The business case before the build
The goal is working automations that make your firm run better. Before I build them, the numbers should support the decision.
Read the detailed refund terms and process.
The diagnostic can be purchased on its own or as the first step within the ninety-day engagement. I look at the work, the tools you already have, and the changes worth making. Its $5,000 Founders' fee is included in the $20,000 engagement price. Standard pricing is $8,000 toward a $30,000 engagement.
Before implementation, I agree with you the specific tasks, acceptance criteria, milestones, and client dependencies that fit the fixed price. Configuration of existing tools, integrations, and custom automation are all options. The diagnostic selects the work; it does not increase the engagement price. If no useful scope supports the business case, I recommend stopping. Replacing a core platform or building a complete custom application is outside this offer.
If the business case falls short
For Founders' Edition, if the diagnostic cannot substantiate a conservative path for the full $20,000 engagement and necessary additional costs to pay for themselves within 12 months of engagement kickoff, I refund the full $5,000 diagnostic fee. You keep the findings and roadmap. If you still choose to proceed, the remaining engagement payment stays at $15,000: a real $5,000 reduction in total fees.
What counts as value
Useful hours returned to your team can count even when salaries stay the same. Cash savings and productive capacity are shown separately. Ten people recovering four hours each have forty hours a week available for other work. That can help avoid a hire when those hours cover the work the new person would do; it does not automatically remove a salary from payroll.
I include necessary additional costs and allow for rollout and adoption. The same recovered hours are counted once, rather than again as avoided hiring and new revenue.
A method established before the assessment
Before the diagnostic starts, the signed agreement records how value is measured, including whether usable recovered employee hours count even when payroll stays unchanged. I document the evidence, costs, and rollout assumptions and count each benefit once. This is a guarantee about the supported forecast at the diagnostic readout, not a promise of actual future returns. Incorrect facts or unsupported assumptions are reviewed and corrected; choosing another provider or disagreeing alone does not trigger a refund.
Refund terms and process
The following explains the Founders' Edition guarantee. Before work begins, the signed diagnostic agreement records the measurement rules and refund process so you can assess them before committing.
What the assessment must show
“Pay for itself” means cumulative, documented economic benefits cover the full $20,000 engagement and necessary additional costs within twelve months of engagement kickoff, using the measurement method established in the signed agreement. The diagnostic supports a conservative forecast; it does not require twelve months of actual results before a decision can be made.
The forecast allows for implementation time, adoption, and when benefits actually begin. Necessary software, operating costs, and your team's implementation effort belong in the calculation. An optional continuation is included if achieving or sustaining the forecast benefits depends on it.
How employee time is valued
The agreement records whether the assessment includes productive capacity, cash savings, or both. Recovered hours can count without a payroll reduction when there is a supported use for that time. The calculation uses an agreed labor rate, realistic working weeks, and hours the team can actually recover and use.
For example, four usable hours a week at $50 an hour over 48 weeks represent $9,600 in annual capacity value before additional costs and rollout adjustments. That is capacity for other work, not $9,600 removed from payroll. Actual payroll or contractor reductions are recorded separately as cash savings.
Avoiding a hire can also count when the recovered capacity covers a supported staffing need, with the right skills and availability. Forty scattered hours are not automatically interchangeable with one new employee. I do not count the same hours again as capacity, an avoided salary, and additional profit.
Other supported benefits can include reduced overtime, fewer paid tools, less rework, and additional contribution profit after the costs of serving that work. Speculative revenue or general claims about better productivity do not establish the case.
What you agree to before work starts
The signed measurement schedule records the benefit categories, rates, evidence requirements, cost treatment, timing, and conservative assumptions to use. It also records when those terms were discussed and accepted. You are agreeing to the method before the assessment, rather than being asked to approve an unknown result.
You can challenge incorrect inputs, arithmetic, unsupported assumptions, or a calculation that departs from that method. I review the evidence and correct errors before the final determination. Neither party can change the agreed rules simply because the result is inconvenient; disagreement alone does not trigger a refund.
When a refund applies
- The completed diagnostic misses the threshold and you stop. I refund the full $5,000 diagnostic fee. You keep the findings and roadmap.
- The completed diagnostic misses the threshold and you continue. I still refund $5,000. The remaining engagement payment stays at $15,000, making your net engagement fees $15,000. The refunded fee is not charged again or deducted a second time.
- The supported forecast meets the threshold. The diagnostic remains paid. If you continue with me, its $5,000 counts toward the $20,000 total. Choosing to stop or use another provider does not by itself create a refund entitlement.
- The diagnostic cannot be completed because required access or information is missing. This is not automatically a pass or a failed business case. I document the blockers and address completion or cancellation under the signed agreement.
How the refund happens
At the diagnostic readout, I provide the calculation, supporting evidence, and the outcome against the agreed threshold. If a correction is needed, I resolve it before finalizing that outcome. When the completed assessment misses the threshold, I confirm the refund in writing and initiate it under the timing and payment process recorded in your agreement.
The refund covers the full diagnostic fee paid, without a deduction for payment processing. I provide confirmation when it is initiated; your payment provider's posting time is separate. If you choose to continue, the engagement paperwork records the remaining $15,000 payment clearly.
This guarantee concerns the business case established during the diagnostic. It is not a refund of the full engagement price or a promise that future operating results will match the forecast.
Back to the guarantee overview.
The decision stays yours
If the supported forecast meets the threshold, the diagnostic stays paid whether you build with me, take the plan elsewhere, or stop. If it misses, the diagnostic fee is refunded even if you continue. The signed agreement records the calculation method and refund process before work begins.
The twelve-month guarantee described here applies to Founders' Edition. The first conversation is simply a chance to see whether the engagement fits your firm.