Maximum proposed year-one expenditure.
01 / THE DECISION
Recommendation for discussionBuild the AI business.
Build the AI business.
Fund the proof.
Launch a bounded consulting practice that earns its way toward repeatable solutions and recurring revenue.
Approve a 12-month funding plan with quarterly checkpoints, after validating costs and pricing. Expand capacity when paid demand, delivery evidence and available funding justify it.
12months
Fund the year. Review quarterly.
Approve a 12-month plan with checkpoints at months 3, 6, 9 and 12. Begin with reduced contractor time through the holiday period, then increase capacity against paid demand.
PROPOSED YEAR-ONE LIMITS
A$950k operating spend
A$550k cash funding
Separate limits, not amounts to add together. Subject to Finance validation and Michael’s approval. Basis and contingency below.
The year-one funding request
Fund November 2026 to October 2027. Review progress at months 3, 6, 9 and 12.
Funds the shortfall as revenue builds.
Two limits within one plan. Cash funding covers the shortfall within the spending plan. Do not add the two amounts together.
Forecast revenueA$558k
Forecast operating lossA$298k
Quarterly checkpoints3 · 6 · 9 · 12 months
Quarterly reviews adjust working time, hiring and delivery commitments within the agreed limits. They do not require a fresh business approval every three months.
How the limits are calculated
The published base case forecasts A$856k of expenditure. Adding 10% headroom (A$86k), then rounding up, gives the proposed A$950k operating limit. Year-one peak cash need is A$343k in the base case and A$449k in the downside. Adding the same headroom to the downside cash need, then rounding up, gives A$550k.
Contingency is reserved headroom, not an assumed expense. Finance must validate tax/GST timing, fully loaded PH costs, notice periods and exit obligations. Revenue is a forecast, not signed backlog.
Consulting and scoped support are included. Repeatable product investment, managed outcomes, amounts above either limit and commitments beyond the funded year require separate approval.
These figures refer to the published default plan. Changing model assumptions does not change the approval request automatically or authorise spending.
Christmas and January: reduced contractor time
Use the quieter period for operating setup, service scopes, pricing, vendor readiness and early client conversations. Increase delivery capacity when signed work justifies it.
| Period | Asim · A$1,850/day | Joseph · A$18k normal month |
|---|---|---|
| November | 12 days · A$22,200 | 50% · A$9,000 |
| December and January, each month | 8 days · A$14,800 | 50% · A$9,000 |
| February | 12 days · A$22,200 | 75% · A$13,500 |
| March onwards, monthly | 15 days · A$27,750 | 100% · A$18,000 |
Proposed allocations, subject to contractor agreement. The default starts Texagon in February at A$10k per month for four people. Earlier mobilisation can be modelled when work is signed. Lower working time also reduces capacity, and the current default has no project completions before February.
Adjust the monthly schedule in the economics model →THE CENTRAL CHOICE
A consulting business that must become viable, with a capped investment in learning.
Do not let an unpriced ambition for managed services conceal a weak consulting business. If leadership deliberately accepts early losses, name the amount, what those losses buy, and when that permission ends.
Commercial proof
Can we win paid work, deliver it within the quoted effort, and cover the practice cost at achievable utilisation?
Operating proof
Can the named team deliver and support the promised work, with clear acceptance criteria and accountability?
Repeatability proof
Does a second client buy a similar solution, and does measured delivery effort fall without weakening quality?
Readiness verdict: ready to consolidate and qualify; unconditional launch approval is not evidenced.
The service stages and planning materials exist. Finance, capacity, named delivery commitment, contracting and support approvals still need explicit closure. The October tracker is a historical snapshot, not evidence of today’s completion status.
What Michael should decide
Agree each decision, then confirm its release condition before making the relevant commitment.
Meeting checklist only. Ticks are saved in this browser, not a shared or formal approval record. Record the final decision, approver and date in the approval register.
Investment
Approve year-one limits of A$950k operating spend and A$550k cash funding, with quarterly checkpoints.
Darren validates costs, payment timing and termination obligations.
