10.1 Founder Doctrine10.2 Founder Rules10.2.A Founder Rules — Operating Context10.3 Founder War Plan — Daily Execution Format10.4.A Founder War Calendar — At a Glance10.4 Founder War Calendar — Month-by-Month Execution
The 25 rules are not suggestions. They are operating constraints. Each rule exists because a specific failure mode has been observed in comparable marketplace launches. The rule prevents that failure.
| # | Rule | Why It Exists | Failure It Prevents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Never launch a new district until the previous one has hit density | Premature expansion dilutes density and kills liquidity | Ghost-town dynamics in multiple districts simultaneously |
| 2 | Every new user gets 3 curated matches within 24 hours | First experience determines D7 retention | Users churn after seeing no matches on Day 1 |
| 3 | Female ratio must never drop below 50% | Female supply determines platform health | Male-heavy platform → women disengage → men leave → collapse |
| 4 | Attend every event for the first 90 days | Founder presence creates energy and trust | Events feel corporate and lifeless without founder |
| 5 | Respond to every safety report within 1 hour | Safety incidents destroy female trust permanently | One mishandled incident → viral negative press → female exodus |
| 6 | Never position Sparks as pay-to-date | Brand perception determines female willingness to join | "Pay-to-date" positioning kills female acquisition |
| 7 | Recruit 10 female users per day in person | Female supply must be actively manufactured | Organic female acquisition is too slow in Phase 1 |
| 8 | Every event must generate minimum 20 social posts | Events are content engines, not just social events | Events with no content generate no organic acquisition |
| 9 | Check dashboard metrics every morning before 9am | Early detection prevents small problems becoming crises | Metrics left unchecked for 3 days = 3 days of compounding damage |
| 10 | Never scale paid ads before WOM rate is ≥20% | Paid ads before WOM = paying full price for every user | Burning budget on acquisition that organic growth would provide for free |
| 11 | Conduct 5 user interviews per week | Qualitative data reveals what metrics cannot | Building features users don't want; missing obvious friction |
| 12 | Never hire before PMF is confirmed | Premature hiring creates overhead that kills runway | Running out of money before product works |
| 13 | Every meeting must generate content or referral | Meetings are growth events, not just product outcomes | Meetings happen but don't compound into growth |
| 14 | Male users who behave badly are removed immediately | Male behaviour determines female retention | One bad actor → multiple female churns |
| 15 | NPS below 40 is a product emergency | NPS is the leading indicator of retention and referral | Ignoring low NPS until retention collapses |
| 16 | Never expand to a new city until Bangkok has passed the PMF gate | Multi-city operations before PMF = diluted focus | Failing in two cities instead of succeeding in one |
| 17 | The founder must be the most active user on the platform for the first 90 days | Founder activity manufactures early network effects | Platform feels empty without founder-driven activity |
| 18 | Every event must have a female host present | Female host signals safety and comfort | Women feel unsafe at male-hosted events |
| 19 | No event runs with less than 45% female attendance | Gender ratio is the product at events | Male-heavy events → women don't return → event programme collapses |
| 20 | Manually curate matches in Weeks 1–4, no exceptions | Algorithm cannot work without sufficient density | Users receive zero or poor matches → Day 1 churn |
| 21 | Review all metrics every Monday before any other task | Weekly rhythm prevents drift | Metrics drift unnoticed for weeks → crisis |
| 22 | Any metric in red for 7 days triggers the Pivot Decision Tree | 7 days of red = structural problem, not noise | Hoping a structural problem resolves itself |
| 23 | Do not raise funding or expand to a new city during a crisis | Crisis requires full founder attention | Fundraising during crisis = distracted founder + worse crisis |
| 24 | Publish monthly safety transparency report | Transparency builds female trust | Silent moderation = female users assume nothing is being done |
| 25 | The goal of every phase is density, not scale | Density produces quality; scale produces noise | Chasing user count while liquidity collapses |