Founder OS · Available to partner cohorts (in pilot)

The questions a senior strategist asks, put to every founder in the cohort.

Founder OS is our own software. It takes a founder from testing an idea to converting a first pilot, and at each step it asks what the answer rests on. Programmes use it during a Pilot Cohort with us, and Dineshwara reviews every cohort's results.

Propose a Pilot Cohort How the four checks work

01Four stages, 29 steps

From a problem worth solving to a pilot that converts.

Each stage ends in a check that the founder cannot talk their way past. The steps before it gather the evidence the check needs.

1 · Problem validation
8 steps
- Idea foundations
- Problem severity
- Technology readiness
- Market sizing and competitive position
- Customer discovery
- Regulatory, IP and risk mapping
- A first go-to-market hypothesis with unit economics
Ends in Kill / Pivot / Go
2 · Pitch readiness
6 steps
- Positioning and one-liner
- The deck, slide by slide
- Evidence pack
- Investor targeting
- Tough-question bank
Ends in Pitch Integrity Audit
3 · Commercial readiness
7 steps
- Revenue assumptions
- Cost structure and unit economics
- R&D, capex and operating costs
- Hiring plan
- Cash flow, runway and funding need
- Scenarios and sensitivity
- Model outputs
Ends in Assumption Integrity Layer, applied at every step
4 · Go-to-market launch
8 steps
- Launch readiness
- Beachhead and ideal customer
- Offer and price design
- Pilot playbook
- Partner viability
- Go-to-market readiness
- Credibility audit
- Post-pilot conversion
Ends in Pilot Integrity Checker

A programme can start its cohort at the stage that fits it. An accelerator for teams with revenue rarely needs stage 1.

02The four checks

How the four checks decide.

Each check works from rules written in advance, and shows the founder the reason for its result. A founder can improve the evidence. They cannot argue the score up.

Kill / Pivot / Go

Is this problem worth building a company on?

How it decides: It scores the seven earlier steps out of 35, then tests eight kill conditions. Any one kill condition decides the result, whatever the total. A founder who has spoken to fewer than eight potential customers goes back to discovery, however high the score.
The result: Go, Pivot or Kill, with the deciding factor named.

Pitch Integrity Audit

Does every claim in the story have evidence behind it?

How it decides: Three sessions in order. A claim audit links each statement on each slide to its source. Focused practice follows on the weakest dimension, then a full rehearsal. It scores five dimensions: positioning, claim-to-evidence, financial model, preparation and delivery. The result is gated, not averaged: one red dimension makes the whole audit red.
The result: Green, amber or red, dimension by dimension.

Assumption Integrity Layer

How much of this model is known, and how much is hoped?

How it decides: Every input carries its source, weighted by strength, from direct evidence down to plain assumption. The model is then shown twice: as the founder built it, and adjusted for the evidence. Gaps above 20% are flagged. The runway is shown both ways, and the difference is the assumption risk.
The result: Ten metrics rated green, amber or red, and a recommendation on whether the model can be shown as it stands, only with stated conditions, or not yet.

Pilot Integrity Checker

Is this a pilot, or an open-ended trial?

How it decides: Eight criteria: a named decision-maker, a signed agreement, written success criteria, conversion terms agreed at the start, an end date, a resource commitment from the customer, one accountable owner, and a commitment to act as a reference. Each passes, fails or is unaddressed. A pass needs written evidence behind it.
The result: Green with no failures, amber with one or two, red with three or more. Red means it is a trial, and the founder renegotiates before starting.

03What the founder ends with

Work a founder can use on Monday.

Each step leaves a working document behind: the validation verdict, customer-discovery evidence, market sizing, positioning, a slide-by-slide deck review, an evidence pack, a question bank, the financial model in both versions, a hiring plan, cash flow and runway, scenarios, a launch offer, a pilot assessment and a conversion plan.

Sharing is in the founder's hands. They can share a summary through a link that expires after 14 days by default and can be withdrawn at any time.
It stays theirs. When the programme ends, the founder keeps read access to all of it and can delete it.

04What your programme receives

For the programme team.

A cohort report from us, against the measures agreed in week 1. See a sample cohort report
A founder's individual work only with that founder's consent, given at enrolment.

Propose a Pilot Cohort

05How it is built

What runs underneath, stated plainly.

AI: Anthropic's Claude models, called through our own gateway, which logs every call. Anthropic's commercial terms do not allow customer data to be used for training. The processing runs in the US and is listed in our data processing agreement.
Storage: Founders' work and the audit log are stored in the EU.
Testing: Before each release, 30 fixed reference sessions are replayed through the software, one for every step. They must produce the same scores and verdicts. A change that alters a result cannot ship.
Access: By invitation, through a programme.
Status: Available to partner programmes, in pilot.

06Questions

Before a programme commits.

Can a founder sign up on their own?

Not at present. Founders join through their programme's Pilot Cohort. A founder looking for help on their own company can start with our advisory work.

Does Founder OS make decisions for the founder?

No. It gives a result and its reasons. The founder, their team and their advisers decide what to do with it.

Do founders need to be technical?

No. It works through conversation, step by step, in plain English.

How long does it take?

It depends on the stage and the founder. Within a Pilot Cohort, founders work on it between sessions held every two weeks.

The questions a senior strategist asks, put to every founder in the cohort.

From a problem worth solving to a pilot that converts.

1 · Problem validation

2 · Pitch readiness

3 · Commercial readiness

4 · Go-to-market launch