The diagnostic framework I use before every engagement
Before I work with any business, I run a 17-question diagnostic. It takes about two hours and it tells me exactly where the leverage is.
The framework
The questions fall into four categories:
Revenue
1. What are your top 3 revenue channels? 2. What's the trend for each — growing, flat, declining? 3. What's your customer acquisition cost by channel? 4. What's your lifetime value-to-CAC ratio? 5. What would happen if your #1 channel disappeared tomorrow?
Operations
6. Can the business run for a month without you? 7. What's the single most time-consuming task you do each week? 8. How many SaaS tools are you paying for? How many do you actually use? 9. What breaks regularly? What's the fix cycle?
Technology
10. What's the state of your codebase? 11. How long would it take a new developer to be productive? 12. What's automated? What's manual? 13. What integration is held together by tape and hope?
Market
14. Who are your top 3 competitors? 15. What's your defensible moat? 16. How do customers find you? 17. What would a buyer care about most?
Why this works
The answers don't tell me what's broken. They tell me where the leverage is. A 10% improvement in retention is worth more than a 50% increase in traffic. Reducing the founder's workload by 20 hours a week is worth more than both.
Find the leverage, apply the system, measure the result. Repeat until the business is ready to sell.