DOCUMENT TSC-2026/ENG-01 · THE READ · FRONT DOOR · REV. 01

The Read · The front door

Two weeks. Fixed fee. A written read of your business.

The Read is the first paid step for every new client and the only way into a retainer. I take your numbers, your team, and your own account of what is wrong, and hand back a document that says what is actually true, what it is costing you, and what to do first over the next 90 days. An audit tells you everything that is wrong; The Read tells you which of those things is binding. It is also sold on its own, with no commitment beyond it, and about a third of Reads end at the readout, which is the point of doing it first. Two variants, because the data is different: the DTC Read for consumer brands and the SaaS Read for software and app companies.

Start a conversation See all tiers and terms

01/ Six lenses

The same six questions, in the same order, every time.

The order is the argument. Economics first, founder last, because the founder lens only means something once you can set what you told me against what the numbers say. That gap is usually the finding.

Unit economics

CAC, contribution margin, payback, LTV by cohort, and how much of the revenue is bought with discounts. The same maths as the profitability and max CAC calculators, on your real exports.

Growth engine

Channel mix, the handoff from ad to page, the retention curve, and whether pricing and packaging are doing their job.

Product & offer

What is carrying revenue, what is dead weight, and where the roadmap and the P&L disagree.

Team & org

Who owns the number, where decisions stall, and how much of the operation is rented from agencies.

Cash & capital

Runway, inventory or burn, debt, the shape of the cap table, and what a raise or an exit would look like from here, read against The Index.

Founder

What you think the problem is, set against what the numbers say. Usually the gap between the two is the finding.

02/ Fourteen days

A fixed calendar, and the clock starts when the folder is full.

Day 0Fee paid. The data request goes out the same day: a one-page list naming the exact export in the exact tool, plus a twelve-question intake sheet and a shared folder.
Day 3Data folder complete. I confirm the size of the Read is as scoped. If the folder is late, the calendar moves day for day and you hear it in writing.
Day 5Founder call, 60 minutes. Your intake answers are the agenda.
Day 8Leadership calls, 30 minutes each, two or three depending on the size of the Read.
Day 12Draft complete. Read once as you, once as someone trying to copy it.
Day 14Readout, 90 minutes, live. The document, the one-page priority list, and the tier recommendation with a number follow the same day.

03/ Fee and credit

Sized to the business, and credited back if we keep going.

FeeWho it fitsIncludes

$5,000Under $3M revenue, or under $1M ARRFour lenses (L1 to L3 and L6), the founder call, the readout

$10,000$3M to $20M revenue, or $1M to $10M ARRAll six lenses, two leadership calls, the readout

$15,000Above that, or a raise, acquisition, or exit in scopeAll six lenses, three leadership calls, a capital-options section, the readout

The credit

Fees are in US dollars. Sign any tier within 30 days of the readout and the full fee of The Read is credited against your first invoices, so a $5,000 Read against a $6,000 first month of Consulting, a $10,000 Read against a $10,000 first month of Advisory, or a $15,000 Read against a $20,000 first month of Partner makes the first month close to free. The credit lapses 30 days after the readout and cannot be combined with the annual prepay discount.

What the alternatives usually run

OptionUsual costWhat you are paying for

$200 to $500/hrBoutique strategy consultancyA two-week diagnostic at those rates runs $16,000 to $40,000, delivered by whoever was free that fortnight.

$25k to $35k/moFull-time VP of Growth, Marketing, or Ecommerce, fully loadedA $200k to $300k package before benefits, payroll tax, and equity, plus a recruiter fee and a three-to-six-month ramp. One person's experience, all of their hours, whether the week needs them or not.

$12k to $22k/moFractional CMO or CRO at the experienced end of the marketplacesUsually ten hours a week, scoped to marketing or sales. Board-level scope and revenue accountability sit at the top of that band.

$10k to $25k/moDTC growth agency retainerPlus 10 to 20 percent of media. Hands, not judgment: the agency executes the plan, it does not tell you whether the plan is right.

Ranges are 2026 US market figures from published rate guides and salary data, stated at the level a scaling brand or software company actually pays. The comparison that matters is not the monthly number; it is whether you are buying hours or the call.

04/ What you get

Conclusions and sequence, not a framework.

The findings document runs twelve to fifteen pages and opens with a single page that is the whole product: what is true, what it is costing you, what to do first. After that, your stated problem set against the evidence, the lens findings with the number and the benchmark it was measured against, a 90-day sequence with an owner and a first step for each move, and a short section on the two or three tempting things I would not do. The last page names the tier I would recommend and the monthly figure, so nothing about the next step is a negotiation.

What stays with me: the working model and the benchmark set behind the comparisons. The document is written as conclusions, which is what is useful to you and useless to anyone trying to run it on another company. Benchmarks cite the published pages on this site, so every comparison is one a reader can check.

What follows the readout

The last page of the document names a tier and a monthly figure. Sign within 30 days and the fee above is credited against it.

Tier one · from $6,000 /mo

Consulting

A 60-minute call every two weeks and email between. Under $5M revenue, or seed-stage software.

Tier two · from $10,000 /mo · most engagements

Advisory

A weekly call, Slack, and the models I build and keep honest. Brands from $5M to $100M, software past $1M ARR.

Tier three · from $20,000 /mo

Partner

Two calls a week, a seat in leadership meetings, hands on the work. Deals in scope.

Full terms, and how to tell which tier sounds like you, on the engagements page.

05/ Common questions

Questions before we talk.

QCan I buy The Read on its own?

Yes. About a third of Reads end at the readout, which is the point of doing it first. The document is yours either way, and the credit is there if you decide to keep going inside 30 days.

QWhat if I cannot get all the data?

The request names the exact export in the exact tool, and everything on it exists in a normal Shopify, Stripe, or QuickBooks setup. Where something is missing, you say so in the folder and the document notes the gap. Items 1, 3, 4, and 6 on the request have to be real exports; the rest can be screenshots.

QWho do you talk to besides me?

On a $10,000 Read, two leaders you name; on a $15,000 Read, three. Usually the person who owns operations or finance first, then growth or product. Thirty minutes each, on day 8.

QIs this an audit?

No. An audit tells you everything that is wrong. The Read tells you which of those things is binding, what it is costing, and what order to fix them in. Most of what an audit would list does not make the document, on purpose.

QWhy not skip to a retainer?

A retainer priced before I have seen the numbers is priced on a guess. Returning clients and referrals from a current client can go straight to a tier; everyone else starts here.

QWhat if The Read says we are not a fit?

Then the readout says so, along with who or what would be, whether that is an agency, a specific hire, or waiting six months. The document is still yours and the fee is still the fee. Roughly a third of Reads end there, which is the point of doing it first. The Read is also the wrong purchase if you already know the answer and need hands to execute it, or if the decision is blocked on something a diagnostic cannot move, like funding that has not closed.

Tell me where you're stuck.

Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute scoping call. No pitch, no deck, a direct conversation about where you are, where you're going, and whether there's a fit. If there is, the next step is The Read.

Start a conversation Or book 30 minutes now →