An investment process that scales with your growth, not your headcount.
A phased plan to build your internal AI investment tool, extend it across the wider operational work, and put an ongoing partnership behind it.
A tool worthy of McLaren's process, built to scale with the firm.
McLaren is heading from £500m to roughly £1bn over the next three years, with a DFM partnership starting now and permissions to follow. The investment process behind that is rigorous and well run. The problem is the maths underneath it: as things stand, every £50m of new money brings another administrator and another paraplanner. Grow that way and the firm gets bigger, not better. This proposal breaks that link, so the next £50m costs less to run than the last.
The plan has four phases, and you only ever commit to one at a time. Phase 1 is a paid discovery: half a day on site at Godalming, then the work to pin down exactly what gets built. Phase 2 builds the core tool, turning your three inputs (quantitative data, qualitative research and the IMC vote) into fund fact sheets and clear buy, sell or hold calls, each one fully auditable. Phase 3 adds the wider automation once that foundation exists: paraplanning, macro briefings, client reporting and the cross-platform reporting you have wanted out of Intelliflo, Fast Track and Transact. Phase 4 is the ongoing relationship you and Rory described.
We build it to grow. As new data sources come on, including the DFM's research licences, they slot in without a rebuild. Phase 1 confirms what each system will and will not allow. And because this is a regulated firm, the audit trail is in the architecture from day one, not added later.
What we are asking for to start. A yes to Phase 1 only, at a fixed £4,500. It produces a priced specification for the build and an honest recommendation either way. Phases 2, 3 and 4 are decisions you make later, once we both know what we are signing up for.
What we heard on the call.
Before we propose anything, here is what we heard. The whole proposal is built on these six points. If we have any of them wrong, the proposal is wrong, so tell us before we go further.
The investment process is the priority
Project one is the investment process tool. It pulls together your quantitative data (FE Analytics now, the DFM's licences later), the qualitative research from fund manager meetings, and your in-house vote, and turns all of it into fund fact sheets and clear buy, sell or hold calls for the IMC.
Sun Seeker is the starting point
You have already started building the screening piece in-house, under the name Sun Seeker. We start from that, not a blank page. Phase 1 gets into what is already there and treats it as the prototype the build grows from.
Live monitoring, not quarterly batch
Today the process moves at the speed of the IMC calendar. You want it to move at the speed of the market: the tool watches daily, flags anything that crosses your criteria, and puts it in front of the right person, instead of waiting for the next meeting.
Lucy and Rory are both project champions
Rory is the champion and the decision maker, and he already wants this done better. Lucy owns delivery day to day. We have set the engagement up to match that: Lucy is our everyday contact, and Rory has a clear sign-off at the end of each phase.
The £50m headcount problem is the real ROI
Lucy put it plainly on the call: every £50m of new money means another administrator and another paraplanner. That is the number this proposal is built to change. We measure success by that, not by hours billed.
This is the start of something bigger
The tool is the first step, not the whole story. Behind it sits the reporting problem across Intelliflo, Fast Track and Transact, the paraplanning and suitability work, and the wider AI Super Team Lucy described.
Where the value actually lives.
Calling this "automating the IMC" would undersell it. The value sits in three places, and only one of them is about speed.
The cost of growth. Today, growth and headcount rise together. Going from £500m to near £1bn means six to ten new hires across paraplanning and administration if nothing changes. Take even a slice out of that ratio and the yearly saving is worth several times this build. That is the prize: assets that grow faster than the cost of running them.
Speed of decision. Today the process is paced by the IMC calendar: gather between meetings, debate at the meeting, decide, repeat. Live monitoring changes what the firm can do, not just how fast it does it. Once you hold DFM permissions and can act on a decision the day you make it, spotting a change on a Tuesday and adjusting on a Wednesday becomes normal. The tool is what makes that possible.
Room to grow. The DFM partnership opens up research through their licences, and the exact shape of that is still being worked out. We build so any new source, the DFM feed, Morningstar, anything later, slots in cleanly when it arrives. Phase 1 confirms what each will allow. And if McLaren ever leaves the partnership and goes direct, the same architecture still holds.
And the edge worth protecting. Most wealth managers your size hand the investment decision to a DFM and run the model they are given. McLaren does not, and keeps that control even inside the DFM partnership. That independence is the firm's real edge, and it is what clients are paying for. The tool is here to sharpen it, never to commoditise it.
