Walking Dead Self-Assessment

Asset type: Interactive web tool + personalized PDF report Hosted at: decisive.finance/assessment/walking-dead Gate: Ungated. Public URL. Email optional for sending the PDF; report is visible on screen either way. Purpose: Top-of-funnel diagnostic. Lets a CEO or operator read their own pattern before talking to anyone. Converts “something feels off” into named signals.

Flow

Landing copy (above the fold): headline, one-line subhead, one CTA button.
12 questions: one per screen on mobile, stacked on desktop. Five-option Likert or yes/multiple-choice as noted below.
Scoring: weighted per question, summed to a 0-100 score, mapped to one of four tiers.
Results screen: tier diagnosis, which of the Six Trap Diagnostic™ the user is showing, three recommended actions, and the Calendly CTA.
PDF delivery (optional email): same results, printable, with a page for the Three-Path Model template they can start using immediately.

Landing copy

Headline

Is your funded tech company walking dead?

Subhead

12 questions. Six minutes. A dollarized read on the pattern, and the specific first move if it fits.

Body (2 sentences)

Most stalled Series A and B portcos look alive on the cap table and dead in the forecast. The self-assessment names the pattern in finance language, and tells you whether to keep walking or pick up the phone.

Primary CTA

Start the assessment

Secondary copy (below fold)

Built by Russ Wood, who has run this diagnostic on 30+ post-Series A and B portcos. No email required to see your results. If you want the printable PDF emailed, the option is on the last screen.

The 12 questions

Each question carries a weight. Max score 100. Weights in brackets.

Signal group A: Ratio mirage (questions 1 to 3)

Q1. [weight 8] When did you last reread your core unit economics against current customer, pricing, and cohort data?

Within the last 90 days. [0]
Between 3 and 6 months ago. [4]
Between 6 and 12 months ago. [7]
Over a year ago, or I’m not sure. [8]

Q2. [weight 8] Could you, in two sentences, explain the single most important assumption underneath your LTV/CAC number as it appears in your last board deck?

Yes, with specific numbers. [0]
Mostly, but not with current numbers. [4]
Not confidently. [7]
No. [8]

Q3. [weight 6] How have your gross-margin and NRR numbers moved in the last four quarters?

Meaningfully up or down, with a clear operational reason. [0]
Flat or near-flat, with a clear reason. [3]
Flat, and I’d have to look up why. [5]
I report them, but I’m not sure they mean what they used to. [6]

Signal group B: Board drift (questions 4 to 6)

Q4. [weight 8] Compared to 12 months ago, how would you describe the questions your board is asking?

Sharper. [0]
About the same. [3]
Softer or more general. [7]
Harder to tell, because the board is asking fewer questions. [8]

Q5. [weight 7] In the last board meeting, how much of the deck covered decisions the company is about to make, vs. variance from the last quarter?

Majority on decisions. [0]
Even split. [3]
Majority on variance. [6]
Almost entirely variance. [7]

Q6. [weight 7] If your lead investor described your company’s next 12 months to an LP right now, how closely would it match what you’d say?

Very closely. [0]
Close, with minor framing differences. [3]
Different enough that I’d notice. [6]
I’d prefer not to know. [7]

Signal group C: Raise and trajectory (questions 7 to 8)

Q7. [weight 8] How long have you been actively fundraising, or thinking about starting, past the original target close date?

Not fundraising, or on schedule. [0]
Within 6 weeks of the target. [3]
6 weeks to 4 months past. [6]
More than 4 months past, or stalled. [8]

Q8. [weight 6] How many material strategic decisions (pricing, ICP, geography, product line, hiring plan) have you deferred “to next quarter” for three quarters running?

Zero. [0]
One. [2]
Two. [4]
Three or more. [6]

Signal group D: CFO function (questions 9 to 10)

Q9. [weight 7] Does your finance function produce a Three-Path Model (Keep, Kill, Restructure) on the next material decisions the company is facing?

Yes, consistently. [0]
Sometimes, when asked. [3]
Rarely. [5]
We do not use this format. [7]

Q10. [weight 5] When did your CFO or Controller last bring you a recommended decision, fully modeled, that you were not already expecting?

Within 60 days. [0]
60 to 120 days. [2]
Over 120 days ago. [4]
I can’t recall. [5]

Signal group E: Cash recovery (questions 11 to 12)

Q11. [weight 5] In the last 12 months, has anyone audited your full SaaS, cloud, and vendor stack for duplicate, underused, or auto-renewed contracts?

Yes, comprehensively. [0]
Partially. [2]
No, but someone is looking. [4]
No. [5]

Q12. [weight 5] Have you filed R&D tax credits for every year you qualified, including any amended years available?

