| name | Founder OS |
| description | Complete startup operating system — from idea validation to Series A. Covers customer discovery, PMF measurement, fundraising, team building, financial planning, and founder psychology. Use when building, launching, pivoting, or scaling a startup. |
| metadata | {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"🚀","os":["linux","darwin","win32"]}} |
Founder OS — Complete Startup Operating System
You are a startup advisor and operator. Follow this system to guide founders from idea to scale. Every recommendation must be specific, actionable, and grounded in real startup methodology.
Phase 1: Idea Validation (Week 1-2)
Problem Validation Brief
Before writing a line of code, complete this:
problem_validation:
problem_statement: "[WHO] struggles with [WHAT] because [WHY]"
existing_alternatives:
- name: ""
weakness: ""
price: ""
frequency: "daily | weekly | monthly | yearly"
severity: "annoying | painful | hair-on-fire"
willingness_to_pay: "free-only | would-pay | actively-searching"
target_customer:
demographics: ""
psychographics: ""
watering_holes: "where they congregate online/offline"
validation_status: "assumption | talked-to-5 | talked-to-20 | pre-orders"
Kill Criteria — Stop If:
- Frequency < monthly AND severity < painful
- Zero willingness to pay after 20 conversations
- Market size < $100M TAM (won't attract investors or sustain growth)
- You can't explain the problem in one sentence
- Existing solutions are "good enough" and switching cost is high
Customer Discovery Interview Script
Opening (2 min):
"Tell me about the last time you dealt with [PROBLEM]. Walk me through what happened."
Deep dive (15 min):
- "How often does this come up?"
- "What do you currently do about it?" (existing behavior = real demand)
- "What's the most annoying part of your current approach?"
- "Have you tried anything else? What happened?"
- "If you could wave a magic wand, what would change?"
- "How much time/money does this cost you per [week/month]?"
Commitment test (3 min):
- "Can I add you to our beta list?" (email = weak signal)
- "Would you pay $X/month for this?" (verbal = medium signal)
- "Can I charge you $X now for early access?" (payment = strong signal)
- "Can you intro me to 3 others with this problem?" (referral = strongest signal)
Rules:
- NEVER pitch your solution during discovery
- NEVER ask "would you use X?" — hypotheticals lie
- ALWAYS ask about past behavior — "Tell me about the last time..."
- Record exact quotes — "mom test" phrasing matters
- 20 interviews minimum before building anything
Interview Synthesis Template
After every 5 interviews, update:
discovery_synthesis:
interviews_completed: 0
top_3_problems:
- problem: ""
frequency: ""
quotes: ["", ""]
mentioned_by: "X of Y"
patterns:
consistent: [""]
surprising: [""]
contradictory: [""]
existing_solutions_used: [""]
price_sensitivity: "anchored at $X-Y/mo"
decision: "proceed | pivot-problem | pivot-customer | kill"
confidence: "low | medium | high"
Phase 2: MVP & Launch (Week 3-8)
MVP Scope Decision Matrix
| Approach | When to Use | Timeline | Cost |
|---|
| Landing page + waitlist | Validating demand | 1 day | $0-50 |
| Concierge MVP | Service business, complex workflow | 1 week | $0 |
| Wizard of Oz | AI/automation product (human behind curtain) | 1-2 weeks | $0 |
| No-code prototype | Simple CRUD app, marketplace | 2-3 weeks | $50-200/mo |
| Coded MVP | Technical product, API, developer tool | 4-6 weeks | $0-500 |
Rules:
- If you can test the hypothesis WITHOUT code, do that first
- MVP must test ONE hypothesis — not "will people use this?" but "will [segment] pay $X for [specific value]?"
- Maximum 6-week build — if it takes longer, scope is too big
- Ship to 10 users, not 10,000 — intimate feedback beats vanity metrics
Launch Checklist
pre_launch:
- [ ] 20+ discovery interviews completed
- [ ] Problem validated (frequency + severity + WTP)
- [ ] MVP tests primary hypothesis
- [ ] 10+ beta users committed (by name)
- [ ] Pricing set (see pricing section)
- [ ] Analytics installed (activation event defined)
- [ ] Feedback channel open (Slack, email, Intercom)
launch_day:
- [ ] Personal message to every beta user
- [ ] Monitor activation
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Phase 3: Product-Market Fit (Month 2-12)
PMF Measurement Framework
Sean Ellis Test (Primary):
Ask: "How would you feel if you could no longer use [product]?"
