Founder dependency is a structural problem, not a motivation problem.
Most founders don't realise how deeply their business depends on them until they try to step back. The FDI gives you an objective, scored view of your dependency across every area of the business, before that moment arrives.
What It Is
The Founder Dependency Index is a diagnostic tool that scores your business across five pillars of dependency. Each pillar is scored independently, giving you a precise picture of where your business is most fragile and where structural change will create the most leverage.
What It Produces
A total FDI score out of 125, a pillar-by-pillar breakdown, and a dependency band, from Independent through to Critical Dependency. The score tells you where you are. The pillar breakdown tells you where to act first.
A business that cannot operate without its founder is not a scalable business. It is a well-paying job. The FDI tells you exactly where that dependency lives. What you do with it is the work.
Five areas. One clear picture.
The FDI measures dependency across five core business pillars. Each contains five questions scored 1 to 5. Each is scored independently. The result is a precise diagnostic, not a vague overview.
How much revenue generation and conversion relies on the founder directly.
How much decision-making authority is centralised in the founder.
How much client delivery quality depends on the founder's personal involvement.
How much the day-to-day running of the business depends on the founder.
How much the business's market presence and inbound rely on the founder personally.
Scoring
Each pillar contains 5 questions scored 1 to 5. Your total FDI score reflects the combined dependency rating across all five pillars, placing you in one of five bands:
Built for founders who are scaling beyond themselves.
The FDI is designed for business owners who are actively involved in the day-to-day and want an objective view of their structural dependency before it becomes the ceiling.
This is not for: early-stage founders still finding product-market fit, or businesses that are intentionally founder-led by design. The FDI assumes a business that has product, revenue, and team, and is now asking what it needs to structurally change.
Your answers are private. There is no pitch on the other side. Only your results.
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