BuildInTheSun · Operator Manual 01 / 10
How to use it

Run the factory
in under 10 minutes
a day.

Read. Decide. Delegate. Log. Repeat. The factory runs itself when the founder runs the rhythm.

Daily Rhythm 02 / 10
The Loop

One check-in. One decision. One execution slot.

Morning · 2 min

Check-in

Read the daily brief. Scan red flags.

Midday · 5 min

Decision window

Approve, kill, or unblock. Log every call.

Evening · 3 min

Execution slot

Drop new ideas. Review what shipped.

Total daily budget when system is healthy < 10 min
Read the Brief 03 / 10
Telegram Push · 07:00

Top 3 actions, ranked by revenue impact.

If nothing's there, the system is idle — you pick. Otherwise, execute top-down.

▲ BuildInTheSun · HQ07:02 · TODAY
Daily brief · 2026-04-22
  1. flow-app — screenshot test lands today. Ship first ASO iteration.
  2. solin — waitlist at 38/50. Push one Reddit thread to close gap.
  3. haccp — first 50 Apollo emails queued. Approve send.
The Five Commands 04 / 10
Language of the Factory

Five commands. Everything else is noise.

statusFull portfolio snapshot — 5-line summary across every venture.
what should I doTop 3 actions for today, ranked by revenue impact.
kill XArchive a venture. Logs to DECISIONS.md. No debate.
approve XGreen-light a blocked action. Names the agent that picks up next.
unblocked XClear a blocker. Removes from BOTTLENECKS.md.
// anything else → noise. HQ will ignore and route you back.
Dropping Ideas 05 / 10
No Idea Jumps the Queue

Say it in chat. HQ handles the rest.

01
Drop it

Say the idea in chat, however rough.

02
Inbox'd

HQ files it to _inbox/ with timestamp.

03
Challenged

Tested on 5 axes before promotion.

04
Promoted or killed

Pass: joins portfolio. Fail: archived note.

FIVE AXES · demand · defensibility · founder fit · speed · margin
Execution Flow and Decisions 06 / 10
Who Does What

HQ orchestrates. Never executes.

Execution chain
  • HQorchestrates — never ships code itself
  • AGENTShandle niche tasks (ASO, outreach, SEO)
  • CODEships all implementation via QUEUE.md
  • ROUTINESrun 24/7 in the background
The decision rule

Every call — kill, approve, unblock, spend — writes to DECISIONS.md with timestamp and reason. Nothing lives only in chat.

~/ventures/_portfolio/DECISIONS.md
├ 2026-04-22 14:03 · approve · flow-app/aso · reason: baseline pulled
├ 2026-04-22 11:40 · kill · supply-shield · reason: 3w no signal
└ ...
Priorities and Health Signals 07 / 10
Read the Board

Rank ruthlessly. Scan at a glance.

Ranking order

HQ pre-ranks in the daily brief. You override only when you know something HQ doesn't.

  1. Revenue impact
  2. Signal strength
  3. Speed to validate
Health signals · PORTFOLIO.md

Every venture has a color. Red = act today. Yellow = watch. Green = let it run.

GreenCompounding — revenue or signal growing
YellowStalled — approaching gate deadline
RedMissed deadline — kill or defend today
Killing and Recovering 08 / 10
When Things End or Break

No guilt. No solo-debug.

Killing a venture

Miss a gate deadline → kill or pause. Never drag a zombie.

$ kill X
  • HQ moves venture to _archive/
  • Reason logged to DECISIONS.md
  • Tokens redistribute next cycle

When things break

Every venture has a fallback in STATUS.md. Triage fast.

  • External blocker → wait, log ETA
  • Internal blocker → route to the right agent
  • Never solo-debug — that's Code's job
  • Code hasn't picked up → check QUEUE.md
What Not To Do 09 / 10
The Anti-Playbook

Five ways to break the factory.

×
Skip the brief

You lose the ranking. Every action becomes guesswork.

×
Run routines' work

Routines own the loop. Doing their job makes the loop silent.

×
Spend without approval

Zero paid spend without a written entry in DECISIONS.md.

×
Touch KILL_CRITERIA.md

Founder-only. Changing thresholds mid-game kills the system's judgment.

×
Engineer in HQ

HQ orchestrates. Claude Code ships. Mixing layers breaks both.

The One Rule 10 / 10
If You Remember Nothing Else

First paying customer
within 30 days.

Everything else is second

Run the rhythm. Log every decision. The factory runs itself when the founder runs the loop.