The Startup Founder's Toolkit

Founder burnout recovery requires recognizing the signs early (cynicism, exhaustion, detachment from work you used to love) and taking deliberate action before breakdown. The Burnout Recovery module provides prompts to identify root causes: Are you working unsustainable hours? Taking on too much individual contributor work? Lacking boundaries between work and life? Once identified, recovery involves three phases: (1) Immediate relief—take actual time off, not "working from the beach." (2) Structural changes—delegate IC work, hire for weaknesses, set hard stops on work hours. (3) Preventive systems—regular breaks, peer support, metrics that aren't just revenue. The prompts guide you through all three phases.

Product-Market Fit frameworks focus on signal detection: distinguishing genuine demand from polite interest. Key questions include: "Would customers be very disappointed if this product disappeared?" (Sean Ellis test). "Are you getting organic growth or paying for every user?" "Do customers use the product without prompting?" "Are you spending more time scaling than convincing?" The PMF module provides 30+ prompts that pressure-test whether you've found fit or are fooling yourself. Common false signals: customers who like you but don't use the product, feature requests that never convert to paying users, growth that stops the moment you stop promoting. Real PMF feels like pulling back a firehose—you have more demand than capacity.

Investor readiness means thinking like a VC before you pitch. VCs evaluate deals through specific lenses: market size (is this a billion-dollar opportunity?), traction (do customers actually want this?), team (can these founders execute?), defensibility (what prevents competitors from copying?), and deal terms (is the valuation reasonable?). The Investor Readiness module walks through each lens with prompts like: "What's the real TAM, not the made-up number?" "What metric proves traction?" "Why are you the uniquely qualified team?" Preparation also means anticipating hard questions: "Why hasn't this been done before?" "What's your burn rate?" "When do you expect to be profitable?" Work through these prompts before the pitch so you have crisp, confident answers instead of rambling explanations.

Founders undercharge because pricing feels emotionally fraught. You're terrified of losing customers, worried competitors charge less, and uncomfortable asking for money. The result: pricing that doesn't cover costs or reflect value. The Pricing Strategy module addresses this psychologically: "What are you afraid will happen if you raise prices?" (Usually: nothing. Customers who leave weren't profitable anyway). "Are you pricing for the customer's problem or your costs?" (Price based on value delivered, not hours spent). "Would you pay this price?" (If no, why are you asking customers to?). Good pricing comes from confidence in the value you create. The prompts help you internalize that confidence and price accordingly.

It's neither and both. These aren't therapy sessions with a licensed professional—if you have clinical mental health needs, seek proper care. But they're also not generic business advice like "10 tips to grow your SaaS." The frameworks sit in the middle: structured prompts that address the psychological and strategic challenges founders face. The Founder Therapy module helps you process emotional highs and lows. The Pricing Strategy module helps you charge what you're worth. Both require honest self-examination, which is why prompts work better than advice—they force you to find your own answers instead of copying someone else's playbook.

Each module contains 20-30 prompts. Work through them in 20-30 minutes for a quick session, or take an hour for deeper reflection. Some prompts will feel immediately relevant; others won't apply to your situation—skip what doesn't fit. The value isn't completing every prompt; it's working through the ones that land hard. If a question makes you uncomfortable or defensive, that's usually the one worth spending time on. Revisit modules as your situation changes—pricing strategy looks different at $10K MRR vs $100K MRR. The prompts adapt because your context changes, not the questions.

No. This founder toolkit is completely free and requires no signup. Click any module to access prompts immediately. Use it when you're stuck on pricing, questioning whether you have PMF, preparing for investor pitches, or navigating burnout. No data collection, no email gates, no friction—just frameworks for the hardest parts of building a startup.