Let’s start with a quick test —
If you asked three people on your team who the company is for, do you get the same specific answer?
If the answers don't line up, there's a good chance the rest of the business doesn't either.
Another test —
Look at the last three product decisions. Were they driven by the same thinking, or by whoever asked last?
Decisions made one at a time add up. After enough of them, the business is accumulation.
Your team is busy, but they're busy in different directions. That's the gap a Deep Dive closes.
When do I need a Business Deep Dive?
You're getting different direction from investors, advisors, and your team and can't tell whose advice to follow.
Your product roadmap is driven by whoever asked last.
Every quarter you adjust the plan, and every quarter the same questions resurface.
You serve multiple markets and compete differently in each—without winning any of them.
You're selling to administrators but success depends on teacher adoption.
You can't clearly articulate whether your customer is the buyer, the user, or the beneficiary.
What you'll walk away with
A Defensible Position
A position that's uniquely true to your business. Narrow enough to be the filter for every decision, and defendable without having to perform it.
Buyers Recognize Value
The right buyers recognize your value earlier in the process. Sales cycles shorten. Time on bad fits goes to zero.
Pricing Power
Pricing that reflects what the work is worth, not what it took to do it. Pricing stops being a negotiation when the alternatives are scarce and you believe in what you're offering.
A Strategy That Carries Itself
A simple lead generation process that runs without you and eventually produces more opportunity than you can take. The strategy holds because the team carries it, not because you keep deciding it.
What to expect
Preparation before getting started.
Before we start
You’ll receive the necessary paperwork, including a consulting agreement, NDA, and invoice. This ensures we’re aligned on objectives and have the legal and financial framework in place to protect your ideas and data.
Material gathering
Once the paperwork is completed and payment is received, we’ll send you a materials request list. This will include financials, marketing materials, positioning documents, etc. Ideally, it should take you or someone with access no more than 1-2 hours.
Employee census
We’ll conduct qualitative surveys and quantitative personality profiles. Leadership will receive a separate, tailored survey. This helps us determine how best to work with your team and will inform the strategic direction we outline together.
Once these are in — typically within 1–2 weeks — we schedule the first module.
Ready to begin
Gaining momentum
Slight terror sets in
Performance Diagnostic(typically 1 call)
Where you start trusting the 3-5 numbers that predict outcomes. Your job is to name which buyer your business is currently serving and what the next steps are if it's not the one you intended.
Market Positioning(typically 2-4 calls)
Where you commit to a position narrow enough to be the filter for every future decision. Reverse the typical order and uncover what makes you unique and irreplaceable to your buyer's specific problem, deliverable by your team.
Product/Service Offering(typically 1-2 calls)
Where you reshape your offering around what fits the new positioning. Your job is to decide what to keep, what to modify, and what to stop — using the new positioning as the filter.
sustainable practice(typically 1-2 calls)
Where you move from running lead gen as a series of campaigns to running it as a sustainable system your team owns. Ignore the instinct to do more and design a plan simple enough to run consistently, grounded in how your buyers decide.
Post-Strategy Guidance
Up to 3 calls over the 3 months that follow. You initiate with an agenda when something comes up worth a call. The work is yours to run, on your own, with your team, or with any firm you trust to take it forward.
Here are the practical details.
Location
Fully Remote.
Duration
6-8 weeks for core assessment + 3 months Post-Strategy Guidance.
Scheduling
Locked in within 1-2 weeks of initiation, depending on the time of year.
Post-Strategy
Guidance
Up to 3 significant, agenda-driven interactions over 3 months (Quick calls and emails don’t count against this).
Participation
- Minimum people necessary (always including principal), advised by Chris during the engagement. Beyond that, the founder owns team adoption
- Pre-work and homework between modules ensure the team can recognize what the principal recognizes
- Principal/Finance: 2 hours for material gathering
- All Employees: survey (20 minutes), Key Employees: survey + personality profile (20 minutes each)
- Principals: scheduled calls, 15-18 hours total over the engagement
- Other team members: by Chris's recommendation, typically 2-4 hours
Most Effective For
- Mission-driven, founder-led EdTech businesses, typically $2M-$10M+ revenue.
- Founders at the point where their existing decision-making framework isn't producing the results it used to.
- Leaders willing to question their own thinking and assumptions, including the ones that built the business so far.
Who this isn't for
- Founders looking for tactical fixes or implementation help. We do help with implementation from time to time, but part of what makes this sustainable for you is your willingness to tackle your own problems.
- Companies pre-revenue or pre-team. The diagnostic methodology assumes there's a business to diagnose. The newsletter is a better place to start.
- Leaders who want a strategy delivered to them rather than arrived at with them.
Cost
$25,000
Payment Terms
Prepaid and non-refundable via Wire, ACH, or check.
Not quite ready?
Consider starting with a 1:1 Clarity Session — 50 minutes to work through what's in the way before committing to the bigger engagement. Sometimes that's enough. Or subscribe to the newsletter — every other Tuesday, free, no commitment.
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