Strategic Sherpas

Strategic Sherpas works with SME leadership teams navigating AI transformation and operational complexity.

Our Founder, Ben Rayner, is MIT-certified in AI and Business Strategy and has spent his career spotting commercial value in major technology shifts before they’re obvious. He helped launch Chip & PIN and Contactless across UK retail, introduced Domino’s and Lakeland to Facebook when most brands ignored it, and built the first responsive website in the insurance industry.

Today, that pattern recognition underpins how we support leaders who know AI matters but don’t know where it fits. They face pressure from boards, clients and teams while dealing with problems that have nothing to do with the technology itself.

One professional services client was losing 20 hours weekly to manual onboarding. Within six weeks, we reduced that to 90 minutes.

We start by understanding the business. Working directly with leadership, we identify where time, money and energy are being lost, then map the operational gaps slowing them down. Once the real problems are clear, we build a simple model of what could improve, plot the value each change creates, and prioritise for the fastest impact.

Currently working with eight SME clients nationwide, we take on three new engagements per quarter. Leaders work with us for practical support, clear thinking, and solutions that fit how their organisations actually work