Symbis Assessment

What Symbis Assessment does

Symbis Assessment (SYMBIS — Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts) is a private marriage education company founded and operated by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, #1 New York Times best-selling authors whose flagship book was first published in 1995 and has sold over 2 million copies in more than 20 languages. The company's core product is a web-based pre-marital and marital assessment platform featuring nearly 300 questions across 12+ question types that generates a personalized 15-page report covering money methods, personality dynamics, fight types, talk styles, love life, and deepest longing. The system automatically adapts its question set and report content for couple circumstances including engagement, marriage, second marriage, and blended-family situations, with SYMBIS+ providing an extended report for already-married couples.

The product is built around a digital dashboard for certified facilitators and a self-serve online purchase path, with pricing set at $35 per couple for the assessment and $200 for the one-time facilitator certification training. Supporting products include the Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts book and accompanying men's/women's workbooks, a seven-session DVD kit, the Saving Your Second Marriage Before It Starts program for remarriage preparation, and the Marriage Mentoring Academy for training peer mentor couples. The underlying platform is accessible on laptops, tablets, and phones, with no native mobile app.

SYMBIS distributes exclusively through a network of more than 200,000 certified facilitators — counselors, therapists, pastors, chaplains, and marriage mentors — and 250,000+ marriage mentor couples trained through the Marriage Mentoring Academy. Revenue is generated from individual couple purchases, facilitator certification fees, and ancillary book/workbook/DVD sales through external channels. The company is bootstrapped, privately held, headquartered in Bothell, Washington, employs 11–50 people, and is operationally tied to the Parrotts' broader speaking and media presence (40+ cities annually, appearances on CNN, The Today Show, The View, and Oprah).

Name

Symbis Assessment

Legal name

SYMBIS Assessment

Website

https://symbis.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Symbis Assessment operates a web-based marriage assessment platform used by 2M+ couples and delivered through a network of 200,000+ certified counselors, pastors, and marriage mentors; the company was founded by NYT best-selling authors Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott and sells its core assessment for $35 per couple.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marriage Assessment Software

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Test Item Banks, Question Authoring & Assessment Design Tools (EDAFADAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Assessment, Certification & Qualifications Frameworks (BPADAKAL)

Keywords

• Marriage assessment tools
• Premarital counseling software
• Couple relationship assessment
• Marriage education platform
• Facilitator certification training

Headquarters

HQ city

Bothell

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Couple Assessment Sales: Couples pay $35 per assessment to take the SYMBIS Assessment. Some counselors include the assessment as part of their counseling fees while others have couples purchase it directly.
2. Facilitator Certification: One-time fee of $200 for online certification training (3 hours), including official certificate, 100-page training manual, sample assessment, presentation materials, facilitator dashboard access, referral network listing, and support resources.
3. Book and Workbook Sales: Companion books and workbooks including 'Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts', men's and women's workbooks, DVD kits for groups and classes, and second marriage resources. Sold through external store.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

SYMBIS Assessment is a web-based, research-validated marriage assessment delivered through certified facilitators that generates a personalized 15-page report for couples based on nearly 300 questions across 12+ question types. The platform automatically adapts for engaged, married, second-marriage, and blended-family situations, and is paired with the SYMBIS Facilitator Certification Training program ($200 one-time), companion books/workbooks/DVD kits, and a Marriage Mentoring Academy that equips experienced couples to mentor others.

Product overview

SYMBIS Assessment is a comprehensive marriage education platform built around its core SYMBIS Assessment tool, a research-backed questionnaire with nearly 300 questions generating personalized 15-page reports for couples. The ecosystem includes SYMBIS+ for married couples, the SYMBIS Facilitator Dashboard for certified counselors and ministers, and the Facilitator Certification Training program. Supporting products include the award-winning Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts book and workbooks (published 1995, available in 20+ languages), the SYMBIS DVD Kit for group or individual use, Saving Your Second Marriage Before It Starts for remarriage preparation, and the Marriage Mentoring Academy for training mentor couples. The platform is designed for use by certified facilitators including counselors, chaplains, pastors, and marriage mentors working with couples at any stage.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SYMBIS+: Extended version of the SYMBIS Assessment specifically tailored for married couples, with two additional report pages and automatic customization for married couple circumstances.
• Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts
• Saving Your Second Marriage Before It Starts

