• Online business only
• 1 founder
• Distributed workforce, fewer than 5 people
• Revenue stages: 0–100k, 100k–1M, 1M–2M+
• Goal: founder focus, low overhead, clean scale

STAGE 1 — 0 to 100k

Founder-led. Speed beats structure.

Core objective

Prove demand.
Deliver results.
Avoid tool drag.

Team

• 1 founder
• Optional contractor support

Tech stack

• Notion
• WhatsApp

How the system runs

Notion
• One task list
• One weekly plan
• One delivery checklist
• Notes, ideas, content, all in one place

WhatsApp
• Quick coordination
• Voice notes
• Same-day questions only

Founder role

• Build
• Sell
• Deliver
• Decide

What not to add yet

• Slack
• Heavy PM tools
• Complex SOPs

Budget

• Software: $0–$30 per month
• Ops support: none

Failure mode

Too many tools too early kills momentum.

STAGE 2 — 100k to 1M

Repeatability matters. Founder stops holding everything.

Core objective

Reduce cognitive load.
Create consistency.
Delegate execution.

Team

• 1 founder
• 2–4 contractors or part-time team

Tech stack

• ClickUp
• Slack
• Notion

How the system runs

ClickUp
• All tasks
• Clear owners
• Clear due dates
• Simple statuses only

Slack
• Async updates
• Coordination
• No task tracking

Notion
• SOPs
• Delivery playbooks
• Decision log

Founder role

• Direction
• Quality control
• Key relationships

Founder stops being the reminder system.

Optional ops support

• Part-time EA or Ops Assistant
• 8–12 hours per week

Budget

• Software: $60–$150 per month
• Ops support: $500–$1,200 per month

Failure mode

Founder still answers everything and slows growth.

STAGE 3 — 1M to 2M+

Visibility beats effort.

Core objective

Operate through systems.
Protect margin.
Founder focuses on leverage.

Team

• 1 founder
• Ops lead or Senior EA
• 3–5 total team members

Tech stack

• Monday.com or mature ClickUp
• Slack
• Notion

How the system runs

Monday or ClickUp
• Dashboards
• Project health
• Delivery timelines

Slack
• Leadership updates
• Cross-team awareness
• No execution detail

Notion
• Training
• IP
• Institutional memory

Founder role

• Strategy
• Partnerships
• Vision
• Capital allocation

Founder checks dashboards weekly, not tasks daily.

Ops ownership

• Operations Manager or Senior EA
• Authority to enforce systems

Budget

• Software: $120–$250 per month
• Ops support: $2,000–$4,000 per month

Failure mode

Founder micromanages instead of leading.

THE SIMPLE SCALING LAW FOR ONLINE BUSINESSES

0–100k
• Do the work

100k–1M
• Build the system

1M–2M+
• Read the system

THE ONE QUESTION TO SELF-CHECK

Ask yourself weekly:
“If I disappeared for 14 days, would delivery continue?”

• No → you are pre-100k in systems
• Maybe → you are mid-scale
• Yes → you are ready for 2M+

ONLINE BUSINESS ROADMAP (Programs, consulting, digital products)

STAGE 1: 0–100k

Budget (monthly) • Software: $0–$40 • Ops support: none or founder-led

Ops Owner • Founder

Focus • Prove demand • Ship fast • Avoid overhead

Team • 1–2 founders • 0–1 contractors

Systems • Notion as tasks + docs (www.notion.so) • WhatsApp for communication (www.whatsapp.com)

Founder Role • Builder • Seller • Deliverer

Failure if rushed • Too many tools • Slack before a team exists

STAGE 2: 100k–1M

Budget (monthly) • Software: $60–$150 • Ops support: $500–$1,200 (part-time)

Ops Owner • Operations Assistant or EA (part-time)

Focus • Repeat delivery • Reduce founder load • Reliability

Team • 1–2 founders • 3–5 contractors

Systems • ClickUp for tasks (www.clickup.com) • Slack for async communication (www.slack.com) • Notion for SOPs (www.notion.so)

Founder Role • Delegator • Quality control

Failure if skipped • Founder becomes bottleneck

STAGE 3: 1M–2M+

Budget (monthly) • Software: $120–$550 (model dependent) • Ops support: $2,000–$4,000

Ops Owner • Operations Manager or Senior EA

Focus • Visibility • Margin protection • Leadership

Team • Ops lead • 5–8 team members

Systems • Monday (www.monday.com) or mature ClickUp (www.clickup.com) • Slack (www.slack.com) • Notion (www.notion.so)

Founder Role • Strategic leader • Decision maker

Got it.
Below is the updated, online-only version, tightly aligned to the ONLINE BUSINESS ROADMAP and only the tools that matter at each stage.

