The starting point
LISA operates in the IT Asset Management market, helping individuals and organisations build a stronger understanding of software licensing, technology value and commercial risk. In that environment, training is far from peripheral. It supports better decisions in an area where capability has a direct bearing on cost, compliance and performance.
Over a three year period, LISA achieved 10x growth while remaining bootstrapped, high margin and commercially disciplined. During that time, my role combined Managing Director and Commercial Director responsibilities, spanning proposition development, partner growth, routes to market and the broader direction of the business.
The world’s first omni-learning ITAM platform
The business had already established a strong position in on demand ITAM training, but the next phase of growth depended on broadening the proposition in a way that better reflected how professionals and teams actually learn. Flexibility remained important, but so did live interaction, shared context and access to in person experiences. A significant part of the work therefore centred on evolving the model from pure on demand learning into a more complete omni learning proposition, bringing together on demand, live online and in person event access within a single offer. In doing so, LISA became the world’s first omni learning ITAM training platform.
That shift strengthened the learner experience and gave the business a more robust commercial foundation. The offer became more relevant to a wider set of customer needs, more useful to partner channels and better equipped to support sustained growth. Rather than asking the market to choose a single format, the model recognised that effective professional learning often benefits from a blend of accessibility, interaction and immersion.
Partners and retention
The commercial implications were significant. During this period, LISA signed several of the largest reseller partners in the IT industry, including SHI, SoftwareONE and Softcat. Those relationships expanded market access and added credibility, but more importantly they reflected a proposition that had become clearer, more scalable and better aligned with what serious partners look for in a specialist learning business.
Retention remained above 80 per cent throughout, which provided a useful test of whether the model was working beyond acquisition alone. Growth figures can be impressive, but retention is often the better indicator of underlying value. In LISA’s case, it pointed to a business that was not only attracting demand, but continuing to justify its place with customers over time.
Disciplined economics
Equally important was the quality of the financial model behind that growth. LISA remained bootstrapped and high margin as it scaled, which placed a premium on clarity of decision making. Progress depended on making the proposition sharper, choosing routes to market carefully and investing where there was clear commercial logic.
That same approach informed capability building inside the business. During this period, a graduate was hired into the team, adding capacity while reinforcing a broader belief that sustainable growth should create room for development as well as results.
Learning for Good
The wider contribution of the business evolved as well. I created the Learning for Good initiative to ensure that commercial progress was accompanied by practical social value. Through that work, LISA planted 14,000 trees and donated IT hardware to schools in need. The intention was to build contribution into the way the business operated, rather than treat it as a layer of messaging added after the fact.
What it shows
Looking back, what stands out is not only the scale of the growth, but the shape of it. LISA evolved from a strong on demand training business into a broader and more differentiated learning platform. The proposition became more complete. Major partner relationships were secured. Customer retention remained strong. The business stayed profitable and bootstrapped. Alongside that, it developed a more substantive contribution beyond the commercial model itself.
For me, it remains a strong example of what good growth looks like when it is built with both commercial intent and strategic discipline. The result was a larger business, certainly, but also a better one: clearer in its proposition, stronger in its economics and more deliberate in the value it created.
