---
title: "Foundation Sprint Readiness: Storevine Retail Direction"
description: "Storevine pre-seed B2B founding team readiness assessment for a Foundation Sprint to resolve the self-serve-dashboard vs managed-intelligence-concierge strategic question."
artifact: foundation-sprint-readiness
version: "1.0"
repo_version: "2.15.0"
skill_version: "0.1.0"
created: 2026-05-15
status: sample
thread: storevine
context: "Storevine pre-seed B2B SaaS for specialty retail analytics; founding team readiness diagnostic before Day 1"
---

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

## Scenario

The Storevine founding team (Mei, Devon, Tasha, Carlos) is preparing a two-day Foundation Sprint to resolve a strategic split: should Storevine ship as a self-serve analytics dashboard (customer logs in, configures, consumes data) or as a managed-intelligence concierge (retail-specialist analysts curate weekly insights and deliver them as a 15-minute reading session)? Before committing two days to a facilitated workshop, the team runs `tool-foundation-sprint-readiness`.

## Inputs Captured

**Initiative description:**

> Storevine is a pre-seed B2B SaaS for specialty retail analytics. The founding team wants to help small-to-mid US specialty retailers (5-50 stores) make better weekly buying decisions, but is split on whether to ship a self-serve analytics dashboard or a managed-intelligence concierge service. Both can theoretically work; we need to choose where to start.

**Team composition draft:**

- Mei (founder, ex-Square Capital; PM/CEO; Decider candidate)
- Devon (engineering lead; ex-Shopify Analytics)
- Tasha (design; previously at Faire designing tools for specialty retailers)
- Carlos (customer expert; ran four boutique retail stores 2019-2024; now advising)

**Decider name and availability:** Mei, available full days May 18-19 with one 30-min board call carved out at 11:00 PT Day 2.

**Existing customer/market knowledge level (self-assessed):** 8 of 10. Team has run 31 customer interviews with specialty retailers in the last 10 weeks (Mei + Carlos co-led). Carlos has lived experience as the target customer. Less direct experience with the ERP-integration buyer journey.

## Readiness Verdict: **Conditional Go**

Eight readiness criteria evaluated; seven pass; one returns a yellow that becomes a precondition.

| Criterion | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Initiative is named and concrete | PASS | Storevine product direction is named; specific to specialty retailers 5-50 stores |
| 2. Stakes are meaningful | PASS | Pre-seed; wrong direction burns 6+ months of runway |
| 3. Team has existing customer/market knowledge | PASS | 31 interviews + Carlos's lived experience |
| 4. Decider is available | YELLOW | Mei available except 30 min Day 2 11:00 PT (board call); covered below |
| 5. Team size is appropriate (max 5) | PASS | 4 people including Decider |
| 6. Inputs are collected | PASS | Interview synthesis + competitor scan in shared drive |
| 7. Output has a path to testing | PASS | Team is talking to two design-partner retailers for a 4-week pilot starting June 2 |
| 8. Organization tolerates explicit tradeoffs | PASS | Mei explicitly chartered the sprint to commit to one direction, not split-investment |

## Diagnosis

Seven criteria clean; the Day 2 Decider gap is the only flag. A 30-minute board call at 11:00 PT Day 2 falls inside Magic Lenses (90-120 minutes; ratified spec timing). If Mei is absent for any part of Magic Lenses, the scoring conversation either pauses or drifts without anchoring. The fix is mechanical: shift the board call by 30 minutes or schedule Magic Lenses to start at 13:00 PT instead of 11:00 PT.

No other risk factors. The team has the prerequisite knowledge, the Decider commitment for everything except the carve-out, and a clear post-sprint test path with design-partner retailers.

## Recommended Preconditions

1. **Resolve Mei's 30-minute Day 2 conflict** (Mei owns; deadline: end of day 2026-05-16). Either move the board call to 14:00 PT or shift Magic Lenses to start at 13:00 PT. Closes the Decider-availability yellow.

## Recommended Pre-Sprint Activities

1. **Prep the 31-interview synthesis as a one-page summary** (Carlos owns; deadline: morning of 2026-05-18). For Day 1 morning reference during target customer and important problem decisions.
2. **Block calendars** (whole team; deadline: end of day 2026-05-16). No Slack, no email during sprint hours (09:00-17:00 PT) both days.
3. **Pre-stage the workspace** (Tasha owns; deadline: evening of 2026-05-17). Miro board with the canonical Foundation Sprint structure; physical office room reserved.
4. **Confirm design-partner availability for June 2 test** (Mei owns; deadline: evening of 2026-05-17). Confirms criterion 7 stays GREEN through the sprint.

## Recommended Attendees

| Attendee | Role | Required for which sections |
|---|---|---|
| Mei | Decider, founder/PM | All; especially Differentiation and Magic Lenses (top bet supervote) |
| Devon | Engineering lead | All; especially Approach Options (feasibility) |
| Tasha | Design lead | All; especially Differentiation (2x2 chart) |
| Carlos | Customer expert | All; especially Basics (target customer + competitors) and Differentiation (principles) |

No additional cameo experts recommended. Strong internal coverage.

## Decider Checkpoint

**Decider sign-off required before scheduling Day 1.**

- [x] Mei confirms Conditional Go verdict and accepts the precondition (resolve 30-min Day 2 conflict).
- [x] Mei commits to attending both full days as Decider, contingent on the precondition closing.
- [x] Mei acknowledges the sprint will force a choice between self-serve and managed-intelligence; not both at v0.1.
- [x] Mei agrees the output should be a Founding Hypothesis ratifiable by end of Day 2.
- [x] Mei accepts the design-partner June 2 test as the validation path.

**Signed:** Mei (founder, PM), 2026-05-16 09:15 PT