This keeps role clarity for software and adds budget context, so you know when a tool earns its place.

ONLINE BUSINESS

Programs, consulting, digital products
1 founder, distributed team under 5

STAGE 1 — 0–100k

Speed beats structure.

Budget

• Software: $0–$40 per month
• Ops support: none
• Ops owner: Founder

Systems in use

• Notion
• WhatsApp

Only these two. Nothing else.

Notion (Stage 1)

UTILITY
Knowledge base and lightweight execution.

BEST FOR
• Tasks
• Notes
• Content drafts
• Simple delivery checklists
• Thinking and planning

NOT FOR
• Real-time coordination
• Complex workflows
• Accountability across multiple people

ROLE IN THE SYSTEM
Notion is the founder’s brain.

If you cannot run the business from one Notion page, the business is not clear yet.

WhatsApp (Stage 1)

UTILITY
Immediate, low-friction communication.

BEST FOR
• Quick coordination
• Voice notes
• Same-day questions

NOT FOR
• Planning
• Task ownership
• Documentation

ROLE IN THE SYSTEM
WhatsApp handles today.

If it matters tomorrow, it moves into Notion.

Failure if rushed

• Adding Slack without a team
• Adding PM tools without repeatable delivery
• Managing tools instead of selling

STAGE 2 — 100k–1M

Systems beat effort.

Budget

• Software: $60–$150 per month
• Ops support: $500–$1,200 part-time
• Ops owner: Operations Assistant or EA

Systems in use

• ClickUp
• Slack
• Notion

ClickUp (Stage 2)

UTILITY
Task and workflow execution.

BEST FOR
• Task ownership
• Deadlines
• Launches
• Content pipelines
• Delegation

NOT FOR
• Strategy thinking
• Documentation depth
• Real-time chat

ROLE IN THE SYSTEM
ClickUp answers one question.
“Who owns what by when?”

It is the execution spine.

Slack (Stage 2)

UTILITY
Async communication for distributed teams.

BEST FOR
• Daily updates
• Coordination
• Alignment without meetings

NOT FOR
• Task tracking
• Decisions
• Long-term memory

ROLE IN THE SYSTEM
Slack answers one question.
“What is happening right now?”

If something matters tomorrow, it must leave Slack.

Notion (Stage 2)

UTILITY
Source of truth and leverage.

BEST FOR
• SOPs
• Delivery playbooks
• Decision log
• Training

NOT FOR
• Daily task execution
• Urgent coordination

ROLE IN THE SYSTEM
Notion remembers.

If someone asks twice, document it.

Failure if skipped

Founder becomes the bottleneck.
Everything still routes through one brain.

STAGE 3 — 1M–2M+

Visibility beats control.

Budget

• Software: $120–$250 per month
• Ops support: $2,000–$4,000
• Ops owner: Operations Manager or Senior EA

Systems in use

• Monday.com or mature ClickUp
• Slack
• Notion

Monday.com or mature ClickUp (Stage 3)

UTILITY
Operational visibility and reporting.

BEST FOR
• Dashboards
• Delivery health
• Multi-project oversight
• Leadership review

NOT FOR
• Creative thinking
• Knowledge storage
• Early experimentation

ROLE IN THE SYSTEM
This answers one question.
“How is the business performing?”

It is a dashboard, not a brain.

Slack (Stage 3)

UTILITY
Leadership alignment.

BEST FOR
• Cross-team awareness
• Weekly updates
• Reducing meetings

NOT FOR
• Execution
• Ownership

ROLE IN THE SYSTEM
Slack is the hallway, not the factory.

Notion (Stage 3)

UTILITY
Institutional memory.

