The Bench

Get your thinking torn apart before the meeting, not in it.

Pick a team. Pose the question. Read what they argue.

Five runs. No card. No clock.

How it works

  1. 1.

    Pick a question and a team.

    Presets for common shapes (pressure test, strategic review, full bench), or build your own.

  2. 2.

    Analysts run sequentially, in isolation.

    They don't see each other's work, so they don't converge by accident.

  3. 3.

    The Head reads everything and writes the brief.

    A SCIPAB+Risk decision brief, ready to send. Disagreements preserved with attribution, not averaged out.

A real run, in moments.

One question. Seven analysts. A brief written in three minutes forty-two. Below: the moments worth showing. The full PDF is at the bottom.

The Advisor sharpens what you typed

Typed

Our biggest customer (about 22% of ARR, been with us two years) has been making noises about leaving. Their procurement told us they're "evaluating alternatives" before renewal in four months. Talking to their team it sounds like they want some pretty specific custom stuff that would basically be a different product. If we lose them we're in trouble on cash. If we build everything they're asking for we lose the focus that's been pulling in new SMB customers. Should we pivot the roadmap to keep them?

Sharpened

Q1Is the customer's request for custom work a signal that your core product no longer fits their needs, or a negotiating tactic to extract concessions (how will you test which)?

Q2If you build their custom requirements, what is the realistic probability they renew at the same price, and for how long before they demand more?

Q3What is your actual cash runway if you lose them, and what are your concrete options for replacing that ARR in the next 12 months?

Q4Has any other customer asked for similar custom work and been satisfied, or is this customer structurally misaligned with your product?

Do not present this as a binary choice or hedge with "it depends". State what you would do and under what single condition you would reverse that call.

The Advisor also briefed a Domain Expert

SaaS retention and expansion strategy, with specific depth in customer concentration risk, roadmap trade-offs when one customer represents outsized revenue, and the mechanics of when custom work becomes a margin trap that doesn't extend tenure. This analyst should have seen at least three cases where a startup over-invested in a large customer only to lose them anyway after 18 months, and should be familiar with the difference between expansion requests (sign of health) and "prove your value" requests (sign of exit momentum).

Same Advisor pass, second job. The Domain Expert runs first with web search, then steps aside. Its findings reach the Writer; the other analysts argue from the question alone, so the bench isn't anchored by specialist framing.

The title the Head wrote

Custom Work Retains Revenue, Not Customers; Build Only If Replaceable In Six Months.

Position

Do not build the custom work. Price it at full internal cost with a 12-month commitment extension attached, and use the customer's response as the definitive diagnostic of whether this is expansion intent or managed exit.

Risk, with disagreement preserved

The cash runway number may be under nine months, making the product-integrity thesis irrelevant because the company cannot survive the churn event without a bridge round already in motion.

The Auditor

Engineering leadership may understate how much of the current roadmap has already drifted toward this customer's implicit requirements, meaning the "return to SMB focus" assumes a product position that no longer exists.

The Structural Critic

The SMB motion may not be compounding in reality, making "stay focused on SMB" a direction without a functioning engine behind it.

The Sceptic

And the condition under which the bench would be wrong

Reverse this if

Cash runway without this customer is under nine months AND no bridge financing conversation can be initiated within 30 days.

Underneath: analysts mark what they verified, and what they didn't

[UNVERIFIED]I cannot point to a verified case of this outcome. I searched and did not find one. That absence is itself the finding.

— The Contrarian Historian

Read the full brief.

Twelve pages. Produced in 3m 42s. No email required.

Download the PDF

Three real questions.

“Should I take the term sheet on the table or push for another month?”

Founder

“Client expects a Germany expansion recommendation. The numbers don't support it. What do I tell them?”

Strategy consultant

“Three roadmap items probably belong to another team. What do I cut before quarterly planning?”

Senior PM

Pricing

Five trial runs to start. Then €25/month for solo, or €40 a seat for teams.

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Five runs. No card. No clock.