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Negotiation For Leaders & Operators

 

Turn negotiation into a secret weapon.

Build an authentic, effective style to confidently tackle  partnerships, fundraises, acquisitions, sales & more.

 

🗓️ Upskill over 4 weeks         🙋 High-performing peer cohort                      

✍️  Expert demos & Q&As      ⭐️ Real-time practice & feedback

A$990

Dates for our next cohort will be announced soon - book now to ensure your spot or join waitlist to be notified

  • Format: live online course with high-performing peer cohort
  • Duration: 4 weeks + onboarding
  • Theory modules: 4
  • Practice sessions: 4
  • Guest demo sessions: 4
  • Take-home negotiation playbook
  • Official course certificate
Book now

Ready to level up?

Dates for our next cohort will be announced soon - register your interest below to be first to hear.

Join waitlist

LEARN WITH A COMMUNITY OF HIGH PERFORMERS FROM

Laura Nicol, Chief of Staff

"Lucy's course is a career accelerator for startup operators. Each week, it equips you to plan and dissect negotiations, blending solid theory with hands-on practice. It's all practical skills, no fluff, with the added benefit of community. This course has been transformative for how I approach negotiation, turning daunting deals and discussions into manageable challenges I can confidently face."

Earlywork - Square Peg - Portfolio Company

Jono Herman, Co-Founder

"Fantastic course and you'll leave with your own internal toolkit of how to run negotiations in future - highly recommend!"

Dovetail - Planet A

Zachary Aw, Founder Associate

"Lucy and team have crafted a stellar course which blends theory and lived experience perfectly. There are ample opportunities to practice novel / alternative negotiation skills and personas in a safe environment. Fuzzy have done an excellent job and I couldn't recommend the course enough!"

Meet your instructor, Lucy Wark

 

“As a leader in a business, the stakes are high when you negotiate for your company - but most of us are never taught how to do it, and end up leaving money on the table."


About Lucy 

Lucy studied business and the social sciences at Cambridge & the University of Chicago, where she was introduced to negotiation theory. 

She began her career serving corporate & government clients at McKinsey & Company, before launching the pioneering Australian sexual wellness brand NORMAL, and negotiating a successful exit from its venture-backed parent company, Eucalyptus, in 2022. 

She developed this course in 2022 based on her insights and experiences as a founder, and launched Fuzzy with Harry Hamilton in 2023 to make it easy to learn essential career-accelerating skills like negotiation online. 

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About the Course

Learn how to analyse negotiations, craft effective strategies & develop a compelling personal style - with the support of an awesome peer cohort & insightful speakers.

What You Will Learn

This course will provide you with a set of tools and behaviours to master complex negotiations like fundraises, acquisitions, contracts & partnerships.

Learn the theory

👉 Key concepts from negotiation theory, game theory & psychology
👉 Understand the range of different negotiation styles & pitfalls
👉 Learn how to spot and handle common tactics & strategies

Learn about yourself

👉 Understand your natural style through a series of self-diagnostics
👉 Tackle your blockers: tackle limiting beliefs that cause you to leave money on the table
👉 Practise in a safe, high-trust environment with feedback & support from like-minded peers

Learn from the experts

👉 Get insight into how a diversity of experts operate through observing demos & guest Q&As
👉 Master tone & delivery: communicate effectively in written, remote & in-person conversations
👉 Refine your negotiation persona to something more effective, authentic & sustainable for you

Learn a toolkit, not just tips

👉 Learn a systematic end-to-end process for preparing & responding as negotiations unfold
👉 Learn how to adapt when difficult personalities, events & issues arise
👉 Learn how to use benchmarking, criteria & emerging AI tools to get your desired outcome 

What makes this course different?

This course started with a question: why do smart, talented people struggle to negotiate?

Most people can learn about rational negotiation strategies by reading classic guides like Getting to Yes, or Never Split the Difference. But they still struggle to put those ideas into practice.

