One page you can defend at your security lead's desk.
We don't call it an audit call. We call it The Platform Read. 45 minutes of conversation, a written one-page diagnosis within 24 hours, and an explicit "we are not the right team if..." section. Free. Regardless of whether we work together afterwards.
Three steps. No sales motion between them.
45 minutes, three questions.
Two of our engineers join. One asks, one writes. Three questions: what does production look like today, what's the regulator going to ask, what would success in 90 days look like.
⏱ 45 minThe Read, within 24 hours.
One page. Plain English. A named diagnosis, the suggested engagement shape, the price, the proposed team, and an explicit "we are not the right team if..." section.
⏱ within 24hNo pressure, no follow-up.
We check in once after a week. After that, the next move is yours. If we're not the right team, we say who is.
⏱ 1 week +Six things every Read includes, regardless of sector or cloud.
- [01]
Two engineers in the room
No account manager. No sales engineer. Two of the people who would actually be on your engagement if we sign.
- [02]
Three focused questions
We won't ask for your whole architecture. Three questions. Written down ahead of time. You know what we're going to ask before we ask it.
- [03]
A written summary
One page. We send it whether or not we continue. The Read itself is the deliverable.
- [04]
A named diagnosis
What's the real problem under the stated question. Not what you hope to hear; what we see.
- [05]
Suggested shape + price
Explicit "we are not the right team if..." conditions included. No sales pressure; we name our own limits.
- [06]
Or a referral
If we're not the right partner, we tell you who is. We work with eight clients at a time; we know who does the same work well.
Because if the Read is good, the engagement closes anyway.
Most boutique consultancies charge for an audit because they need the revenue. We have no external investors, no quarterly pipe to fill, and no exit path. We removed the step.
If the Read is good, you sign. If the Read isn't good, you'd refund-request a paid audit. Same two outcomes with one less invoice.
No diagnosis, no calendar invite for week two.
If the Read doesn't name one concrete thing your platform engineer agrees with, we still send the page and you never hear from us again. We don't follow up. No "just checking in" emails three months later. We've never had to invoke this clause; it's written so you know you can.
The Read takes one hour. Not booking costs more.
Observed from our 2025 engagements. Median, not edge case. Not meant to scare — meant to put the trade-off honestly on the page.
- [01] +€300k / quarter
Unallocated cloud spend keeps stacking
EU mid-market median, post-audit baseline
- [02] +90 days
DORA evidence backlog slides right
ISO 27001 + NIS2 prep, 2025
- [03] +1 pilot
AI use case stuck between demo and production
AI engagements 2024–2026
- [04] −0.6 FTE
Engineer time leaks back into toil
Patches on patches, annual rolling
We say it in the Read; we can also say it now.
The Read is free but your time isn't. Here are four situations where we would already say: ask someone else.
- Your platform team isn't in the room for the call.
- You want to see a deck before we talk. (We send the articles instead.)
- The timing is "as soon as possible" without a real deadline behind it.
- You've already signed with someone else for the same work.