The Margin Probe is a paid one‑off diagnostic. You give us your highest‑margin function and a 60‑minute intake call. We give you back a 1‑page CFO‑grade brief naming the realistic 3‑person‑and‑agents replacement model, the cost and headcount gap, and the containment moves you can run inside your current operating model right now.
One read. One page. One delivery call.
Duration
7 days · intake to delivery
Deliverable
1 page · CFO‑grade PDF
Price
$12,500 · paid in full
Buyer
CEO · CFO · operator‑led
01What you get
One 1‑page brief. Six sections.
CFO‑readable on a phone screen. Diagnosis‑heavy by design, roughly 70% read and 30% containment. The Accelerator handles structural prescription.
Section 1
Highest‑margin function identified
One sentence naming the function. Sourced from your submitted financials and the intake call. Example shape: your highest‑margin function is mid‑market renewals, generating roughly 38% of gross profit on roughly 11% of headcount.
Section 2
The 3‑person + agents replacement model
A specific roster, not a generic one. Named roles, named agent set, modeled annual cost structure. Operator, Analyst, Agent Wrangler. Five named agents against your work, not a pitch deck.
Section 3
The lift gap, three numbers
Cost delta, time delta, headcount delta. At least two of three drawn from your data. The third may be benchmarked, clearly labeled as such. A confidence rating sits next to each number.
Section 4
What changes if you do nothing for 12 months
A short paragraph naming the realistic competitive pressure you face, sourced from your stated market and the intake conversation. Operational reasoning. Not fear‑framing.
Section 5
Containment moves available right now
Three to five concrete moves you can run inside your current operating model to close part of the gap without an Accelerator engagement. Each ranked by effort vs. reclaim. Deliberately small.
Section 6
Where MRP stops, where the Accelerator starts
Two sentences. An honest boundary. MRP names the gap and the immediate containment moves. The Agentic Accelerator installs the agent layer and the operating discipline that closes the gap structurally.
02The seven‑day flow
Seven days, intake to delivery.
Realistic when intake data arrives clean on Day 0. If financials are messy or the function head is hard to reach, the timeline slips to 10‑12 days. That is acknowledged in the engagement letter.
Day 0 · Pre‑engagement
Engagement letter and intake materials
You sign a one‑page engagement letter and pay in full. You supply the most recent P&L with function‑level detail or an org chart with department GP attribution, a 30‑minute intake call slot, and contact info for the function head whose margin is being probed.
Day 1 · 60 min
Intake call. AJ leads. + AskMike.
AJ runs the call. AskMike joins silently for note‑capture. (AskMike is our orchestrator agent in our agent‑leading‑agents organization.) Twenty minutes confirming which function carries the highest margin. Twenty minutes walking through the current operating model. Twenty minutes naming the perceived competitive threat. Output: intake brief filed and reviewed within 24 hours.
Days 2‑3
Margin function modeling
Mike runs the margin analysis. Sub‑agents pull comparable cost structures, recent agent‑team case data, and AJ's prior TSMC, Lockheed Martin, and GE compression numbers as reference benchmarks. Output: a working margin model plus a draft replacement roster. AJ approves model assumptions Day 3 evening before drafting begins.
Day 4
1‑pager v1 draft
Mike drafts the 1‑pager against the six‑section spec. Pulls intake‑call quotes for the do‑nothing section. Numbers locked to the margin model. Containment moves drafted from the intake brief.
Day 5
AJ rewrite. The trust‑calibration gate.
AJ rewrites the 1‑pager in his own voice. Strips anything that overstates capability. Confirms numbers. Adds the one or two operator‑grade observations only a 30‑year HR leader catches.
Day 6
PDF render + internal QA
Render through the branded PDF pipeline. Final pass against the anti‑slop checklist. Every number on the page traces back to a source in the intake brief or the margin model.
Day 7 · 45 min
Delivery call. AJ walks you through it live.
AJ walks you through the 1‑pager. Q&A. End of call: AJ names the next step honestly, which is either an Accelerator scoping conversation or a thank‑you‑and‑go. The honest read earns the next conversation if there is one.
03Price
One number. Paid in full.
The fee buys the analysis and the honest read. No discounts on the $12,500 figure itself. The Accelerator credit is the only price flexibility.
$12,500
Stand‑alone · one‑off · paid in full at engagement
Friction profile
A check the CFO can write, not a vendor you have to open.
$12,500 sits above the price point a CFO would expense without committee approval, typically $5,000 to $10,000 signing authority, and below the threshold that triggers procurement review at most mid‑market firms, typically $25,000. One purchase order, one signature, one read.
Accelerator credit
60‑day window. The fee credits in full against the Accelerator.
If you decide to install the structural fix within 60 days of MRP delivery, the $12,500 fee credits in full against the Agentic Accelerator's $100,000 upfront engagement fee. The intake brief and margin model from MRP feed directly into Accelerator Phase I. Charging twice for the same upstream work is a trust violation.
04What you don't get
What MRP will not promise.
The line that does not move. If the read started predicting outcomes it cannot defend, the trust calibration is broken and the product is worthless.
A prediction of whether you will actually be disrupted. MRP models the cost gap. It does not call the future.
The specific competitor who will do it. The do‑nothing section names a realistic profile, not a name.
Continuous monitoring. One read, one page, one delivery call. MRP is not a shadow simulation of your business.
Accelerator‑grade roadmaps, agent charter documents, governance frameworks, or 90 / 180 / 365‑day plans. Those are Accelerator artifacts.
A discount on the Accelerator. The credit is full. The Accelerator price is unchanged.
05FAQ
Five questions worth answering.
Q.01Is this just Salim's Self‑Disruption Probe?
Salim Ismail surfaces this question for the continuous‑monitoring case. Ours is the one‑time read. Same question, different instrument. MRP gives you a 1‑page brief and a delivery call. It does not install a shadow simulation of your operating model. If you want continuous, that is a different conversation.
Q.02Can I see a sample?
Yes. A redacted sample is available once you book the intake call. The sample shows the page structure, the asymmetry between diagnosis and prescription, and the confidence ratings attached to each delta number, with company identifiers stripped.
Q.03What if my highest‑margin function is structurally sound?
We tell you. The 1‑pager says so. The fee is the cost of an honest read. If a 3‑person team cannot plausibly rebuild your function in 90 days, the page names the structural reasons, names the moats you actually hold, and the delivery call closes with that finding. The product does not promise a dramatic gap. It promises the truth in writing.
Q.04Can my Certified Architect deliver this?
Once we have 2‑3 client deliveries proving the model, Certified Architects can sell MRP under our engagement letter. Until then, AJ runs the intake and the delivery call himself. The trust calibration on a paid one‑off product has to be set by the founder before it can be transferred.
Q.05How fast can we start?
Engagement letter signed by 5pm, intake call the next business day. Day 7 lands one business week later, assuming the function head is reachable and the financials arrive clean. Capacity is capped at 3 simultaneous MRPs. If we are at cap, the booking page shows the next available intake slot and a waitlist.
Sixty minutes with AJ.
One intake call. Seven days. One page. The 1‑pager arrives whether the read flatters you or not.