Business model
Sell discovery, design, implementation and contracted support as clearly scoped services.
Agree the minimum contribution required on quotes, who approves exceptions and the budget for learning.
Capacity
Use Joseph for technical leadership, with PH and Texagon capacity added against funded demand.
Sign Joseph’s contractor agreement and agree the reduced holiday schedule. Confirm partner capacity before committing client dates.
Accountability
Asim runs the practice. SO sales and account teams own selling. Jeri coordinates the plan; executives own their approvals.
Confirm named owners and due dates in one requirements register.
02 / BUSINESS STRATEGY
Sell useful work.
Build reusable capability.
Start with existing SO clients, with retail as the primary market focus. Earn revenue by solving valuable problems, then develop the strongest solutions into offers we can deliver repeatedly.
Discover
Map one costly workflow. Establish a baseline, feasibility and business case.
A$10k illustrativeDesign
Define solution, permissions, effort, success criteria and client dependencies.
A$5k illustrativeImplement
Build, test, obtain acceptance and hand over. Scope changes require approval.
A$20k source assumptionSupport
Maintain the agreed solution within explicit hours, coverage and exclusions.
Support tiers · scope and fee agreedCUSTOMER FOCUS
Existing relationships.
Retail first.
Use SO’s client relationships and operating knowledge to find valuable problems. Paid discovery determines the opportunity, the business case and the right solution.
Order management, catalogue quality, service operations and finance workflows are examples to investigate. Select work on client value, feasibility, economics and potential for reuse.
Pursue relevant opportunities across the existing client base where the problem and delivery capability fit. Retail provides the primary focus for building domain expertise and repeat demand.
Why SO can build this
- Find relevant problems: existing relationships and access to day-to-day operating work.
- Deliver with context: experience managing people, processes and service delivery.
- Expand proven solutions: introduce an established offer to other clients with similar needs.
What we still need to prove
Willingness to pay, reliable delivery and lower effort on subsequent deployments. Every new client still needs qualification, configuration and acceptance.
HOW THE BUSINESS COMPOUNDSConsulting earns revenue.
Consulting earns revenue.
Proven reuse creates solution lines.
Each engagement can contribute reusable components and operating knowledge. Package a repeatable offer when common demand and delivery economics justify the investment. Track each solution line’s revenue, delivery cost, support obligations and owner.
DEVELOPING IN PARALLEL
Illustrative progression by offerThree activities. One growing practice.
Timing follows evidence
BUSINESS ACTIVITY
FIRST ENGAGEMENTS
REUSE PROVEN
OPERATING CAPABILITY PROVEN
01
Consulting & support
Continues throughout02
Repeatable solutions
Emerges offer by offerIdentify candidatesCapture reusable components and test common demand.
03
Managed outcomes
Selected offers progressQualify the operating serviceProve service economics, operating cover and responsibility for results.
All three can run at the same time. Discover a new problem for one client, deploy a proven solution for another, and operate a managed service for a third. Each offer progresses when its own evidence supports the next commitment.
What earns further investment?
Other clients will pay
A shared problem, a clear buyer and evidence of willingness to pay.
Delivery gets easier
Measured effort reduction, with a reusable core and client-specific configuration.
We can reuse the work
Contracts establish rights to components and IP while protecting client data.
The offer earns its keep
Acceptable margin after implementation, support and ongoing operating costs.
Support revenue is not managed-outcome revenue.
The starting forecast includes consulting and scoped solution support. Repeatable solutions and managed outcomes can be enabled as separate planning layers. Agent licences and specialist placements remain unquantified. AI specialist resourcing can run as an adjacent offer with its own P&L; the same engineer’s hours cannot be sold twice.
03 / THE BUSINESS OVER THREE YEARS
See the business grow.
Choose the work we win. See the team it needs, the recurring revenue it builds, and the cash it consumes or returns.
Commercial hypotheses—not an approved forecast.
