there, it doesn't fix them, it moves you faster in the wrong direction.

Is this particular build ready?

A different question, and one a strong strategy can't always answer. Your Opportunity Map and a short scoping review confirm the workflow, the success measure, the technical pathway and the scope, then surface the specific gaps: usable data, access permissions, a clear owner. We deal with those in the first fortnight rather than discovering them in week eight.

We recommend your best pathway. You confirm it. If you've already done the Next-Level Growth Program, retake the Capability Snapshot to get your updated readiness score. You don't have to start the diagnostic journey again.

Take the Capability Snapshot

We run our own business this way.

25eight operates on a governed system of AI agents, designed and overseen by our founder. We run applied AI research in-house, working with open source, frontier and local models in secure environments.

What we teach here is what we operate every day, with our own money at stake. Two things follow from that. We know which builds hold up in a small business and which ones look impressive and quietly stop being used. And we know what governance actually has to cover when the liability is yours.

Our Advanced track is facilitated by Stephen Kelly, co-founder of FreeDAIY, Product Owner, Growth at Xero, and a specialist in voice-activated AI tools and local AI, having built Orby Local, Dream Life Simulator and Loopy, among others.

A business owner heading off with her laptop

Sam Hurley presenting on marketing success

2021

Technology Adoption & Innovation Program, Victorian Government

45 million

Token use measured to date

Internal agents built

See how we know this works →

What the program actually does.

Confirms where the return is, so you build against evidence rather than against what's currently being marketed
Designs an architecture that fits your systems, your data and your appetite for risk
Builds alongside you: workflows, assistants and agents drawing on your own knowledge system
Develops your judgement about what to hand over, what to keep human, and how to check the work
Teaches you to identify and manage the risks: what could go wrong, how you'd notice, and what you'd do about it
Leaves the capability with you, so the next build doesn't need us

Tool-agnostic by design. Tools change every few months. You build capability, documentation and judgement that survive any change of tool.

Sam Hurley teaching a systems masterclass

A participant asking a question during a 25eight session

Three ways to do it.

Twelve weeks. A live applied workshop every two weeks, a guided online process between them, a library of searchable resources and 1:1 coaching across the program. The next intake starts Thursday 8 October, with workshops running fortnightly on Thursdays, 12:00pm to 2:00pm AEDT: 8 and 22 October, 5 and 19 November, 3 and 17 December. Cohorts share the design and governance sessions, then split into facilitated breakouts: Sam leads Intermediate and Stephen leads Advanced.

Coming soon

Self-Guided

Build at your own pace.

$1,995

plus GST. Launching next year.

The full guided online process, your pathway confirmed by the diagnostic and AI Opportunity Map, and all the artefacts and build tools. Options to add coaching whenever you want it.

Next intake: October

Structured

The guided cohort. Cost effective and impactful.

$4,995

plus GST, or 3 × $1,725 monthly.

Six live applied group workshops, four 1:1 coaching sessions, coach feedback in-platform, the full guided online process, and a cohort building alongside you.

Choose this if you want structure, feedback and accountability while you build.

Enrol in the October intake

By application

Private

Private facilitation and implementation, with your team.

$14,995

plus GST.

The program delivered privately and paced around your business, designed and built with you inside the twelve weeks. Includes company-wide AI strategy development, a team alignment session, a handover walkthrough and a 30-day adoption check.

Choose this if you have a team who need to use what gets built, or a defined implementation to complete.

Apply for Private

Compare the three.

	Self-Guided	Structured	Private
Price (plus GST)	$1,995, coming soon	$4,995, or 3 × $1,725	$14,995
Rhythm	Your own pace	12 weeks	12 weeks, paced around your business
Intakes	Launching next year	October, aligned with NLGP intakes	By application
Pathway personalised and confirmed with you	✓	✓	✓
Guided online process	✓	✓	Team access
Live applied workshops	—	6 × group, fortnightly	Private facilitation
Coaching	Add any time	4 × 1:1 plus in-platform feedback	Throughout, direct access
Working workflow or application	1, self-directed	1, built by you with guidance	Up to 3, built with you
System map and operating guide	✓	✓	✓
Performance scorecard and review rhythm	✓	✓	✓
Oversight and governance framework	✓	✓	✓
90-day improvement plan	✓	✓	✓
AI strategy and governance documents	Self-guided	Self-guided	Developed with you
Team alignment and handover	—	Group exercise	Facilitated session plus 30-day adoption check

What's included, and where it stops.

