# Strategic Subtraction Audit ## Executive summary Three removals do most of the work here. **Sunset Reports Plus** — it serves fewer than 20 accounts yet eats ~10 support hours a week plus engineering maintenance, and it's tied to none of your growth priorities. **Cut the monthly webinar** — two days of prep for sub‑1% conversion is the clearest negative‑ROI activity you have, and it's the easiest to remove today. **Productize the manual CSV exports** for your 12 enterprise clients so engineering stops hand‑building files off‑roadmap — this is a transformation, not a cut, because those exports are load‑bearing for enterprise retention. Together these free roughly one support person's week, ~16 founder/sales hours a month, and your only engineer's roadmap capacity — which you then point directly at Pro migration, self‑serve onboarding, and Core churn. The fourth move, converting manual onboarding into self‑serve, is the compounding one: it protects the 15% setup‑fee revenue while removing the labor and lowering time‑to‑value. --- ## Inventory and scoring Scales: **Value Contribution** 1 (negligible) → 5 (critical to revenue/growth). **Resource Consumption** 1 (trivial) → 5 (heavy time/money/attention). **Removal Complexity** 1 (unwind in a day) → 5 (deeply entangled with contracts/expectations). | Item | Value | Resource | Removal Complexity | Action | |---|:---:|:---:|:---:|---| | Core plan (60% rev) | 5 | 4 | 5 | **Keep — invest** | | Pro plan (25% rev) | 5 | 2 | 5 | **Keep — invest / reallocation target** | | Manual onboarding & setup fees (15% rev) | 3 | 4 | 4 | **Sunset manual delivery → self‑serve** (preserve revenue) | | Reports Plus legacy add‑on (<20 accts) | 1 | 4 | 3 | **Sunset** | | Hand‑built CSV exports (12 enterprise) | 4 | 4 | 5 | **Keep capability, cut manual labor → productize** | | Monthly product webinar (<1% conv.) | 1 | 3 | 1 | **Cut** (repurpose recording) | | Weekly all‑hands (6 people) | 2 | 2 | 1 | **Pause → biweekly** | | Daily standups (6 people) | 3 | 2 | 1 | **Keep — trim to 10 min** | | Webinar platform subscription (implied tool) | 1 | 1 | 1 | **Cut** (follows webinar) | | Reports Plus codebase + billing SKU (hidden eng overhead) | 1 | 2 | 3 | **Sunset** (follows add‑on) | | Bespoke export scripts maintenance (hidden — each breaks/needs patching) | 3 | 3 | 4 | **Retire on productization** | Two items look like removal candidates but are **load‑bearing keeps**: the CSV exports (your 12 enterprise clients depend on them — cut the *manual method*, never the capability) and the manual‑onboarding revenue (15% of the top line — replace the *delivery mechanism*, keep the money). Daily standups stay because for a six‑person team they're cheap coordination, not overhead. --- ## Ranked subtraction opportunities **1. Reports Plus — Sunset (Value 1, Resource 4).** The highest‑leverage removal. A dying add‑on on fewer than 20 accounts is absorbing ~10 support hours weekly plus quiet engineering maintenance and a billing SKU, while contributing nothing to Pro migration, self‑serve, or Core churn. Sunset rather than hard‑cut because you should first verify whether any of those <20 accounts overlap with your 12 enterprise clients — if a strategic account leans on it, you migrate them deliberately rather than yanking it. Freeze new sign‑ups immediately (stops the bleed on day one), then run a 60‑day migration to Pro or off. *Ripple:* ~10 support hrs/week return to one person → redeployed to Core churn work. Engineering stops patching the add‑on → roadmap time back. The billing SKU disappears → **simpler pricing page, which itself reduces friction on Pro upgrades**. Fewer product surfaces means support can go deep on Core/Pro instead of spreading thin, and it means fewer edge cases to document when you build self‑serve onboarding. Any converted accounts become Pro revenue — turning a subtraction into a migration win. **2. Monthly webinar — Cut (Value 1, Resource 3, Complexity 1).