The gap between "idea" and "first paying customer" is where most solo founders fail — not from lack of effort but from lack of a structured, day-by-day system. A tool that compresses that gap from months to 14 days with templates already customized to their specific idea removes the activation barrier that kills most ventures before they start. The market evolves faster than any fixed playbook. The prompts and templates that worked in 2024 may not work in 2026.
Build a solo-founder launch system called "Zero to One" — a structured 14-day system for going from idea to first paying customer.
Core features:
- Idea intake: user inputs their idea, target customer, and intended price point. [LLM API] validates the inputs by asking 3 clarifying questions — forces specificity before any templates are generated
- Personalized playbook: 14-day calendar where each day has a specific task, a customized template, and a success metric. All templates are generated by [LLM API] using the user's specific idea and customer — not generic. Day 1: problem validation script. Day 3: landing page copy. Day 5: outreach email. Day 7: customer interview guide. Day 10: sales conversation framework. Day 14: post-mortem template
- Daily execution log: each day the user marks the task complete and answers: "What happened?" and "What's the specific blocker if incomplete?" — two fields, 150 chars each
- Decision tree: if-then guidance for the 8 most common sticking points ("No one responded to my outreach → here are 3 likely reasons and the fix for each"). Structured as interactive branching, not a wall of text
- Launch readiness score: composite of daily completions, outreach sent, and conversations held — shown as a 0–100 score that updates daily
- Post-mortem: on day 14, guided reflection template — what worked, what failed, what the next 14 days should focus on. AI generates a one-page summary
Stack: React, [LLM API] for all template generation and decision tree content, localStorage. High-energy design — daily progress always front and center.Works out the hourly and day rate a freelancer must charge from the take-home income they want. Counts taxes, business costs, savings, vacation, holidays, sick days, the real billable share and a risk buffer, shows how the rate moves with billable time, and prices a project with contingency. Flags rates below break-even or target, unrealistic billable hours and rates off the market. Includes a stdlib Python calculator with --self-test.
Plans a day hike leg by leg. Estimates time with Naismith's rule and Langmuir's descent corrections, adjusted for terrain, fitness, pack weight and breaks, gives clock times for each leg, checks the finish against sunset and the latest safe start, and works out water to carry between refills and snacks to pack. Flags after-dark finishes, long dry stretches and hard terrain late in the day. Includes a stdlib Python planner with --self-test.
Each night it reviews the day's agent and coding sessions, writes down what went wrong and the lesson learned, and keeps a growing playbook so tomorrow's work repeats fewer mistakes.
