I’ve spent the last decade raising funds for companies, particularly in the innovation sector but also across all kinds of industries, from early-stage startups with big dreams to established companies looking to scale. One of the key things I’ve taken away from this experience is that the pure quality of an idea or the strict novelty of a product isn’t always the best predictor of a company’s success.
Time and again, I found that the companies with the greatest chance of success weren’t always the ones with the most groundbreaking approaches. Instead, they were the ones with strong, well-structured, excellent, organisations. They had systems in place that could support sustainable growth, had the right people in the right roles, and inspired confidence in investors and funders. This excellence, this organisational fitness, became a far more reliable indicator of future success than any other factor.
Why Businesses Fail
The statistics around business failure can be startling. It’s estimated that around 60% of startups don’t make it past their first few years.
If you delve into the common explanations, you’ll hear things like “founders weren’t committed enough”, they “lacked effort” or “they had the wrong idea”. But having worked closely with founders, I’ve rarely seen a lack of commitment. These people are often pouring every available hour into their vision. And while idea validation is incredibly important, it’s usually those factors that can be anticipated or addressed with the right planning that cause failure.
Of course, there are uncontrollable external factors, like shifts in policy or unexpected economic changes, that can destabilise any company. However, I felt that there was a fundamental component that was often overlooked. After working with countless entrepreneurs and high-growth scaling companies, I began to suspect that the real issue lay deeper within the organisation itself. It was a lack of structural readiness to scale effectively and withstand challenges that ultimately led to failure.
The Seed of an Idea: Building an Organisational Engine
What would happen if we flipped the rhetoric, what would happen if companies (of all sizes) increase the likelihood of failure because they don’t have the right framework to test, validate and scale.
What would happen if we built an engine to put any validated ideas and effort into that can consistently build scalable companies? What if we could help every business achieve excellence? Could we create a framework that would guide founders, leaders, and teams in understanding not only what their organisation needs but where they should focus their energy?
This framework would be like a roadmap for organisational health and growth. It would show leaders the areas that needed immediate attention versus those that could run on autopilot. It would give guidance on how to allocate resources and identify the hidden gaps that could lead to stumbling blocks down the road.
In the high pressure business growth environment, it could help to ensure that founders and business leaders are less likely to get dragged along in the riptide, instead putting their time and energy to the most successful outcomes.
The final ingredient was a result of two of the superpowers that helped me scale my own consultancy, specifically:
- Always take a step forward, even if its a micro-step
- Always consider the big picture, siloed thinking leads to siloed, poorly functioning companies
From this, the Pragma Holis framework was developed. Our goal was to create a system that entrepreneurs, executives, and anyone with a growth mindset could use to build a resilient and scalable company. This framework would act as both a diagnostic tool and a strategic guide, helping businesses assess their strengths and weaknesses and take intentional steps forward.
Importantly it is as flexible as any organisation is unique. Rather than applying a dictatorial approach “the right way”, we trust the leaders in companies to make the right decisions and retain their individualism when they have the right information. It is bespoke and flexible, whilst blending forward direction and a complete picture.
Why Pragma Holis?
When we set out to develop the framework behind Pragma Holis, we began with extensive research. We looked at existing frameworks and methodologies, drawing insights from the best in the field. There was a lot of valuable content out there – some solutions were incredibly thorough in one particular area, while others took a broader view but lacked actionable steps. Our challenge was to combine these two approaches into something holistic and pragmatic.
The name “Pragma Holis” reflects this balance. “Pragma” embodies our commitment to pragmatism, ensuring that the framework isn’t just a high-level theory but a grounded, actionable tool with real world, helpful next steps. “Holis” represents our approach being truly holistic, to account for the interconnected aspects of organisational health, from culture and leadership to operations and strategy.
Pragma Holis was designed to help companies not just survive but thrive.
It gives leaders a structured approach to identify and address the key areas that will support growth, minimise risk, and drive excellence. For anyone facing the challenges of scaling a business or feeling stretched by the demands of leadership, Pragma Holis serves as a compass, pointing out the priorities and suggesting actionable steps that will lead to success.
In the end, we believe that with the right foundation, any company, no matter the industry, product, or (validated) idea, can be set up for success. We’d love to show you how.