What NoTosh does

NoTosh is a small (1-10 person) Edinburgh-headquartered education consulting firm founded in 2009 by Ewan McIntosh, operating globally with a regional entity (NoTosh Australasia) in Melbourne. The firm works with K-12 schools, school systems, and architecture firms on four integrated service lines: Strategic Planning, Brand Strategy for Schools, Learning Space Design, and Leadership Support. Its core IP is a proprietary design-thinking methodology adapted for education, packaged into branded frameworks (Seven Spaces of Learning, Brand Pyramid, Brand Clock, Hexagonal Thinking, Dear Architect Process) and delivered through bespoke consultancy engagements, intensive sprints, retreats, and workshops targeted at Boards, Heads, and senior leadership teams.

The company monetizes through two primary streams: (1) bespoke professional-services consultancy sold directly to school leadership and education ministries, often embedded into architecture-led campus masterplans via partnerships with firms such as EIW, B+H, and BVN; and (2) productized online courses delivered on a Kajabi-based learning platform, including "Leading from the Middle" ($997/seat, 700+ alumni), "Brand Strategy for Schools," and the newer "From Fog to Focus" for senior leaders. A free weekly newsletter, "The Provocation," runs community-led demand generation, and the company has accumulated over 1,000 school engagements across 70+ countries since founding.

NoTosh reports no external funding and operates as a founder-controlled private limited company. It has won industry recognition including the 2022 Kelly Tanner Innovation Award and multiple Learning Environments Australasia awards (2020-2021). The firm combines a senior distributed consultant model (Scotland, Australia, England, Canada, Belgium) with a self-serve online learning channel — a hybrid services-plus-edtech model positioned at the intersection of education strategy, brand consulting, and learning environment design.

Name

NoTosh

Legal name

NoTosh Ltd

Website

https://notosh.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Edinburgh-headquartered education consulting firm founded in 2009 that helps K-12 schools worldwide sharpen strategy, build brand, design learning spaces, and develop leadership through bespoke consultancy, architect partnerships, and online courses on a Kajabi platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Edinburgh

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Online Courses: Live online courses delivered in sprints with video-on-demand access. Courses include 'Leading from the Middle' ($997/person), 'Brand Strategy for Schools', and 'From Fog to Focus'. Includes mastermind groups and community access.
2. Consultancy Services: Bespoke online consultancy programs blending expert courses with tailored coaching, research, and ongoing support. Covers strategy, space design, learning, teaching, and curriculum design.
3. Newsletter Subscriptions: Weekly newsletter 'The Provocation' delivered via email, with thousands of subscribers among education leaders.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

NoTosh is an education consulting firm that helps schools and education systems create sharper strategy, stronger brands, and better learning spaces. The firm delivers bespoke consultancy engagements, immersive workshops, and online courses covering strategic planning, brand strategy, learning space design, and leadership development for Boards, senior teams, and middle leaders in schools.

Product overview

NoTosh is an education consulting firm offering a portfolio of professional services and online learning programs. The core offerings include Strategic Planning, Brand Strategy for Schools, Learning Space Design, and Leadership Support services, each delivered through consulting engagements, workshops, and retreats. These are complemented by online courses including Leading from the Middle (a leadership program with 700+ alumni), Brand Strategy for Schools (a two-sprint intensive course), and From Fog to Focus (strategic focus for senior leaders). The company also provides free resources like the Middle Leader Manifesto. All offerings are accessible through their learn.notosh.com platform, which hosts live courses with lifetime content access, frameworks, mastermind groups, and practical deliverables.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Provocation: Weekly newsletter delivering insights and thinking to subscribers.
• Leading from the Middle
• Brand Strategy for Schools
• From Fog to Focus
• Middle Leader Manifesto

