How this started
The report I built for my own idea is the one I now build for other founders.
Last year, my wife and I considered launching an olive oil brand. I did the full work on it myself. Market research. Competitor analysis. Audience profile. Positioning. The whole assessment.
When I was done, the answer was no. The market was real, but it was harder than the supporting research had implied. We weren’t the right ones to launch it on the budget we had. So we didn’t.
My wife read the report and said, “You love doing this. Find a way to share your work with others.”
That conversation is where the Honest Assessment was born. The same report I built for our own idea is the deliverable I now build for other founders. Same depth. Same honesty. Same willingness to land on a verdict, even when the verdict is wait.
The Clovia sample report on this site is that report. Real research. Real verdict. My own idea. Read it here.
What I do now
Pre-launch advisory. Three tiers. Fixed price. Fixed scope.
I run pre-launch advisory for founders and solopreneurs. Three tiers. Fixed price. Fixed scope. One-to-four-week timelines depending on the tier. No retainers. No open-ended scope. No agency markup.
The Honest Assessment is the report and the verdict. The Blueprint tier adds a landing page built on the positioning. The Full Build adds the launch funnel and the live system. The research and the verdict are identical at every tier. You upgrade only if you also need the execution.
See the tiers →What earns the seat
Background.
- Thirty years running small businesses across multiple industries. Sales, operations, ownership.
- Two books published on practical technology for non-technical professionals. AI for Real Work and Blockchain Basics. Both are downstream resources on this site, not the headline.
- Built and ship InboxPro. A productized AI email tool, installed personally.
- Custom AI Solutions for post-launch operators who want a specific workflow built and taught, not a course.
- One co-founded project, LockboxZ. A blockchain time-and-date stamp tool for founders who want to put a stake in the sand on an idea before they decide what to do with it.
What I don’t do
Boundaries.
- I don’t take website-only or branding-only projects without the research first. Building a site on a position you haven’t pressure-tested is the most expensive mistake in launch.
- I don’t run open-ended retainers. Scope is fixed. Price is fixed. Timeline is fixed.
- I won’t promise an idea will work. The Honest Assessment delivers a verdict, not validation. Anyone who promises otherwise is selling something else.
- I don’t pitch AI as a substitute for business judgment. AI is a tool I use to be efficient. It is not what you’re paying me for.
Ready for an honest read?