The proposed base case introduces higher prices from month 7, tiered support and reuse. These are editable assumptions for validation, not evidence of customer willingness to pay. A$9k PH solution-engineer cost is supplied by Asim; other new commercial settings are illustrative.
Controls below edit the base assumptions. Downside and upside apply the stated changes to that base; they do not overwrite it.
Revenue, cost and operating profit
Monthly · AUD thousandsRevenueOperating profit
Cash invested and recovered
From launch · zero is cumulative paybackCumulative cashCumulative operating result
Sustained break-even requires at least three consecutive non-loss months and no later loss within the selected view. Cash payback is the first recovery of cumulative investment; later cash needs can still recur.
Revenue mix and delivery resources
Where revenue comes from
Monthly revenue by service · AUD thousandsThe delivery team grows in steps
Internal people and external pods are different unitsPH automation engineersAU technical leadTexagon podsDelivery managers
01 / WORK WON
Set the monthly mix.
Enter new work won per month in each year. These are independent service volumes across clients; the model does not automatically convert discoveries into designs or builds. Support attaches to accepted implementations at the rate below. Enter each piece of work once.
Starting project fees use the workbook: A$10k discovery, A$5k design and A$20k implementation. Support now uses illustrative A$3k essential / A$6k business-critical tiers, replacing the source A$1.5k flat fee. Starting project wins use your example: 2 discoveries, 1 design and 1 implementation per month in Year 1. Support now attaches to 70% of accepted implementations in the following month, with zero standalone sales by default. Year 2/3 growth is illustrative. Design and build wins may relate to earlier work or standalone briefs. New support contracts can cover existing solutions; their suitability must be qualified. Decimal figures represent expected forecast volumes, not partial signed clients.
Adjust individual months and project effort
Annual inputs set a simple monthly run rate. Individual month overrides take priority and are visibly marked. Changing an annual volume clears overrides for that service/year.
Source delegated effort: discovery 2 technical + 2 engineering days; design 1 + 3. Implementation first-build effort defaults to the source example, 8 technical + 10 engineering days; reuse reduces only the eligible portions. Early or complex projects may require more effort. All require technical sign-off; effort is shared across the stated delivery months.
Pricing progression and implementation reuse
Project prices are fixed when the work is won. From the selected month, new discovery, design and implementation fees rise separately; subsequent year-two and year-three increases compound. Existing queued projects retain their booked fee. Support uses its own contract and renewal pricing below.
Reuse changes delivery effort, not automatically the selling price
Before the minimum completed-build threshold, all implementations are first builds. After that, the entered mix allocates new work to first, adapted and repeat deployments. This threshold is only a planning proxy: the assumed reusable work must be comparable, with the required IP rights. Calendar time alone creates no savings.
Savings apply only to the eligible technical and engineering work. Coordination remains unchanged. Each project locks its effort profile at booking. The optional repeatable-solution product layer remains separate; do not count the same deal twice.
02 / RECURRING CONTRACTS
Let support accumulate—and renew.
New support contracts start when support goes live. Enter existing-client support separately if it does not follow a new implementation. The selected attachment rate applies to completed implementations, one month after acceptance. It does not apply to uncompleted bookings.
Each month’s new contracts form a separate cohort. They earn monthly revenue for their term, then renew at the selected retention rate. Early monthly cancellation, term-end renewal and renewal-price increases are separate assumptions. Essential and business-critical tiers each have their own fee, technical/engineering allowance and usage cost. Confirm response hours, exclusions and overages before quoting; no 24/7 coverage is implied.
Layer 2 · Add repeatable solutionsOff
Additional solution sales have their own price and lower delivery effort. Development investment, engineering effort and ongoing maintenance are included. They are additional deals: do not enter the same implementation in both streams.
Development runs in the three months before launch. This layer requires repeat demand, reusable IP rights and measured delivery savings. No licence ARR is invented; support remains a separately entered contract stream.
Layer 3 · Add managed outcomesOff
Model a contracted operating service, with onboarding, monthly work volumes, revenue per processed unit, human exception-handling costs and technology costs. Recurring service starts the month after onboarding completes.
