Founder Decisions
Why operators made a move, what changed in the market, and what it means for companies in adjacent categories.
Market Intelligence
The market intelligence briefing for founders who build.
The Founders Report covers the decisions, market shifts, and industry patterns that practicing founders, operators, and investors need to track. Published every Tuesday. Always free.
Edition
Vol. 01 / Spring 2026
Coverage
Briefings, profiles, signal essays, data notes
Market Signals
The pricing shifts, hiring patterns, partnership moves, and category indicators worth acting on before they become obvious.
Editorial Analysis
A point of view on what is happening, not a summary of what was reported everywhere else already.
Lead Story
Fundraising
Which Startup Metric Actually Matters Depends on Your Stage
The median Series A bar tripled since 2021 while the odds of clearing it stayed flat. Here is the metric that should worry you at each stage, from default alive to the Rule of 40.
Publication Formats
- Weekly BriefingEvery Tuesday
- Founder ProfilesTwice monthly
- The SignalMonthly
- Data BriefsMonthly
What We Cover
- The founder decisions and market moves reshaping categories in real time.
- Pricing shifts, hiring signals, and partnership patterns worth tracking early.
- Original analysis on what is actually changing, not a recap of what everyone already reported.
Editorial Positioning
Not news. Intelligence.
The Founders Report is for founders, operators, and investors who need more than headlines. Every issue covers the decisions that are actually moving companies, the market patterns worth tracking, and the analysis that turns information into a point of view.
Founder Decisions
Why operators made a move, what changed, and what other companies should learn from it.
Industry Movement
The shifts behind pricing, hiring, partnerships, launches, and the companies quietly changing a market.
Category Signals
How categories shift, which companies are defining new ones, and the signals that show up in coverage before they show up in valuations.
Publication Formats
Five formats. One publication.
The Founders Report publishes across five recurring formats, each designed to earn a different kind of attention and deliver a different kind of value.
Weekly Briefing
A recurring issue built around market movement, founder decisions, and the few developments that actually matter.
Founder Profiles
Decision-led interviews and features that show how serious operators think under pressure.
The Signal
A sharper editorial essay when the market shifts and the audience needs an angle, not just a summary.
Data Briefs
Structured evidence, pricing clues, hiring movement, and category indicators translated into readable intelligence.
Intelligence Indexes
Roundups, rankings, and curated lists designed to map a category and name the companies worth watching.
Recent Coverage
From the desk.
The Signal
AI Note-Takers Aren't Selling Notes Anymore. They're Selling Your Company's Memory.
Paul Worrell
July 25, 2026
The Signal
Invest in Lines, Not Dots: How to Build Investor Relationships Before You Need the Money
The Signal Desk
July 23, 2026
The Signal
The AI Security Review Gap Enterprise Buyers Aren't Closing
Rajiv Sankarlall
July 21, 2026
From The Archive
01Jul 21, 2026
Weekly Briefing
The 40% Rule Is Back: What Late-Stage Term Sheets Now Demand
a16z's David George says software companies now face two paths: 10-point-plus growth acceleration or 40 percent true operating margins within 24 months. Down-round data, capital concentration, and SVB's margin numbers show why term sheets are enforcing it.
Fundraising4 min
02Jul 18, 2026
Weekly Briefing
What Investors Actually Check During Series A Due Diligence
Series A diligence is not a second pitch. It is a verification exercise built around a data room, an IP audit, a vesting check, and customer calls you will never hear.
Fundraising3 min
03Jul 16, 2026
The Signal
Raise Your Prices Like Slack, Not Like Unity
Slack raised prices once in eight years and kept its customers. Unity raised prices once and lost its CEO within a month. The difference was never the number, it was how each company delivered the news.
Pricing4 min