Strategic Reconnaissance
Founder-ready engineering assessment

Recon

A technical & team audit for tech startups, built for execution

Your clear picture of what is actually happening

Real picture From key people, not docs
Fixed scope 2-4 weeks, not open-ended
Team aligned Shared reality before you act
First signals Within days, not at the end

When Founders & CEOs need Recon

Most "technical problems" are leadership problems in disguise: visibility, constraints, and ownership. Recon gives you a shared reality before you place bets

Preparing for something crucial

A round, a launch, a growth push. You want to make sure there are no hidden surprises in tech and the team that will blow up at the worst moment

Things don’t move the right way

Simple work takes weeks instead of days. Engineers can’t explain why. Everyone got used to it and calls it “normal”

You shipped it. Did it land as planned?

New tool, reorg, new process. You planned for faster delivery, higher adoption, less chaos. Asking the team who built it isn’t neutral. I come in and tell you honestly: planned X, got Y

A tech-team audit built for execution

Most engineering audits stop at a PDF. Recon produces a shared reality your tech leaders can act on

Reality, not how it's supposed to work
I look at how things actually work: interviews, incident calls, PR history. Not roadmap slides, not architecture diagrams written two years ago. I write down what people actually say and what they keep hinting at - the raw signals, without interpretation
I present to your team. You don't have to.
Normally you'd get a report and spend weeks trying to get your team on the same page. Here, I present the findings directly - to leadership, tech, whoever needs to act. You don't have to sell it. Everyone leaves with the same picture
Next steps alignment
I don't just list findings. I close with concrete action items: what to do, who owns it, by when. Everyone leaves knowing the next move

What I do

I come in and look at how things work in reality - not in docs

1
Talk to the key people
CTO, VP Eng, team leads. I’m looking for the gap between the official story and what’s happening day to day
2
Capture the signals
I write down what people actually say and what they keep hinting at. The raw signals, without interpretation
3
Correlate signals into patterns
I correlate signals across roles and teams. Repeats show up fast when you put everything side by side
4
Analyze patterns → action options
I analyze what drives the patterns and propose concrete options: what to do now, what to do next, and what to ignore for the moment

What you get

01
Interactive report
Raw signals from interviews and data. What was found. The patterns behind it. Where it leads (risks). What to do first. Structured so anyone on the team can navigate it - not just read top-down
02
Presentation to the team
I present the findings to everyone involved - not you. I handle questions and objections live. If something needs adjusting based on team feedback, we refine it on the spot
03
Action alignment session
We close with a concrete plan: what needs to happen, who owns it, by when. One session to align the key people before you move to execution
Recon Report - [Client] - Anonymized
Raw signals
Findings
Patterns
Risks
First actions
Raw signals · 12 interviews
Engineering
9 signals
Product
6 signals
Leadership
4 signals
Top patterns
No single owner for incidents → repeated outages
Hidden cross-team dependencies → blocked releases
Velocity slow-down normalized, root cause unknown
Full report shared after Recon engagement

Cases

Examples of what Recon finds - and what it unlocks next

Wallet.TG
99.99% uptime in 2 weeks
Context: I joined when the product was unstable and breaking daily.
Recon: 10 key conversations + joined incident calls. Built a clear picture and presented it to the CEO.
Next: A 3‑month intervention plan. Execution started in Combat.
Outcome: 99.99% uptime in 2 weeks. In three months - stable enough to support major memcoin listings (Dogs, Hamster).
Wargaming
5 days next launch (was 2 months)
Recon: On-site in the Amsterdam data center. Found why a new Point of Presence was stuck for 2 months and how to unblock the process.
Combat: Implemented the improvements.
Outcome: The site launched in 2 weeks. The next launch (US) took 5 days.

Pricing model

2-4 weeks, fixed scope. Pricing scales with team size

Default engagement is 2-4 weeks. For high complexity it can extend to 2 months. The price reflects the scope: covering a 50-person org takes a different level of effort than a 150-person one. More people to interview, more context to map, more signal to correlate. Either way, you get early readouts within the first few days, a consolidated report at the end, and one alignment session to prep execution.
Stage Small companies up to 50 engineers Medium companies up to 200 engineers Large companies 200+ engineers
Recon - Engineering & team assessment $5k-10k $10k-20k $20k-30k
*Final price can change based on the complexity of the landscape (systems, org structure, and access constraints).*
Why it pays for itself
A team of 10 engineers, a tech lead, and a PM costs roughly $60K/month to run. One month of building in the wrong direction - misread requirements, a quietly abandoned decision, a blocker no one escalated - is $60K gone with nothing to show. Recon for a team this size costs $5-10K and runs in parallel with your work. It finds the misalignment while the month is still happening - not after the damage is done
Does it make sense?
After Recon, you can take one of three paths:
  1. Take it into implementation (HQ or Combat)
  2. Continue Recon for another month if we need to go deeper
  3. Stop and execute internally with what you have
Book a discovery call

Let’s discuss your case

In our initial call, I’ll clarify your current situation and outline quick wins and solution options - with indicative timelines and pricing. If the approach resonates, you can either implement it in-house or bring me in to help

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