Illustrative unit economics, not an approved offer. The managed service includes its own support effort; do not add a separate support contract for the same obligations. Liability, service levels and operating cover require a separate approval.
03 / PEOPLE & PARTNERS
Make the scaling rule explicit.
You are the practice leader, with no assumed sales quota or billable delivery. Existing SO account/sales teams are the initial sales route, with an explicit allocation and commission. One Australian technical lead owns technical accountability. Additional PH solution engineers provide estimation, design and technical delivery at A$9k/person/month. PH automation engineers and Texagon supply implementation capacity. Solution and automation roles have separate hours and costs.
Adjust launch capacity, recruitment timing and staffing limits
No signed pipeline has been loaded. The default plans staffing against forecast work. The alternative scales hiring demand by the entered contract-backed share; it is an aggregate sensitivity, not a contract register. Opening commitments remain payable. Financing and hiring approval remain separate decisions.
Maximums also constrain opening capacity. Raising opening capacity raises its maximum; lowering the maximum reduces opening capacity if needed.
When does the model add capacity?
These are modelled staffing decisions, not hiring or purchasing approvals. Before committing, validate contracted demand, role fit, vendor capacity, employment terms and cash headroom.
See capacity pressure and staffing decisions
People costs, operating costs and sales ownership
Source inputs: practice lead A$1,850/day, Australian technical lead A$18k and technology A$2k. Other inputs are planning allowances. Updated resource plan: one Australian lead at A$18k/month, additional PH solution engineers at Asim’s A$9k/month assumption, and PH automation engineers at the source A$4.5k/month rate. The previous blended PH pair has been replaced by these separate roles. Treat A$9k as the monthly practice cost pending confirmation of employment costs and overhead. All roles use the selected annual cost increase. Texagon is A$10k/month for a four-person team, confirmed by Asim. Usable capacity and minimum terms still need agreement.
Use the mobilisation schedule to change contractor time and cost together. Changing a fee alone changes price, not available hours. Internal hires remain employed through the horizon; partner pods can roll off after their minimum term. Staff and partner costs inflate annually at the selected rate.
04 / FUNDING & COMPARISON
Find the investment boundary.
Project deposits are collected when work starts; the balance is invoiced on completion. Support and managed services are invoiced monthly. Collection delay applies to those invoices. Deposits are deferred revenue until completion, so cash and profit differ. Costs are paid as incurred. Tax/GST, financing and refundable deposits are excluded.
Base plan: what does each additional business layer change?
Each row is recalculated with its own staffing response and additional costs. The additional layers use the assumptions above even when their main switches are off. Their start months are editable planning assumptions; individual offers can progress at different times. They are alternatives to compare, not totals to add together.
Downside, base and upside
Downside: 20 percentage points less volume, price changes six months later, half the proposed price increases, twice the completed-build threshold, half the adapted/repeat mix, 10 points lower renewal and one extra collection month. Upside: 20 points more volume, 10 points more adapted and repeat work within a 100% total, and 5 points higher renewal. All are sensitivities, not probabilities.
Service contribution and the cost of available capacity
Delivery labour is allocated once, by actual role-days used at each month’s paid-capacity cost. Shared technical/engineering pools use blended rates. Unused capacity, product development and shared platforms remain in the bridge to operating profit. Project labour is expensed as delivered, including work not yet accepted; these are period contributions, not standalone quoted project margins.
What changes the base-case economics?
Sequential bridge at the base sales plan: scheduled staffing with original flat support, then proposed project pricing, then support tiers, then implementation reuse. All rows use the corrected staffing method. These are assumption effects, not verified savings.
Inspect the full monthly model
How the model works and where assumptions come from
Time: one monthly model runs November 2026–October 2029. The 12/24/36-month selector changes the reporting window, not the start date or cumulative balances. Holidays reduce December/January capacity every year while payroll remains payable.
Work: service volumes are forecast wins, not a signed pipeline. Discovery/design use one monthly delivery slot; implementations use the selected number of slots. Older queued work is served first. Technical, engineering and coordination capacity must all be available. Booked prices and effort are retained through delivery; revenue is recognised at stage completion; uncompleted work remains in backlog.