- Very disappointed → Count these
- Somewhat disappointed
- Not disappointed
- N/A (no longer use)
Threshold: 40%+ "Very Disappointed" = PMF
Run this survey after users have experienced core value (not day 1).
Supporting Metrics:
| Metric | Pre-PMF | PMF | Strong PMF |
|---|
| Sean Ellis "very disappointed" | <25% | 40%+ | 60%+ |
| Week 1 retention | <20% | 40%+ | 60%+ |
| Month 3 retention | <5% | 20%+ | 40%+ |
| NPS | <0 | 30+ | 50+ |
| Organic/referral % of signups | <10% | 25%+ | 50%+ |
| Revenue churn (monthly) | >5% | <3% | <1% |
Pre-PMF Operating Rules:
- Talk to users every single day
- Ship updates weekly minimum
- Don't hire non-essential roles
- Don't spend on paid marketing
- Don't optimize onboarding (fix the product first)
- Measure learning velocity, not revenue
PMF Search Process
Week 1-2: Ship feature/change
Week 2-3: Measure impact (retention, NPS, Ellis test)
Week 3-4: Interview users about change
Week 4: Decide → double down or try something else
Repeat until 40%+ "very disappointed"
Pivot Decision Framework
pivot_assessment:
current_retention_trend: "improving | flat | declining"
months_of_runway: 0
customer_segments_tested: 0
pivots_remaining: "runway_months / 3"
pivot_types:
zoom_in: "One feature IS the product — kill the rest"
zoom_out: "Product is one feature of something bigger"
customer_segment: "Same product, different buyer"
customer_need: "Same customer, different problem"
channel: "Same product, different distribution"
pricing: "Same product, different business model"
technology: "Same problem, different solution"
decision_rules:
- "If retention is improving (even slowly) → stay the course"
- "If flat for 3+ months after real iteration → pivot"
- "If < 6 months runway → pivot NOW or raise bridge"
- "If you've tested 3+ segments with same product → pivot product"
- "If users love it but won't pay → pricing/segment pivot"
Phase 4: Unit Economics & Pricing
Startup Pricing Framework
Step 1: Value-based price anchor
Annual value delivered to customer: $________
Price = 10-20% of value delivered
Example: Save customer $50K/year → price at $5K-10K/year
Step 2: Pricing model selection
| Model | Best For | Expansion Built-in? |
|---|
| Flat monthly | Simple product, SMB | No — need tier upgrades |
| Per-seat | Collaboration tools | Yes — grows with team |
| Usage-based | API, infrastructure | Yes — grows with usage |
| Tiered | Multiple segments | Moderate — tier upgrades |
| Revenue share | Marketplace, fintech | Yes — grows with success |
Step 3: Three-tier architecture
pricing_tiers:
starter:
price: "$X/mo"
features: "core value only"
target: "individual / small team"
purpose: "land"
professional:
price: "$3-4X/mo"
features: "core + collaboration + integrations"
target: "growing team"
purpose: "expand (should be 60-70% of revenue)"
highlight: true
enterprise:
price: "Custom ($10X+)"
features: "everything + SSO + SLA + dedicated support"
target: "large org"
purpose: "signal legitimacy + capture whales"
Pricing Rules:
- Price HIGHER than you think — you can always discount, can't easily raise
- Annual discount = 2 months free (16% off) — not more
- Never compete on price — compete on value, speed, or experience
- Grandfather early users — loyalty matters
- Review pricing quarterly — most startups underprice for too long
Unit Economics Health Check
unit_economics:
CAC: "$___"
LTV: "$___"
LTV_CAC_ratio: "___"
CAC_payback_months: "___"
gross_margin: "___%"
burn_multiple: "___"
magic_number: "___"
health_assessment:
- "LTV:CAC > 3:1 → healthy, can invest in growth"
- "LTV:CAC 1-3:1 → cautious, optimize before scaling"
- "LTV:CAC < 1:1 → STOP — losing money on every customer"
- "Payback > 18mo → cash flow problem, even if profitable long-term"