** Your fastest win and the cleanest ROI failure: two prep days a month for under 1% conversion, with no contract or dependency holding it in place. Cut the live recurring commitment now; record the best segment once as evergreen material. *Ripple:* ~16 hrs/month of founder/sales prep returns. The webinar platform subscription gets cancelled → cash freed. Sales stops feeding a 1% funnel and **redirects to Pro‑migration outreach**, where existing high‑intent customers convert far better than a cold webinar ever did. The salvaged recording becomes onboarding content, feeding the self‑serve build. **3. Manual CSV exports — Keep capability, cut the manual labor → productize (Value 4, Resource 4, Complexity 5).** This is the biggest engineering unlock but *not* a cut — 12 enterprise clients have these files wired into their own workflows, so removing the capability would churn your largest accounts. Instead, build a self‑serve scheduled export once and retire the hand‑building. *Ripple:* Engineering stops doing bespoke export work → sustained roadmap capacity, and the single‑point‑of‑failure key‑person risk (one engineer = all exports) goes away. Enterprise "can you send me this month's file?" tickets vanish. Positioned as a **Pro/enterprise feature, the export now justifies the Pro price and strengthens enterprise retention** rather than draining you. **4. Manual onboarding → self‑serve (Value 3, Resource 4, Complexity 4).** The compounding move, and the one directly named in your priorities. Sunset the hand‑delivered onboarding, keep the 15% revenue by productizing the setup fee (a lower low‑touch fee, or fold it into Pro). *Ripple:* Support and founder stop delivering onboarding by hand. Onboarding becomes consistent instead of varying by who ran it. Critically, **lower time‑to‑value improves activation → reduces Core churn**, and a smoother path **makes the Pro upgrade easier** — hitting two priorities at once, and letting you grow onboarding volume without adding headcount. **5. Weekly all‑hands → biweekly (Value 2, Resource 2, Complexity 1).** Reversible and minor, but real: a six‑person team that already meets daily doesn't need a separate weekly hour. Pause (don't kill) to biweekly and reassess. *Ripple:* ~3 person‑hours/week back, mostly protecting engineering's deep‑work blocks. Low stakes, easily reversed if coordination suffers. --- ## 30 / 60 / 90‑day roadmap **Phase 1 — Days 0–30 (fast, no‑build wins that free the capacity for later phases)** | Action | Owner | Timeline | Expected outcome | |---|---|---|---| | Cancel next webinar; stop the recurring format | Founder | Week 1 | ~16 hrs/month reclaimed; sales freed | | Cancel webinar platform subscription | Founder/ops | Week 1 (after final session) | Recurring cost eliminated | | Move all‑hands to biweekly; trim standups to 10 min | Founder | Week 1 | ~3 person‑hrs/week back | | Freeze new Reports Plus sign‑ups | Founder + Sales | Week 2 | Stops growth of the liability immediately | | Audit Reports Plus accounts (which are enterprise/strategic, revenue, Pro migration path) | Sales | Weeks 2–4 | Confirms nothing load‑bearing before removal | **Phase 2 — Days 30–60 (prep‑dependent, funded by Phase 1's freed time)** | Action | Owner | Timeline | Expected outcome | |---|---|---|---| | Build self‑serve scheduled CSV export covering all 12 enterprise clients | Engineering | Weeks 4–8 | Manual exports eliminated; enterprise retention feature shipped | | Migrate Reports Plus accounts to Pro or off | Sales + Support | Weeks 5–8 | ~10 support hrs/week permanently freed by ~day 60; some Pro conversions | | Spec self‑serve onboarding using repurposed webinar content | Founder + Engineering | Weeks 6–8 | Build‑ready onboarding flow | **Phase 3 — Days 60–90 (the compounding builds the earlier removals unlocked)** | Action | Owner | Timeline | Expected outcome | |---|---|---|---| | Ship self‑serve onboarding v1; productize the setup fee | Engineering + Founder | Weeks 8–12 | Manual onboarding retired; 15% revenue preserved; time‑to‑value down | | Decommission Reports Plus codebase + billing SKU | Engineering | Weeks 10–12 | Product surface and pricing simplified | | Stand up proactive Core churn program with freed support capacity | Support lead | Weeks 8–12 | Health checks + at‑risk outreach → Core churn reduction | Each step unlocks the next: cutting the webinar frees the founder/sales time that funds the Reports Plus migration and onboarding spec; sunsetting Reports