Three data streams, one defensible output.
The shape of the tool is already clear from the call. Three inputs feed a scoring layer, which produces one auditable output for the IMC. The build is mostly about making that flow real, fast and easy to explain.
Live fund data
FE Analytics now, with room for Morningstar and the DFM's research later. The tool pulls returns, volatility, drawdown, manager tenure, AUM and sector rank every day. Your screening criteria live in the system as rules you can edit.
Fund manager intelligence
A structured home for fund manager meetings and questionnaires, topped up with AI research from interviews and commentary already in the public domain. Your team stops re-asking what is already answered and focuses on the questions only they can.
IMC scoring
Your voting mechanism stays exactly as it is. The tool simply captures each member's score and combines them in the open. Human judgement is built into the process, not bolted on at the end.
Output: AI-generated fund fact sheets with buy, sell, hold recommendations
These reach the IMC before the meeting. Each one shows how the three inputs combined, which criteria were triggered, and what has changed since last time. The AI does the narrowing and the surfacing. The IMC makes the call.
The audit layer. You raised this on the call, and it is one of the smartest things about the brief. Every recommendation carries its full history: the data behind the score, the thresholds it crossed, who voted which way. If the FCA, the IMC or a client asks how a decision was reached, the answer is one click away. It is in the build from day one.
Four phases, each a decision point.
Each phase ends with something real in your hands and a genuine decision to make, including the decision to stop. You are not signing up for a year on day one. You are signing up for Phase 1, which exists to tell you whether Phase 2 is worth doing.
Discovery and Scoping
Half a day on site at Godalming, working sessions with the investment team, and the homework to pin down exactly what gets built. The output is a specification priced firmly enough that the build becomes a simple yes or no. Around five days of work across a two week window, quicker if you have a deadline.
What happens
- Kick-off and on-site workshop, half a day at Godalming. With Lucy, Rory if he can join, and the investment team. We walk the five-step process end to end, look at Sun Seeker as it is today, and find where the biggest time savings are.
- Systems and data review. We look at FE Analytics, Intelliflo, Fast Track, Transact and Sun Seeker to learn what data each holds and how we can get at it. Enough to scope the build properly, not an exhaustive audit.
- Process documentation. Alongside the review you are already doing for the DFM due diligence, we write up the screening criteria, scoring weights and vote in a form software can use. Useful to you whether or not the tool gets built.
- User research. Short conversations with the people who will use this every day, to learn where the friction is, where mistakes creep in, and what a great version of this looks like to them.
- MVP specification. One document, in the same style as the fund screening spec you have already seen, setting out exactly what gets built in Phase 2, by when, for what fixed price.
- Phased roadmap. How Phase 2 sequences, what it unlocks, and a clear decision point for what comes after.
Deliverables
Priced MVP specification
The full scope for Phase 2, illustrated and priced firmly, ready for Rory and the IMC to sign off.
Phased roadmap
How Phase 2 builds in sequence, and an honest view of what Phase 3 could add once it is done.
What we need from you
- Half a day on site with Lucy, ideally Rory, and the investment team available through the day.
- Access to Sun Seeker as it stands today, even in rough form.
- Introductions to your FE Analytics and Intelliflo account contacts, so we can ask the integration questions directly.
- The screening criteria, scoring weights and vote in whatever form they exist today: spreadsheets, documents, or just in someone's head.
- About three hours of the investment team's time across the two weeks for the user sessions.
The decision at the end
At the end you have a fixed price for Phase 2 and a clear view of Phase 3. You commit to the build only if the spec earns it. And if you decide not to, you still walk away with a documented, ratified investment process that feeds straight into your DFM due diligence. Either way, Phase 1 is worth doing.
MVP Build · The Investment Process Tool
The core build. Sun Seeker grows up into the full investment process tool. By the end of this phase the IMC opens one screen, sees the whole fund universe against your criteria, and reviews AI-drafted fact sheets with the audit trail behind each. The figures below are estimates, fixed once Phase 1 shows us the real complexity. If you have a deadline, tell us early.
Scope dependent. Locked to a firm price at the end of Phase 1.
