Let’s Talk About Your Startup, Your Challenges, and What Comes Next
What if the most expensive, catastrophic mistakes your startup will ever make are already in your mission-critical spreadsheet – even when every formula is 100% correct?
Whether you are exploring an idea for a new company, using the FREE W³ Cubed™ Startup Action Plan Workbook — From Point A to Ready for Prime Time™, confronting an important business decision, or returning after an earlier engagement, I welcome the opportunity to learn what you are trying to accomplish. The most useful starting point is understanding where your company stands today, where you want to take it, and which decisions or obstacles may determine whether you get there.
After more than four and a half decades of starting, financing, operating, and advising businesses, I have learned that consequential startup problems are often not the ones founders initially recognize. A pricing question may really be a cash-flow problem; a hiring decision may conceal a weak assumption about demand; and a minor launch delay may change the capital required to survive. That is why the W³ Cubed™ methodology focuses on WHO is responsible, WHAT must be accomplished, and WHEN each decision and deliverable belongs in the execution sequence.
Before You Hire a Consultant, Explore What You Can Accomplish Yourself
I am giving entrepreneurs the complete W³ Cubed™ Startup Action Plan Workbook — From Point A to Ready for Prime Time™ FREE so they can benefit from decades of real startup experience and Compound Knowledge™ without automatically paying a consultant. The evolving working edition exceeds 370+ pages and is designed as a hands-on reference, not a book to read cover to cover. Open its Table of Contents, find the most urgent issue facing your company today, and go directly to the applicable Action Items, tools and decision points.
The complete Workbook coordinates 216 Action Items, 52 Milestones, nine Action Plans with Gantt charts, four Go/No-Go Gates, 27 Field Notes and the WHO Chart™ methodology to connect financial, operational, marketing, staffing, product, legal and fundraising decisions. It also challenges mission-critical driving assumptions, responsibilities, dependencies and supporting evidence. The Workbook is not a trial or teaser for a paid W³ Cubed™ edition, and you do not have to hire me or reserve AI Arsenal™ to receive it.
AI Arsenal™ Lite — 50 Sample-Driven Founder Workflows Under Certification
The free W³ Cubed™ Workbook identifies WHAT must be accomplished and WHO should do it, WHEN. AI Arsenal™ Lite is a separate optional product that is not yet released. Its 50 guided founder workflows are being tested and certified to help produce useful documents, editable spreadsheets, analyses, scorecards and Action Plans from company-specific information rather than generic AI conversations.
Each planned certified module follows Show → Explain → Interview → Deliver: first show fictional test inputs and an actual sample deliverable, then explain the input-to-output logic and what-if tests, interview the founder about the real company, and help produce an editable personalized work product. Topics include financial projections, pricing, startup budgets, cash runway, Maximum Cash Hole, staffing, WHO Chart™ work under certification, investor preparation and business planning. AI does not make unsupported assumptions true or replace qualified human judgment.
Advance reservations only — no package is available for immediate download. The first 100 eligible advance reservations qualify for the certified Lite package FREE at release; eligible reservations 101–200 may optionally purchase it for $9.95; and subsequent reservations may optionally purchase it for $19.95. There is no deposit, credit card, automatic billing or obligation to buy.
The separately planned AI Arsenal™ Professional and configurable Excel founder-control system are advanced products; neither is required to use the free Workbook or to reserve Lite.
Who Should Contact Me?
Former CEO RESOURCE Clients
If we have worked together previously, I would be glad to hear how your company has progressed and what new developments have brought you back. Many of my earlier consulting relationships extended across multiple assignments, and I particularly appreciate hearing from founders who have encountered a new opportunity, financing decision, operational challenge, or strategic crossroads since our original engagement.
Former clients receive first consideration for my limited consulting availability. When contacting me, please remind me approximately when we worked together, the name of the company involved, and what has changed since our earlier work.
New Founders and Startup CEOs
If you are building a company and have reached a decision where experienced executive judgment could make a meaningful difference, tell me about the business and the question you are trying to resolve. You do not need an elaborate proposal or to have completed every W³ Cubed™ Workbook Action Item before getting in touch, although any work you have already done can help us identify the most useful next steps.
