My Plan
The working draft of the business plan, built one chapter at a time
This is not the guide to writing a plan. It’s the plan itself. Every chapter starts as a generic draft built from the curriculum’s defaults: an open-mold cupsole, a Portuguese factory, around 200 pairs, sold direct. Highlighted text like this is a placeholder. It stays highlighted until you’ve made the decision behind it.
How it gets built
One chapter at a time, in rounds.
- Questions. Each chapter ends with the questions it needs answered. Answer the ones you can and leave the rest open.
- Rewrite. The answers replace the placeholders, the draft is rewritten around them, and each decision is dated in the chapter’s Decisions table.
- Status. The chapter moves from Generic to In progress to Decided. A decided chapter can be reopened, and when it is, the change log below records it.
Chapters
The reading order is the order a bank or a stockist expects. The working order is different: some chapters can’t be written until others are settled.
| # | Chapter | Status | Work on it | Built from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Summary | Generic | Last | Every other chapter |
| 2 | The product | In progress | 2nd | Modules 7, 9, 10 |
| 3 | Customer and market | In progress | 1st | Module 20, US vs Europe |
| 4 | Brand | In progress | 3rd | Modules 20, 21 |
| 5 | Making | Generic | 4th | Modules 11, 12, 14, 15 |
| 6 | Selling | Generic | 6th | Modules 22, 23, 24 |
| 7 | Operations and compliance | Generic | 7th | Modules 16, 17 |
| 8 | Financials | Generic | 5th | Modules 13, 18, 19 |
| 9 | Risks | Generic | 8th | Every chapter |
| 10 | Milestones | Generic | 9th | The roadmap |
| 11 | The ask | Decided | 10th | Chapter 8 |
The one-page plan
The twelve rows from the guide, filled in from the chapters. When a chapter changes, its row here changes with it. Count the highlighted rows to see how many answers are still open.
| # | Question | Current answer | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who buys it, for what occasion, and what do they wear now? | Fashion people around 18 who buy from young designers on Instagram; everyday fit and going out | 3 |
| 2 | What is it? | A sneaker combining leather, suede, mesh and chrome with architectural lines, runner-shaped, on an open-mold sole, one colourway | 2 |
| 3 | Why you? | It combines what five luxury and technical shoes each do separately, from an 18-year-old’s underground brand. Not yet tested on someone unkind | 4 |
| 4 | Which market first? | US first (Boston, New York), Paris second | 3 |
| 5 | Who makes it? | A small cementing factory in Portugal, not yet chosen | 5 |
| 6 | What does a pair cost, and what does it sell for? | ~$45 landed, ~$140 retail; price under review | 8 |
| 7 | How does it reach the customer? | Direct, through your own online store | 6 |
| 8 | How do people find out? | Email list, seeding, a pre-order launch | 6 |
| 9 | Where does the cash come from, and what’s the lowest cash point? | Pre-orders plus founder money; lowest point not yet modelled | 8 |
| 10 | What is legally required before the first pair ships? | Entity, trademark, broker, insurance, labels | 7 |
| 11 | What are the three likeliest failures? | Late delivery, fit, unsold stock | 9 |
| 12 | What does success look like at week 26? | Not yet defined | 10 |
Change log
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-20 | All eleven chapters created as generic drafts |
| 2026-10-20 | Round 1: plan in English and dollars, read by the founder only, no ask. Sartro as working name. Customer, occasion, reference shoes and cities decided. Product moved from court cupsole to the reference materials and a proposed runner shape |