What gets built
- Fund screening engine. Sun Seeker reworked into a rule engine that runs your two-stage screen against the live universe. Four thousand-plus funds narrow to a research shortlist as you tune the criteria.
- AI risk scoring. Every fund scored against your risk framework, with the weighting shown openly on screen. The IMC can adjust those weights over time without anyone touching code.
- Qualitative capture. A structured home for fund manager notes and questionnaires, with AI pulling in what is already public, so the team stops asking what is already answered.
- IMC voting workflow. Each member submits a score and a reason. The system records and combines them, keeping your voting mechanism exactly as it is rather than replacing it.
- Fact sheet generator. A polished, branded fact sheet per fund in one click, ready for IMC papers, with the recommendation and the evidence behind it.
- Live monitoring and alerts. Daily re-scoring as the data moves. When a holding crosses a threshold the IMC has set, the right person sees it that day, not next quarter.
- Audit and explainability. Every score and recommendation traces back to source in a click. Built to stand up to FCA inspection, IMC governance and Consumer Duty.
- FE Analytics integration. Live quantitative data through your existing licence.
- Room for future feeds. Built so Morningstar, the DFM research feed or any later source slots in cleanly.
What you get
Working internal tool
Deployed for use by the investment team, the IMC and yourself, on infrastructure of your choosing.
Configurable rule engine
Screening criteria, scoring weights and asset allocation tram lines, all editable by you, no code required.
Audit trail subsystem
Every IMC decision underwritten by a traceable, time-stamped record of inputs, scores and votes.
Training and handover
Walkthroughs with the investment team, written documentation, and a recorded demo for IMC induction.
Sequence
- Weeks 1 to 3. Foundation: data pipelines, FE Analytics integration, core data model, audit subsystem scaffolded first.
- Weeks 4 to 6. Screening engine and AI risk scoring, with the IMC validating the scores against current portfolios in parallel.
- Weeks 7 to 9. Qualitative capture, voting workflow, fact sheet generation. First full IMC dry-run on real funds.
- Weeks 10 to 12. Live monitoring, alerting, polish, training, handover. First production IMC cycle run through the tool with us in the room.
Out of scope at this phase
- Paraplanning and suitability report automation (Phase 3).
- Cross-platform MI dashboards over Intelliflo, Fast Track and Transact (Phase 3).
- Client-facing portal or any client-side surface. The tool is internal.
- White-label or external commercialisation of the tool. Worth a conversation in Phase 4 if the build goes well.
Keeping the tool healthy after go-live
Once the tool is live it needs looking after: bug fixes, small changes, data feed tweaks as your process evolves. That is the Platform Maintenance retainer, £2,000 a month for up to two days of development and support. It starts at go-live and is separate from the Phase 4 advisory retainer. Take either, both, or neither.
AI Augmentation Layer
With the structured data from Phase 2 in place, a second tier of automation becomes cheap to build. This is where paraplanning time drops sharply, where macro briefings come prepared rather than written from scratch, and where the reporting problem across Intelliflo, Fast Track and Transact finally gets solved.
Modular, sequenced by McLaren's priority
What sits in this phase
- Paraplanning and suitability automation. First-draft suitability letters, review letters and client reports, built from the fact-find, the portfolio and the tool's output. An eighty-percent draft in seconds; the adviser reviews, refines and signs. This is the biggest single return in the whole plan.
- Macro briefings. Macro and sector briefings prepared ahead of each IMC from the live data already running through the tool. The committee arrives to a pack, not a blank page.
- Cross-platform reporting. The Intelliflo, Fast Track and Transact problem solved. One clear view across systems you already pay for, with the data out of six dashboards and into one.
- Client communications. Portfolio commentary, performance letters and quarterly updates drawn from real portfolio data, in the adviser's own voice.
- Document intelligence. Provider valuations, fact sheets and illustrations read into structured data automatically. Hours back for the admin team, fewer transcription errors.
- Compliance evidencing. Suitability and Consumer Duty evidence produced as a by-product of giving advice, not an extra task afterwards.
Why this phase costs less than it looks
The hard part of Phase 3 is the data plumbing, and Phase 2 has already done it. The structured data, the IMC outputs and the audit trail are all there. Adding paraplanning and macro briefings on top costs a fraction of building them alone. That is the payoff for doing Phase 2 first instead of chasing quick wins one at a time.
