Founder Decision Frameworks
Decision trees for the calls every founder eventually has to make about people, pricing, and platforms.
40 posts · page 2 of 2
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Decision to Switch Tech Stack
When rewriting in a new tech stack actually solves a real problem and when it is a way to avoid fixing the harder issues in the existing one.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Decision to Switch Cloud Providers
When switching cloud providers is worth the migration cost and when it is a distraction from the engineering work that actually matters.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
When to Stop Coding as a Founder
The technical founder who keeps coding past the point of leverage is a recognizable failure mode. The signal is not whether the code is good. It is whether the company has bigger problems than the code, and whether the founder is the only one who can solve them.
11 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Decision to Hire a Designer or Stay Founder Led
When founder-led design is good enough and when a professional designer pays for themselves in conversion rate and customer trust.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Decision to Internationalize: When It Matters and When It Distracts
When expanding internationally is the right next growth move and when it is a way to avoid fixing the problems in your current market.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Decision to Build Your Own Platform vs Use Someone Else's
When building a custom platform is a competitive advantage and when it is a distraction from the product that actually matters.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The First Engineer in Marketing Hire: When It Pays Off
When a growth engineer in the marketing function creates compounding returns -- and when the hire is a premature investment that marketing cannot yet leverage.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
When to Add a Sales Hire to a Product Led Growth Company
A sales hire too early kills the product motion. A sales hire too late leaves enterprise revenue on the table. The signal is the same in both directions: where the deals are coming from and how the conversations actually go.
11 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Equity Distribution Decision for Cofounders
Equal splits feel fair and usually are not. Here is the framework I use to think through cofounder equity, vesting, and the conversations most founding teams never have until it is too late.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Pivot Decision Framework
Most pivots happen too late, for the wrong reasons, and without a clear hypothesis. Here is how to know when a pivot is the right call and how to run one without destroying the team in the process.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
When to Raise and When to Stay Bootstrapped
Funding is not a goal. It is a tool. The right question is not whether to raise. It is whether the work you want to do this year needs more capital than the business can generate, and whether the constraints of investor money are worth what the money buys.
11 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Pricing Decision: Free, Freemium, Trial, Paid
Working notes on the pricing decision: free, freemium, trial, paid. Written for founders, engineers, and operators who want a clear read on founder decision frameworks from someone who has shipped the work.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The Outsource Decision: When and What
Outsourcing is not a cost play. It is a bet on what your team should own versus what someone else can deliver faster. Here is the framework I use to make that call.
11 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The First Five Hires for a Venture Backed SaaS
The sequence of early hires that lets a venture-backed SaaS find product-market fit fast -- before the runway demands a pivot in direction.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
The First Five Hires for a Bootstrapped SaaS
The specific roles that a bootstrapped SaaS should hire in sequence -- and the logic that determines which hire creates the most leverage at each stage.
12 min read
- Founder Decision Frameworks
When to Hire a Fractional CTO vs a Full Time One
A fractional CTO is the right answer at a specific stage and the wrong one before and after. The decision is about what the role actually needs to do this quarter, not about what sounds prestigious in a deck.
11 min read