Worksheets for the decisions that cost you most when you get them wrong: a hire, a partner, a supplier, a price, a raise. You answer plain questions, score what you find, and write down why you decided.
Ten yes or no questions. About two minutes.
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Each Operator Sheet is a worksheet for one decision. This one is the Key Hire Evaluation, shown with a fictional example.
Things feel chaotic, and a founder is thinking about hiring someone to sort it out. The salary would be £60,000 a year.
Illustrative figures. Salary only; employer costs are not included.
What the founder is really asking: How much of this work will still be there once we've cleared the backlog?
Fast screen answered: 4 of 5With one question unanswered, the sheet shows the screen as incomplete and gives no final recommendation yet.
salary only, first three months
three-month project
One signal the sheet's Hire vs Contractor vs Delay check lists for considering a contractor: "Project defined, speed needed, budget uncertain". Illustrative figures.
Before you make an offer, use the Key Hire Evaluation to check whether the business is ready to hire. You can write down what you decided and why, then share it with a co-founder. Allow 15 to 20 minutes for the full evaluation.
Example decision memo
An excerpt from the Key Hire Decision Memo. The founder has left the six-month question unanswered.
The sheet calculates
The founder writes
The same founder after the project, with a candidate and the evaluation complete. Illustrative figures.
The sheet calculates
The founder writes
Each paid evaluation also has worked examples, red flags, questions to answer first, and a place to write down what you decided and why. The free checklist is the quickest way to try it.
Illustrative only. The company, the £60,000 salary and the £6,000 project are examples, not a quote or a real business. A final score-based recommendation needs all five fast-screen questions answered and all ten criteria scored. Two or more No answers stop the sheet early, and one No must be resolved before proceeding.
Twelve evaluations in two stages, so you can start with the set that matches where your business is. Completion times shown on each sheet are our estimates, not timed user testing.
Five evaluations for decisions about co-founders, key hires, outside help, spending and direction. £15 per sheet, plus VAT where it applies. Any sheet works at any stage; the groups are a guide.
Co-Founder£15Going into business with someone
Key Hire£15One hire, about to make the offer
Agency & Freelancer£15A proposal from an agency or freelancer
Spend & Budget£15Spending money you can't easily get back
Pivot£15A direction that isn't working
Founder Foundations£49Bundle, save £26. £75 separately. Includes all five Stage 1 sheets.Key Hire is the short check for one hire, 15 to 20 minutes. Hiring, in Stage 2, covers a whole search and adds an interview scorecard, a pay check and an offer memo. Agency & Freelancer is the quick check for one proposal. Vendor, in Stage 2, is the fuller check for a supplier you’ll depend on.
Decisions with money, staff, suppliers or customers already on the line. £29 per sheet, plus VAT where it applies. Core Business Decisions already includes People & Partnerships, so you don't need both.
Hiring£29A whole search, comparing candidates
Partnership£29A partner who wants to get going
Vendor£29About to sign with a supplier
Pricing£29Changing your prices
Expansion£29Moving into a new market
Fundraising£29Raising money
Product Sunset£29Retiring a product
People & Partnerships£59Bundle, save £28. £87 separately. Includes Hiring, Partnership and Vendor.
Core Business Decisions£149Bundle, save £54. £203 separately. Includes all seven Stage 2 sheets and the free Decision Quality Checklist.Select an evaluation and its details open over this page. Prices, bundles included, are in pounds and plus VAT where it applies. Gumroad processes payment in US dollars, so your receipt and card statement show the converted amount.
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Three formats. The HTML version opens in your browser and scores as you go. Save progress keeps your answers in a small file on your device, and Open saved carries on later. Saving is tested in desktop Chrome. The Word version is editable. The PDF is for printing. With Word and PDF you fill in the answers and add up the score by hand, and the PDFs are not fillable forms.
Key Hire is the short one, estimated at 15 to 20 minutes, for a single hire you're about to make. Is there a written job description, enough work for six months, a 30 day onboarding plan? It has no interview scorecard.
Hiring is estimated at 20 to 30 minutes and covers the whole search. It starts with whether the role is clear enough to recruit for, then adds an interview scorecard, a pay check, a reference call framework, an offer memo and a 90 day review.
Agency & Freelancer is what you run before signing one provider's proposal: relevant work, a reference you can call, written scope, an exit clause and who owns the IP.
Vendor is the fuller check for a supplier you'll depend on. It adds a cost against value check, a contract terms checklist, a test for when to walk away or switch, and a review at 90 days.
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