Stage 1: Assess
Know where AI pays before you fund the build.
Two ways in: the diagnostic, read-only, places you on the five AI maturity levels we defined (L1 to L5) and hands you a ranked list of workflows; Assess, two to four weeks, adds interviews with your functional leaders, a scored opportunity map, a financial model, a 90-day plan and a board-ready readout. Both are advisory; the building is Stage 2, Build, and most companies go straight from the readout into it.
Start light. Graduate when the numbers say so.
Both tiers are the same kind of work: our engineers in a room with your functional leaders, mapping what runs by hand and what it costs. The difference is depth.
Free diagnostic
- Time
- One working session
- Price
- Complimentary for qualified companies
- Who's involved
- One senior engineer, your data lead
- You get
- L1 to L5 placement, six-dimension readout, ranked workflow list
- Guarantee
- None
- Data handling
- Read-only service account, credentials deleted at close
- What it isn't
- Implementation. Nothing gets built.
Assess
- Time
- 2 to 4 weeks
- Price
- $25K to $50K, fixed
- Who's involved
- Senior pod, your functional leaders
- You get
- Everything in the diagnostic plus ROI model, 90-day plan, board readout
- Guarantee
- Refund if we don't find $500K in annual savings potential
- Data handling
- Same
- What it isn't
- Implementation. The readout scopes the first Build; Build builds it.
Assess is the advisory step: optional, and not the engagement that moves your P&L. That happens in Stage 2, Build.
Five deliverables. One decision.
The same five come out of Assess every time, sized to one company or a portfolio cohort.
Project Atlas, industrials, $180M revenue. L2 today, L3 in 100 days, est. $1.1M to $2.4M a year in savings.
Workflow and operations audit
Finance, HR, procurement, IT and customer operations. What runs manually, how long it takes, what it costs.
AI opportunity map
Every workflow scored by complexity, estimated ROI and strategic priority. The top three are the pilot candidates.
ROI quantification
Estimated annual savings, implementation cost, payback period and projected EBITDA impact, in a model your CFO can edit.
90-day action plan
Which workflow goes first, who owns it, what the pod ships by week, and the gates that get signed.
Board-ready readout
The findings as a board pack. No rework, no translation.
Inside three portfolio companies. What it pays, and when.
A $200M precision components manufacturer
- Year 1
- $2.1M
- By year 2
- $5.3M
- By year 3
- $8.6M
Spend classification and supplier quotes
Impact$1Ma year · up to $2.5MAddressable spend runs about 25% of revenue. We count 2% saved; the band runs to 5%.
Time to value8 to 16weeksStarts with the spend data in the ERP. Savings arrive as supplier contracts come up for renewal.
Quote margin guidance and discount guardrails
Impact$1.2Ma year · up to $2.4MQuoted work runs about 60% of revenue. We count one point of margin recovered on it.
Time to value8 to 14weeksUses the quote and order history in the ERP and CRM. The first weeks go to the margin rules.
Order intake from emailed purchase orders
Impact$1Ma year · up to $1.4MOrder entry runs about 1.2% of revenue. We count half that effort removed, then 15% off for overlap.
Time to value6 to 10weeksReads the inbox the team already works. No new data foundation needed.
Illustrative companies, sized from the bands in measured engagements. Low end of every band at the company’s revenue; the third use case counted at 85% because it shares data and people with the first two; each one paying from the late end of its window and at full rate a quarter later. Value before the Build investment. Ranges, not promises.
Not every workflow should be automated first.
Once the processes are mapped, every workflow on the opportunity map lands in one of three lanes, and each one carries the level that delivers it. The quick wins go first, and none of them are built in a way that gets in the way of what comes next.
- 01
Automate now
The process works. AI will only get better and cheaper at it, so there is no wrong time to start.
- Transaction reconciliationL3
- Order intake from emailed purchase ordersL3
- 02
Fix, then automate
The process is not right today. Automating it as it stands only gets you the wrong answer faster, so we fix the rules first.
- Quote margin guidance and discount guardrailsL2
- Retailer deductions and chargebacksL3
- 03
Build toward
New capability, a year or more out. The first builds are chosen so they do not block it later.
- Demand forecasting by SKU and accountL3
- Predictive maintenance on critical linesL4
Four weeks, one readout.
Interviews with your functional leaders, a scored map, a model your CFO can edit, and a readout your board can act on.
- Week 1
Kickoff and operator interviews
Read-only access granted. Functional leaders interviewed. L1 to L5 placement confirmed.
- Week 2
Workflow mapping and scoring
Top workflows documented with cost and time. Scored by complexity and ROI.
- Week 3
Opportunity ranking and ROI modeling
Financial model built with your CFO. Payback and EBITDA impact per workflow.
- Week 4
Readout and decision
Board-ready findings. The first Build scoped and priced, or a clear reason not to build.
$25K to $50K. Fixed price, fixed scope.
If the assessment doesn't identify at least $500K in annual AI-driven savings potential, we refund it.
Frequently asked questions
The full two to four week engagement: interviews with your functional leaders, a scored opportunity map, a financial model, a 90-day plan, and a board-ready readout. It is advisory and optional: it tells you what to build and what it's worth. The building itself is Stage 2, Build.
A read-only read of your data and AI stack that places you on the five AI maturity levels we defined (L1 to L5), with a six-dimension readout and a ranked workflow list. It is complimentary for qualified companies.
$25K to $50K. Fixed price, fixed scope.
If the assessment doesn't identify at least $500K in annual AI-driven savings potential, we refund it.
A workflow and operations audit, an AI opportunity map, ROI quantification in a model your CFO can edit, a 90-day action plan, and a board-ready readout.
The first step is knowing where the value is.
Start with the diagnostic: read-only access, one senior engineer and your data lead, and you leave with your L1 to L5 placement and a ranked workflow list. Or scope the full assessment, for one company or a portfolio cohort.
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