Target: $20k+ MRR (≈ $250k ARR), profitable, ≥80% gross margin, ≥70% month-3 retention by month 24.
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.
Phase 1: Prove the pain (Months 0–3) → Gates G1, G2
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Customers | 40 creator interviews and 10 manager interviews. Concierge service for 10–15 paying pilots. |
| Product | Web v1: Instagram + YouTube connection, live media kit, deal pipeline, rate calculator, invoices with auto-reminders (Stripe or Razorpay payment links). |
| Distribution | Launch the public rate calculator and 20 SEO pages ("how much to charge for an Instagram Reel with 100k followers"). |
| Team | Sign the creator-industry advisor or co-founder. |
| Pricing | Pro $29/mo or $290/yr. Pilots get founding-member pricing locked for 12 months. |
| Exit | 20 paying, ≥60% M1 retention |
Phase 2: Make it repeatable (Months 4–6) → Gate G3
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Income ledger (platform payouts, deals, affiliate), a contract checklist with disclaimer, and a weekly earnings email. |
| Distribution | 3 manager partnerships (roster onboarding). Founder content 3x a week. Referral offer: 1 month free per paid referral. |
| Data | Consent flow for anonymized deal prices. Aim for 300+ deals logged. |
| Metrics | Money-outcome dashboard per customer: days-to-paid, overdue recovered, rate uplift. |
| Exit | $2.5k MRR, ≥70% M3 retention, ≥30% organic or referral |
Phase 3: Manager tier and moat (Months 7–12) → Gate G4
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Manager tier ($149/mo, up to 10 creators): roster view, seats and roles, brand-approval workflow. TikTok connection if you sell in the US. Sponsorship-disclosure check. |
| Distribution | First quarterly Creator Rate Report (PR and backlinks). Presence at 1–2 creator-industry events. |
| Data | 1,000+ deals logged, so rate-card recommendations run on your own data. |
| Ops | Help center, onboarding emails, a churn-reason survey. |
| Exit | $8k MRR, <4% monthly revenue churn, 10+ manager accounts |
Phase 4: Scale what works (Months 13–24) → Gate G5
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Affiliate matching for Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest (not YouTube, which is native). Tax-ready exports. A mobile companion only if usage data demands it. |
| Distribution | Double down on the single best channel from months 1–12. Consider a second geography through managers (e.g. India, priced in INR). |
| Team | First hire: customer success or growth, not another engineer, unless support load demands it. |
| Checkpoint | Month 18: $14k MRR. Missing it means concentrating on the single best channel. |
| Decision at month 24 | At $20k+ MRR and profitable, the target is hit. Run it as a profitable business. A later raise for a brand marketplace is optional, and only considered after the target. |
| Exit | $20k+ MRR (≈ $250k ARR), profitable |
Revenue path (illustrative, not a forecast)
| Month | Paying creators (Pro) | Manager accounts | MRR |
|---|
| 3 | 20 | 0 | ~$500 |
| 6 | 100 | 2 | ~$2.7k |
| 12 | 270 | 10 | ~$8k |
| 18 | 420 | 25 | ~$13.8k |
| 24 | 600 | 40 | ~$20.4k |
This assumes blended Pro ARPU of about $24 (after annual discounts), Manager at about $149, monthly churn of 3–4% after month 6, and 40% or more organic acquisition. If churn runs above 6%, this path doesn't work. Fix retention before spending on growth.
Budget guardrails (bootstrapped)
- Infrastructure plus APIs plus LLM costs below 10% of revenue.
- Zero paid acquisition before the month-6 checkpoint. After it, only channels with CAC payback under 3 months.
- Keep 12 months of runway at all times. If runway falls below 6 months, cut to the core product and the best channel.