The ten calls
The ten decisions every founder eventually faces, and how each one goes wrong.
The situations change; the anatomy doesn't. These are the ten hard calls that account for most of a founder's big decisions, each with its documented failure patterns, the criteria that actually decide it, and what the best operators did at the same juncture. Free pages teach how each call breaks. The free Stack, the same method as plain files for Claude or ChatGPT, runs the full decision workup with you.
The lane question. Capital structure silently makes every later call, so decide the game before the money, because the money chooses your endings.
Fire or keepThe most unanimous topic in the operator record: when you know, you know, and delay transfers the cost to the company.
Raise pricesUnderpricing is the default error and it compounds. Complaints are the market's honest number.
Pivot or persistSeparate "the data says no" from "I'm tired." Different problems, different fixes, and mood wearing a changelog is neither.
Sell or holdKnow your number before the offer exists, or negotiate your identity in real time.
Quit or pushMission, vehicle, or pace: most "should I quit" is one of the last two, and the health currency holds veto power.
HireDefine the pain before the role. The best hire is often a script.
FocusDiversify searches, concentrate winners, and never diversify to escape a scary constraint.
The splitEquity distributes decision rights, not credit. Run the coalition math while everyone still likes each other.
The crisis resetPrinciples before decisions, published. Cut once, to the honest depth, and make the leaving cohort alumni.
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