Pirate Joe: An Adventure
in Business
— Learning the Ropes
The pirate adventure that adults keep reading for themselves.
A crew of characters who'll feel suspiciously familiar. A story about risk, leadership, and finding the right people. Hidden inside a genuinely brilliant adventure.
Adventure First.
Intelligence Underneath.
Pirate Joe isn't a business lesson. It's a story about a crew, a captain, and what it actually takes to build something from nothing.
Pirate Joe has big dreams and no plan. Starting with nothing more than a leaky dinghy and his oldest friend Bob, he sets out to become the greatest pirate on the seas.
As he builds his crew — each member a different kind of person with a different way of seeing the world — Joe learns that bravery isn't enough. You need the right people. A process. Information you can trust. And someone keeping the ledger.
Each chapter is a self-contained adventure. Each adventure teaches something real. The tracker at the end of every chapter shows exactly how the crew is doing — in doubloons, morale, rum level, and plunders successful and otherwise.
Children read it as the best pirate story they've ever found. Adults read it and recognise their entire career.
Meet the Crew
You'll recognise all of them. You've worked with most of them. You might be one of them.
Moves before the plan's ready
Inflates all estimates slightly
Sees what no one else does
Version 1 is never enough
Always right. Rarely listened to.
Knows things. Too many things.
Statistically confused by people
If Ian says it'll hold, it'll hold
Not sure which one you are? Nine questions. Honest answers.
Take the Crew Quiz →For Every Reader
Three very different reasons to read the same book.
A genuine adventure. A crew you'll want to join. A captain making decisions you'd probably make differently — and occasionally being right for exactly the wrong reasons.
A book your child will actually read — and that will quietly teach them how organisations, teams, risk and decisions actually work. You'll probably read it too. You'll claim you were checking it first.
"I know a Bob." "We've worked with a Mike." "Jane is our whole HR team." The book that accidentally explains your entire career, wrapped in a pirate adventure. Perfect for the person who has everything.
Which Crew Member Are You?
Nine questions about how you work, make decisions, and respond under pressure. Your crew role awaits.
Takes about 3 minutes · Shareable results
Join the Crew
Be the first to hear about new books, crew updates, and what's coming next. No noise — just the good stuff.
Bring Pirate Joe
to Your World
The ideas behind the book didn't come from a textbook. They came from years of watching businesses succeed and fail. Get in touch if you'd like to bring that into your school, event, or organisation.
A talk for students about entrepreneurship, teamwork and leadership, using the book and crew cards as a starting point. Suitable for enterprise days, careers events, or business and English classes.
A talk about building the right team, the business concepts behind the series, and what a children's pirate adventure can teach us about how organisations actually work.
Working with teachers or enterprise coordinators to use the book, crew cards and tracker as a classroom resource for teamwork, communication and business thinking.
If any of this sounds like something your school or organisation would benefit from, get in touch. The first conversation is always just a conversation.
Get in Touch →The Series So Far