Products and services

• SYMBIS Assessment Flagship web-based marriage assessment for engaged and married couples. Couples complete nearly 300 questions across 12+ question types in about 30-35 minutes per person and receive a personalized 15-page report covering money methods, personalities, fight types, talk styles, love life, and deepest longing. Priced at $35 per couple and administered through certified facilitators.
• SYMBIS Facilitator Certification Training Online certification program for professionals who want to administer the SYMBIS Assessment. Includes 3 hours of video training, an official certificate, a 100-page training manual, a sample assessment, presentation materials, facilitator dashboard access, and referral network listing. Priced as a one-time $200 fee.
• Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS) Book and Workbooks Award-winning premarital preparation book authored by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, used as a self-guided premarital counseling course. Includes companion men's and women's workbooks with self-tests and exercises. Sold through external retail channels; book purchasers receive a discount code for the SYMBIS Assessment.
• SYMBIS DVD Kit Seven-session DVD-based curriculum with teaching from Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott featuring real-life couples, plus a bonus session for second marriages. Designed for individual couples, small groups, or classroom settings as a self-paced or facilitator-led curriculum.
• Saving Your Second Marriage Before It Starts Specialized marriage preparation program for couples entering second marriages, addressing baggage from previous marriages and blended-family dynamics. Includes workbooks, a DVD kit, and integrates with a dedicated page in the SYMBIS Assessment Report focused on the second-marriage experience.
• Marriage Mentoring Academy Online certification program that trains experienced couples to become Marriage Mentors, teaching 12 essential mentoring skills across eight 25-minute sessions. Graduates join the network of 250,000+ marriage mentor couples and are equipped to use SYMBIS with mentee couples.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 2 million couples have used SYMBIS Assessment
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Couple Checkup (Markman/Stanley): The Couple Checkup, developed by relationship researchers Howard Markman and Scott Stanley, is a research-based marriage assessment comparable to SYMBIS in format and target audience. Both are academic-grounded, validated tools sold through facilitator networks to engaged and married couples.
• PREPARE/ENRICH: PREPARE/ENRICH is the most direct competitor to SYMBIS, offering a similarly positioned pre-marital and marital assessment used by counselors, pastors, and marriage educators. Both products compete for the same facilitator network and use validated questionnaires to generate couple reports, with PREPARE/ENRICH having a longer history dating to the 1980s.
• Gottman Institute: The Gottman Institute offers relationship assessments, books, and a certified therapist training program that mirrors SYMBIS's facilitator certification model. Both companies serve couples and the professionals who work with them, though Gottman's brand is more research-clinical while SYMBIS's is more Christian-oriented.

Emerging players

• The Art of Marriage: The Art of Marriage is a video-based marriage ministry program from FamilyLife that competes for church small-group budgets alongside SYMBIS. It targets the same pastor-led marriage enrichment market but delivers via a different format (video curriculum vs. assessment-driven personalization).
• Marriage Helper: Marriage Helper is a Christian marriage ministry offering counseling, conferences, and resources aimed at troubled marriages. It overlaps with SYMBIS's facilitator network and church partnerships but focuses more on crisis intervention than pre-marriage preparation.
• Love & Respect (Emerson Eggerichs): Love & Respect is a marriage ministry built around the cycle-based communication framework promoted through conferences, books, and church seminars. It competes for the same pastor and church audience as SYMBIS but offers a content framework rather than a personalized assessment tool.
• Hold Me Tight / Dr. Sue Johnson (EFT): Dr. Sue Johnson's Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Hold Me Tight program offer a research-grounded approach to couple therapy with books, workshops, and certified therapist training. It parallels SYMBIS in using evidence-based methodology to support couples through both premarital and married stages.

Broad incumbents

• Focus on the Family: Focus on the Family is a large Christian organization providing marriage resources, counseling referrals, and educational content that overlaps with SYMBIS's pre-marriage mission. It serves a similar evangelical audience but at a much broader organizational scale with radio, publishing, and policy arms.
• FamilyLife: FamilyLife is a broader Christian marriage and family ministry that produces marriage preparation curricula, conferences, and resources serving the same church and pastor customer base as SYMBIS. It competes for the same ministry budgets but offers a wider portfolio including retreats and small group studies.

Regional players

• Relate (UK): Relate is the UK's largest provider of relationship counseling and sex therapy, offering couple support, training, and educational resources comparable to SYMBIS's facilitator network. It is charity-based and primarily serves the British market rather than competing directly in North America.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/symbis-assessment

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Symbis Assessment