History & leadership
Why the company began. What has changed. What leadership believes the business is becoming. Where those accounts align or differ.
Strategy / The Autopsy
Why the Autopsy.
The business has a history.
Examine what carries forward.
A relaunch. A change in ownership. A business that has outgrown the way it presents itself. The Autopsy establishes what exists, what holds value, and what needs attention.
Begin the examinationStarting at $7,500.
What stays. What changes. What needs another look.
Every finding has a reason.
01 / The moment
Before the next
investment.
Over time, a business accumulates offers, messages, processes, tools, and decisions. Some carry trust. Some reflect an earlier version of the company. Some have never been examined together.
A new chapter brings those decisions into view. The Autopsy gives leadership a documented account of what it has built and what deserves attention before more work begins.
- The company is preparing for a relaunch or repositioning.
- The business has evolved. Its story and customer experience have not kept pace.
- Leadership sees the same friction and offers different explanations.
- There is valuable history, proof, or knowledge that the market rarely sees.
- A website, campaign, or larger investment is being considered.
02 / The examination
Read what is there.
The examination follows the agreed business question. We establish its boundaries before beginning. Relevant areas may include:
Position & perception
How the business describes its value. What customers appear to understand. How its claims stand beside the alternatives.
Offers & audiences
What is sold, to whom, and how it is explained. Overlap, gaps, confusing distinctions, and assumptions that warrant validation.
Language & identity
The words, visual assets, and repeated signals that represent the company. What carries recognition and what no longer fits.
Proof & credibility
Case material, results, testimonials, experience, and supporting evidence. What is visible, what is buried, and what requires substantiation.
Customer experience
Relevant marketing, website, sales, and service touchpoints. Where the promise is clear, where confidence breaks, and where handoffs create friction.
The proposal names the business questions, materials, and areas included in the examination.
03 / What you receive
A record you
can examine.
The diagnosis
A clear account of the condition we find and the factors contributing to it. We distinguish the visible symptoms from the explanations the evidence supports.
Documented findings
Each material finding connects the observation to its source and explains its significance.
- What we observed.
- The evidence supporting it.
- Why it matters to the business.
- What remains uncertain or needs validation.
The findings map
A considered account of what should be preserved, evolved, retired, rethought, introduced, or validated. The reasoning sits beside the finding so the conclusion can be understood and discussed.
The punch list
The specific items the examination reveals need attention. Each item identifies the issue or gap and the reason it belongs on the list.
A punch list identifies the work. En Route establishes the next 90 days. The FWD develops the full year. Planning and implementation are separately scoped.
The findings session
We meet with leadership to walk through the diagnosis, evidence, and punch list. There is room to question the findings, supply factual corrections, and make sure the record is understood.
The final record
The agreed report and supporting materials, incorporating factual clarifications. A record leadership can return to and share with the people responsible for subsequent decisions.
04 / The findings map
Keep the value.
Name the rest.
Preserve
Equity that still serves the business: trust, recognition, relationships, useful assets.
Evolve
Something valuable that needs a different expression, structure, or experience.
Retire
Something that has served its purpose or now creates confusion and friction.
Rethink
An inherited assumption or decision that deserves fresh examination.
Introduce
A missing element the evidence shows needs attention.
Validate
A question the available evidence cannot responsibly settle.
05 / An example
The request is
only the beginning.
A company arrives preparing to replace its website. The examination finds a recognizable identity, overlapping service descriptions, and customer proof that rarely appears in the sales process.
Illustrative finding / Not a client result
The offer is explained differently at each touchpoint.
Evidence: The website, sales deck, and proposal use different names and boundaries for the same service.
Implication: A prospective customer has to reconcile those descriptions before understanding the offer.
Punch-list item: Resolve the service naming and boundaries across the customer-facing materials.
The finding names the issue. Subsequent planning determines how the work is organized and carried out.
From the Founder’s Desk
Related thinking.
06 / How it works
Gather.
Examine.
Discuss.
- 01
Establish the examination.
We confirm the business moment, the central questions, the areas included, and who needs to participate. Scope, investment, and terms are agreed before work begins.
- 02
Bring what exists.
Share the relevant materials: current brand and sales assets, offers, website, prior work, and available customer proof. A primary coordinator helps gather what is already there.
- 03
Hear the perspectives.
Focused conversations surface company history, leadership intent, competing explanations, and the decisions already in motion. Participants and session allowances follow the agreed scope.
- 04
Examine the evidence.
We compare the materials and perspectives, look for connected patterns, and test interpretations. Missing information is recorded. Assumptions are identified as assumptions.
- 05
Walk through the findings.
Leadership reviews the diagnosis, findings map, and punch list with RUINE. We explain the reasoning, discuss implications, and address factual questions.
- 06
Receive the final record.
The agreed materials are handed over after factual clarification. Any planning, production, or ongoing work is considered separately.
07 / Your part
Bring the business
as it exists.
We need a primary coordinator, access to the agreed materials, and participation from the people closest to the questions being examined.
Send the existing decks, documents, offers, and records. We organize the examination and identify the gaps. The engagement does not require your team to produce a new history of the company before we begin.
The working calendar and required participation are confirmed against the scope and availability. Existing production deadlines and decisions already in progress belong in the opening conversation.
08 / Investment
The Autopsy.
Engagement investment
Starting at
$7,500
Diagnosis, documented findings, punch list, findings session, and the agreed final record.
The proposal confirms the examination boundaries, participation, payment terms, and working dates before the engagement begins.
09 / Before beginning
The details.
The business is successful.
The Autopsy also serves established companies approaching a relaunch, expansion, leadership transition, or repositioning. Success creates assets and assumptions worth examining.
The examination has boundaries.
The proposal defines the entities, audiences, offers, materials, conversations, and business questions included. Additional work is discussed before the scope changes.
How long does it take?
The working calendar is confirmed once scope, access, participants, and existing commitments are understood. The Autopsy does not supply an implementation timeline.
What does the punch list include?
It records what requires attention and why. Detailed sequencing for the next 90 days belongs in En Route. Annual strategy belongs in The FWD.
Further work is a separate decision.
The findings stand on their own. Leadership can consider implementation with its existing team, RUINE, or another provider. Any subsequent engagement has its own scope and terms.
Existing materials remain part of the record.
We examine what is relevant and ask for additional evidence where it materially affects the findings. Unsupported claims and unanswered questions remain visible in the final record.
10 / Begin
The next conversation
BEGIN THE
EXAMINATION.
Tell us the moment the business is facing. We will review the inquiry and confirm the appropriate examination.