Plus frees the support and engineering hours that fund the export and onboarding builds; those two builds permanently remove your two engineering drags, leaving sustained roadmap capacity for Pro‑migration work. --- ## Reallocation plan | Freed resource | Amount | Redirected to | Growth priority served | |---|---|---|---| | Support hours (Reports Plus) | ~10 hrs/week | Proactive Core churn program: health scores, at‑risk outreach, better docs | Cut Core churn | | Founder/sales hours (webinar) | ~16 hrs/month | Sales → Pro‑migration outreach; Founder → self‑serve onboarding spec | Move to Pro; ship self‑serve | | Engineering time (Reports Plus maint. + manual CSV + manual onboarding) | Ongoing roadmap capacity | Build self‑serve export, then self‑serve onboarding | Ship self‑serve; Pro (export as Pro feature); enterprise retention | | Webinar platform subscription | Recurring $ | In‑app onboarding tooling (product tour/guidance) | Ship self‑serve | | Meeting time (all‑hands trim) | ~3 person‑hrs/week | Protected engineering deep‑work blocks | Ship self‑serve | | Attention / cognitive load (fewer product surfaces) | Qualitative | Deeper Core/Pro support expertise → faster resolution | Cut Core churn | --- ## Communication templates **To customers — Reports Plus sunset (warm, reassuring, action‑clear)** > Subject: An update on Reports Plus — and how we'll help you transition > > Hi [Name], > > We're writing to let you know we'll be winding down the Reports Plus add‑on over the next 60 days. We've made the decision to focus our full engineering and support effort on the core product experience you rely on every day, and Reports Plus no longer fits that path. > > Here's what this means for you: you'll keep full access until [date], and we'd like to move you onto our Pro plan, which covers the reporting most Reports Plus customers use — at no disruption to your workflow. Your account manager will reach out this week to walk through the switch and answer any questions. > > Nothing changes today, and nothing will change without us guiding you through it. Thank you for being with us — reach out any time at [contact]. > > — [Founder], [Company] **To partners — winding down the monthly webinar (professional, collaborative, forward‑looking)** > Subject: Our monthly webinar is evolving > > Hi [Name], > > A quick heads‑up: we're retiring our recurring monthly product webinar to reinvest that time into shipping product improvements our customers have been asking for. We've valued having you involved. > > Rather than lose the content, we're producing an evergreen recorded version you can share with your audience on your own schedule — I'll send it over once it's ready. If you'd like to explore other ways to keep working together, I'm glad to find time. > > Thanks as always for the partnership. > > — [Founder], [Company] **To the team — the subtraction plan (candid, energizing, operator tone)** > Team — we're making a deliberate set of cuts, and I want to be clear up front: this is about focus, not about people. Every hour we free goes back to the three things that move us forward — getting customers onto Pro, shipping self‑serve onboarding, and killing Core churn. > > What we're stopping: Reports Plus is being sunset over 60 days (it's <20 accounts eating ~10 support hours a week). The monthly webinar ends now — under 1% conversion isn't worth two days of prep. Manual CSV exports and hand‑delivered onboarding get productized so engineering stops working off‑roadmap. All‑hands moves to biweekly; standups tighten to 10 minutes. > > What that buys us: Support — your reclaimed hours go into proactive churn work, not busywork; you'll go deeper on Core and Pro instead of spread thin. Sales — the webinar time becomes Pro‑migration outreach where we actually convert. Engineering — once the export and onboarding ship, the two things that keep pulling you off the roadmap are gone for good. > > I'll walk through the sequencing at the next standup. Bring pushback — if I've marked something for removal that's quietly holding up revenue, I want to hear it before we act. > > — [Founder] --- If it's useful, I can package this as a Word doc or one‑page board summary you can circulate.