Bottleneck diagnostic

Bottleneck Diagnostic

Runs on: reasoning - reads your files and reasons; any capable agent can run this.

This diagnostic finds where the business depends too much on the founder. It can run as a self-assessment or as an external assessment from public signals.

Modes

Mode 1 - Self-Assessment

Use when the founder answers directly.

Mode 2 - External Assessment

Use when the founder is assessing a prospect, partner, or company from public evidence.

Dimensions

Each dimension scores 0 to 20. Higher means more dependency.

1. Decision Dependency

Question: Can decisions happen without the founder in the room?

Self-assessment prompts:

• How many decisions per week require your approval?
• If you were unreachable for 48 hours, what would stop?
• Does the team decide and inform you, or ask first?
• When did someone make a call you disagreed with and you let it stand?

Public signals:

• Founder appears to approve every visible action.
• No leadership team is visible.
• Hiring posts route operational roles to the founder.

2. Client Dependency

Question: Do clients buy the company or the founder?

Self-assessment prompts:

• What percentage of clients would leave if you stopped servicing them?
• Can someone else close a new deal without you?
• Do clients call your personal phone for business issues?

Public signals:

• Testimonials name the founder, not the company.
• Founder is the face of every case study and pitch.
• No account ownership is visible.

3. Process Dependency

Question: Are operations in a system or in the founder's head?

Self-assessment prompts:

• If you hired your replacement tomorrow, how long would handover take?
• How many core processes are documented?
• When something breaks, does the team follow a process or call you?

Public signals:

• Repeated hiring for the same role.
• Vague job posts.
• Founder content mentions being buried in operations.

4. Revenue Dependency

Question: Can revenue continue without daily founder input?

Self-assessment prompts:

• What happens to revenue if you take 30 days off?
• Who creates new leads?
• Can the team deliver from start to finish without you?

Public signals:

• No visible sales or marketing system.
• Founder is the only content channel.
• Revenue appears tied to founder activity.

5. Growth Capacity

Question: Can the company grow beyond founder hours?

Self-assessment prompts:

• Have you turned down work because you were full?
• Is revenue capped by your personal time?
• What is the biggest growth constraint right now?

Public signals:

• Founder runs several active fronts personally.
• Team hiring looks reactive.
• Public story centers on being too busy.

Score Bands

Total	Grade	Meaning
0-25	A	Low founder dependency
26-45	B	Some dependency, manageable
46-65	C	Significant dependency
66-85	D	High dependency
86-100	F	Critical dependency

Output Format

FOUNDER DEPENDENCY SCORE: <X>/100 - Grade <A-F>

WHERE DEPENDENCY LIVES
1. Decision dependency: <X>/20 - <one-line evidence>
2. Client dependency: <X>/20 - <one-line evidence>
3. Process dependency: <X>/20 - <one-line evidence>
4. Revenue dependency: <X>/20 - <one-line evidence>
5. Growth capacity: <X>/20 - <one-line evidence>

BIGGEST BOTTLENECK
<highest-scoring dimension and what it means>

ONE MOVE THAT WOULD CHANGE THE MOST
<one specific action>

CONFIDENCE
High / medium / low based on evidence quality.

Routing

Highest Dimension	Next Skill
Decision dependency	decision-framework or approval-gates
Client dependency	client-update or proposal-writer
Process dependency	sop-writer
Revenue dependency	priority-triage and linkedin-post
Growth capacity	strategic-analysis

Rules

• Explain scores with evidence, not judgment.
• If evidence is thin, lower confidence instead of inventing certainty.
• High score means high dependency.
• No em dashes, no en dashes, no banned words.