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⚙️Stage 11

Operations & Scaling

Build systems that run without you.

6 lessons15 operating guides

Lessons

Expand any topic for concept, action steps, and pro tips.

Concept

SOPs & Company Knowledge Base: operations turns heroics into systems. Document decisions, define owners, and make the default path the right path.

Why it matters

Without ops, scaling multiplies chaos. With ops, average people can do excellent work.

Action steps

  1. 1Write RACI for critical workflows (who decides, who does).
  2. 2Create SOPs only for processes you do weekly or more.
  3. 3Use a single source of truth for tasks (not four tools).
  4. 4Run a weekly ops review: blockers, SLAs, incidents.
  5. 5Hire only when a process is documented and overflowing.
  6. 6Default to written async updates over meetings.

Done when

A new hire can execute a core workflow from docs without a founder screen-share.

Metrics

  • · Time-to-complete key workflows
  • · Incident count
  • · Meeting hours per week

Anti-patterns

  • · Tool sprawl
  • · Undocumented tribal knowledge
  • · Hiring to fix process debt
Operator tip

If it is not written, it is not a process — it is a hope.

Tools
NotionLinearSlackGitHub

Stage quiz

operations readiness (fundamentals baseline)

5 questions · pass at 70%

  1. 1.A startup is best described as:

  2. 2.The best early focus is usually:

  3. 3.Co-founder equity should typically include:

  4. 4.An MVP primarily tests:

  5. 5.A strong PMF signal is:

Answer all questions to score.

Related case studies

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