A centre, a founder-led business, and my own ecosystem, which is where I try everything first. They’re told in full because they’re the longest-running. More of the work follows below.
Retained advisory · July 2025 to nowCenter for Non-Religious Spirituality and Existential Health
Jim Palmer, founder
“Danu has achieved more in a few months than I could in a few years, which is why I plan on working with him long-term.” Jim Palmer
Where it started
A centre with a large following and a training people loved, held together almost entirely by its founder across a patchwork of platforms, with nobody yet to hand things to.
What’s different now
One home with an open front door. A team with clear lanes, a faculty and an advisory board. The first cohort the Center sold on its own terms. Jim builds his own courses in Circle now, and his first book since 2014 became a #1 new release in Existential Philosophy.
What I did
- Thinking partnerWeekly founder conversations since July 2025, from the first wayfinding session to the life behind the work.
- Strategy and brandDevised the community and membership strategy, and the brand architecture that holds two directions as one body of work: the Center for people leaving religion, and existential health as Jim’s wider field, joined in ideas and in revenue.
- PlatformLed a full platform migration into one community home, run as a change project that brought people along.
- Front door and marketingA new public front door, clearer ways to arrive and take part, and the marketing around them.
- LearningDeveloping the training materials for the Existential Health Practitioner programme, and the practitioner commons that grew out of listening to graduates.
- Money and back officeA clear picture of where the money is, a priced membership ladder, and billing and finance that run without Jim.
- Team and governanceNew roles, a faculty, volunteer training, a seat on the advisory board and sturdier governance.
- PublishingDevelopmental editing and publishing of Jim’s book The Practice of Being Alive through Grokkist Press, plus two earlier guides.
- AI environmentTools that write and build in the Center’s own voice and brand.
- HandoverEverything documented and handed over, so the Center runs on its own.
A building season, then ongoing · June 2025 to nowFuture Self Now by Theresa Sansome
Theresa “T” Sansome, founder
“The ownership of it is just feeling bigger and bigger.” Theresa Sansome
Where it started
Twenty-five years of coaching and a method that changes lives, delivered one person at a time. Offers spread across an old website and a tangle of tools, and a founder ready for a way of growing that fitted her better than the hard sell.
What’s different now
A community with live calls she leads without prepared teaching, two immersives, a new landing page and Explorer Pass. LinkedIn went from “kill me now” to “like brushing my teeth”. She stepped back from other roles to give Future Self Now her full attention.
What I did
- Thinking partnerRegular founder conversations since June 2025, alongside the building.
- StrategyMapped the whole ecosystem as one journey, glimpse, visit, inhabit, and the money as an aeroplane cabin.
- Brand and voiceSettled the brand and wrote her Tone of Voice guide.
- Offer and pricingShaped and priced the offers, from a self-paced course to membership, immersives and passes.
- PlatformChose and built the community platform, payments and member journeys.
- Front door and marketingA new landing page with a free first experience, and a LinkedIn and newsletter rhythm built alongside her until she ran it herself.
- Community and eventsDesigned the community as a festival with live calls at its heart, and backed her first immersives.
- Back officeUntangled the tools and processes behind it all.
- PublishingFuture Self Letters in T’s own voice, on their way to a book and audiobook through Grokkist Press.
- AI environmentA content studio built on her own body of practice.
My own · 2022 to nowGrokkist, a community, press and practice for curious people
Danu Poyner, founder
“Legible enough to find each other, illegible enough to stay strange.” From the foot of Grokkist’s home page
Where it started
A community for curious people who can go almost anywhere and belong nowhere. I built it the way I build for founders: one real thing at a time, with the structure growing around what people actually do.
What’s different now
More than 1,000 people across 35+ countries, a Press with a category bestseller, and a small team with real lanes. It’s also where I try every move before I bring it to anyone else.
What I did
- StructureA limited company run on a social enterprise model, with the name protected by international trademark registration.
- StrategyAn ecosystem of flywheels that moves people through every part of Grokkist: free material and open rooms to arrive, live company to become legible to yourself and your peers, the Press and the stage to meet the world, and a practitioner path so the accompanied become accompanists. Each turn grows a person, and each person grows the ecosystem.
- Platform and front doorThe Network and its arrival hub, a welcome site, the realms map and the quests board.
- PublishingGrokkist Press and its books, from a novel and essays to a book serialised with its reader circle.
- MoneyAccompaniment as the main revenue centre and the Press as the growth centre, with patronage through Friends of Grokkist and the Seedbank funding community initiatives.
- LearningCourses opened up into free series, with live accompaniment alongside.
- EventsRed Thread Talks, the Coddiwomple Café and a changing set of practice rooms.
- TeamThe Grokkist Elves: an editor and volunteers, each with a named lane.
- Back officeAuthor royalties and the plumbing behind them.
- AI environmentA design system and a shelf of skills, so new work starts from Grokkist’s own voice and look.
AUT · 2017–20
Bond University · 2015–17