Target: an MRR ladder ($1k → $50k) by month 24, profitable at each level. Realistic plan targets: $4–5k MRR at ~15 hrs/week, $10–12k full-time. Tier B ($20k+) is a stretch at ~2% / ~4%.
Rule: nothing in a later phase starts until the current phase's gate is hit. Gates and pivot rules are in WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md. The detail for days 1–90 is in 08-90-day-plan.md.
Gates are written as full-time / ~15 hrs/week.
Phase 1: Prove the pain (Months 0–3) → Gates G1 (day 45), G2 (day 90)
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Customers | 25 / 15 coordinator calls. Concierge service for the first paying venues. |
| Product | Web v1: events and CSV import, requirement set, magic-link upload, AI read + human confirm, event-clock chasing with host copy, ready/missing view. |
| Liability | E&O policy, lawyer-reviewed terms, banned-words list for product and marketing copy. |
| Distribution | Requirement-letter generator, first 5–10 SEO pages, branded vendor upload page. |
| Pricing | Founding venues $49 locked for 12 months. New venues $79 / $149. |
| Exit | G1: 5 / 3 paying by day 45. G2: 12 / 6 venues running every event through it. |
Phase 2: Make it repeatable (Months 4–6) → Gate G3
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Per-event audit pack, weekly digest, requirement sets per event type (Venue Pro), override log. |
| Distribution | 20 SEO pages on vendor insurance questions. 2 state venue or wedding associations approached. Referral offer: 1 month free per referred venue. |
| Ops | Recorded demo, setup wizard, help center, templated vendor emails. Before wedding season peaks: support hours set and published. |
| Metrics | Share of vendors cleared by T-3, events per venue through the product, hours saved (self-reported). |
| Exit | $2k / $1k MRR, ≤2% monthly logo churn, ≥30% of trials from search or vendors |
Phase 3: The network and the winter (Months 7–12) → Gate G4
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Vendor profile reuse across venues. Host one-day event-policy check. iCal feed. |
| Retention | Before November: annual-plan push (2 months free), $19 off-season pause, winter job (next season's requirement letters, vendor list refresh). |
| Distribution | Concentrate on one region so vendors overlap. Vendor-facing SEO ("how to add a venue as additional insured"). |
| Data | Anonymous benchmark: share of vendor certificates with gaps, by vendor type. Publish once as content. |
| Exit | $5k / $2.5k MRR, ≥50% of venues on annual, winter churn ≤3%/month |
Phase 4: Scale what works (Months 13–24) → Gate G5
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Booking-software sync for the tool ≥30% of paying venues use (if it has an API). Group plan (up to 5 venues). W-9 and caterer health-permit collection, if venues ask. |
| Second buyer | From month 15, if venues still grow: fair, market and festival organisers collecting COIs from exhibitors and food trucks (same engine, different season). |
| Team | First help: part-time seasonal support (Apr–Oct), not another developer. |
| Checkpoint | Month 18: $8k / $4k MRR. Missing it means concentrating on the single best channel. |
| Decision at month 24 | Above $5k and profitable: keep running it. Below $2k: stop, or sell the code and customer list. |
| Exit | $10–12k / $4–5k MRR, profitable |
Revenue path (illustrative, not a forecast; full-time plan)
| Month | Venues | Blended ARPU | MRR |
|---|
| 3 | 12 | ~$55 (founding prices) | ~$0.7k |
| 6 | 25 | ~$80 | ~$2k |
| 12 | 50 | ~$100 | ~$5k |
| 18 | 78 | ~$105 | ~$8.2k |
| 24 | 100 | ~$110 | ~$11k |
At ~15 hrs/week, roughly halve the venue counts: ~22 at month 12 and 40 at month 24 ($4.4k MRR).
This assumes ≤2% monthly logo churn after month 6 (including winter), ≥50% of venues on annual plans, and ≥30% of new venues from search or the vendor loop. If winter churn runs above 5% a month, this path doesn't work. Fix retention and annual-plan share before spending on growth.
Budget guardrails (bootstrapped)
- Hosting, AI extraction, email and storage below 7% of revenue. AI extraction alone ≤2%.
- E&O insurance and legal set-up are fixed costs paid before launch. Budget them from savings, not revenue.
- Zero paid acquisition before month 6. After it, only channels with payback under 3 months.
- No integration fees or marketplace listing fees before $5k MRR.
- Keep 12 months of personal runway for the full-time plan. If it falls below 6, drop to the ~15 hrs/week plan and its gates.