Products and services

• Strategic Planning Community-informed strategy process helping Boards, Heads and leadership teams create distinctive, practical strategies that guide daily decisions, using a Design Team approach to gather input from across the organization.
• Brand Strategy for Schools A two-sprint, one-on-one brand strategy experience for schools to align, clarify and act, involving leadership, admissions, marketing and communications teams to define identity, build shared language and create practical communication routines.
• Learning Space Design Educational visioning and briefing services that help schools, universities, governments and design teams connect people, pedagogy and place, including stakeholder engagement, design principles and change readiness planning.
• Leadership Support Development programs for Boards, senior teams and middle leaders including retreats, cohorts, sprints and advisory processes, with offerings at governance, strategic and middle leadership levels.
• Leading from the Middle Online leadership program for aspiring and current middle leaders focused on thinking strategically, influencing senior leaders, leading teams and turning ideas into action.
• From Fog to Focus Three-part online course for senior leaders to decide on strategic focus that fits their school, with monthly meetups with Ewan McIntosh and Kate Wadsworth.

Quantifiable outcome

• Student understanding of why they were learning topics increased from 22% to 72%
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• EIW ArchitectscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partnership with Australian architecture firm EIW Architects on learning environment design projects. Collaborated on award-winning projects including Nanjing International School, Iona Presentation College, and other school redesigns. NoTosh provides educational intelligence and user insight; EIW Architects handles architectural design.
• B+H ArchitectscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on campus design projects. Collaborated with NoTosh on UNIS Hanoi campus redesign to develop design principles, spatial priorities, and practical concepts.
• BVN ArchitectscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorked with BVN Architects on UWCSEA Singapore's new Tengah campus masterplan. NoTosh provided educational vision and design principles; BVN Architects used these to frame the conceptual masterplan.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• TNTP: National education consulting and policy organisation focused on teacher quality and school system improvement. Comparable to NoTosh because both engage school systems on strategic improvement and leadership, though TNTP operates at much greater scale with policy and advocacy capabilities NoTosh lacks.
• 2Revolutions: Education design and consulting firm focused on future-of-work and future-of-learning models. Comparable to NoTosh because both consult to schools and systems on transformation strategy, learning design, and leadership capacity building.
• Fielding Nair International: Specialist K-12 learning space design and architecture firm working with schools on educational visioning and master planning. Directly comparable to NoTosh's Learning Space Design practice, with overlapping methodology (research-based design principles), customer base (international and independent schools), and architectural firm partnerships.
• BetterLesson: Professional development and coaching platform for K-12 educators with online course and mastermind components. Comparable to NoTosh because both monetise educator leadership development through cohort-based courses and ongoing communities (e.g. Leading from the Middle mastermind).
• Education Elements: K-12 education consulting firm focused on personalised learning and school/district transformation. Comparable to NoTosh because both sell strategic planning, change management, and leadership support to school systems, though Education Elements leans more toward instructional model design.
• The Learning Accelerator: Non-profit education consulting organisation focused on personalised and competency-based learning at system scale. Comparable to NoTosh because both consult to school systems on strategic shifts in pedagogy and learning design, though TLA emphasises competency-based models.
• Getting Smart: Education advisory and media firm covering K-12 innovation, future of learning, and strategic positioning. Comparable to NoTosh because both advise schools and systems on innovation strategy and brand narrative, with parallel thought-leadership publishing models.
• EdTechTeam: Education consulting and professional development firm working with schools and systems on transformation. Comparable to NoTosh because both deliver cohort-based leadership and teacher programs, though EdTechTeam emphasises edtech integration as the primary transformation lens.

Others

• IDEO: Global design consultancy with a longstanding education practice applying human-centred design to schools and systems. Comparable to NoTosh because both apply design thinking to education strategy and innovation, though IDEO serves many industries at far larger scale and with deeper corporate resources.
• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Education research and improvement foundation engaged with school systems on improvement strategy. Comparable to NoTosh because both engage school systems on strategic improvement work, though Carnegie operates as a research and grantmaking entity rather than fee-for-service consultancy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/notosh
• Facebookfacebook.com/NoToshLearning
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/notosh-limited
• Instagraminstagram.com/teamnotosh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NoTosh