Private is our implementation engagement, which is also where “help us build it” can sometimes become “build it for us.” So we set the boundary at the start, and there are no disappointments later.

What counts as a build. One agreed business process, redesigned, built and tested against acceptance criteria set at the outset. Built on platforms and data sources you already have, with integrations limited to systems you already hold access to. Up to one custom application across the engagement.

Built with you, never for you. Someone from your business is in the room for every build. That's how the capability stays when we leave, and it's the whole point of doing it this way. If you were learning to ride a bike and just watched us riding it without ever jumping on yourself, you would struggle to develop the skill. Our programs are capability builders: we create the environment in which you develop your own abilities, with structure, feedback and practice. So we need you to turn up on the day for this to work.

Twelve weeks. Work not started inside the window doesn't carry over. Better to finish three things than begin eight. It is tempting to try to take multiple things across the line, but as those who've completed the Next-Level Growth Program know, three is the magic number.

Outside the engagement. Always out of scope: ongoing operation and maintenance, platform migration, integrations requiring third-party vendor contracts, data cleanup at volume, software development beyond the included build, and team training beyond the included session. We'll scope those separately or introduce you to one of our technology partners who can do the build for you, if that's what you require.

The costs that continue.

Worth knowing before you start. Subscriptions, API usage and hosting are yours, and they continue after the program. We'll help you estimate them, and the running cost is a line in your scorecard so it isn't a surprise later. In many instances building yourself is far more cost effective; in others you have to balance control with cost. Some builds are close to free to run. Others aren't, and you should know which before you build them.

Platform access and your artefacts remain available to you in your system. Technical support from us ends with the program unless you continue on a separate arrangement or are a member of our CEO Circle.

Questions owners ask.

Do I need to have done the Next-Level Growth Program first?

Not necessarily. Most participants are alumni, and the program assumes you have the foundations someone completing that program leaves with, but if your foundations are already in place you can join directly. The Capability Snapshot is the quickest way to check your readiness: if you're ready, Lead with AI will show as a program recommendation. If it doesn't show, consider our AI Opportunity Mapping Session first.

Which pathway will I be on?

The diagnostic and your AI Opportunity Map recommend one, and we confirm it with you before you start. Intermediate if you're ready to connect AI to real work using existing platforms; Advanced if you're technically comfortable and looking to co-create with AI.

What if I'm not ready?

We'll say so and point you to the Next-Level Growth Program. It happens often, and it saves you both money and a significant amount of time. The Next-Level Growth Program has AI embedded in it, so you're still building with AI, but more importantly you're building the business foundations needed to capitalise on it. Alternatively, complete our AI Opportunity Mapping Session to get a picture of where you are and where you can get to with AI.

How much time does it take each week?

Plan for three to four hours a week, which includes the coaching and workshop sessions.

Do I need to be technical?

Not for Intermediate. The work is design, judgement and configuration, all guided. Advanced assumes some comfort in the technical world: code doesn't scare you and you're willing to build, test and troubleshoot, with support throughout.

What AI tools does the program use?

We'll recommend the current best tools for certain tasks, but this changes almost daily, so in essence the best tools are the ones you already have. Everything we do is designed to be tool-agnostic, so if you lose access to a tool or one becomes far better than another, you can easily switch. We're also big advocates of local and sovereign AI, reduced dependence on technology subscriptions and open source. Above all we help you find tools you'll be comfortable using and that are most likely to give you the results you need, because a good tool is one that is optimally used.

Do I need to bring anyone from my team?

Up to two other people from your company can join you in the group live sessions on the Structured cohort, though only you will have access to the platform. Private includes team access and a facilitated team session, so at least one other person should be involved for you to benefit from that option.

What happens when it ends?

You keep what you've built, the documentation, and the capability to keep improving it. You may also like to consider the CEO Circle for continued access to coaching sessions, the resource library and community, and to keep your leadership review and refine rhythms. CEO Circle access opens at the start of each quarter as a three month membership with three tiers.

Build AI into the way your business runs, with the confidence to lead it