---
title: "Foundation Sprint Brief: Storevine Retail Direction"
description: "Storevine pre-sprint scope contract locking team, dates, Decider, and success criteria for the self-serve vs managed-intelligence decision."
artifact: foundation-sprint-brief
version: "1.0"
repo_version: "2.15.0"
skill_version: "0.1.0"
created: 2026-05-16
status: sample
thread: storevine
context: "Storevine pre-seed B2B SaaS; brief authored after Conditional Go readiness verdict; closes precondition before Day 1"
---

<!-- PM-Skills | https://github.com/product-on-purpose/pm-skills | Apache 2.0 -->

## Initiative

**Name:** Storevine Foundation Sprint
**Purpose:** Resolve the self-serve-dashboard vs managed-intelligence-concierge product direction in 2 days, ending with a ratified Founding Hypothesis to feed a 4-week design-partner pilot starting June 2.

**Why a Foundation Sprint:** Stakes are meaningful (6+ months runway). Both directions have plausible business cases but cannot run in parallel. Team has existing customer knowledge but is split on direction. Readiness verdict is Conditional Go (precondition closed: Day 2 board call moved to 14:00 PT, see Logistics).

## Team

| Role | Member | Capacity confirmation |
|---|---|---|
| Decider | Mei (founder, PM/CEO) | Confirmed: full both days, board call moved to 14:00 PT 2026-05-19 |
| Engineering | Devon (engineering lead, ex-Shopify Analytics) | Confirmed: full both days |
| Design | Tasha (design, ex-Faire) | Confirmed: full both days |
| Customer expert | Carlos (advisor, ex-4-store boutique owner) | Confirmed: full both days |
| Facilitator | Devon (rotating role; Mei facilitates Day 1 PM Differentiation) | Confirmed |

Team size: 4 people including Decider. Within the canonical 3-5 range.

## Logistics

**Dates:** 2026-05-18 (Day 1) + 2026-05-19 (Day 2)
**Hours:** 09:00-17:00 PT both days, with 1-hour lunch
**Location:** Storevine SF office, conference room "Aisle 1"; secondary Miro board for asynchronous capture
**Pre-sprint comms:** Mei sends brief + 31-interview synthesis to team 2 days before (2026-05-16 EOD)
**During-sprint comms:** No Slack, no email, phones in basket at door (medical exceptions allowed via Carlos)

## Success Criteria

The sprint succeeds when all four are true at end of Day 2:

1. **A single Founding Hypothesis exists** matching the strict canonical template, ratified by Mei at the Day 2 end Decider Checkpoint.
2. **A top bet AND a backup plan exist** for the validation pilot. Top bet enters the June 2 design-partner pilot; backup is documented for a future pivot.
3. **An assumption scorecard exists** with 5-7 named assumptions, ranked by risk, with the highest-risk assumption identified as the primary pilot scorecard row.
4. **Mei is willing to commit Storevine to the chosen direction publicly** to the design-partner retailers and the board. If she would not, the sprint did not produce a usable commitment and re-runs.

Counter-criteria (the sprint did NOT succeed if):

- The team leaves with both directions preserved ("we'll pursue both for now").
- The Founding Hypothesis is paraphrased away from the canonical template structure.
- The chosen top bet relies on capability the team has not seen evidence of (e.g., 24/7 concierge operations without staffing plan).

## Scope

**In scope:**

- Target customer specificity (which subset of specialty retail; 5-50 stores)
- Important problem in weekly buying decisions
- Team advantage relative to competitors (Shopify Analytics, ERP modules, BI tools)
- Differentiation principles + Mini Manifesto
- 3-7 approach options for "how do we deliver value"
- Magic Lenses evaluation (4 classic + at least 1 custom)
- Founding Hypothesis + assumption scorecard

**Out of scope:**

- Pricing model decisions (covered separately during pilot design)
- Hiring plan (downstream of top bet)
- Specific feature list within chosen approach (Design Sprint territory)
- ERP integration roadmap (pilot will surface the requirements)

## Risks

| Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| Devon and Mei have different starting beliefs (self-serve vs managed) | Use `tool-note-and-vote` whenever the conversation stalls; Decider supervote is binding |
| Carlos's lived experience over-weights one segment | Force specificity in target customer; surface the segment Carlos knows best vs the segments the 31 interviews covered |
| Team is tempted to combine directions ("self-serve with optional concierge tier") | Mini Manifesto's negative-positioning paragraph explicitly forbids "do both" combinations until v1.0 ships |
| Day 2 PM is energy-low | Schedule the longest break of the sprint before Magic Lenses (13:00-14:00 PT Day 2) |

## Output Path

The Founding Hypothesis enters a 4-week design-partner pilot with two specialty retailers (Bayfront Outfitters and West Loop Goods) starting 2026-06-02. The pilot's primary scorecard row tests the highest-risk assumption from the FS-produced scorecard.

## Decider Checkpoint

**Mei sign-off required to start Day 1.**

- [x] Mei confirms team composition, dates, location, and logistics.
- [x] Mei agrees to the success criteria as stated.
- [x] Mei agrees to the counter-criteria (sprint did NOT succeed if).
- [x] Mei commits to publicly committing Storevine to the chosen direction post-sprint.
- [x] Mei resolved the Day 2 11:00 PT board call (moved to 14:00 PT).

**Signed:** Mei, 2026-05-16 18:45 PT
