For
Founder-led agencies, consultants, expert service providers, studios, recruiters, fractional firms, and professional service businesses with real revenue and expensive complexity.
Diagnostic Pricing
Inspect the next expensive move before you commit to it.
A diagnostic for founder-led service businesses that need a decision artifact before adding another hire, tool, SOP project, automation, consultant, or implementation push.
Fixed-fee diagnostic projects. Advisory and implementation are available only after diagnosis.
Not for
Generic advice, free consulting, vague brainstorming, low-stakes problems, regulated advice, or buyers who only want implementation without diagnosis.
Diagnostic first
Most founders do not need another tool, hire, SOP project, automation, or consultant yet.
They need to know which constraint is actually creating the drag.
BaronOps scans across offer, pricing, delivery, systems, profitability, founder leverage, and next-move assumptions, then turns the signal into a Bottleneck Map, priority sequence, and next 3 moves.
The goal is not to promise a specific financial outcome. The goal is to help you make a clearer decision about what to inspect, fix, delay, ignore, delegate, document, price differently, or implement later.
Before commitment
Before the next larger commitment
The audit is not competing with implementation. It sits before the next larger commitment: another hire, CRM rebuild, SOP project, automation, pricing change, delivery change, or decision to keep compensating manually.
When the next move requires budget, team attention, or implementation time, the decision deserves a map first.
Diagnostic Options
Choose the level of diagnostic depth.
Start with a short Pre-Fit. If there is a fit, BaronOps routes the project to the smallest diagnostic that matches the decision, the available context, and the complexity of the business.
Fixed-fee diagnostic projects. Advisory and implementation are available only after diagnosis.
Focused read
Bottleneck Snapshot
$1,500
A fast outside read for founder-led service businesses that need candidate bottlenecks before committing to a deeper diagnostic.
Includes
- Bottleneck Pre-Fit review
- Review of a limited set of submitted materials
- Candidate bottlenecks marked by the evidence
- Next-step recommendation logic
- Short written summary or call review
Does not include
- Full Bottleneck Map
- Detailed scorecard
- Priority sequence
- Next 3 moves
- Implementation architecture
Built for
The issue is real, but the decision is lower-stakes or still early.
Start with Pre-FitCore diagnostic
Bottleneck Audit
$3,500
The $3,500 audit is a fixed-fee decision check before larger commitments. The deliverable is not vague advice. It is a bounded map of pressure points, evidence gaps, priority order, and recommended next move.
Includes
- Bottleneck Pre-Fit
- Diagnostic intake
- Review of offer, pricing, delivery, systems, numbers, founder leverage, and current next-move assumptions
- Broad scan first, focused map second
- Diagnostic review call
- Diagnostic scorecard
- Written Bottleneck Map / memo
- Priority sequence
- Next 3 moves
- Recommendation-level implementation guidance
Does not include
- Done-for-you implementation
- CRM rebuilds
- SOP creation
- Tool setup
- Ongoing Slack / async support
- Unlimited follow-up
- Team-wide facilitation
Built for
The founder has a meaningful decision in play and needs a map before committing money, time, or team attention.
Start with Pre-FitFor high-stakes decisions
Diagnostic Sprint
$10,000+ fixed scope
A deeper diagnostic and architecture sprint for founder-led service businesses with multiple candidate bottlenecks, stronger urgency, better data, and a higher-stakes decision.
Includes
- Everything in the Bottleneck Audit
- Deeper context review
- Expanded review of relevant materials, workflows, metrics, and operating constraints
- Additional diagnostic depth across the highest-signal bottleneck area
- More detailed implementation architecture at the recommendation / spec level
- Decision brief for partners, leadership, or key team members
- Optional implementation quote after diagnosis, if a bounded fix is identified
Does not include
- Done-for-you implementation by default
- Open-ended advisory
- Fractional COO role
- Unlimited access
- Long-term operating cadence ownership
- Large managed build without separate scope
Built for
When the next move requires budget, team attention, or implementation time, the decision deserves a map first.
