The Ownership Diagnostic
A senior review of what you own, what you can prove, and what to fix first.
Overview
Most businesses discover their ownership gaps during the transaction that needed them closed. The Diagnostic exists so you discover them first.
It is a fixed-scope engagement led by Aurelia Mitchell Durant. It is not a filing service, a legal audit, or a subscription. It is a structured examination of the ownership layer beneath your brand, what the business owns today, what it will need to own for what comes next, and the distance between the two.
The Diagnostic is a fixed-fee engagement. Fees are confirmed before work begins and depend on the scope and complexity of the assets, agreements, and ownership environment under review.
What the Diagnostic examines
Ownership. What the business believes it owns (marks, content, methods, data, relationships, goodwill) and what evidence supports each claim. Chain of title. Contributor and contractor rights. Registrations against reality.
Exposure. Where the business is creating obligations or granting rights without governance. Legacy agreements. Platform and AI-tool terms. Automated and delegated communications made in the brand's name.
Monetization. Whether the ownership position can support what the business wants to do next (license, expand, raise, partner, sell) and where what the business would need to own, and control, for that next move to hold the commercial outcome.
Sequence. What to address first, what can wait, and what to stop worrying about. Prioritized by commercial consequence, not legal category.
What you receive
A written Strategic Findings & Roadmap document covering all four dimensions, with each finding rated by severity and sequenced by priority. A private debrief session to walk through the findings and the roadmap. Where findings indicate legal work, that work is identified and scoped separately. You decide whether and where to pursue it.
Legal services, where engaged, are provided through Rimon and are subject to its conflicts and engagement procedures.
Who this is for
Businesses with revenue, complexity, and a next move. Founders preparing for licensing, investment, or sale. Companies whose brand, content, or methods carry the enterprise value. Organizations adopting AI-enabled production without ownership governance behind it.
It is not designed for pre-revenue ventures or for anyone seeking a trademark filing alone.
Engagement terms
Fixed scope. Fees and timing are confirmed after an initial Fit Conversation and depend on the size and complexity of the portfolio under review.
Preparing for an ownership review
What should founders organize before an ownership review or investor diligence?
Begin with a short inventory of the assets that matter to the business’s next move. For each one, identify the creator, approximate creation date, entity involved, and documents addressing ownership or permitted use.
Gather, where relevant:
- Founder contribution records and agreements covering work created before formation
- Signed contributor and contractor agreements, including IP schedules
- Assignments, licenses, and records of changes between entities
- Documents identifying restrictions on third-party materials
- A list of missing records and questions requiring review
Keep draft, unsigned, and executed documents clearly labeled. Note who can help locate missing information. An organized record helps establish the scope of a review and identify what needs attention; it does not, by itself, resolve an ownership question.
For an initial Fit Conversation, share only a high-level description of the business and the planned transaction. Do not send confidential agreements or ownership records through the website.
The Ownership Diagnostic is an advisory engagement. If the findings indicate legal work, that work is scoped separately through Rimon’s intake and engagement process.
Next step
The first step is a Fit Conversation: 15 minutes, no charge. It is a scoping call, not an advice call. We establish whether the Diagnostic matches your situation and what it would cover. No legal or strategic advice is given on this call, and no attorney-client relationship is formed by it. It is intended for those considering the Diagnostic.
The Ownership Diagnostic is a strategic advisory engagement and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship.