The diagnostic · you leave with The Map
The read.
Most AI projects fail at the diagnosis, not the build.
You know something needs to change. You can feel where the friction is. What you can't do yet is say — precisely, in order — what to fix first, what to leave alone, and what would just be expensive.
That's a diagnosis problem, and it's worth paying for on its own. Buy the diagnosis before you buy the build.
Three places I look
People. Systems. Expertise.
Every business runs on all three, and the trouble is almost never where people think it is.
People
Where is everyone actually standing?
Not where the org chart says. Who has already been experimenting, who is quietly avoiding it, and what they have each tried and abandoned. This is the one most people skip and it decides everything after it.
Systems
What is the whole thing running on?
The tools, the handovers, the spreadsheet holding it together that nobody wants to talk about. Where the same work gets done twice, and where a change would actually be felt.
Expertise
What do you know that nobody else does?
The judgement that lives in one person’s head. This is the material nobody else treats as material — and it’s usually the thing worth building around.
How it runs
Read first. Then ask. Then write it down.
Before
Intake and pre-work
A proper questionnaire, plus whatever you already have — the messy doc, the half-built thing, the process nobody has written down. I read all of it before we speak.
One
The scoping session
We go through what I found and I ask the awkward questions. This is where the real picture turns up, and it is almost never the one in the intake form.
Two
The findings session
I come back with The Map and we walk it together — what is ready to move, what is not, and what happens in what order. Recorded, so you can hand it to someone else.
Both sessions are recorded and the replays are yours.
What you leave with
The Map.
- Where you actually are across people, systems and expertise — written plainly
- What is ready to move now, and what is not ready yet and why
- The pathway in order, with the reasoning attached to each step
- What I would build first, second and third — and what I would leave alone
- What to do yourself, and what is worth handing over
It's yours. Anything you build afterwards extends it rather than replacing it — and if you build with someone else, it still works.
Founding rate
$695
$895 from the sixthinc GST
5 of 5 places left
Credited in full against any build booked within 90 days — so if you go on to build, the diagnostic costs you nothing.
Straight talk
Nothing gets built in here.
That's the point, not a limitation. The moment building starts, diagnosing stops — and the diagnosis is the thing you're paying for.
It also means there's no pressure in it. A Read isn't a sales call with homework; it's a piece of work with a deliverable. If the answer is "you're closer than you thought and you need one small thing", that's what The Map will say.
Founding rate
$695 now. $895 from the sixth.
Why it's cheaper right now
I've done this work for years. This is the first time it's been packaged like this — and that's why you're getting the founding rate.
It's a trade, not a discount. Founding clients agree to all two:
- Feedback and a testimonial at the end
- Permission to name you and use your logo
Would rather not? Then you pay the list price. That's arithmetic, not a threat.
Questions
Fair questions.
Do I have to do a Read before anything else?
No. It is a foundation, not a gate — you can book a build directly and plenty of people do, because they already know exactly what they want. The Read is for when you know something needs to change and cannot yet say what. If you can say what, skip it.
What actually is The Map?
A written diagnosis you own — where you are across the three layers, what is ready, and the path in order. It gets extended by anything you build afterwards rather than replaced. I will not sell it to you by page count; the ones that publish a page count are free and generated, and that tells you what they are worth.
Why two sessions and not one?
Because the first conversation is where the real picture turns up, and writing the diagnosis in the same hour you first hear it produces a worse diagnosis. Scoping and findings are different jobs. It also means you see The Map with me in the room, rather than receiving a document and interpreting it alone.
What if it turns out I do not need much?
Then I will tell you that, and The Map will be short. That has happened and it is a perfectly good outcome — you have spent $695 to find out you were closer than you thought, instead of spending several thousand finding out slowly.
Does the fee come off a build?
Yes — whatever you paid comes off any build booked within 90 days. Go on to build and the diagnostic effectively costs you nothing. The 90 days is there because a diagnosis has a shelf life, not to rush you.
Does anything get built during a Read?
No, and that boundary is deliberate. The moment building starts, diagnosing stops — and the diagnosis is the thing you are paying for. Building comes next, and you are free to do it with someone else.
Find out where you actually are.
Two sessions, one Map, and a clear first thing to do — credited against whatever you build next.
$695 inc GST while founding places last, then $895.