# 🌟 NORTH STAR

> **One Company. One Brain. One North Star.**
> Every decision, every feature, every research activity, every implementation
> is evaluated against this single objective.

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## The North Star

### First paying SaaS customer onboarded and retained for 90 days.

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## Current Stage

Pre-revenue. Product is feature-complete for launch (155 tables, 159 API routes, 40+ modules, proven multi-tenant architecture with tenant provisioning tool). One user (Brendan's own shop, Cabinet HQ). The system has been built, tested on staging, and proven with real production data from Brendan's operations (~$78.4K monthly revenue).

**What has been proven:**
- Multi-tenant architecture with shared-schema + business_id + RLS — works
- Tenant provisioning tool — 16 verification checks pass
- PDF compliance service (all 8 AU states) — built, not deployed to fix template defaults
- Financial planning engine — live on Brendan's real P&L data
- Email intake with AI parsing — operational
- SMS notifications (Twilio) — working

**What has NOT been proven:**
- Anyone else will pay for it
- Onboarding pipeline end-to-end (SaaS Admin built, not deployed)
- Support model for non-Brendan users
- Multi-tenant performance under load

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## Why It Matters

Without a paying customer, BoundHQ is Brendan's custom JMS — not a business. A first customer:
1. Validates the product-market fit hypothesis
2. Opens revenue generation ($39-199/mo per business)
3. Provides real feedback to shape the product
4. Generates case study material for customer acquisition
5. Proves the multi-tenant architecture works in production
6. Validates the pricing model

BoundHQ targets 2,000+ AU cabinet and joinery shops. Customer #1 proves the model works.

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## Current Bottleneck

**All three P0 blockers require Brendan action — not AI action.**

| Blocker | Age | Impact |
|---------|-----|--------|
| Login bounce (SameSite=Lax on auth cookie) — needs Brendan to test on staging | 14 days | Brendan cannot test — all dev slower |
| Xero scopes for Financial Stages 1-4 — Brendan enables in Developer Console | 11 days | Blocks SaaS Premium tier revenue |
| VPS drift — requires VPS access for git operations | 9 days | 13 modified files at risk |

The AI has completed or is blocked on every task that doesn't need Brendan. Progress depends on Brendan clearing these three blockers.

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## Success Metrics

| Metric | Target | Current | Owner |
|--------|--------|---------|-------|
| SaaS Admin deployed | Done | Not deployed | AI (unblocked) |
| Login bounce fixed | Verified on staging | Not tested | Brendan |
| VPS .env permissions set | chmod 600 | World-readable | AI (needs VPS access) |
| Git parity sweep complete | All changes committed | 13+4 files at risk | AI (needs VPS access) |
| PDF deposit clause compliant | All 8 states | 4 states illegal | AI (done, needs deploy) |
| VPS monitoring active | UptimeRobot + rate-limit | Flying blind | AI (unblocked) |
| First paying customer | $39+/mo | $0 SaaS revenue | Brendan |
| Customer retained at 90 days | Active + paying | N/A | Joint |

---

## Current Priorities

### Unblock the North Star

1. **Brendan:** Test login fix on staging (~5 min)
2. **Brendan:** Enable Xero scopes in Developer Console (~2 min)
3. **AI:** Deploy SaaS Admin module (2 hours — ready to go)
4. **AI:** VPS security sweep — .env permissions, git parity, monitoring (3 hours — needs VPS access)
5. **AI:** Deploy PDF compliance template defaults (30 min)
6. **Brendan:** Identify and approach first paying customer

### Protect What Exists

7. **VPS backup verification** — confirm backups are restorable (30 min)
8. **Login bounce** — deploy fix, Brendan verifies (20 min)
9. **Credential rotation** — rotate all exposed secrets (1 hour)

---

## Things We Are NOT Doing

The following are explicitly deprioritised. They are not contributing to the North Star:

- ❌ **New feature development** — 155 tables, 40+ modules. Feature-complete for launch. New features delay customer #1.
- ❌ **Mozaik CNC expansion** — Only one potential user (Brendan's shop). Not revenue-critical.
- ❌ **AI memory system expansion** — v1 complete (37 files, 14 directories). Use it, don't expand it.
- ❌ **Content marketing, social media, SEO** — Zero customers to market to.
- ❌ **Mobile apps** — Desktop-first, mobile-compatible. Native apps are not the North Star.
- ❌ **NZ/UK expansion** — Australia first. 2,000+ AU shops unserved.
- ❌ **Enterprise tier features** — Target is 2-20 staff shops, not enterprises.
- ❌ **AI model experimentation** — Current stack works. New models don't move the North Star.
- ❌ **Documentation perfection** — "Good enough" documentation ships. Perfect documentation doesn't.

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## Founder Focus

Brendan's highest-leverage activities for the North Star:

1. **Test login fix on staging** — unblocks all feature verification (5 min)
2. **Enable Xero scopes** — unblocks Premium tier revenue (2 min)
3. **Grant VPS access for security sweep** — unblocks 3 P0 security items
4. **Identify first paying customer** — who is the ideal first customer?
5. **Review first customer onboarding** — walk through SaaS Admin flow
6. **Decide on PDF compliance priority** — legal risk vs. deploy delay
7. **Weekly North Star review** — 2-minute priority check

**Brendan's role:** Think, decide, validate, sell. AI does everything else.

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## AI Focus

AI's highest-leverage activities for the North Star:

1. **Deploy SaaS Admin module** — enables first customer onboarding
2. **Fix VPS .env permissions** — secures credential exposure (needs access)
3. **Git parity sweep** — commits all changes to Gitea (needs access)
4. **Deploy PDF compliance defaults** — makes deposit clauses legal
5. **Set up VPS monitoring** — UptimeRobot, rate-limiting
6. **Deploy login bounce fix** — unblocks Brendan's testing
7. **Close completed handbacks** — reduce noise from 21 active items

**AI's role:** Execute, remember, inform, maintain, document. Surface problems with solutions.

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## Review Cycle

| Frequency | Review | Participants | Output |
|-----------|--------|-------------|--------|
| **Weekly** (Mon) | North Star progress check | AI produces report, Brendan reviews 2 min | Blockers cleared? Customer pipeline? |
| **Monthly** | Customer health review | Brendan + AI | Revenue, churn indicators, feedback analysis |
| **Quarterly** | North Star itself | Brendan | Is "first customer" still the right goal? |

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## AI Decision Filter

**Before beginning significant work, ask:**

> *"Does this move the North Star?"*

**If No:**
- Question whether the work should be done at all
- Explain why the work is being performed if proceeding anyway

**If Yes:**
- Make the relationship to the North Star explicit
- Prioritise above non-North-Star work

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## What Success Looks Like

**30 days:**
- Login bounce fixed, Brendan testing independently
- VPS security sweep complete (env perms, git parity, monitoring)
- PDF compliance deployed (all 8 states legal)
- SaaS Admin deployed, first tenant provisioned
- First paying customer identified and approached

**60 days:**
- Customer #1 onboarded and active
- Revenue: $39-99/mo recurring
- Feedback loop open — product shaped by real customer needs
- Premium AI tier ($99/mo) operational

**90 days:**
- Customer #1 retained (90-day active)
- Revenue trend established
- Acquisition channel validated
- Case study material ready for customer #2

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*This document is maintained by AI. Updated when the North Star changes or when significant progress shifts priorities. Never changed without Brendan approval.*