Decide if the entry deserves a pilot
Two to three weeks to write down your assumptions, scan what could kill the entry and fix the GO, NO-GO and GO-IF thresholds before optimism can move them.
Scale of test: 1:50 answers on documents, 1:10 tests your assumptions and signs the thresholds, 1:1 runs a live pilot with real buyers.
A page from the file
| Risk | Domain | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| A Japanese-language sales team is a precondition. | Channel | Blocking |
| The price sits above local references. | Pricing | Testable in the pilot |
| The certification path is unclear. | Regulatory | Testable in the pilot |
| Budgets are decided in spring. | Timing | Acceptable |
Blocking means: do not pilot until it is resolved.
What you receive
Entry thesis
One falsifiable sentence: who will buy what, at what price, through which channel, and what would prove you wrong.
Assumption inventory
Every belief imported from your home market, where it came from and what it costs if it is false.
Kill-risk scan
Regulatory, channel, pricing, cultural and timing risks, each rated blocking, testable or acceptable.
Pilot design with signed thresholds
The three to five tests that would settle it, and the numbers that decide, fixed before the pilot starts.
How the three weeks run
Thesis and inventory
A 90-minute kickoff with the decision-maker. The thesis, the assumptions and a short intelligence sweep.
Risks and calibration
The kill-risk scan, three to five calibration conversations in the target market, and the pilot design.
Report and debrief
A report you can read in thirty minutes, and a 60-minute live debrief.
One of three
PILOT: this entry deserves a live test. DON’T: here is why. PREPARE FIRST: here is what to fix at home before a test.
Both answers are deliverables
- Pilot: the entry deserves a live test, and you get the design, the scope and the price.
- Don’t: you get the reasons and what would need to change to reopen. That is a deliverable, not a failed sale.
- The recommendation is decided by a person. It is never generated.
Credited in full against the Pilot if you proceed. The fee does not depend on the recommendation.
Qualify the decision
Questions about the audit
What is a market reality audit?
A two-to-three-week engagement that tests whether an international entry plan survives contact with the ground. It ends with a falsifiable thesis, a kill-risk scan and a pilot design with signed GO, NO-GO and GO-IF thresholds.
Is the audit credited against the pilot?
Yes. The $9,500 fee is credited in full against the Market Entry Pilot if you proceed.
Can the audit tell me not to go?
Yes. Don’t and prepare first are valid recommendations, delivered with the same care as a pilot recommendation.
Qualify the decision
Describe the decision. A person reads it and answers with your first step: audit, report or pilot.
- 1:50Report
- 1:10Audit
- 1:1Pilot
- 0Prepare first