Hey,

This past week we had our end-of-cycle team review out in Austin, TX. Below I will break down the lessons we learned from the past cycle, our plan of action for the next 6-week cycle, and a breakthrough/strategic rethink in our fundraising approach and company structure.

Our Process

Inspired by Jason Fried, we operate off of 6-week cycles. In between, we review the past cycle, diagnose problems, and commit to solutions to work towards the next cycle.

REVIEW

In the past 6 weeks, we were successfully able to go from a brand-new concept that helps people form new habits leveraging social accountability to a fully functioning app with 166 beta testers and several case studies of new habits formed. Although engagement could have been better, these examples give us enough of a reason to commit to SquadUp for the next 6 weeks.

In its current state, the SquadUp App is simply a place to prove to your accountability partner that you showed up and completed your habit for the day. But it needs to be an experience, a journey, almost like an interactive course or video game that brings you from no habit to a habit. So after much research and testing amongst ourselves, we developed The SquadUp Methodology, a fun, engaging, and effective way to build new habits over a short, but consistent period. Everything in the app will be intentionally designed to guide and educate users interactively through this method.

NEXT CYCLE

After reviewing the past cycle, we moved on to planning the next. In this process we started with one overall problem, hurdles we must work through to solve that problem, and lastly specific solutions to work on to overcome those hurdles.

Problem Building healthy habits is hard...

Hurdles

The number of weeks represents our appetite for the hurdle.

Product

1. The SquadUp Method isn't reflected within the app (4 weeks)
2. The SquadUp Method isn't proven (1 week)
3. Can we monetize it? (1 week)

Growth

1. People don't know about the SquadUp method (3 weeks)
2. The SquadUp method isn't proven yet (2 weeks)
3. We need people to bring the app too (1 week)

Solutions

The number next to the team resembles the hurdle it is aiming to solve.

Product

1. [1] Audit the app compared to the method
2. [1] Educational videos, links to growth team content
3. [1] Educate people about habits and the method
4. [1] Help accountability partners be better
5. [1] Squad score as a progress tracker
6. [2] Internal team try the app with different partners
7. [3] Add a price

Summary of Product Team Solutions: Implement the SquadUp methodology into the app making it more of an interactive 'course/video game' like experience with the education embedded throughout.

Growth

1. [2] Build a blog (Chris)
2. [2] Build a podcast (Dom)
3. [2] Build a newsletter (Shaun)
4. [2] Continue to build an Instagram account (Michaela)
5. [2] Post distilled educational material on X and Substack Notes (Chris)
6. [2] Continue to build Austin Community (Michaela)
7. [1] Continue to build a personal brand (Dom)
8. [2] Build a personal brand on Substack (Chris & Shaun)
9. [3] Run experiment testing SquadUp Methodology with Doms men's group

Summary of Growth Team Solutions: distribute the SquadUp Methodology through content in different forms of media (blog, podcast, newsletter, Instagram, X).

Planning Summary We need to distribute the SquadUp methodology both through the app and content online. We need to further test the SquadUp methodology to see how effective it is to form new habits. Every single human on the planet desires good habits, so if it is successful (effective, fun, and engaging) and we successfully distribute it through the app, SquadUp could grow rapidly, and one habit at a time, the human species will become more sovereign again.

Breakthrough and Strategic Rethink

In our recent review and planning sessions, we realized the power of today's development and distribution tools, allowing us to achieve what previously required thousands of employees and massive capital. Inspired by Sam Altman's vision of a single-person billion-dollar company, we recognized the unique synergy, dynamism, and alignment within our team. This insight has driven us to rethink our foundational strategies.

Our Dynamic Team

• Chris: Expert operator and systems builder, a strong leader with a focus on health and habits.
• Jase: Full-stack developer, agile development enthusiast, and systems architect.
• Wes: Full-stack developer and master communicator, translating customer feedback into actionable code.
• Arslan: Full-stack developer, known for his commitment, persistence, and hard work.
• Dom: Creator and master networker, with a large following and respected presence among health creators.
• Michaela: Community builder, leading with genuine support both online and offline.
• Shaun: Visionary problem solver and team builder.

Together, we possess all the elements needed to transform an idea into a scalable product within six weeks and distribute it to hundreds of thousands only at the cost of our team and some tools. This capability has prompted us to reassess our fundraising and company structure.

Our Vision and Products Currently, Squad Technologies is developing two key products:

1. SquadUp App: A platform to help users and their friends create new habits and hold each other accountable in a fun way. It is on track to be market-ready after this cycle.
2. Upspace App: Spotify, but for health. It is potentially ready for market and scale after the following cycle.

Our new system allows us to create simple yet valuable products quickly and intentionally. This has led us to consider a new company structure:

Proposed Company Structure

• Squad Technologies: The parent company.
• Upspace and SquadUp: Sovereign entities fully owned by Squad Technologies.
• Future Products: Developed based on 6-week cycles to validate and reach product-market fit. Sovereign entities that are majority-owned by Squad Technologies. Visionary, operator, developer, and creator/distributor get vested equity to grow the sovereign entity.

We plan to partner with aligned individuals, offering equity in new entities. For example, we might partner with a creator with millions of followers who already speaks about the value prop of the product to join the new product entity, providing consistent distribution.

Synergistic Growth and Mission Alignment Each product will align with our mission of boosting the collective health of the human race. As one product scales, it will support the distribution of other products, creating a synergistic ecosystem while allowing each product to grow independently.

In Summary Squad Technologies will develop and test MVPs, and upon reaching product-market fit, will bring in aligned partners with equity to scale the product. Each team will operate on a proven 6-week cycle with agile processes to maintain focus and productivity.

Investment Opportunity Most of our capital thus far has been from one strong and aligned sovereign partner that has supported us. With this model, we would only need one more strong sovereign partner to invest $1 million for significant equity in the parent company of Squad Technologies. This investment would give us over a year of runway to become sustainable ($75,000/month), a goal we are confident in overachieving with our new way of working. The return would be through dividends or aligned sales of an entity, rather than an IPO. We believe this approach is more sustainable and aligned with our mission, keeping us sovereign as a company rather than beholden to the public market.

As we validate various products, these sovereign entities could raise individual capital from aligned VCs or other investors to support their growth and, consequently, the growth of Squad Technologies. We only intend on bringing in one more partner into the parent company of Squad Technologies.

We are excited about these possibilities and would love to hear your thoughts on this approach.

Thank you,

Shaughnessy