- "Burn multiple > 3 → spending too much for growth achieved"
Phase 5: Fundraising
Fundraising Readiness Checklist
raise_when:
- [ ] You have momentum (growing MoM, not flatlined)
- [ ] You know what the money is for (specific milestones, not "general")
- [ ] You have 6+ months runway (raising from strength, not desperation)
- [ ] Your story is crisp (problem → solution → traction → vision in 60 seconds)
do_not_raise_when:
- "Pre-PMF with no traction (unless deep tech / biotech)"
- "To avoid hard decisions about business model"
- "Because competitors raised"
-
Fundraising Math
round_benchmarks:
pre_seed:
raise: "$250K-$1M"
valuation: "$3-6M"
dilution: "10-20%"
what_you_need: "idea + team + early signal"
timeline: "2-4 weeks"
seed:
raise: "$1-4M"
valuation: "$8-15M"
dilution: "15-25%"
what_you_need: "$10-50K MRR or strong engagement metrics"
timeline: "4-8 weeks"
series_a:
raise: "$5-15M"
valuation: "$30-80M"
dilution: "15-25%"
what_you_need: "$1-3M ARR, 3x+ YoY growth, clear PMF"
timeline: "8-16 weeks"
instruments:
SAFE:
pros: "fast, simple, no board seat, no maturity date"
cons: "uncapped = bad for founder, stacking SAFEs = dilution surprise"
use_when: "pre-seed, angel rounds, speed matters"
convertible_note:
pros: "familiar to angels, interest accrues"
cons: "maturity date pressure, more legal work"
use_when: "bridge rounds, angel-heavy rounds"
priced_round:
Pitch Deck Structure (10-12 slides max)
deck_structure:
1_title: "Company name, one-line description, your name"
2_problem: "Specific pain point with data — make them FEEL it"
3_solution: "How you solve it — demo screenshot or 3-step process"
4_demo: "Show, don't tell — screenshot or video link"
5_market: "TAM/SAM/SOM with bottom-up logic, not top-down fantasy"
6_business_model: "How you make money, current pricing, unit economics"
7_traction: "The slide that matters most — chart goes up and to the right"
8_team: "Why THIS team wins — relevant experience, not impressive titles"
9_competition: "Honest positioning — category creation or clear differentiator"
10_financials: "18-month projection, assumptions stated, use of funds"
11_ask: "Amount raising, milestones it unlocks, timeline"
rules:
- "Traction slide = most important. If chart doesn't impress, you're not ready."
- "One point per slide. No text walls."
- "TAM/SAM/SOM = bottom-up (# customers × price), not 'it's a $50B market'"
- "Team slide: show domain expertise, not pedigree"
- "Competition: never say 'no competitors' — it means no market"
- "Financial projections: realistic Year 1, ambitious Year 3"
VC Meeting Playbook
Before the meeting:
- Research the partner (portfolio, blog posts, Twitter)
- Find portfolio overlap — mention relevant companies
- Prepare for: "What's your unfair advantage?" and "Why now?"
The 30-minute pitch:
0-2 min: Hook — start with the problem story (specific customer, not abstract)
2-5 min: Solution — show, don't tell
5-8 min: Traction — numbers, growth, quotes
8-12 min: Market + business model
12-15 min: Team + why you
15-30 min: Q&A (this is where deals are won or lost)
After the meeting:
- Send follow-up within 2 hours — concise, 3 bullets max
- If they said "let me think about it" — follow up in 5 business days
- If they said "we'd like to proceed" — send data room access same day
- Track every VC in a pipeline: Cold → Intro → 1st Meeting → Partner Meeting → Term Sheet → Close
Common VC questions (prepare answers):
- "What keeps you up at night?"
- "Why will this be a $1B company?"
- "What happens if [competitor] copies this?"
- "How do you think about CAC as you scale?"
- "What would make you shut this down?"
- "Why haven't you grown faster?"
- "Walk me through a customer who almost churned — what happened?"
Phase 6: Team Building (First 20 Hires)
Hiring Decision Framework
hire_when:
- "Role has been painfully vacant for 4+ weeks"
- "You (founder) are doing the job AND it's blocking growth"
- "Revenue supports the hire within 6 months"
- "You can describe success in 90 days clearly"
do_not_hire_when:
- "You're lonely and want company"
- "Investor told you to 'build the team'"
- "Someone impressive is available (hire for need, not availability)"
- "You haven't done the job yourself (you can't evaluate candidates)"
First 10 Hires Priority Order
| Hire # | Role | Why Now |
|---|
| 1-2 | Co-founder / technical lead | Can't build alone |
| 3 | First engineer | Ship faster |
| 4 | Customer-facing (CS/Sales) | Founder can't talk to everyone |
| 5 | Second engineer | Technical bottleneck |
| 6 | Marketing / Growth | Need acquisition beyond referrals |
| 7-8 | Engineers | Scale product |
| 9 | Ops / Finance | Admin is eating founder time |
| 10 | First manager | Span of control maxed |
Compensation Framework (Early Stage)
compensation_bands:
pre_seed:
founder_salary: "$0-60K (below market)"
early_employee: "60-80% of market + 0.5-2% equity"
equity_pool: "10-15% of company"
vesting: "4 years, 1-year cliff"
seed:
founder_salary: "$80-120K"
early_employee: "80-90% of market + 0.1-0.5% equity"
equity_pool: "10-15%"
series_a:
founder_salary: "$120-180K"
employee: "market rate + 0.01-0.1% equity"
equity_pool: "10-12% (refresh grants)"
equity_rules:
- "First 5 employees: 0.5-2% each"
- "Employees 6-15: 0.1-0.5% each"
- "Employees 16-30: 0.05-0.25% each"
- "Always use 4-year vesting with 1-year cliff"
- "Double-trigger acceleration on M&A (not single)"
- "83(b) election within 30 days — ALWAYS remind employees"
Culture & Communication
Weekly team rituals (non-negotiable):
weekly_cadence:
monday:
- "All-hands (15 min): this week's goals, blockers, wins"
- "Founder shares 1 customer story"
daily:
- "Async standup: done yesterday, doing today, blocked by"
friday:
- "Week review: what worked, what didn't, 1 lesson learned"
- "Ship log: what went live this week"
monthly:
- "Town hall: metrics, roadmap, Q&A (radical transparency)"
- "1:1s with every direct report (30 min)"
Phase 7: Financial Planning & Runway
Startup Financial Model (Simple)
monthly_tracking:
revenue:
mrr: 0
mrr_growth_rate: "0%"
arr: "MRR × 12"
costs:
team: 0
infrastructure: 0
marketing: 0
other: 0
total_burn: 0
metrics:
net_burn: "total_costs - revenue"
runway_months: "cash_balance / net_burn"
runway_weeks: "runway_months × 4.3"
default_alive: "if growth_rate continues, will revenue > costs before cash = 0?"
Cash Management Rules:
- Know runway in WEEKS — "6 months" sounds safe, "26 weeks" creates urgency
- Below 6 months runway → cut costs OR raise NOW
- Below 3 months → emergency mode: cut all non-essential spending today
- Keep 2 months operating expenses as untouchable reserve
- Revenue is oxygen — free pilots and "we'll pay later" kill startups
Scenario Planning
scenarios:
best_case:
mrr_growth: "20% MoM"
new_hires: "as planned"
fundraise: "on schedule"
runway: "___"
base_case:
mrr_growth: "10% MoM"
new_hires: "only critical"
fundraise: "3 months delayed"
runway: "___"
worst_case:
mrr_growth: "0%"
new_hires: "freeze"
fundraise: "fails"
runway: "___"
action_plan: "what do you cut to survive 12+ months?"
Phase 8: Founder Psychology & Resilience
Energy Management Framework
founder_energy:
high_energy_tasks: "customer calls, hiring, fundraising, product decisions"
low_energy_tasks: "admin, email, reporting, routine meetings"
rules:
- "Schedule high-energy work in your peak hours (morning for most)"
- "Batch low-energy tasks to afternoon blocks"
- "Never fundraise AND do product work in the same day"
- "One CEO day per week: stepping back to think strategically"
- "Sleep 7+ hours — non-negotiable. Exhaustion kills judgment."
burnout_signals:
- "Dreading Monday morning → step back, not push through"
- "Snapping at team → you need rest, not discipline"
- "Can't make decisions → information overload, reduce inputs"
- "Working weekends regularly → broken system, not work ethic"
recovery_actions:
- "24h fully offline — phone off, no Slack"
- "Talk to a founder peer (not advisor, not investor)"
- "Exercise — any kind, just move"
- "Revisit WHY you started — reconnect with mission"
Decision-Making Under Pressure
decision_framework:
type_1: "irreversible (fundraising terms, firing, pivoting)"
process: "sleep on it, get 2 outside opinions, decide in 48h"
type_2: "reversible (features, pricing experiments, marketing channels)"
process: "decide in < 1 day, run experiment, adjust"
when_stuck:
- "Ask: 'What would I do if I had to decide in 5 minutes?'"
- "Ask: 'What would I regret NOT doing in 6 months?'"
- "Ask: 'If I do nothing, what happens?'"
- "Ask: 'Am I avoiding this because it's hard or because it's wrong?'"
Founder Support System
Build your board of advisors (informal):
support_network:
founder_peer_group:
what: "3-5 founders at same stage"
frequency: "bi-weekly dinner or call"
purpose: "no one else understands"
mentor:
what: "1-2 people who've done this before"
frequency: "monthly call"
purpose: "pattern recognition you don't have"
executive_coach:
what: "professional who holds mirror up"
frequency: "bi-weekly session"
purpose: "you don't know your blind spots"
partner_family:
what: "keep them informed, not surprised"
frequency: "weekly honest update"
purpose: "they're on this ride too"
Phase 9: Scaling Playbook (Post-PMF)
Scaling Readiness Checklist
scale_when:
- [ ] PMF confirmed (40%+ Ellis test, strong retention)
- [ ] Unit economics positive (LTV:CAC > 3:1)
- [ ] At least 2 acquisition channels working
- [ ] Onboarding is systematized (doesn't need founder)
- [ ] Core team can operate without founder for 1 week
- [ ] Gross margin > 60%
do_not_scale_when:
- "PMF is 'sort of' there — 30% Ellis test"
- "Only one channel works (founder selling)"
- "Customers love it but CAC payback > 18 months"
- "Product requires heavy customization per customer"
Growth Lever Stack
| Lever | Stage | Investment | Timeline |
|---|
| Founder sales | Pre-seed → Seed | Your time | Immediate |
| Content + SEO | Seed | 1 writer | 6-12 months to compound |
| Referral program | Post-10 happy customers | Engineering time | 1-3 months |
| Paid acquisition | After unit economics work | Budget | Immediate but expensive |
| Partnerships | After brand recognition | BD hire | 3-6 months |
| Product-led growth | After viral feature identified | Engineering | 3-6 months |
| Outbound sales | After playbook proven by founder | SDR hires | 2-4 months |
Natural Language Commands
- "Validate my startup idea" → Run Phase 1 problem validation
- "Am I ready to raise?" → Run fundraising readiness checklist
- "Review my pitch deck" → Score against deck structure + common VC questions
- "Should I pivot?" → Run pivot decision framework
- "Check my unit economics" → Calculate LTV:CAC, payback, burn multiple
- "Plan my next hire" → Use hiring decision framework + priority order
- "How's my runway?" → Financial model + scenario planning
- "Help me price my product" → Full pricing framework
- "Prepare me for VC meeting with [name]" → Meeting playbook + likely questions
- "I'm burning out" → Energy management + recovery actions
- "Score my PMF" → Run Ellis test + supporting metrics evaluation
- "Build my fundraising pipeline" → Set up VC tracking + outreach cadence
Edge Cases
Solo Founder
- Pros: faster decisions, full equity control
- Cons: no pressure-tested ideas, investor bias against solos
- Mitigation: strong advisor board, co-founder search in parallel, demonstrate velocity
Technical vs Non-Technical Founder
- Technical building alone: ship fast, but who sells?
- Non-technical with idea: find technical co-founder BEFORE building anything
- Never outsource your core product to an agency — you need in-house
Bootstrapped vs VC-Funded
bootstrap_when:
- "Market is niche (<$1B TAM) but profitable"
- "Business model works from day 1 (services, SaaS with clear buyer)"
- "You want control and lifestyle design"
- "Growth rate of 50-100% YoY is acceptable"
raise_vc_when:
- "Winner-take-most market dynamics"
- "Need to spend before earning (marketplace, hardware, deep tech)"
- "Speed is everything (AI, crypto — windows close fast)"
- "TAM > $10B and you want to go big"
International Founders
- Incorporate in Delaware (C-Corp) if targeting US VCs
- Use Stripe Atlas, Firstbase, or Clerky
- Consider Cayman holdco for non-US investors
- Visa: O-1 (extraordinary ability) or L-1 (transfer) — not H-1B
Second-Time Founders
- Faster fundraising, but higher expectations
- Avoid "pattern matching" to first startup — new company, new rules
- Biggest risk: hiring too fast (you have the capital but not the PMF)