I selectively accept new consulting relationships when the assignment is a good match for my experience and available time, particularly where a consequential driving assumption, financial decision, implementation challenge, or strategic issue deserves a more experienced second set of eyes.
Founder Slots — Limited Access to Experienced Executive Judgment
My primary focus in semi-retirement is now the Five Year Life™ publishing program and preserving the startup lessons accumulated over more than four and a half decades. I am making Founder Slots available for up to a maximum of 100 entrepreneurs across my consulting service levels. That number is a ceiling, not a promise to accept 100 founders; I may close the opportunity much sooner, perhaps after 30–40 or fewer, depending on my availability and publishing commitments. A Founder Slot counts an accepted entrepreneur, not a prepaid retainer block.
The highest-value use of my consulting time is often challenging mission-critical driving assumptions and examining consequential decisions rather than producing routine documents. Revenue projections, cash needs, launch timing, hiring, contractor qualifications and financing strategies may all look convincing in a perfectly calculated spreadsheet even when the assumptions beneath it are wrong. The free Workbook can help organize the questions; Lite, once released, may help produce first-pass work; experienced human judgment remains a separate, optional service.
The Standard consulting rate is only $250 per hour, or only $2,500 for a prepaid ten-hour retainer, generally usable over twelve months under the applicable signed Statement of Work. Priority ($3,750) and Top Priority ($5,000) ten-hour service levels purchase scheduling precedence, not different expertise. There can be only one active Top Priority client at a time. A founder may request additional blocks, subject to separate approval and availability, without taking another Founder Slot.
Before choosing a premium tier, please read the Queue / Priority Service rules. If you want to inquire about availability, use the contact form below; purchasing a retainer is never required to receive the free Workbook.
Tell Me Where You Are — and What You Want to Accomplish
A useful initial message does not require a lengthy business plan, financial presentation or detailed consulting proposal. What helps most is a clear description of your company, the problem or opportunity, and what may be at risk if the issue is unresolved. If you are already using the free W³ Cubed™ Workbook, identify the relevant Action Item, Milestone, Go/No-Go Gate or driving assumption. Please do not send sensitive financial or proprietary documents until we have agreed on an appropriate way to handle them.
- What does your company do, and who are its customers?
- What stage have you reached, from initial concept through active operations?
- What important result are you trying to accomplish?
- What constraints or obstacles are holding you back?
- Are you using the W³ Cubed™ Workbook or reserving AI Arsenal™ Lite?
- Which critical assumptions concern you most?
- What financial, operational, or strategic consequences could follow if those assumptions prove wrong?
- Is there an important milestone, deadline, or funding decision approaching?
- Have you already completed analysis or identified possible solutions?
- What specifically would you like my help accomplishing?
Send Your Message Directly to Robert
I read incoming messages personally, although my publishing commitments and limited consulting schedule mean I cannot promise an immediate response or provide individualized consulting through unsolicited email exchanges. If your inquiry concerns a potential engagement, a concise explanation of the business and the decision you are facing will help me determine whether I can be useful and whether the timing is practical.
Former clients are especially encouraged to identify the company and approximate period of our previous work together. New founders are welcome to explain how they discovered the free W³ Cubed™ Workbook and which planning or decision-making exercises they have already completed. A message through this form is an inquiry, not the acceptance of a Founder Slot or an agreement to purchase consulting.
You May Already Have the Tools to Make Your Next Move
Before spending money on consulting, open the Table of Contents in the complete FREE W³ Cubed™ Startup Action Plan Workbook and tackle the issue most urgent to your company. AI Arsenal™ Lite is a separate optional companion, still under certification and available for advance reservation only; you do not need to wait for its release to use the Workbook. A well-structured question, a validated financial assumption or a clearly defined dependency may reveal a practical next step you can take yourself. If experienced executive judgment is warranted later, that preparation can make our time together far more focused and productive.
Best wishes for stellar success,
Robert Lee Goodman, MBA
CEO & Chief ImpleMentor™
CEO RESOURCE LLC
“I Help Startups Start & Stay Started.”™
49X Founder | Raised Capital 44 Times for 44 of My Own Companies and Limited Partnerships — $120.1 Million in Today’s Dollars from 1,342 Investors | I Help Startups Plan, Fund & Implement.