10 questions to understand your role as a founder right now

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business: [offer and customer]. Stage and team: [details]. Three main problems and evidence for each: [list]. My daily work: [main tasks]. Help me identify my most useful contribution over the next 30 days. If information is missing, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait for my reply. Rank three possible contributions by their impact on the most important problem and why they need me. Make one provisional recommendation; state its evidence and the assumption that could change it. End with an outcome to monitor and one action for this week. Do not assume I must personally solve every problem or invent numbers.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business, role, and stage: [details]. Five recent work situations: [for each: expected result, what I personally did, actual result, and other people or circumstances that helped]. What possible strengths recur? If detail is missing, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait for my reply. Identify only two candidate strengths. For each, give supporting evidence, a counterexample or missing evidence, and a small task to test it this week. Separate my contribution from the team and circumstances. A result matching a forecast is not sufficient proof of strength, and one success does not establish a permanent trait.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business and role: [details]. Three situations where I worked well and three where I struggled: [task, timing, interruptions, working alone or with others, how information was presented, and result]. Find patterns in the working conditions. If information is missing, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait. Give two observations supported by examples, with an alternative explanation for each. Suggest one change to test for a week on a recurring task and how to compare results. Do not assign me a personality type or a fixed learning style. Treat conclusions as hypotheses that may differ by task.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business and role: [details]. Decision and options: [list]. Each option could gain [benefit] and cost [time, money, relationships, or other consequences]. My stated work values are [values]. One time I upheld them and one time I compromised: [examples]. Help clarify the conflict without choosing my values for me. If needed, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait. Return the central tradeoff in each option, one boundary for me to consider, and one question to answer before deciding. Distinguish my stated values from observed actions without judging my personality.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business and stage: [details]. Most important outcome this month: [outcome]. Current commitments and weekly time spent on each: [list]. Work I cannot stop and why: [details]. Help me choose what to leave undone deliberately. If information is missing, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait. Suggest one commitment to stop and one to defer with a review date. Explain the cost of deferring and who needs to know. Calculate available time using only my numbers and propose when to reserve it for my priority. Where value is uncertain, flag work for review rather than automatically removing it.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business, stage, and team: [details, or say solo]. Three tasks delayed until I intervene: [task, why it needs me, possible owner, and consequences of an error]. If needed, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait. Choose one suitable delegation experiment. Write a short agreement: required outcome, owner, decisions they can make independently, time/budget/quality limits, when to escalate, and review date. State the support they need. Do not assume readiness or assign responsibility without authority. If I work alone, propose documenting or simplifying a recurring step without assuming an employee exists.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business and role: [details]. I work with [employee / partner / freelancer]. Last time they challenged me or shared bad news: [what they said, my exact response, and what happened next]. Our expected outcome and responsibilities were [details]. Review only the reported behavior and words. Do not guess their feelings or treat silence as agreement. If needed, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait. Identify one behavior that may make discussion harder, with an alternative explanation. Write a three-sentence conversation opening, one question inviting their perspective, and one decision or handoff agreement to clarify together.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business and stage: [details]. Decision: [describe]. If upcoming, these are my options, available information, and forecast: [details]. If past, this is what I knew and expected then, and what actually happened: [details]. If needed, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait. Create a concise record of options, reason for choosing, observable forecast, assumptions, factors outside my control, and a review date appropriate to when results should appear. For a past decision, separate decision-process quality from the outcome; identify one lesson and missing evidence. Do not rewrite my original forecast with hindsight or treat success alone as proof of good judgment.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business: [description]. Changes over the last six months: [customers, team, workload]. My previous role and actual role now: [compare]. Most needed outcome, evidence-backed strengths, and team capabilities: [details]. If needed, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait. Compare current business needs with my responsibilities without assuming growth always requires me to stop hands-on work. Draft my proposed role in two sentences, one responsibility to keep, one to trial handing over, and one capability to learn. Separate evidence from assumptions and end with a signal to monitor for a month to assess whether the change fits.

Your ready-to-copy prompt

Business, stage, and role: [details]. Main problem and supporting evidence: [details]. Change I am considering: [describe]. Available time and commitments to preserve: [details]. If needed, ask one question at a time, at most three, and wait. Turn this into one seven-day experiment: action, work to reduce to make room, two calendar slots, a small outcome to observe, and a guardrail protecting quality or the team. Use my numbers or leave blanks. Set a review date and specify evidence that would support continuing, changing, or stopping. Do not add a second list of goals or promise a final outcome within a week.