The AI Strategic Assessment
Find out where your time and money actually go before you spend a dollar on AI.
We map how your business really runs, put a number on every stall, and tell you what's worth fixing. Sometimes the answer is nothing.
Built for founder-led businesses.
You've grown past the point where you can see everything, but not past the point where everything needs you. You've tried the tools. Your team is using AI on their own. Nothing has changed how the business runs.
A capacity audit, not a technology audit.
We measure hours, not software: how often each task happens, how long it takes, and who does it. That turns "it takes forever" into a number you can act on. We look across the whole business and focus where the work stalls most.
You probably need this if:
- Every exception still lands on your desk.
- Your team has AI tools and no shared way of using them.
- You've paid for software that didn't deliver.
- You know something is costing you time, but you can't put a number on it.
- You'd rather hear "don't build that" before you spend the money.
How it works.
- 1
Kickoff
This step is never skipped. We agree on where to focus, lock interview dates, and you send a short note to your team backing the work.
- 2
Leadership interviews
How you believe the work moves.
- 3
Team interviews
The people who actually do the work. We leave every conversation with numbers: how often, how long.
- 4
Back to leadership
We compare what leadership believes against what the team described. That gap is often the biggest finding.
- 5
Map and cut
We document the real process, including the judgment calls nobody wrote down, price every finding, and cut twenty ideas to the few that earn a build. Short check-ins stress-test the shortlist before anything is final.
- 6
Working session
We walk the Operating Map together and you decide what gets built first.
- 7
First build
We ship the top item on your Build Order, included in the Assessment.
About three weeks from kickoff, and roughly 4 to 5 hours of your team's time. No prep required.
What you get: the Operating Map.
One document that shows how your business actually runs, where it stalls, and what each stall costs. Inside it is the Build Order: the short list of what to fix, in order, quick relief first.
The Operating Map is yours, whether we build it or not.
How your business actually runs
Where it stalls
What each stall costs
The Build Order
Quick relief first
A representation of the deliverable, not a real client's data.
How we price a finding.
Every founder we work with already feels the problem. Almost none of them have sized it. The sizing is what turns a frustration into a decision.
- 1
Hours first. We measure the time the current way of working consumes, from your people's own account of their week.
- 2
Dollars second. We convert hours using your own labor rates, not industry averages.
- 3
Ranges, not point estimates. A range you can defend beats a precise number you cannot.
- 4
Assumptions on the page. Every figure shows how it was built, so your team can challenge it.
- 5
Upside labeled as upside. Recovered time is counted. Revenue you might win is shown separately and never added into the total.
- 6
Hours only count if they go somewhere. Every finding says where the time goes next: higher-value work, more capacity for growth, or a hire you no longer need to make.
Every recommendation traces back to something said in an interview. If we can't point to the evidence, it doesn't make the Build Order.
What it isn't.
Not a software demo.
Not a tool pitch.
Not a 60-page deck that sits in a drawer.
If AI isn't the answer, we'll tell you.
After the Assessment.
Some clients take the Build Order and run it themselves. Others move onto a Systems plan or ask us to build the rest. Either way, you'll know exactly what to fix and why.
Frequently asked.
Start with one conversation.
Thirty minutes. Tell us where the work stalls and we'll tell you whether an Assessment makes sense.