Project Background

Northstar Capital is launching a paid founder advisory program for Seed to Series B startups. The program pairs portfolio founders with internal advisors for monthly strategy sessions, hiring support, and launch planning. You are the program manager responsible for designing the first 6-month version and launching it in 8 weeks with a small cross-functional team.

Key Stakeholders

The Managing Partner wants a highly personalized, high-touch experience for the firm's 20 highest-value founders. The Head of Platform wants a repeatable model that can scale to 100 founders next year without adding significant headcount. The CFO wants the pilot to stay within budget and show measurable retention or upsell impact within 2 quarters. Advisors want clear scope so they are not pulled into unlimited founder requests.

Constraints

You have 8 weeks to launch, a budget of $120,000, and no approval for additional full-time hires. The working team includes 1 program manager, 2 part-time operators, 4 internal advisors, and shared support from legal and analytics. Advisors can each spend no more than 6 hours per week on the program. A CRM workflow update and legal review must be completed before launch.

Complications

1. Three top founders are already asking for custom support outside any standard package.
2. One senior advisor is leaving the firm in 5 weeks, creating continuity risk for founder relationships.
3. Sales is pushing to market the program broadly before operating rules are finalized.

Your Task

1. Define the most important trade-off in this founder advisory relationship model and explain how you would make the decision.
2. Build an 8-week execution plan with milestones, owners, and dependencies.
3. Recommend a launch scope for the pilot, including which founders should be included first.
4. Define success metrics for the first 90 days after launch.
5. Identify the top risks and how you would mitigate them if stakeholder priorities conflict.