Closed Loop

How we work

Find the constraint.
Agree the number.
Price the value.

You should leave the first conversation knowing three things: what is actually broken, which number we are going to move, and what that costs — before any money changes hands. Below is the whole method, and a calculator so you can run the numbers yourself first.

How Closed Loop diagnoses and prices workStart with the question "what is your problem?". A business is either supply-constrained — revenue comes in but leaks out of a clogged pipe — or demand-constrained — the pipe is clean but empty. One diagnostic question each finds the constraint. From the constraint we agree one KPI with a baseline and target, work out what the problem costs per year, and set a fixed fee at ten to twenty per cent of that first-year value. When the constraint is removed the next one appears, and the loop runs again.What's yourproblem?SUPPLY-CONSTRAINEDplenty coming in, leaking before the end“10× the business tomorrow — what breaks first?”DEMAND-CONSTRAINEDclean pipe, nothing in it“what would you do to 10× what comes in?”the constraintwhat breaks firstone KPIbaseline → target£ per yearcost of the problemfixed fee10–20% of year oneremove it → the next constraint appears → go again

Revenue is water. The job is finding the clog, or finding the tap — then proving the pipe carries more than it did.

Three steps

Each one is a gate. None is skippable.

request → constraint → number → fee
01

Diagnose the constraint, not the request.

Most enquiries arrive as a solution — "we need an AI agent that does X". The request is rarely the problem. A business only grows by removing whatever is constraining it, and at the top level there are two kinds: supply-constrained (work comes in and leaks out — no-shows, no follow-up, a manual step everyone is queued behind) or demand-constrained (the pipe is clean and there is nothing in it). One question each, and then we listen. Sometimes the honest answer is that the fix is a hire, not software. You get told that too.

You get: A written diagnosis: which constraint, where it sits in your flow, and what breaks first at 10×.

02

Agree one number before any money moves.

"Feel less busy" cannot be measured, so it cannot be delivered. Before a build is scoped we agree a single KPI with you — a baseline today and a target for when the system is in production. Twelve booked appointments a week, not five. Ninety per cent of proposals drafted before a human touches them. That number is the gate criterion in the brief: it is what "done" is checked against, and it is what you hold us to.

You get: A one-page KPI sheet: the metric, the baseline, the target, and how it will be measured.

03

Price on the value, with the maths shown.

Not hourly — an hourly rate pays the slower engineer more for the same result, which is the wrong incentive on both sides. Instead we work out what the constraint costs you in a year (hours × rate, missed enquiries × deal value, the launch you keep postponing) and set a fixed fee at 10–20% of the first-year value. You should be able to see a 5–10× return before you say yes. If the budget is smaller than the number, we cut the scope to a V1 — we do not cut the price.

You get: A fixed-fee V1 scope with the value calculation on the same page as the fee.

What is it costing you?

Run the numbers before we do.

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48 working weeks a year. Estimates, not a quote — the real figures come out of the diagnosis, and they are usually higher, because nobody counts the second-order cost until asked.

What the problem costs you a year£0
Value of the fix in year one£0
Where a fixed fee for this typically sits£0 – £0Return in year one: —

Ask how we got to the number. We will always walk you through it — that is the point of showing the working.

Honestly

Where this method says no.

The constraint is people, not software.
A service business that is supply-constrained sometimes just needs to hire. We will say so, and we will only propose tooling — screening, scheduling, onboarding — where it genuinely removes the bottleneck.
There is no measurable number.
If we cannot agree a KPI with a baseline, we do not take the work. "Productivity" is not a metric, and a build with no number attached is the one that ends in "we are not getting the value we paid for".
The fee is above the budget.
The fee does not move; the scope does. A V1 that moves the number is worth more to you than a full build that had its corners cut to hit a figure.
The fee would be under about £2,000.
Below that, the value is not there for a proper diagnosis, a build and the evidence that it worked. We will say so and point you at a cheaper route — a hire, an off-the-shelf tool, or doing nothing yet. That is not a discount conversation; it is the method saying no.
The number does not move.
That is what the baseline is for. Every engagement is reviewed against the KPI sheet at 30, 60 and 90 days, in writing. If the system is not moving the number you will know before we do the next one.

Get in touch

Bring the problem, not the solution.

What is hurting and roughly what it costs you. You will get the diagnosis questions back, and a straight answer on whether it is worth a call — including when it isn’t.

Prefer email? hello@closed-loop.dev

Goes straight to an inbox, nothing else. No list, no tracking — reply-to is you.