THE GATE / EVERY ENGAGEMENT STARTS HERE
The Scoping Sprint
EUR 1,500 fixed. Two weeks end to end. A written brief with a fixed quote, yours whatever you decide. Credited in full against any engagement signed within 90 days.
Every engagement I take starts with a Scoping Sprint. Fixed fee, fixed deliverable, two weeks end to end. You get a working session with me, a proper look at your funnel, your stack and your team, and then a written brief: the problem as I actually see it, the engagement I would recommend, a 90-day timeline, and a fixed quote. The brief is yours whatever you decide. If the honest answer is that you should not hire me, the brief says so and tells you what to do instead. If we do work together, the full fee comes off the engagement. You are not paying for a sales call. You are paying to see exactly how I think before you commit to anything bigger.
The deliverable
The Sprint Brief
A written document you keep regardless of what happens next. Five parts, none of them filler:
- The problem as evidenced, not as described. What your funnel, stack and team actually show, which is often not what the enquiry said. Saying so is the value.
- The recommended engagement shape. Which tier, what scope, or the honest “do not hire me”, with what to do instead.
- A 90-day outline timeline for the recommended path.
- A fixed quote. Not a band, not “from”. The open-ended consulting fear dies here.
- What I would deliberately not do, and why. Strategy is a choice about what not to do, and the brief proves it.
How it runs
- A short written intake first, so the session starts at the real problem
- One 90-minute working session with you, and your marketing lead if you have one
- My independent review of what is visible and what you grant read-only access to: the funnel, the site, the CRM and portal state, the team shape against the plan you are being asked to deliver
- The Sprint Brief, delivered within five working days of the session
The money
EUR 1,500. Fixed. Credited.
Paid up front, ex VAT. Never free and never discounted; the fee is the qualification, and it pays for the working time the brief takes.
The credit: sign any engagement, any tier, within 90 days of the brief and the full EUR 1,500 comes off your first invoice. A serious buyer pays nothing extra for the gate. The only person who pays net is the one whose brief said “do not hire me”, and that person got the cheapest good advice they will receive all year.
Standard terms, Dutch law, ex VAT. The quote in your brief is valid 30 days.
Your side
What I need from you
- The intake form, completed honestly. Ten minutes. It is short on purpose.
- 90 minutes with the founder. Not delegated; the session works because the person who owns the problem is in the room. Bring your marketing lead if you have one.
- Read-only access where you are comfortable granting it: analytics, the CRM, the portal. The more I can see, the less the brief has to guess. I review what is visible either way.
- The plan you are being asked to deliver, if one exists. A board deck, an investor memo, a target sheet. The brief measures your team and stack against it.
The honest bit
What the brief will tell you if it is true
If you need a full-time CMO and can afford one, I will tell you so in writing. If your problem is a EUR 6,000 fix and not a EUR 30,000 engagement, the quote will say EUR 6,000. If you should not hire me at all, the brief names what to do instead, and the Sprint is the whole of our commercial relationship. That is the deal. The brief is only worth the fee if it is allowed to disappoint me.
Start the Sprint
Email me, pay the EUR 1,500, get the intake. Two weeks later you are holding a brief with a fixed quote in it, whoever you decide to hire.
Questions first? Email me: [email protected]
Not sure you need a Sprint at all? The readiness check is free and takes five minutes.