Expected values: sliders and renewals can create decimal contract counts. Cohort work can be split across available capacity, but no unit earns its full fee until all its delivery slots are complete. A specific customer schedule still requires weekly, role-level planning.
Staffing: a three-month workload schedule places existing project tranches and future starts into specific monthly slots, plus recurring obligations. Each slot is counted once; their average drives hiring estimates. It assumes future work starts as planned and does not optimise weekly scheduling. One Australian technical lead remains fixed. PH solution engineers are added one at a time after sustained demand, subject to the shared recruitment lead and technical-pool cap. Coordination roles scale separately. This assumes solution engineers can perform the delegated technical work; the Australian lead retains accountability and role-level oversight capacity must be validated. PH recruitment uses sustained demand and a lead time; hybrid targets only the selected PH share. Partner pods cover remaining engineering demand subject to mobilisation time, a minimum paid term and a maximum. No internal layoffs are assumed.
Support cover: recurring obligations are reserved before project work. If they exceed available capacity, the model shows the shortfall and flags the forecast as requiring extra cover; contracted revenue is still displayed. Do not treat that case as executable.
Margins: delivery contribution deducts full delivery payroll, partner costs, coordination, platforms, service usage and product investment. Operating result then deducts practice leadership, sales, general overhead and setup. Allocated labour is not deducted twice. Group contribution also deducts any displaced SO staffing contribution.
Sources: the commercial workbook supplies original salary, rate and effort assumptions; the launch tracker supplies operating responsibilities and account context. This version replaces the earlier discovery-only forecast with independently entered service volumes. Original service fees are the starting point. New illustrative assumptions include three-year growth, contract renewal, sales/PM/overhead costs, staffing rules, holiday capacity, later-phase economics and payment timing. They require Finance, delivery and commercial-owner validation.
Boundaries: no inherited revenue or pre-November cash balances; no automatic discovery-to-build conversion; early cancellations follow the entered monthly rate; no specialist placement revenue; no tax/GST or financing. Managed outcomes and repeatable solutions start only when enabled and after their selected dates. A forecast funding cap is an alert, not an instruction to terminate contracts.
04 / TEAM & DELIVERY
Keep accountability fixed.
Make capacity flexible.
Buy additional delivery capacity when it is commercially justified. Retain ownership of client commitments, architecture, quality and support.
| Role | Accountability | Cost / position |
|---|---|---|
| Asim · Practice lead | Practice leadership, business P&L, team performance, commercial oversight and executive coordination. Existing SO sales/account teams are the assumed sales route; allocation to confirm. | A$1,850 per paid day; monthly days follow the editable contractor schedule. |
| Joseph · technical lead contractor | Feasibility, estimation, architecture, delivery, QA and technical support. | Available at A$18k per normal month. Sign the agreement and agree reduced monthly allocations. |
| PH solution engineers + automation engineers | Scoped delivery under the technical lead; no double allocation to client staffing. | PH solution engineer A$9k/month (Asim’s revised assumption); automation engineer A$4.5k/month (source). Separate roles and capacity; confirm loaded costs and recruitment timing. |
| Texagon | Approved implementation work packages, documented handback and knowledge transfer. | A$10k/month for four people. Activation, role capacity and minimum terms to agree. |
| Jeri · Project director | Consolidated plan, dependencies, dated owner responses and decision preparation. | Assigned in 28 Oct discussion. Allocation and incremental cost to confirm. |
| Darren / Eric / Josh / Freddie | Finance / technology and suppliers / commercial sponsorship / legal inputs respectively. | Domain approvals remain with their accountable executives. |
Build PH capability
Persistent internal know-how and delivery control. Carries payroll through quiet periods. Start offers only when demand and role-level requirements support them.
Use Texagon on demand
Potentially more flexible at uncertain volume. Monthly pod fees are still fixed within an activated month. Support obligations can make the pod recurring.
