A 20-minute private interview.
Adaptive to your sector and your answers. It asks for proof, not opinion, because opinion is what every AI assessment already has.
AI Readiness Index
Before you spend on AI.
The Executive Diagnostic. Know where it pays in your company and where it would break first. Twenty minutes. Every dollar sourced. $1,995, credited in full toward the Advisory.
An open letter to CEOs who are about to spend on AI. Read the letter →
01 / What you walk away with
Five things a leadership team needs before spending on AI.
Everyone promises where AI pays. Nobody tells you where it will fail.
Where AI will pay. The single operating constraint that limits the company most, and the two or three levers around it where AI creates leverage. Not a list of tools.
What to prioritize. Ranked, with the reason for the rank.
What not to automate yet. The parts of the operation that are not structurally ready, and what has to be true first. This is the part most AI assessments skip, and the part that saves the most money.
What it is worth. A conservative dollar figure for each lever, built from a number you stated against a named benchmark. If you cannot state the number, the report says so instead of inventing one.
What to do in the next 90 days. A 30/60/90 leadership roadmap, and Session 1 on Zoom to walk it with you, included.
See what you get before you buy.
A full sample report for a fictional commercial HVAC company. Every input is illustrative. Every benchmark is real and named.
See the sample report
Who built this
New diagnostic. Not new thinking.
The Executive Diagnostic is the first product in the AI Readiness Index. Brainforest is not new. Since 1995 we have helped leadership teams make hard operating decisions. The diagnostic applies that discipline to AI.
Brainforest and its principals have worked with organizations including BlackBerry, Motorola, the University of Chicago and Arizona State University.
Nils Bunde, President, Brainforest. Leads Brainforest's strategy work and built the diagnostic.
Lindsay Kinkade, Chief Creative Officer, Brainforest. Leads creative strategy and how findings are presented to leadership.
Used before implementation. Iron River Technologies, a Brainforest technology partner, uses the diagnostic with its clients before any AI work begins.
We are early, so we show our work.
We will not invent case studies. Judge the diagnostic by its questions, its method and its report. Verified results will appear here as they come in.
02 / How it works
A board-level report.
Web and PDF. Readiness score, constraint map, lever-by-lever economics, 90-day roadmap. Every dollar shows its basis. If one does not, the diagnostic is refunded.
Session 1, on Zoom, included.
We walk the findings together. If the opportunity is real, the 90-Day Advisory works the plan with you. If it is not, you have the read you needed and you paid $1,995 for it.
03 / Every dollar has a source
Most AI assessments print a number to impress you. This one refuses to.
Each dollar figure in the report is one of your stated numbers, multiplied against a benchmark we name, at a conservative capture rate we show. Where you cannot state the number, the report prints a visibility finding instead of a dollar. The figure is smaller than a consultant would show you. It is also one you can defend to a board, a partner, or a lender.
Prepared for / Confidential
Leadership reports AI activity, but cannot identify where adoption breaks first.
Inconsistent ownership and weak workflow evidence make automation riskier than leadership assumes.
No single report currently proves whether the process is ready to absorb automation.
On Monday morning, review owner, source of truth, workflow handoff, and performance metric for the first AI candidate process.
Benchmarks are named in every report. Commercial Construction: CFMA, MSCA, CII, FMI. Hospitality: CBRE, AHLA, Cornell CHR. Higher Education: NACUBO, IPEDS, NCES, National Student Clearinghouse.
04 / What the interview is like
How many branches, territories, crews, or operating units are you managing?
“Our backlog is strong, but margin performance is inconsistent across jobs.”
“Is the constraint estimating accuracy, project handoff, field reporting, change-order discipline, labor visibility, or closeout? What report would prove that by Monday morning?”
Roughly, what was your total revenue last year, an actual number, not a range? A close estimate is fine.
I would rather not guess. I will pull last year's P&L.
Use what you can state. Where a number is missing, the report says so instead of inventing one.
About how much of that is service work vs. project/construction work, a dollar split or rough percentage?
Mostly project work. Service is the smaller piece, but it is where the repeat accounts are.
Project Margin: what gross margin do you typically bid at, what do jobs typically close out at, and when do you usually learn a job is losing margin: weekly job-cost, monthly, or at closeout?
We bid at a healthy margin and usually close out lower. We tend to find out at closeout, sometimes at the monthly job-cost review if the PM flags it.
The interview does in 20 minutes what a week of discovery would take.
It asks for proof, not opinion, because opinion is what every AI assessment already has.
05 / The report
Twenty-four sections, built from your interview.
Each figure comes from a number you stated, against a benchmark we name. Where you could not state one, the report says so.