BEST FOR
• Training new team members
• IP
• Strategy
• Long-term leverage

ROLE IN THE SYSTEM
Notion holds the business after the founder steps back.

ONLINE STACK SUMMARY

0–100k
• Notion = brain
• WhatsApp = today

100k–1M
• ClickUp = execution
• Slack = communication
• Notion = memory

1M–2M+
• Monday or mature ClickUp = visibility
• Slack = alignment
• Notion = leverage

Final clarity

Do not ask
“What tool does the most?”

Ask
“What failure does this tool prevent at this stage?”

ROLE - "Who" Is Needed in the Team

EA / Operations Lead (Online Business)

This role owns flow, not strategy.
Their job is to keep the system clean, predictable, and boring.

Boring systems scale.

CORE OUTCOME OF THE ROLE

• Founder never chases tasks
• Team knows exactly where work lives
• No tool confusion
• No dropped balls
• No repeated questions

If the founder is reminding people, this role is underperforming.

REQUIRED SKILLS (NON-NEGOTIABLE)

1. Systems thinking

Understands the difference between:
• Communication
• Execution
• Documentation

Knows where work belongs without asking.

2. Strong written communication

• Clear
• Direct
• Calm
• Structured

This person writes updates other people understand.

3. Tool confidence (not obsession)

Must be comfortable managing:
• Notion
• ClickUp or Monday.com
• Slack

They do not redesign tools every week.

4. Follow-up discipline

Comfortable:
• Nudging people
• Enforcing deadlines
• Closing loops

Polite. Firm. Consistent.

5. Founder boundary enforcement

Understands one rule clearly:

Founder does not manage tools.
Founder does not chase tasks.
Founder does not clean systems.

SIMPLE OPERATING SOP

Weekly rhythm for EA / COO-lite

DAILY (30–45 minutes)

Slack

Purpose: awareness, not execution.

• Review key channels
• Identify action items
• Redirect work into ClickUp or Monday
• Protect founder from noise

Rule enforced
Slack never holds tasks.

ClickUp or Monday

Purpose: execution.

• Check overdue tasks
• Confirm owners and dates
• Follow up missing info
• Close completed tasks

Rule enforced
Every task has one owner and one date.

WEEKLY (2–3 hours total)

1. Weekly planning (Monday or chosen day)

Owner: EA / Ops Lead

• Review all active projects
• Clean backlog
• Confirm priorities with founder
• Lock the week

Output:
• Clean task list
• Clear priorities
• No ambiguity

2. Founder summary (15 minutes)

Deliver one short update:
• What is on track
• What is blocked
• What needs a decision

Founder only responds to decisions.

3. Notion upkeep

Purpose: memory and leverage.

• Document new SOPs
• Update existing playbooks
• Log key decisions
• Improve clarity

Rule enforced
If someone asks twice, it goes into Notion.

MONTHLY (1–2 hours)

Systems hygiene

• Archive old tasks
• Remove unused Slack channels
• Review SOP relevance
• Simplify where possible

Goal:
Fewer tools.
Fewer steps.
Less friction.

STAGE-SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITY

At 100k–1M (EA / Ops Assistant)

Time
• 8–12 hours per week

Focus
• Task follow-up
• Founder protection
• Tool hygiene

Authority
• Can assign tasks
• Can follow up
• Escalates only when needed

At 1M–2M+ (Senior EA or COO-lite)

Time
• 20–40 hours per week

Additional focus
• Cross-project coordination
• Delivery health
• Timeline forecasting
• Light KPI tracking

Authority
• Enforces deadlines
• Reprioritizes with founder
• Owns weekly ops rhythm

Founder role shifts to:
• Strategy
• Partnerships
• Vision
• Capital decisions

INTERVIEW FILTER QUESTION

Ask this:

“Someone messages in Slack with a task. What do you do?”

Correct answer:
• Clarify task
• Create or link task in ClickUp or Monday
• Respond in Slack with link

If they hesitate, they are not ready.

SUCCESS METRIC FOR THIS ROLE

After 30 days:
• Founder spends less time in tools
• Team asks fewer questions
• Delivery feels calmer

After 90 days:
• Founder could disappear for 7–14 days
• Work continues without friction

That is success.