That's why this course covers negotiation theory, and helps you tackle the 'irrational' factors that get in the way of executing the rational strategy:

👉 Practice: Realistic mock negotiation scenarios, with room for feedback & experimentation
👉 Personalisation: Use self-diagnostics to map & develop your natural style
👉 Process: Learn a process to manage end-to-end negotiations

What's Included?

12 months access to the course content, including:

  • 4 weeks of pre-recorded theory modules 
  • Downloadable tools, templates & checklists
  • 4 live mock negotiation sessions
  • 4 guest demo & Q&A sessions 

Course Format

The course runs virtually over four weeks and includes:

  • Self-paced, structured learning - review theory modules & prepare for mock negotiations in your own time each week. Self-paced learning is done on Fuzzy's course platform.
  • Weekly mock negotiation sessions - tackle an engaging new mock negotiation scenario like a fundraise, acquisition or partnership  every week in pairs or small groups, then discuss your learnings with your peer cohort & instructor on Tuesday evenings each week (Sydney time). 
  • Weekly guest speakers - hear expert negotiators share their real-world experiences of applying key concepts in practice on Friday mornings each week (Sydney time).
  • Community - build real connections with other awesome founders, investors & operators in the group with our Slack community & IRL social events. 

Recordings of live sessions will be added to the course platform each week so you can rewatch or catch-up at any time.

Time Commitment

Register your interest with a short application form to be first on the list for our next cohort when dates are confirmed.

The time commitment is approximately ~3-4 hours per week: 

  • Reviewing theory, self-diagnostics & preparing mock negotiations: 1-2 hours (individually)
  • Weekly live mock negotiating & debrief sessions: 1 hour 15 mins (group)
  • Weekly live guest expert demo & Q&A sessions: 1 hour (group) 

What Leaders & Operators Say

The List - by Astral Ventures

Albert Patajo, Principal

"Must-do course for any investors, founders or operators in decision making roles. Lucy arms you with the knowledge and experience for any startup or investing negotiation. Through the course you'll learn a toolkit for negotiations and apply it to relevant exercises and scenarios."

 

Tenant Representation Services | Tenant CS

Danielle Higgs, Chief of Staff

“A brilliant balance of theory, practice, introspection and discussion in a safe and fun space. Highly recommended."

Airtree Ventures - AltFi

Ed Gregory, Legal Counsel

“The most valuable outcome for me was becoming more intentional and deliberate in my negotiations. Previously, I'd mainly negotiated instinctively and reactively. Now I'm more conscious of negotiating personas, how to prepare systematically and effectively, and the ways to manage the progress of negotiations, and have the resources and processes to do so."

 

Unyoked

Julian Rapattoni, Global Head of Operations

“Lucy's negotiation course has been nothing less than epic. The thoughtfulness that's gone into the content, the curation of guest speakers and the safe environment for practice and demo negotiations has been a master class. I'm walking away feeling more confident, more collaborative and more assertive in my negotiations skills with clear new tactics to keep practicing! Have already recommended to a number of friends and colleagues."

Friendly

 Ella Clarke, Founder

"Lucy successfully made a group of strangers feels safe and supported by one another. She is a natural facilitator, and I loved turning up to challenge myself with her. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more!"

CARS24 Australia- Buy & Sell Used Cars Online | Second Hand Cars for Sale  in Australia

Mitch Lukasz, Head of Operations

“The practice negotiations Lucy developed forced us out of our comfort zones to experiment with new styles, and the sessions provided a safe space to do so... Our entire cohort felt engaged and invested in maximising their learning and this showed in the professional and enthusiastic approach on display."

 

Rachel Gatehouse, Founder @ Clyde St

“I loved the simplicity of Lucy's negotiation course that really focused on personal style and building confidence through practice. I always thought negotiation was a 'dark art' available only to extroverts, table thumpers and loud talkers! The course taught me not only to feel confident in my personal style, but lean into it. Highly recommended."

Remote Social – blacknova.vc

Mike Fitzbaxter, Founder

"This course has been incredibly valuable in helping me to diagnose areas to improve my negotiation process. It has given me the learning materials, tools, and examples to dramatically change my approach to negotiations. The weekly practice negotiations provide real opportunities to experiment with new styles and learn from watching others. I feel significantly more confident about future negotiations having taken this course."

