MELBOURNE · Q4 2026 · EIGHT SEATS
One on one, this build runs over a fortnight. In a room it runs in two days, because you don't start from a blank page. You start from a system that already works, and spend the two days putting your business into it.
You leave with it running on your own laptop, knowing your clients and writing in your voice, and with the skill to keep building it yourself.
No payment now. You get the dates first.
Built with founders at Berkman Academy, Mr GST, Bloom Films, Balloon Tree, Zarco Creative and Speck of Dust. The two-day format has run once already, for Den Lennie's mastermind.
On your laptop, not on a demo account.
THE FACTS
Owner-operators in knowledge work: consultants, advisers, coaches, agency and professional-services founders. If you win the work and also write every email, chase every invoice and carry every detail in your head, this is built for you. You don't need to be technical. You need a real business to point it at and two days to give it.
THE IDEA
One on one, I build a Chief of Staff with a founder over a fortnight, in short sessions with a week of ordinary work in between. The room compresses that: two days straight, eight people building at once, and the pace that only comes from being in the same room while it happens.
By the end you're not watching a demo or taking notes. You're running a system that knows your business and works in your voice, and you know how to keep building it.
BEFORE YOU ARRIVE
The system you build on is already running in production. It runs two businesses of mine, a video agency and a specialist education practice, and the businesses of the founders I've built one with. The architecture, the memory, the daily rhythm and the helper agents are already there, roughly 80% built, handed to you on day one.
What you bring is the part nobody can hand you: your clients, your prices, your decisions and the way you say things. That's the difference between arriving at a blank page and arriving at a system with a heartbeat, and it's the whole reason two days is enough.
HOW THE TWO DAYS RUN
You arrive set up, so the building starts in the first hour rather than the last. Nobody spends the morning installing things.
Ends with something of yours working
Ends with you not needing me
WHAT YOU WALK OUT WITH
A working Chief of Staff on your own machine, encoded to your business and writing in your voice. Not a trial, not a login that expires.
The breakthrough behind you. You've built with your own hands in front of other people, so you're no longer waiting on anyone to do it for you.
A plan and a safety net. A clear fortnight of next steps, plus two weeks of stuck-support so nothing stalls once you're home.
Seven other founders who did it the same weekend. The room doesn't end when the room ends.
FOUNDERS WHO'VE BUILT ONE
"Arek spent two days with my members and handed over the entire AI operating system he's built, no holding back. The room shifted in front of me: people who came in unsure walked out building. What sets him apart is the generosity behind it, and the care he's put into making it genuinely usable. There's no one in the marketplace doing this with more intention right now."
"I came thinking I knew how to use AI and quickly saw how far off I was. What you unlocked was a whole way of thinking about it, and off the back of that I've built a system that actually runs the way my brain works and holds my whole business."
Jose Fernandez, Speck of Dust"It feels like having a second set of hands rather than another app to babysit."
Isaac Viglione, Bloom Films"Arek really unlocked how to connect it all together and make it work for me, not just with me."
Matt Smolen, Balloon Tree Productions"Arek helped us build the foundations of an AI operating system that is already delivering real value. We can generate proposals directly from client calls and produce fast, accurate quotes using our existing pricing."
Orville, Greater VisualsMost of these founders make videos for a living, because that's my own trade and it's where the first builds happened. A quote is a quote and an invoice is an invoice, whether you're cutting films or laying floors.
THE INVESTMENT
Included: the complete starter system set up with you, both full days, the venue, all catering, and two weeks of support to unblock you afterwards.
On you: your travel and accommodation, your laptop, and an AI subscription at the $100 a month tier, which we'll help you set up before the room.
The same build one on one is $5,500 + GST and runs over a fortnight. The room costs more because the starter system is handed over rather than assembled, the two days are continuous, and the venue and catering sit inside the price. Which one suits you is mostly a question of whether you'd rather go deep for two days or spread it across a fortnight.
Prefer it one on one? See the Chief of Staff build.
You won't write code. You should be comfortable with files, browser tabs, installing an application and following a checklist. If you already use ChatGPT or Claude most days and can explain how your business works, you're in the right range. Everyone in the room is at roughly that level, which is why the pace works.
Eight seats is the cap for exactly this reason. The build is the same shape for everyone, so nobody is off on their own track, and the evening session on day one exists to catch anyone who wants longer on a step. If something is still half-done when you leave, that's what the two weeks of support after the room are for.
Your laptop, an AI subscription at the $100 a month tier, and your actual business: your client list, your prices, a few proposals or emails you're happy with, and whatever you've already built. You'll get a short setup checklist before the dates so none of that eats into day one.
No, and this is the part people get wrong. What you've built gets folded in rather than replaced. The reason your pieces don't talk to each other isn't that they're bad, it's that there's no architecture underneath them. That's what the two days give you, and your existing work is the first thing that goes into it.
The AI subscription, paid to the provider at their standard rate. No retainer to me, no licence, no platform fee. The seat is the last invoice I send unless you ask me back.
Not yet, and I'd rather say so than pretend. $6,950 + GST is what a seat is priced at now, and dates land in Q4. The waiting list exists so the people who want a seat set the dates rather than find out about them. If either changes before seats open, you'll hear it from me directly, before it goes on this page.
Yes, and it works well. You each build your own, and they read the same shared files, so the two can never drift apart. It's a seat each, because each person walks out with their own working system rather than a shared one.
Yes. If you run a mastermind, a cohort or a peer group, a closed room of your own members is the version of this that works best, because the group already knows each other. That's a conversation rather than a form, so message me and we'll shape it.
THE NEXT STEP
Seats are limited and the dates land in Q4. Add your name and you'll get the dates, the final price, and how to claim a seat before anyone else. No payment now, no obligation, and no chasing if it turns out not to be your year.
Prefer to build privately, one on one? See the Chief of Staff build.
Not ready for either? Take the free field guide and see how far you get on your own.