Opportunity Intelligence

Resource or opportunity?

A genuine resource and a proven opportunity are two separate findings. They get treated as one decision, and they are two. Here is a worked case, hypothetical, so the line between them is concrete rather than abstract.

The situation

Six years building onboarding. New starters ramp faster because of it. Three friends have asked to be walked through how it works.

Resource: yes

That is a documented process, tested over six years, with a result attached to it. It is more solid than an idea or a hunch: it is a thing that exists and has already worked more than once.

Most of us stop the analysis here, because this part feels like the answer. It is only half of one.

Opportunity: unproven

Three friends asking is interest. Zero payments, zero bookings, zero dates set.

Interest is the cheapest thing a person can give you. It is free to express and carries zero obligation afterwards. It is pleasant to receive. Evidence is what costs the other person something.

What would move it

Ask what they did about onboarding last quarter, and what it cost them.

That question is harder to answer politely. It asks about behaviour that has already happened rather than behaviour someone imagines having. A person who spent money, time or attention on this problem last quarter is telling you something. A person who let it slide is telling you something too.