Xylo Systems - CSIRO

Jada Andersen, Founder

“I knew that negotiation was important, but this course helped me realise how negotiation skills can apply in almost all of my everyday working relationships. I feel confident entering a negotiation that I can represent my own interests and make sure my opponent feels respected and valued as well. Thank you Lucy and Harry!"

embedabilityDr Tanya Pelly, Founder

"Thank you Lucy Wark... You have nailed this course! 😀
I loved the practicality of the content and the constant opportunities to practice in a challenging but safe learning environment. The course has completely transformed my understanding of Negotiation and how I approach it. Just brilliant! "

Edrolo has arrived at Mooroolbark College - Mooroolbark College

Daniel Tram, Head of Special Projects

"After doing this course, I now have a solid framework that I can use to think through and prepare for a negotiation. The ample practice in the course also boosted my confidence executing on those plans."

Dr Catherine Osborne, CEO

"This negotiation course really helped me to understand and improve my own negotiating skills. It covered self assessments and a wide range of tactics, and just having those labels definitely makes it less of a dark art."

Hyundai Motor and Kia Introduce CO2 Emission Monitoring System Built on the  Hedera Network

Niko Leon, Product Manager

“Before this course, the topic of negotiation seemed like a dark art and either you had it or you didn't. This course broke down all the different components of negotiation and taught me how to improve on each one. I have used elements of this course everyday in my various conversations with people." 

Emma Wiltshire, Founder @ FullHouse

“This course is a fantastic opportunity to gain real-world negotiation experience for startup founders, leaders and operators. Every week was packed with negotiation strategies, guest speakers from the industry and practice negotiations with other startup leaders. The course brings together an incredibly supportive and knowledgeable community, and ensures you feel confident and ready for your future negotiations. Highly recommend!"

Expert360 | Mobilise Your Dream Team with Freelancers

Dan Hodgson, Strategy & Corporate Development

“Biased towards learning by practice, the course puts you in the driving seat on a range of complex negotiations — from M&A to fund raising to commercial partnerships. Lucy and Harry have designed and facilitated a top notch course and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking to level up their negotiation skills. 

Course Content

Throughout the course we'll cover essential theory, use self-diagnostics to develop your unique style & give you a practical toolkit to prepare for any negotiation. 

Negotiation Theory 101 
  • Types of negotiation
  • Creating vs. distributing value
  • BATNA, leverage & walkaway points

 

Tools & tactics
  • 30+ common negotiation tactics
  • Benchmarking, criteria & 'framing' arguments 
  • Tone, forum, timing & delivery 

 

Process
  • Preparation checklist 
  • Planning sequencing & trade-offs 
  • [new] Using AI tools to prepare more effectively
Personal style
  • The 5 negotiation styles
  • Mapping your triggers, biases & limiting beliefs 
  • Identifying a sustainable & effective style for you
  • Building & refining a negotiation persona 
 
Advanced Negotiation
  • Multi-party & multi-issue negotiations 
  • Managing surprises
  • Managing difficult personalities
  • Moving beyond terms and tactics to 'momentum'

HEAR FROM WORLD CLASS GUEST SPEAKERS

Learn with expert negotiators 

Get behind-the-scenes insights, stories & advice from guest speakers who've been there before, like:

Common Sense Ventures | LinkedIn

Owen Symington, Exited Founder & Venture Investor

Herbert Smith Freehills - Wikipedia

Claire Thompson, Co-Head of Venture Capital Practice & Tech M&A Specialist

Hannah Yan Field, Coach for Founders, Operators and Venture Investors

Former operator & people leader scaling Canva, Dropbox and Pandora Radio in the early high-growth stages.

Tracksuit | Affordable, Always-On Brand Tracking

Connor Archbold, Co-Founder

LUNA Startup Studio | Humanitix

Richard Tan, Head of High Growth & Scaling Startups, Senior Lawyer 

AfterWork Ventures

Jessy Wu, Partner @ Afterwork Ventures

  

FAQs