Start with Pre-FitCompare
Compare diagnostic depth
| Feature | Snapshot | Bottleneck Audit | Diagnostic Sprint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Fit review | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Material review | Limited | Standard | Expanded |
| Diagnostic intake | Light | Yes | Yes |
| Offer / pricing / delivery / systems scan | Limited | Yes | Deeper |
| Scorecard | Light | Yes | Yes |
| Written Bottleneck Map | No | Yes | Yes |
| Priority sequence | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| Next 3 moves | No | Yes | Yes |
| Implementation recommendation | No | Recommendation-level | Spec-level |
| Deeper architecture | No | No | Yes |
| Follow-on implementation quote | If obvious | If bounded fix appears | If bounded fix appears |
| Implementation included | No | No | No |
Terms
Payment terms
Payment terms are kept simple so the diagnostic has a clear start, scope, and endpoint.
| Snapshot | 100% upfront |
|---|---|
| Bottleneck Audit | 100% upfront |
| Diagnostic Sprint | 50% to book, 50% before final delivery; 100% upfront available for fastest scheduling |
| Advisory Retainer | Monthly upfront when separately approved after diagnosis |
| Implementation | Custom milestone schedule when separately scoped |
After diagnosis
After the diagnostic
The diagnostic is the first paid container. Advisory or implementation may follow only when the map identifies a concrete need and the scope stays bounded.
Advisory Retainer
For selected diagnostic clients who need ongoing decision support after the Bottleneck Map is complete. Defined access only. No unlimited Slack, emergency support, or fractional COO role.
Premium Implementation / Managed Build
For diagnostic clients with a concrete bounded fix worth implementing. Separately scoped and quoted. Not included in the diagnostic fee.
FAQ
Pricing FAQ
Is the Pre-Fit the audit?
No. The Pre-Fit is a short manual review to understand fit, scope, and diagnostic depth. It is not a diagnosis.
Can I choose the tier myself?
You can indicate what you think you need, but every project starts with Pre-Fit review. The goal is to route you to the smallest useful diagnostic, not the largest possible scope.
Why pay for diagnosis instead of implementation?
Because implementation is only useful when the right constraint has been identified. A new hire, CRM rebuild, SOP project, automation, or consultant can add cost without removing the drag if the bottleneck is somewhere else.
Is this just a strategy call?
No. The diagnostic includes intake, material review, a structured review call, a scorecard, a written Bottleneck Map or memo, a priority sequence, and recommended next moves. The output is a decision artifact, not a loose advisory conversation.
Why not just use ChatGPT?
AI can help organize information, but it does not own the judgment, context, tradeoffs, scope boundaries, or decision rights. BaronOps uses diagnostic review, evidence, and operator judgment to map what deserves attention first. AI is support, not the category.
Do you guarantee that you will find the bottleneck?
No diagnostic should claim certainty from incomplete information. The work uses evidence and confidence language to identify pressure points surfaced by the evidence, open questions, and the next thing to inspect.
What happens after the diagnostic?
You receive the agreed diagnostic output. If a concrete bounded fix appears, implementation may be quoted separately. If the next move is not implementation, the recommendation may be to delay, ignore, delegate, document, reprice, inspect further, or tighten ownership first.
Can BaronOps implement the fix?
Sometimes. Implementation is not included by default. It is only quoted separately when the diagnostic identifies a concrete, bounded fix worth implementing.
What should I not send during Pre-Fit?
Do not send passwords, private logins, private customer data, full financials, legal materials, HR issues, medical or compliance materials, contracts, or broad system access. Sanitized examples are enough at the Pre-Fit stage.
What if I am not a fit?
You will not be pushed into a diagnostic. If there is no clear fit, the next step may be a polite no, a lower-scope Snapshot, a later follow-up, or a recommendation to solve the issue another way.
Is this only for agencies?
No. Agencies and expert service providers are strong first-fit segments, but the real filter is not industry. The real filter is active business motion, revenue, decision authority, urgency, useful context, and expensive complexity.
Do you offer retainers?
Only after a diagnostic, and only for high-agency clients with defined support needs. Retainers are not unlimited access, team management, emergency support, or a fractional COO role.