Express business diagnostics in five days
We go through the management accounts and interview the owner and the managers — and on Friday we hand over the result: 3–5 initiatives with their effect estimated in money, plus a plan for the first 12 weeks. Both partners work on it in person all week, with no hired analysts.
A fixed price — we name it after a short meeting. We start on the coming Monday.
“In five days you cannot study a company down to the last screw. Nor do you need to. You need to find three to five places where a decision by the owner will produce the greatest effect. A week is enough for that — as long as you are not writing an encyclopaedia.”— the partners of Thesis Partners
When you need it
Six situations that most often bring clients to diagnostics.
Growth has stalled
Revenue is flat or growing more slowly than the market, and inside the company there is no clear answer to “why”. There are theories, and they contradict one another.
You have bought or are buying an asset
You need a quick picture: what works inside, where value is created and where it leaks away. In essence this is a pre-investment check (due diligence) commissioned by the owner themselves.
Decisions are stuck
The team has been discussing the same problems for six months. What is missing is an outside perspective to break the cycle and set a priority.
A big project lies ahead
A strategy, a reorganisation, a new product line. Before spending months and budget, you need a sober answer on what to tackle first.
A conflict of priorities
The partners or the top team pull in different directions, and meetings go round in circles without deciding anything. The argument is settled by an arbiter with the numbers in hand.
No outside view in a long time
The business works, but it runs on autopilot. You want to check where the company is under-earning and what it is missing.
What you get on Friday
Four artefacts. All of them stay with you whether or not we continue working together.
A diagnosis on paper
A short report: where the business creates value, where it destroys it, what we checked and what we found. Without two hundred pages of filler.
3–5 initiatives
Each one comes with its effect estimated in money, someone accountable on your side and a first step. They are ranked on an “effect × feasibility” matrix.
A 12-week plan
For each initiative it sets out week by week who does what and by which date. Once a week we check progress against this plan.
A debrief with the owner
In ninety minutes we go through the conclusions, argue, answer questions and fix the first step for each initiative.
How we work
Before the start
We sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), name the fixed price and send a list of data: the profit and loss statement (P&L) broken down by product and by client, the cost structure, the sales funnel, the org chart. We agree in advance which findings we will treat as critical.
Day 1 — data and the owner
We unpack the data and hold a long interview with the owner: how the business is put together, what hurts, what has already been tried.
Day 2 — the team
Interviews with five to seven managers — commercial, operations, finance. We check what people say against the company's numbers.
Day 3 — analysis
We calculate profitability by product and by client and look at costs, discounts and the funnel. We look for where money leaks away and where it is left on the table.
Day 4 — synthesis
We put together a long list of initiatives, assess the effect and feasibility of each and select the 3–5 most important. We write the 12-week plan.
Day 5 — the debrief
We present the conclusions to the owner and the team and answer objections. If the argument changes something, we correct the plan on the spot. We hand the materials over to you.
Being honest about the format
Express diagnostics is a lead-in format. We designed it as the first phase of a large project: the diagnostics establishes the starting point, and the design of solutions and implementation follow. If after the debrief you decide to continue with us, the 12-week plan becomes the backbone of the next stage, and we agree its scope and budget separately.
At the same time the diagnostics has a value of its own. The report, the initiatives and the plan stay with you, and they can be implemented without us — on your own or with another team. There is no obligation to continue. If we see that you do not need a large project, we will say so directly at the debrief.
What diagnostics is not
Three things we have deliberately left outside the format.
Not an audit
We do not check everything indiscriminately and we do not draw up a formal statement. We look for the few places where a decision by the owner will produce the greatest effect — against the thresholds agreed before the start.
Not a report for the shelf
A catalogue of problems is useless in itself, so anything that does not lead to a decision does not make it into the report. What remains is an action plan with dates and the people accountable.
Not a pitch for a contract
Both partners run the diagnostics in person and stand behind the conclusions with their own names. Continuing is possible only if you see the point of it yourself.
Frequently asked questions
Our clients and partners
Market leaders, state corporations and top business schools
Press about us
Our partners’ expertise in business and industry media.
Automating industrial plants: overcoming resistance
Thesis Partners partner Boris Kaptelov on why resistance to automation is an argument about the distribution of benefits and risks, who should own the outcome of a project and how not to get stuck in “pilot purgatory”.
Tell us about your company — at a short meeting we will say what the diagnostics will give you and name the price
Leave a request — we will reply within one business day.
Contacts
We work directly with owners, chief executives (CEOs) and senior leadership.