About

Two founders. One operating model.

The Margin Labs is built by two technologists who have spent twenty years in the same rooms as the people they now serve: founders, operations directors and finance leaders trying to turn AI noise into something a board can actually act on.

Why operating-model first

The reframe nobody else is selling.

The AI market is loud, and the loudest answer is always to buy more AI. Our experience says the opposite. Most SME AI investments do not fail because the model was wrong. They fail because the process underneath was already broken, the data was contested, and the team had no way to absorb the change. Bolting AI on top accelerates the breakage. It does not fix it.

So we work in a specific order. First the operating model: roles, ownership, governance, the workflows that actually run the week. Then the systems: a data spine your platforms can read and write to without fighting. Then AI, applied where the operating model and the systems can absorb it. That order is unglamorous. It is also the order that produces hours saved, margin lifted and decisions the leadership team will defend.

We are honest about the no-go list. There are workflows where AI is not yet the answer, where the cheaper, more reliable tool is the one your team already has. Naming those out loud is part of the deliverable. It saves you from spending on the wrong things, and it earns the right to spend on the right things.

We are a partnership of two for a reason. Luke leads operating model, ERP and systems architecture, work that needs twenty years of pattern recognition. Nuno leads AI, automation builds and live KPI reporting, work informed by what survives in production inside a real 8-figure business today. Between us we cover the whole path from a messy operational problem to a working system the business can run on, with the same two people on the call as in the build.

The team

Two founders, one operating model.

Two technologists who cover AI and operations end to end: one who builds the AI, one who architects the systems around it. Between us we cover the whole path from a messy operational problem to a working system the business can run on.

Nuno Neto

Co-founder · AI, Operations, Finance & Technology

nuno@themarginlabs.com

Nuno is a broad technologist and COO-level operator with more than 20 years building and scaling businesses across e-commerce, paper, logistics, SaaS and IT. He grew a B2B distribution business from zero to £65m in four years, and has led finance, operations and IT through repeated transformations. Today he builds and runs AI operating systems inside a real 8-figure consumer-goods business, so his work targets real leverage rather than shiny features.

What they bring

Outcomes, not activity. He has taken a business from zero to £65m, added £7.5m of cash flow across 12 markets, lifted operational efficiency by 25% and customer retention by 20%, and absorbed seasonal support spikes of three to five times volume with no extra hires. Today he builds AI operating systems that turn hours of manual reporting and admin into minutes.

£65mbuilt from zero
+£7.5mcash flow
+25%efficiency
3 to 5xvolume, no new hires
20+ yrscross-industry

Luke Austin

Co-founder · AI, Operations & Technology

luke@themarginlabs.com

Luke is a business technologist, ERP architect and former Managing Director with 20 years across retail operations, logistics, procurement, compliance and quality assurance. Before moving deeper into ERP and digital transformation, he ran and scaled a retail business, growing turnover from roughly GBP 200k to GBP 500k.

What they bring

As head of business development at an ERP consultancy, he grew the practice from a GBP 200k sales baseline and Silver partner status to GBP 1.65m in project, consultancy and services revenue oversight, and Gold partner status with a leading ERP platform. He leads discovery, GAP analysis, solution design and phased ERP roadmaps, builds the commercial and operating-model structure around them, and has since been promoted to lead project delivery.

£1.65mrevenue overseen
£200k → 500kretail scaling
ERP Gold PartnerFeb 2026
Former MD
ERP & operating-model design

How we work

One continuous cycle.

Every engagement runs the same loop, drawing on both founders' delivery methods. You see working output inside the first cycle, usually within two weeks, and we never stop at "done". Each pass compounds on the last.

01

Discover

Map the expensive manual work, the data and the tools. Find where the hours and the money actually go.

02

Plan

Prioritise by leverage and design the solution. Agree the highest-impact build and what success looks like.

03

Develop

Build the automation or system in tight increments, so progress is visible the whole way through.

04

Test

Validate against real cases and edge cases before go-live, so what ships is trusted from day one.

05

Implement

Ship to production with the documentation and training the team needs to actually adopt it.

06

Improve

Measure the impact, refine what is live, and feed the learnings straight back into the next Discover.

Track record

What the founders have done.

The Margin Labs is new. These numbers are not. They are the real, combined track record we bring to your business.

Operations, AI and technology

£65m

B2B distribution business built from zero, in four years.

3 to 5x

Peak support volume absorbed with no extra hires.

20+ yrs

Operations, finance and IT leadership across e-commerce, B2B distribution and SaaS.

Systems, commercial and delivery

8x

Consultancy revenue scaled from a £200k baseline.

£1.65m

Project and services revenue delivered as commercial lead at a B2B systems consultancy.

2.5x

Retail P&L owned as Managing Director — business scaled from £200k to £500k.

Two founders. One operating model.

The reframe nobody else is selling.

Two founders, one operating model.

One continuous cycle.

What the founders have done.

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