Defer scale
Use the core team for discovery and design. Hold the opening team fixed in the simulator to see which work fits and which work queues. Discovery and design also need the engineering effort entered in the model.
Capacity follows the commercial plan.
The economics simulator now shows workload, staffing changes, support cover and deferred work for the full 36 months. The AU lead / PH solution pool, automation engineering and delivery coordination are separate capacity constraints.
Explore staffing and capacity ↑Scale against sustained demand, with a funded commitment.
PH hiring needs confirmed skills, loaded costs and recruitment lead time. Texagon needs a written quote, usable capacity, mobilisation time and minimum commitment. More engineers do not automatically create more architecture, QA or support capacity.
05 / GO TO MARKET
Win a narrow problem.
Expand through evidence.
Prioritise retail opportunities within existing SO relationships. Lead with a measurable operational problem, qualify willingness to pay and assess which solutions could be valuable to other clients.
The first offer
“We will assess one workflow, establish the baseline, and show what can be improved, what it will cost and who remains responsible.”
Qualification before proposal
- Named sponsor, budget and decision date.
- Measurable problem and accessible sample data.
- Contained system scope and human approval path.
- Acceptable relationship and staffing impact.
- Technical lead confirms feasibility and delivery effort.
Small SO team ≠ low-risk account
The ≤5-seat segment is a starting filter, not a complete targeting strategy. A small current team may sit inside a large strategic customer.
Ask the account owner to assess future staffing opportunity, relationship exposure, data sensitivity and total contribution before outreach.
6+ seats: retain a qualification lane, with explicit executive exception before a pilot.First five account conversations
Proposed qualification order, not contracted pipeline. Account owners must confirm access and relationship risk before outreach. All commercial amounts and close dates remain unconfirmed and are excluded from any claim of signed backlog.
| Account / reason | Initial paid offer | Sales owner | Next action / evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kidstuff Retail catalogue workflow; existing shortlist. | Discovery of catalogue completeness and content preparation. | SO account owner: unconfirmed. | Confirm current owner and Jonathan Wu contact; establish sponsor, catalogue baseline, budget and discovery date. |
| COS Product content and CRM quality; potential shared retail components. | Discovery of one catalogue or CRM quality workflow. | SO account owner: unconfirmed. | Verify sponsor and account access; quantify rework and select one bounded workflow. |
| Wisr Introduction and technical-capacity discussion in source tracker. | Paid discovery only after workflow and technical fit are confirmed. | SO account owner: unconfirmed. | Reconfirm introduction, buyer, AWS requirements, budget and permission to proceed; no validated scope yet. |
| City Beach Retail adjacency with AP / service administration opportunities. | Discovery of AP exceptions or customer-service preparation, one scope. | SO account owner: unconfirmed. | Confirm relationship tolerance and sponsor; obtain a sample workflow and quantify value. |
| Westside Auto Completed Luke Manion interview provides problem context. | Discovery of lead follow-up or purchasing information, aligned to its existing AI programme. | SO account owner: unconfirmed. | Revalidate interview findings and current programme; agree a complementary scope, sponsor and budget. |
Proposed deadline: named sales owners and next meetings within 10 working days of approval. Josh coordinates assignment with SO account leadership; Asim supports qualification and solution scope. Client contacts are not SO sales owners. Each record then needs opportunity value, probability, expected decision date and delivery slot before inclusion in a qualified forecast.
Turn the target list into a sales plan
Sales ownership must match the volume plan.
Existing SO sales/account teams own pipeline generation and closing in this planning version. Asim runs the practice. Confirm the named sales owner, account access, allocation and commission before treating monthly service volumes as a forecast.
