Where is the agency delivering value it isn't paid for?
- Duration
- 2 weeks
- Format
- Fixed scope, run online
- Credit
- In full against the Transformation
- Scope
- Up to 3 departments, 8 processes, 10 interviews
Week one: your numbers, not ours.
The readout is useful because the numbers are yours. So week one is spent collecting them.
Leadership time log
Eight to ten interviews
System inventory
Document pull
Two process traces
Margin pull
Week two: what you walk away with
Short, specific and numerate. Not a sixty-page report.
- 1Current-state mapOne page per traced process, showing handoffs, systems and dead time.
- 2BaselineSix to eight metrics, each with its measurement method written down, so it can be re-measured in 90 days.
- 3Opportunity registerEvery candidate change scored on hours recovered × loaded rate, against effort and risk. Ranked on that ratio.
- 4AI inventoryEvery system where AI touches a client, a candidate or an employee, and what each one is allowed to do.
- 590-day roadmapSequenced, with an owner on your side named against every item.
Usually 8–15 points below what the agency assumes.
- Unbilled scope changes11 per quarterConverts directly to recoverable revenue
- Founder hours in delivery & approval18h / weekThe dependency and succession number
- Hours per client onboarding5.5hThe most visible process, the easiest early win
- Proposal turnaround6 daysSenior bottleneck and win-rate driver
- Time-entry lag9 daysLate time entry is pure margin leakage
- Client first-response time26hThe client experience proxy
- Rework rate14%Quality proxy, and the argument against hiring
Diagnose the system, not the symptom
What you notice is rarely what's broken. Each symptom points to an operating pattern underneath.
Clients keep asking for updates
The founder reviews everything
“We need another project manager”
The team asks the same questions
AI use is scattered across the team
Margin is lower than expected
Who the Diagnostic is built for
Founder-led agencies and studios, from 10 to 50 people.
- Size
- From 10 to 50 people. Under 20, we help founders become the architects of the business as it scales.
- Revenue
- €1M and up
- Type
- Brand and design studios, web and product studios, marketing and creative agencies
- Ownership
- Founder-led
- Where
- Worldwide, run online
- Billing
- Project-based work
- Tools
- Four or more systems, at least two of which don't talk to each other
Probably not a fit
- ✕Under €1M in revenue
- ✕PE-owned agencies and corporate subsidiaries
- ✕Agencies whose strategy is rapid headcount growth
- ✕Founders who don't want the team to change how it works
- ✕Anyone looking for a chatbot
The same patterns, already fixed.
Our first engagements were with smaller, founder-led agencies and studios. The operating problems are the same at any size. As the team grows, they just cost more.
Data moves onceDesign agency, project-based, founder-led · 10–20 people · Melbourne
A signed proposal now starts the project on its own.
- saved every week
- 10h
- faster client onboarding
- 40%
- lower tool costs
- 20%
saved every week
faster client onboarding
lower tool costs
Paul McGarryRead the case →
Time and revenue in one viewBrand experience agency, founder-led · 10–20 people · Sydney
Time delivered and revenue billed, side by side for the first time.
- of manual compilation removed each week
- 2h
- view of operations and finances, instead of two systems
- 1
of manual compilation removed each week
view of operations and finances, instead of two systems
Mikeila ScheckenbarchRead the case →
Chasing without a personTalent management agency, founder-led · 10–20 people · Los Angeles
Hundreds of follow-ups a week, routed without anyone doing it by hand.
- a year of manual follow-up cost removed
- $30k
- per follow-up, down from manual
- ~1 min
- to full deployment
- 35 days
a year of manual follow-up cost removed
per follow-up, down from manual
to full deployment
GregRead the case →
The founder stops being the systemUI/UX agency on high-value retainers · Founder-run · Luxembourg
A retainer business that no longer runs through the founder's inbox.
- saved every month
- 50h+
- less manual work
- 40%
- to measurable results
- 30 days
saved every month
less manual work
to measurable results
Nicola TrabaceRead the case →
Results as reported on each engagement. Each case also shows what the same fix looks like as the agency grows.
All work →Before you book
What happens on the first call?
Thirty minutes, free. We ask how work, data and approvals move through the agency, and where you think margin is going. If a Diagnostic wouldn't find anything worth fixing, we'll say so.
How much of our time does it take?
Founders and leaders keep a five-day time log. We run eight to ten 45-minute interviews and need read access to your tools, plus twelve months of time entries and invoices. We do the rest.
Is the fee credited if we continue?
Yes. The Diagnostic fee is credited in full against the 90-Day Transformation.
Do we have to continue afterwards?
No. The roadmap names an owner on your side for every item, so your own team can act on it.
What if our systems are a mess?
That's normal, and it's what the Diagnostic is for. Nothing needs tidying before we start.
Start with a 30-minute call.
Free, and no pitch. We'll ask how work, data and approvals move through the agency, and you'll know by the end of the call whether a Diagnostic makes sense.