bottleneck-diagnostic

name	bottleneck-diagnostic
description	Find the real bottleneck in the business. Say "what's blocking me", "why does everything route through me", "can the business run without me", or "where am I the bottleneck". Scores founder dependency across five practical dimensions and names the highest-impact thing to shed.
why	Names the one dimension where your presence is most costly so you can stop guessing and start shedding the right role first.
enhance	Answer all five dimension questions honestly in self-assessment mode - the score is only as accurate as the examples you give for each dimension.
allowed-tools	["Read","Write"]
mcp_requirements	[]

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.