Service bookings are not unique-client counts. One client can buy several stages. Validate sales activity, conversion and timing with the account owners; no automatic funnel is applied in the economics simulator.
| When | Commercial action | Evidence to record |
|---|---|---|
| First 10 working days after approval | Asim and account owners qualify the first five prospects. | Sponsor, workflow, baseline, budget, next decision and SO contribution exposure. |
| Weekly | Review proposals, expected stage timing and technical capacity together. | Signed scope, payment terms and an achievable delivery slot. |
| After acceptance | Offer scoped support; request permission for a case study. | Actual effort, outcome baseline versus result, client reference and reusable assets. |
| At quarterly checkpoints | Review readiness at month 3; paid demand at month 6; repeatability at month 9; next investment at month 12. | Win rate, contribution, collection timing, qualified backlog and repeat demand. |
06 / LAUNCH & SIGN-OFF
One plan.
Named decisions.
Michael asked to be involved while the plan is formed. Bring him the commercial choices early, then close the specialist approvals with their owners.
Proposed working timetable — owner agreement required.
29 Oct: Jeri consolidates requirements. 30 Oct: owners return evidence and exceptions. 2 Nov: Michael reviews economics, downside and delivery options. 4 Nov: decision package, with remaining blockers explicit. These dates are recommendations, not calendar bookings or commitments.
| Approval requirement | Accountable input | What “done” means | Evidence state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial floor and funding cap | Darren / MK with Asim | 36-month model with 12/24/36-month views, all-in costs, rate card, cash exposure and loss tolerance signed off. | Model prepared for review; validation pending |
| Target segment and first accounts | Josh / Damien with Asim | Named prospects, account owners, relationship impact and first-meeting actions. | Source shortlist; qualification incomplete |
| Delivery and partner commitment | Asim / technical lead; Eric for suppliers | Named lead, capacity by role, vendor terms, QA, access and handback agreed. | Technical-lead appointment and Texagon terms to resolve |
| Contracting entity and agreement | Darren coordinates SO’s tax accountant and Freddie / HWLE; Michael approves | Accountant-led structure recommendation supported by legal advice; contracting entity, agreement, SOW, IP, responsibility and authorised signatory confirmed before the first client contract. | No final approval evidenced |
| Insurance and funding treatment | Darren / Freddie | Relevant cover, exclusions, premium and tax/accounting treatment confirmed. | Unpriced / unresolved in reviewed sources |
| Production and support | Technical lead / Asim / Eric adviser | Acceptance, monitoring, rollback, coverage, escalation and client obligations tested. | Named support owner and backup required |
| Integrated plan and approvals | Jeri; Josh executive sponsor; Asim business owner | One register with owner, due date, evidence, decision and unresolved differences. | Directorship assigned 28 Oct; allocation to confirm |
Release work in four steps
Explore
Qualify the account and problem with the relationship owner.
Offer
Approve scope, fee, margin, named capacity and claims.
Contract / start
Confirm entity, agreement, cover, access and authorised signature.
Deploy / support
Accept testing, operational handover, coverage and escalation.
Entity structure: obtain the advisers’ recommendation
Tax accountant leads the recommendation, supported by legal advice.
Obtain a recommendation from SO’s tax accountant, supported by legal advice, on the appropriate launch structure and whether a separate entity is warranted. Confirm the contracting arrangement before the first client contract. The advisers should recommend when any further restructuring is appropriate.
Darren coordinates the advice; Freddie / HWLE address legal matters; Michael approves the resulting recommendation. The business plan supplies the operating assumptions and financial scenarios for that assessment.
Matrix to support the assessment
| Dimension | Existing SO entity | Separate entity | Required evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client contract / liability | Assess fit with existing agreements and obligations. | Assess contracting chain, guarantees and responsibility. | Freddie / HWLE advice |
| Insurance | Confirm scope and exclusions for new services. | Confirm insured entity and required cover. | Broker terms and premium |
| Tax, funding and accounting | Define internal P&L, investment and allocation. | Define capital, intercompany terms and reporting. | SO’s tax accountant’s recommendation, coordinated by Darren |
| People, IP and suppliers | Confirm employer/contractor, IP rights and vendor access. | Confirm ownership, licensing and service arrangements. | Legal / HR / Eric approvals |
This matrix organises the questions for the advisers. It does not prescribe an entity, promise tax savings or personal protection, or set a restructuring deadline. The structure and timing remain subject to their recommendation and Michael’s approval.
