Executive Analysis · Prepared for the CEOs
A CPA-led, education-first channel sources warm risk reviews; a productized assessment converts them; and recurring revenue books into whichever company owns the client — Airiam for non-dental SMBs, Canopy / VELLA for dental and DSOs — with program costs split once and lane revenue kept clean.
Executive summary
The package proposes one CPA-led channel with two independent fulfillment lanes. Airiam serves non-dental SMBs with its standalone AP-fraud, embezzlement, AI-risk and security platform; Canopy / VELLA serves dental practices and DSOs with the same control logic embedded in the PMS. CPAs are the trust connection on a deliberately clean no-fee, no-commission basis. Education comes first; a mostly-automated risk review is the conversion engine; each finding maps to a named paid engagement.
The design is sound and the economics clear their own bar. The shared cash at risk is modest, the lanes keep separate revenue, and the model returns roughly 3.4× revenue-to-cost over three years even at small pilot scale.
Recommendation
Approve the 90-day pilot, conditional on three gates — counsel sign-off on the no-fee language and authorization flow, confirmed CPE and dental-CE partners, and two validated dry reviews proving the 2.5–4.0 hour delivery target. Hold the Day-90 decision to conversion rates and delivery cost, not to an absolute revenue figure given the small pilot sample.
How the channel works
A CPA refers a client into the lane that fits — client type alone decides the lane. The CPA hosts education but never touches client systems, never handles client financial data, and takes no referral fee. The client authorizes Airiam or Canopy directly.
CPA — Trusted Advisor
No fee · No commission · Owns the relationship. Refers each client into the lane that fits.
Shared security, BEC and MSP findings from the dental lane route back to Airiam.
Why this matters
The strategic logic is shared customer acquisition without shared revenue entanglement. One education engine and one CPA recruiting motion feed both companies; each lane keeps its own pricing, delivery, and column in the model — so two firms split the cost of building a channel while neither dilutes its own economics.
Non-dental SMB platform owner
Dental & DSO PMS-embedded owner
A partner-led growth channel stood up for roughly $14K of shared one-time investment (content, accreditation, branded materials, platform). Education-first framing lowers buyer resistance, the no-fee model keeps the relationship clean and defensible, and the productized review caps delivery cost so margin holds as volume grows.
The conversion engine
The review is the part most likely to make or break unit economics, and the SOP treats it correctly — as a product. Target effort is 2.5–4.0 hours, with Sentinel (Airiam) or VELLA (dental) automating evidence gathering and findings generation. Six domains apply to every client — AP controls, segregation of duties, embezzlement indicators, BEC/impersonation, security/resilience, AI governance — plus a seventh dental/PMS-workflow domain in the Canopy lane. Each finding maps to a named next-step engagement, so the report doubles as a quote sheet.
Watch item for the CEOs
The ~$900 (Airiam) and ~$700 (Canopy) delivery cost per review only holds if the anomaly scan, identity/email checks and backup/endpoint snapshot are genuinely automated. The SOP rightly says to push any un-automated step into the productization backlog rather than absorb analyst hours — the two dry runs exist to prove this before scale.
The economics
The figures below come from the model's own driver assumptions. They are modeled expected values for a small pilot, not forecasts or commitments — closed-engagement counts are fractional because they are probability-weighted across the funnel. Pricing and per-review cost cells remain assumptions to confirm before they reach client paper.
| Driver | Airiam SMB | Canopy Dental | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPA firms recruited (pilot) | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Risk reviews completed | ~9 | ~7 | ~16 |
| Closed engagements (expected) | ~1.2 | ~1.2 | ~2.3 |
| Annual recurring per client | $21,600 | $10,800 | — |
| Year-1 contract value per client | $26,600 | $13,300 | — |
| 3-year value per client | ~$60,600 | ~$32,400 | — |
| ARR added | ~$25,500 | ~$12,500 | ~$38,000 |
| 3-year gross revenue | ~$71,500 | ~$37,500 | ~$109,000 |
| Lane direct cost | ~$11,500 | ~$6,900 | ~$18,400 |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Shared one-time program investment | $14,000 |
| Total program cost (direct + shared) | ~$32,400 |
| Net contribution, Year 1 (post-shared) | ~$14,400 |
| Net contribution, 3-year (post-shared) | ~$76,600 |
| 3-year ROI | ~236% |
| 3-year revenue : cost | ~3.4 : 1 |
| CAC per closed deal | ~$13,900 |
| Break-even (Year-1 basis) | ~1.6 closed deals |
Even at pilot scale the program models ~2.3 closed deals against a ~1.6-deal break-even, so it clears its own bar with room to spare. The three-year picture is strongly positive because recurring revenue compounds against a fixed, one-time setup cost; small improvements in close rate move it materially.
What must be true
Legal & independence Gate
Counsel must approve the no-fee participation language and client authorization flow before any broad outreach. The clean CPA boundary is what keeps this defensible.
Credit accreditation Gate
CPE and dental-CE partners must be confirmed; until then, market as "eligible for credit through the approved partner," never as credit awarded by Airiam or Canopy.
Delivery automation Gate
The 2.5–4.0 hour review must be validated in two dry runs, one per lane. Incomplete automation quietly erodes margin — the biggest silent risk in the model.
PHI handling
Where protected health information is in scope on the dental side, a BAA is executed before access, and the review never requests clinical records.
Small-sample variance
With ~2.3 modeled closes, real outcomes will be lumpy. Judge the pilot on funnel conversion rates and delivery cost, not on an exact revenue number.
Source validation
Framework and dental-risk references (NIST CSF 2.0, NIST AI RMF, ACFE, dental embezzlement language) are flagged for confirmation before client-facing marketing.
The path
Counsel sign-off; identify CPE/CE partners; select pilot firms.
Finalize briefing, intake, scorecard & report; run two dry reviews.
Secure 3–5 CPA firms; run CPA-only briefings.
Run CPA-hosted education events through approved partners.
Run productized reviews; convert findings to lane-specific SOWs.
Compare actuals to model; decide whether to scale.