How to sequence it
The phase is modular: run all of it, or pick the two or three pieces that matter most. Reporting is the natural place to start, given how often it came up. Paraplanning is the best return per pound. Macro briefings are the easiest win to show the team. Our advice comes with the Phase 2 roadmap; the order is yours.
AI Super Team · Ongoing Partnership
An ongoing relationship, not a project that ends and a consultant who disappears. The call where you say "we are thinking about X with AI, good idea or red herring?" and get an honest answer quickly.
Reviewed quarterly, scalable up and down
What is included
- Strategic advisory. Direct access for you and Rory to think through new ideas, sense-check tooling decisions, and keep an eye on what is working elsewhere in wealth and IFA tech.
- Quarterly review. A session each quarter on what is working, what is not, and what is worth adding next.
- AI literacy. Regular sessions helping the investment, paraplanning and admin teams get more from Claude, ChatGPT and the tools they already use.
- Network access. When a job needs a senior engineer, a product analyst or a CTO-level view, you draw on the network at day rate, without having to find and vet people yourself.
- "Is this a red herring" calls. The bit Lucy asked for by name. A short call, an honest answer, no billable creep.
How it is structured
£2,500 a month covers up to two days of advisory plus the quarterly review, priced a little below our standard day rate for the longer commitment. Need more in a given month and it scales; we would rather flex to what the firm needs than hold you to a rate card. This is separate from the Platform Maintenance retainer in Phase 2. Take either, both, or neither.
Why this matters
AI moves faster than any in-house team can reasonably keep up with. The retainer means you do not have to. You run the firm; we stay across what is genuinely changing and what is just noise, and we tell you which is which.
What this costs, phase by phase.
Phase 1 is fixed. Phase 2 is a range that becomes a firm, scope-dependent price once the spec is signed. Phase 3 is priced after Phase 2. The two retainers begin once the tool is live and run for as long as you want them.
| Phase | Duration | Outcome | Investment |
|---|---|---|---|
Discovery and Scoping Phase 01 · Fixed fee |
~5 days over 2 weeks | Priced MVP spec and phased roadmap, firm Phase 2 price. | £4,500 Fixed fee |
MVP Build Phase 02 · Fixed price |
10 to 12 weeks | Investment Process Tool live and in use by the IMC, with full audit trail. | £42k–£55k Estimated range · scope dependent · locked at end of Phase 1 |
AI Augmentation Phase 03 · Modular, fixed price per module |
8 to 12 weeks | Paraplanning, macro briefings, client reporting, cross-platform MI dashboards. | TBC Scoped and priced after Phase 2 |
Platform Maintenance Ongoing · Monthly retainer |
From go-live, ongoing | Bug fixes, small changes and data feed upkeep for the live tool. Up to two days per month. | £2,000 Per month |
AI Super Team Phase 04 · Monthly retainer |
From go-live, ongoing | Strategic advisory, quarterly review, training, network access. | From £2,500 Per month, 6-month minimum |
How we price. Phases 1 and 2 are fixed price. No hourly billing, no scope creep. If something genuinely changes mid-build, we agree it with you in writing first. Our standard day rate for one-off work is £1,500; the Phase 2 figure is priced below that, which is how we handle longer projects. The final number is scope-dependent and locks when the spec is signed.
A note on framing. Phase 1 is a small, fixed commitment. Phase 2 is the real investment, and it only firms up once you have seen the spec and chosen to go ahead. Phase 3 and the retainers come later, on your timetable. You never commit to a number you have not seen and agreed.
From sign-off to first live IMC cycle in around 14 weeks.
A realistic view, assuming Phase 1 starts in late May or early June and Phase 2 follows straight on. Phase 3 can run alongside the back end of Phase 2 or after it, depending on appetite and the order you and Rory want.
Phase 1 begins on a single signed Statement of Work. Phase 2 begins when the spec is signed, Phase 3 modules when each is commissioned, and the two retainers at go-live.
Where we have made assumptions.
These are the things we have assumed in shaping this proposal. If any are off, we want to know in the Phase 1 kick-off so we can adjust before scope is locked.
- McLaren retains its existing FE Analytics license through the build and provides API or data export access during Phase 2.
- Sun Seeker is available for review in whatever form it exists today, including its underlying logic and data.
- Intelliflo, Fast Track and Transact data can be extracted by supported methods. The Phase 1 review confirms exactly what is available.
- The DFM research feeds may or may not arrive during the build. The architecture handles either case without rework.
- The tool is internal-only. No client-facing surface is in scope for Phases 1 to 3; that can be revisited later.
- Hosting runs on infrastructure of your choosing (AWS, Azure, or your existing provider), billed at cost, likely under £200 a month for a tool this size.
- AI model and API usage is a separate running cost, billed at cost. It depends on how often the tool scans and how hard it is worked: the MVP runs scheduled scans, daily or weekly to your preference, not continuous monitoring. The true run-rate cannot be known before the build, so we measure it during Phase 2 and show you the real figures.
- The FCA introduces no major new requirements mid-build that change the suitability or audit-trail design. If it does, we adapt and price that openly.
- IP for everything built under this engagement transfers to McLaren on payment. There is no platform fee, no per-seat licensing, and no lock-in.
Data, security and confidentiality. McLaren's screening criteria, scoring weights and voting mechanism are treated throughout as confidential McLaren intellectual property, and we are glad to sign an NDA and a data processing agreement before Phase 1 begins. Data is stored and processed on infrastructure McLaren controls and handled in line with UK GDPR.
Payment terms. Phase 1 is invoiced on signature of the Statement of Work. Phase 2 is invoiced against milestones rather than up front, typically a deposit on sign-off of the spec and the balance across the build stages. Retainers are billed monthly in advance. Standard terms are 14 days. Exact terms are confirmed in each Statement of Work.
How we like to work.
We start with outcomes, not features. Every project begins with "what changes in the business", not "what do we build". The feature is just the means. The outcome is the deal.
We are small and senior on purpose. Tom leads every engagement himself and is in the room for the work that matters. When a job needs a specific skill beyond that, we bring in people from a network Tom has worked with for years: senior developers, CTOs, product analysts, operations leads, all vetted, on day rate, and only on the work that needs them. You are never handed to a junior you have not met. Continuity is built in: the work is documented as it goes, the network covers when more hands are needed, and all code and IP transfer to you on payment. You are never locked to one person.
We treat AI as an amplifier, never the decision maker. It does the narrowing, the surfacing and the first draft; a qualified person makes the call. In a regulated firm that is what keeps you compliant, keeps liability where it belongs, and keeps the team happy to use the tool.
We work closely with your team, not behind a curtain. Lucy has access throughout, not just at the gate reviews: weekly check-ins, a shared workspace, and one channel for any question as it comes up.
We are honest about what AI can and cannot do. There is a lot of overclaiming in the market right now. Our job is to build the things that genuinely help and to say plainly when something will not. That honesty is what the retainer is built on.
Who actually does the work.
Tom Woollard, lead
Tom runs Woollard Works, his AI consultancy, working across insurance, property and regulated services. Before that he spent six years building Bunk, a UK property technology business: raising institutional capital, scaling an engineering and product team, and winning a £700k Innovate UK grant for AI-first work in the rental sector.
He thinks like an operator who has run a business, not a consultant passing through. That tends to mean faster decisions and a sharper sense of what is actually worth building. Every McLaren engagement is led by Tom himself.
The network
Selected work
A short list of why this fits.
The brief is unusually clear
Three inputs, a five-step process, a clear output, and one number that defines success. Most firms cannot describe what they want this cleanly. McLaren did it on the first call, which means we can move fast and build the right thing.
Rory is the right kind of champion
The hardest projects are the ones where the team wants change and the founder is sceptical. Here it is the other way around: Rory is championing it, and Lucy can deliver it. That combination is what gets things shipped.
The timing is right
The DFM due diligence is already making you document and ratify the investment process. This engagement overlaps with that and speeds it up. The work is happening anyway. The only question is whether it ends in a tool or just a document.
Three things, in order.
If this lands, the path from here is short. Lucy reviews it with Rory, the three of us talk it through, and Phase 1 begins.
Looking forward to building this with you.
Thank you for the call, and for the thought you had clearly put in before it. This is exactly the kind of work we enjoy most, and we would like to do it with you. Whatever you decide, it was a good conversation.