Quarterly checkpoints, one annual plan
| Review | Evidence | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Month 3 · readiness | Contracts, delivery arrangements, named sales owners, buyer-qualified conversations and any early paid work. Recognise holiday timing. | Adjust mobilisation and client priorities. No arbitrary two-discovery hiring trigger. |
| Month 6 · paid demand | Paid engagements, conversion into implementation, actual hours and margins, support take-up and collections. | Continue, reprice or narrow scope; adjust contractor days to funded work. |
| Month 9 · repeatability | Repeat sales, measured reuse, support effort and role-specific capacity gaps. | Add capacity only against signed funded backlog and downside liquidity. |
| Month 12 · next investment | Full-year results, cash consumed, recurring revenue, pipeline and path to at least 21% operating margin. | Approve the following year, reshape or stop new commitments. |
Review cash, spend and commitments monthly. Reaching an approved limit, failing delivery obligations or losing a credible commercial path triggers action immediately, not at the next quarterly meeting. Honour existing obligations and include notice and exit costs in decisions.
07 / SOURCES & ASSUMPTIONS
Know what is evidence.
Know what is a choice.
| Source | Use in this proposal | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Oct business-model meeting ↗ | Read notes and full transcript: financial floor, capacity, go-to-market, entity matrix and Jeri directorship. | Room audio groups speakers; individual attribution used only where discussion makes it clear. |
| 23 Oct Michael / Darren meeting ↗ | Commercial viability, rate card, staffing cannibalisation and existing-client focus. | Meeting summary, not an approval record. |
| AI Workflow Solutions deck ↗ | Offer, rates, team costs, worked discovery quote and approval request. | Retrieved 28 Oct; main pages and older appendix contain differing role/day and margin assumptions. |
| SO_AI_Commercial_Model (1).xlsx | Assumptions and Project economics: source costs, original fees and delivery effort. New growth and staffing assumptions are identified in the simulator. | 22 Oct planning version. Original cost/effort inputs are retained as sources; the new 36-month simulation is a separate planning model. |
| SO_AI_Workflow_Solutions_Launch_Tracker.xlsx | Sales targets (all 21), Opportunities, Decisions and Michael view. | Michael view dated 16 Oct. Owner refresh needed; no source statuses overwritten. |
| Attached board/executive remarks | Consulting → reuse → managed outcomes, support distinction and specialist resourcing. | Remarks establish strategic intent, not board approval. |
| SO Brand Kit 2026 | Navy, blue and light backgrounds; restrained executive presentation. | Local system font fallback used. |
Confirmed planning inputs and remaining actions
- Asim: A$1,850 per paid day. Monthly days are adjustable; no assumed sales quota or billable delivery.
- Joseph: available at A$18,000 per normal month. Contractor agreement and proportional reduced-month fees to be signed; exact day rate remains unconfirmed.
- Texagon: A$10,000 per month for four people, as confirmed by Asim. Agree activation, usable role capacity and minimum terms. The 27.5 engineering days per team remains a conservative capacity assumption.
- Margin: target at least 21% practice operating margin after delivery, leadership, selling and overhead. Gross margin and project contribution explain the route to that result; they are not substitute targets.
- PH employment: retain current planning rates; validate fully loaded WFO costs, setup and deposits before offers.
Model boundaries and proposed assumptions
The new 36-month model contains independent discovery, design and implementation demand, plus support attached to completed implementations and separately entered standalone support sales. Repeatable solutions and managed outcomes are optional layers with separate economics. Practice leadership has no assumed billable contribution or sales quota.
Staffing, pricing, renewal, growth, phase timing and payment assumptions are proposals for review. The original workbook and tracker remain unchanged. The economics section documents the calculation rules, source assumptions and limitations, including capacity shortfalls, deferred revenue and the funding alert.
The proposal is ready to challenge.
Use the scenarios to agree the investment boundary. Use the approval register to close the evidence. Then commit to delivery.
Return to the decision ↑