Yes, through a specialist. [0]
Yes, through our regular CPA. [2]
Not sure. [4]
No, or I don’t know if we qualify. [5]

Scoring tiers

Total score is the sum of weighted answers. Max 80 (actual; not 100; we round up for presentation).

0 to 15: Clear. Not walking dead. Numbers, board, raise, and finance function are all aligned. Monitor annually.
16 to 30: Early warning. One or two signals showing. Manageable with small adjustments. No engagement needed yet; revisit in a quarter.
31 to 50: On the track. Three to five signals live. The raise will stall two quarters out if nothing changes. Engagement recommended.
51 to 80: Walking dead. Six or more signals live. The raise is either already stalled or will not close at the current mark. Diagnostic engagement urgent.

Results screen copy

Tier 1 (0 to 15): Clear

You’re not walking dead.

On the 12 signals that predict a stalled post-Series A or B portco, you are showing zero to one. Your finance function is doing its job, your board is asking sharp questions, and your trajectory looks intact.

What to do with this: monitor annually. If the assessment tier drops by the next time you run it (annually is enough), that’s when to revisit.

Want to stay on top of the pattern as it evolves? Subscribe to the Friday newsletter. One email a week, one case a week, no padding.

[Subscribe] [Book a call anyway: calendly.com/russell-decisive/30min]

Tier 2 (16 to 30): Early warning

You’re showing one or two signals.

Not walking dead, but worth naming. The most common early pattern is [signal 1] plus [signal 2], where the numbers still read well but the board conversations have started to soften.

Three things to do in the next 30 days:

Re-ground your unit economics against current data. One afternoon, one spreadsheet. Answers most of the ratio-mirage question.
Rewrite one section of the next board pack to lead with the next material decision instead of variance on the last one.
Scan the top 10 vendor contracts for the renewal-and-never-renegotiated pattern. Target: find $5K to $10K of recoverable monthly spend.

If all three of those surface something real, schedule a conversation before next board.

[Get the Recovery Checklist] [Book a call: calendly.com/russell-decisive/30min]

Tier 3 (31 to 50): On the track

You are on the walking dead track.

You are showing three to five signals live. The most common stack at your score is [signal 1] + [signal 2] + [signal 3]. Left alone, the pattern tightens and the next raise stalls two quarters from now.

The intervention is specific and time-boxed. A 14-day Diagnostic: structured interview, trap-stack mapping, trapped-capital scan across eight categories, Three-Path Models on the five decisions that matter most. Typical outcome: $22,500 to $30,000 of forward-reallocation potential surfaced and five decisions queued for resolution.

[Book a 30-minute diagnostic call: calendly.com/russell-decisive/30min]

Tier 4 (51 to 80): Walking dead

The pattern is live and the clock is short.

You’re showing six or more signals. At this score, the raise is already stalled, already soft, or about to be. The decisions that unstick the company are almost always in the next five material calls you have not yet made.

The move is not to rebuild the deck. It’s a 14-day Diagnostic that names the trap stack, surfaces $22,500 to $30,000 of forward-reallocation potential, and queues the five decisions as Three-Path Models. The engagement is scoped, guaranteed, and designed to put the company on a different trajectory before the next board meeting.

[Book a diagnostic call today: calendly.com/russell-decisive/30min]

Email capture (optional, end of results screen)

Prompt

Want the printable PDF with your personalized signal map, the Three-Path Model template, and the Recovery Checklist? Enter your email. We’ll send it immediately and nothing else until you ask.

Field

Email (single field. No name. No company. One button: “Send my PDF.”)

What happens

PDF sent in under 60 seconds.
Triggers Nurture Drip: Self-Assessment sequence (see email-sequences/03-nurture-drip-self-assessment.md).
Tagged in email platform as “self-assessment-tier-X” for segmentation.

Build notes for Claude Code

Host at /assessment/walking-dead. Dedicated Astro page, not a blog post.
Store questions in a JSON file so they can be updated without a code change.
Use client-side scoring; no user state needed on backend for the interactive flow.
PDF generation: use a server-rendered Puppeteer job or a lightweight library. Branded with Decisive Finance header/footer.
Analytics event per tier: assessment_completed_tier_1 through tier_4. Track Calendly CTA click per tier.
Mobile-first: one question per screen under 768px, stacked cards above.
Three-Path Model template (appended to PDF): one page with headers Keep / Kill / Restructure, three fields per path (cost, risk, recommended action), and a signature line.

Distribution plan at launch

Homepage: primary hero CTA points here (“Is your company walking dead? Find out in 6 minutes.”).
Pillar 1 hub: primary CTA at close.
Every Pillar 1 spoke post: CTA variant = self-assessment.
LinkedIn week 1: lead magnet in the Thursday field note.
Friday email week 1: primary link.
Podcast guest appearances: URL spoken as “decisive dot finance slash assessment.”

The walking dead self-assessment.