Results

Eight situations. One door each.

Below are the things people are actually in when they call me, written the way they say them, including the unflattering versions. Find yours. The page it opens has the price on it.

“Most people cannot name their real problem on the first try. On my last three first calls it was three for three. Pick whichever of these sounds closest. If it is the wrong one we will find the right one on the call, and guessing wrong costs you nothing.”

Five things are fixed

Fixed term. It starts, it runs, it ends on the day we said. Want more, buy more.
Fixed scope. What is in it is written down before you buy. What is out of it is written down too.
Fixed deliverables. Named things you can open, read and use on your own.
Fixed price. One number, on the page, before we speak.
A fixed end. Nothing rolls over.

The eight

Each row shows the clearest statement of the situation, then three or four of the rawest things people in it actually say. The raw ones are there on purpose, including the blame-shaped ones. That is the state people arrive in.

Situation one

There's opportunity in front of me right now

“The business I was trying to build with a bigger budget already existed inside the conversion rate I was ignoring.”

“I don't ever really get to take a step back. I'm always a little tense wondering what might fall through the cracks.”

“The store is not failing, which is what makes this weird.”

Situation two

It isn't landing, sticking, or growing

“The part I wasn't ready for is that nobody rejected it. I'd braced for “this is bad” or “this already exists.” Instead there's just silence.”

“They explore. They run things. They burn through the free usage. And then they just… disappear.”

“We demo the product. People go “oh wow, that's really cool.” Then nothing. Ghosted. Every single time.”

Situation three

I built it. I'm not the person who sells it.

“I'm not a salesperson and I honestly didn't sell anything meaningful in my life.”

“I'm not a marketer, so I can't really tell what needs to be done.”

“I made the classic technical founder mistake, I built first, marketed never.”

Situation four

Every deal is bespoke

“To date I have never said no to a feature request, because more development has always been in my best interest.”

“Those yeses pile up, and eventually your product looks like Frankenstein and your roadmap is a wishlist for eight different customers.”

“Basically the first ten people build the actual product, and the next hundred and ninety build one-off customizations.”

Situation five

The meeting happens; the deal doesn't

“When I demo the product it feels more like a science fair presentation than me gaining a customer.”

“Prospects keep ghosting me after I send pricing. Never hear back.”

““We'll circle back next quarter” usually means “we're never buying, but we're too nice to say it.””

Situation six

A big change is here and I don't know how to walk it

“I hired friends and family and didn't realize they could never be friends or family again.”

“We've grown to a point where the titles and scenarios I gave or promised don't align with the needs of the org, or my own, but I want to be noble.”

“We are considering calling this a layoff rather than a firing. I hate to end the relationship on a lie, but it does seem as though it might be more kind.”

Situation seven

Alone with it

“Incredibly lonely, because no one gets it. Absolutely no one.”

“Most of my conversations about my business are with ChatGPT, to be honest.”

“Your partner learns what is happening in your business by overhearing you tell somebody else at a party.”

Situation eight

Something's off and I can't tell whose fault it is

“It was not a budget issue. We had the resources. It just never worked. I'm still not sure if it was the ideas, the strategy, or the people.”

“I got fifteen-page PDFs with graphs, which I didn't dig into because the reports looked professional. Six months in, I logged in.”

“They seem like very nice people, so I don't want to jump the gun. Maybe this really is something that takes this long?”

If none of these is quite it, take the call.

Two of these eight are close cousins and people land between them regularly. Some people are in three at once. If you pick the wrong one, we sort it out on the call.