- 01Executive Snapshotfrom your stated numbers
- 02Board memofrom your stated numbers
- 03Opening Verdict
- 04Board-Level Thesis
- 05Readiness Score and Revenue Opportunityfrom your stated numbers
- 06Money Movement Map
- 07Five Issues Shaping the Revenue Opportunity
- 08Top Constraint Analysis
- 09Metric Deep Diveswhere a number was missing
- 10How Each Bottleneck Works Inside the Operation
- 11Executive Signal
- 12Strategic Judgment
- 13Vertical Operating Context
- 14Evidence Register
- 15Priority and Risk Map
- 16Scenario Modeler: Adjust Assumptions to Estimate Recoverable Annual Upsidefrom your stated numbers
- 17Role and Workflow Impact
- 18Change Management
- 19Turn Diagnosis Into Motionfrom your stated numbers
- 20Readiness, in your words
- 21Where it pays, and where it would breakwhere a number was missing
- 22Monday morning
- 2330 / 60 / 90 Roadmap
- 24What you have, and what comes next
- 25Methodology and Confidence Notes
Board memoSection 02
If competing general contractors use AI to tighten estimating, change-order capture, subcontractor prequalification, and pay-application readiness while this company relies on manual coordination, the gap will likely show up in margin fade, cash timing, and repeat work from owners.
Disconnected field, estimating, and billing evidence
The risk is that leaders see busy jobs, active bids, and open subcontracts without a clear view of margin fade, change-order exposure, retainage, or pay-application readiness.
4 critical visibility gaps
Pull a weekly commercial value list that shows work mix, open value, owner, age, next action, documentation status, margin or risk signal, billing readiness, and source system.
Monday morningFind
- Project Margin Control
- bid gross margin %, final/closeout gross margin %
- Profitable Revenue Capture
- bid counts / win rate
- Cash Conversion & Working Capital
- AR balance (or DSO)
- Change-Order & Scope Control
- change-order capture practice or CO volume %
Monday morningReview
- Scope or change-order details are reconstructed after the fact.
- Field documentation quality varies by subcontractor and self-perform crew.
- Billing readiness depends on manual evidence gathering.
06 / Built for
Companies doing $5 million or more.
For leadership teams that make the call themselves and expect every number to hold up in front of a board.
Built for commercial mechanical, electrical, plumbing, roofing, and specialty contractors and GCs, $5M to $25M in revenue.
Commercial Construction
Know where it pays on your jobs and where it would break first. Twenty minutes, every dollar sourced.
Built for independent and branded hotels, $3M to $30M in revenue.
Hospitality
Know where it pays at your property and where it would break first. No new software.
Built for public and private four-year institutions, 2,500 to 15,000 students.
Higher Education
Know where it pays across the institution and where it would break first, with governance built in.
07 / Diagnostic ladder
Two ways in.
Start with the diagnostic and decide after Session 1. Or start the Advisory now; the diagnostic is included.
Executive Diagnostic
A private adaptive interview, readiness score, opportunity model, operating constraint map, 90-day path, and executive report.
$1,995 One-time Executive DiagnosticCredited in full toward the 90-Day Advisory within 30 days
- Private executive interview
- Readiness score
- Opportunity model
- Operating constraint map
- 90-day path and executive report
- Report walkthrough on Zoom: Session 1 of the Advisory, included
90-Day Advisory
The diagnostic, then six working sessions over 90 days with the person who built it.
$14,950 Founding rate: $8,950 for the first five clients or through 31 Dec 2026, whichever comes first. The diagnostic is included.- The Executive Diagnostic, run the moment you start
- Session 1: the report walkthrough on Zoom, with the people responsible for the top levers
- A written 90-day operating plan after Session 2
- Sessions 2 to 6: one lever per session, working sessions, not reviews
- A direct line between sessions, reply inside two working days
- Re-scored at day 90: a before-and-after report and an updated board memo
- A tool shortlist per lever from the AI Lens, no vendor affiliation
- Founding cohort: a named case study and one reference call in exchange
08 / The questions executives actually ask
One number you stated, one benchmark we name, one capture rate we show. All three are printed next to the figure. If you cannot state the number, there is no figure.
No. It is an adaptive interview that asks for evidence. It changes based on what you say.
No. Twenty minutes and your own knowledge of the company.
You. Your answers generate your report and are not used to train public AI models.
Then the report says so, names what has to change first, and you have saved yourself from buying tools that would not have paid.
Session 1 on Zoom, included. Then, if the opportunity is real, the 90-Day Advisory. If not, you are done and you have the read.
About 20 minutes. Most people finish in one sitting.
Every dollar figure is traced to your own numbers or a named source and labelled sourced, derived or estimate. If you find one that is not, reply to your report email and the $1,995 is refunded in full. No form.