Doing It In Public

We sell audits. So we ran one on ourselves.

Every revenue leak we found in our own business. Every fix as we ship it. No marketing fluff. If you want to know what an audit actually looks like, here it is.

Last updated: June 17, 2026

Here is the truth. We are a brand new company. We have sent 70+ cold emails this month and gotten zero replies. That is not a "they aren't interested" problem. That is a funnel problem in our own house.

So before we sell another audit, we ran the same 9-point review we sell for $497 on Vertex Autonomy itself. What follows is the full audit, every gap we found, the fix for each, and whether it has shipped yet.

If you are a trades business owner reading this, here is what we want you to take from it: this is exactly the kind of document you get when you hire us. Plain language, real numbers, no fluff, prioritized by revenue impact.

The Scorecard

Vertex Autonomy — Self Audit Snapshot
9
Gaps Found
4
Fixed
$0
MTD Revenue

The Gaps

1. Email auth not configured
In Progress
The ProblemCold pitches sent from a free @gmail.com address with no SPF, DKIM, or DMARC on the company domain. Filters route these to Promotions or Spam by default.
The FixStand up Google Workspace on vertexautonomy.io. Add SPF, DKIM, DMARC. Warm the domain 5/day for 14 days. Switch all outreach to timothy@vertexautonomy.io.
Revenue impact: this single fix is the difference between 70 emails reaching no one and 70 emails reaching primary inboxes.
2. No live customer review on site
Open
The ProblemZero social proof above the fold. Visitor lands, sees claims, has no way to verify them. Trust gap kills conversion before the pitch lands.
The FixFirst honest customer review goes on the homepage the moment we have it. Until then, this page (the self-audit) sits as honest proof in its place.
Revenue impact: trades buyers convert on reviews. No review = no buy.
3. GBP not verified yet
In Progress
The ProblemOur Google Business Profile is awaiting postcard verification. Until verified, we do not show up in Maps for "marketing consultant near me" or any local search.
The FixPostcard in transit. Once received, verify within 24 hours, complete profile to 100 percent, post weekly updates from day one.
Revenue impact: we sell GBP audits. We cannot show up in our own backyard until we fix our own. Eating our own cooking is the standard.
4. Cold email subject lines are generic
Open
The ProblemSubjects like "Quick question about [Business Name]" are the most pattern-matched spam triggers in trades inboxes. Open rates are likely below 10 percent.
The FixRewrite every subject line to reference one specific, observable gap on their GBP. "Your GBP photos are 4 years old" tests far better than any question hook.
Revenue impact: 3x open rate from the same send volume.
5. No proof page (until today)
Fixed
The ProblemSite claims results but shows no evidence. Skeptical visitor bounces.
The FixThis page. Updated as fixes ship and customer reviews land.
Revenue impact: gives traffic a credibility anchor while we build the partner wall.
6. Founding partners counter reads 0 of 10
Open
The ProblemAn empty counter feels worse than no counter. Honest, but works against momentum.
The FixKeep the counter, add context above it: "Round 1 just opened" plus the date. Signals fresh launch instead of failed launch.
Revenue impact: psychology of scarcity only works when the room feels active.
7. Single channel dependency on cold email
Fixed
The Problem100 percent of pipeline activity goes through one channel. When that channel underperforms, pipeline goes to zero.
The FixPartnership prospector running weekly. Content marketer running weekly. Local SEO specialist running weekly. Four channels now, not one.
Revenue impact: reduces single-point-of-failure on outreach.
8. No deliverability monitoring
Open
The ProblemWe send blind. No way to know if emails landed in inbox, Promotions, or Spam.
The FixAdd weekly seed-list deliverability test. Send to 5 monitored inboxes across Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo. Report inbox placement rate in CMO weekly review.
Revenue impact: we stop guessing why nothing converts.
9. Site has no analytics installed
Fixed
The ProblemCannot measure visitor count, source, scroll depth, or conversion path. Flying blind on the only thing we control.
The FixPlausible Analytics added to all pages. Privacy friendly, no cookie banner needed.
Revenue impact: we now know which channels actually drive site traffic.

Fixes Shipped

Every fix as it ships. Green means live in production. Yellow means in progress.

Meta descriptions added to all pages
Open Graph tags for social sharing
Twitter Card tags
Canonical URLs set
Favicon added
Analytics installed (Plausible)
Sitemap updated with all pages
robots.txt created
Security headers added
404 page created
Cold email subject lines rewritten (no more spam triggers)
Google Workspace email setup (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
Google Business Profile verification (postcard in mail)

What This Means In Revenue

Technical fixes are meaningless unless they move money. Here is what each gap was actually costing us.

Before

No meta descriptions on any page. When someone Googled us, Google pulled random text from the page. Potential customers saw gibberish in search results instead of a clear pitch. First impression, wasted.

Before

No Open Graph or Twitter Card tags. Any link shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter showed a blank preview — no image, no title, no description. Nobody clicks a blank card. Every share was a dead end.

Before

No analytics on any page. Zero visibility on who visits, where they come from, or what they click. We had no idea if our outreach was even driving traffic. Complete guesswork.

Before

Cold emails sent from a plain Gmail address with no domain authentication. No SPF, no DKIM, no DMARC. Those emails were almost certainly landing in spam. Seventy emails sent. Likely zero reached a primary inbox.

After

Every fix makes the site more visible in search, more clickable when shared, and more trustworthy when visited. We can now measure what works and double down. The email authentication fix alone could 10x reply rates — same emails, same pitch, but now they actually arrive.

We ran this audit on ourselves first.

Want us to find the same leaks in your business? The first 10 are free.

Claim a Free Audit