The glossary ... and a translator
Every special word in this book, in plain terms ... plus the business-world word for the same thing, so when a banker, landlord, or insurance agent uses it, you can smile and translate.
The 90-day version ... the small, real version of your dream you're choosing to test this season. Not the forever version. (Business-speak: MVP, or "minimum viable product.")
Owner ... the one person who makes sure a job gets done. Not necessarily the one who does every bit of it. (Business-speak: accountable party, or the "A" in something called a RACI chart.)
Helper ... someone who pitches in but isn't on the hook. Loved, needed, and not an owner. (Business-speak: stakeholder, advisor, resource.)
The foundation ... the one thing about this dream that is not up for negotiation, laid down first so nothing later can argue with it. (Business-speak: mission, core values.)
The one thing we sell first ... the main offering for this season; everything else is a bonus or waits its turn. (Business-speak: anchor offer, primary revenue stream.)
Who it's for, first ... the people you're building for right now, on purpose, before anyone else. (Business-speak: target market, ideal customer profile.)
What success looks like ... the three outcomes you'll grade yourselves against at day 90. (Business-speak: success metrics, KPIs, objectives.)
The ready-to-open list ... what truly must be done before taking anyone's money, split from what can improve after. (Business-speak: launch readiness, go-live criteria.)
The #1 roadblock ... the single risk that blocks everything else until it's resolved. (Business-speak: critical blocker, key dependency.)
Plan B ... the version of your dream that still works if the #1 roadblock goes against you. Written down while everyone's calm. (Business-speak: contingency plan.)
Two-way door ... a decision you can walk back, so make it fast. A one-way door can't be unmade ... a lease, a loan ... so slow down for those. (Business-speak: reversible vs. irreversible decisions ... borrowed from Amazon.)
The parking lot ... where wonderful ideas wait, in writing, so they can't hijack this season. The menu for your next 90 days. (Business-speak: backlog, roadmap items.)
Good enough for now ... the workable version you ship while the polished version waits. A phone photo. A v1 name. (Business-speak: iterating; "done is better than perfect.")
The glossary, continued
The time-or-money call ... the team's honest answer to "do we have more time than money, or more money than time?" ... which decides what you do yourselves and what you pay for. (Business-speak: build vs. buy, outsourcing decisions.)
The practice run ... one free, deliberately demanding trial of the real thing before anyone pays. It pays you in lessons. (Business-speak: pilot, soft launch, beta.)
The experience checklist ... your written standard for what every customer should get, every time. Starts humble; grows with every lesson. (Business-speak: quality standard, SOP ... "standard operating procedure.")
The list of people who might buy ... names, written down, with whoever talks to them next. Not a feeling that "people seem interested." (Business-speak: leads, pipeline, CRM.)
The tracker ... the one shared list of every promise: item, name, date, time-or-dollars, status. Walked every week. (Business-speak: project tracker, action-item log.)
The weekly team meeting ... 30–60 minutes, same day every week: a quick around-the-table, then the tracker, then unsticking whoever's stuck. (Business-speak: weekly tactical, stand-up, sync.)
The monthly sit-down ... one or two big topics a month, decided ... with three options on the table, not a blank page. (Business-speak: monthly strategic meeting.)
The season-end step-back ... half a day away from the noise at the end of each 90 days, to choose what's next. (Business-speak: quarterly offsite.)
The look-back ... the honest grading of the season against your three measures, receipts courtesy of the tracker. (Business-speak: retrospective, post-mortem, quarterly review.)
Working Genius ... the short quiz (workinggenius.com, by Patrick Lencioni / The Table Group) that maps each person's two geniuses (work that fills them up), two competencies (fine in doses), and two frustrations (work that drains them). (Business-speak: team assessment.)
The finisher ... whoever has Tenacity as a genius: the person who tracks, follows up, and won't let things drop. Keeper of the tracker. (Business-speak: execution owner, driver.)
House rules ... your agreements about how you'll treat each other when decisions get hard. Said out loud, posted where you meet. (Business-speak: operating principles, team norms.)
Knowing your numbers ... being able to say what things cost, what you charge, and what's left over, without checking with anyone. (Business-speak: unit economics, margins, breakeven.)
None of the business words are wrong ... they're just a dialect. Learn to translate them and every professional you hire becomes easier to work with. But around your own table, use the plain words. Plans written in words everyone owns get done by everyone.
The shoulders this stands on
This playbook blends our own launch process with ideas from thinkers we lean on constantly. Buy their books; take their quiz.
- The Six Types of Working Genius® ... Patrick Lencioni / The Table Group. The Working Genius model, the six types (Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, Tenacity), and the genius/competency/frustration framework belong to The Table Group. The quiz lives at workinggenius.com. This playbook points you to the model; it doesn't reproduce the assessment.
- Death by Meeting ... Patrick Lencioni. The daily / weekly / monthly / season-end meeting structure is adapted from this book.
- The Ideal Team Player ... Patrick Lencioni. The humble / hungry / smart test for future teammates.
- One-way and two-way doors ... a decision idea popularized by Jeff Bezos in Amazon's shareholder letters.
© Rossi Works. All rights reserved. This playbook is licensed for you and your launch team. Please don't redistribute, resell, or pass it along beyond your table ... it's how we keep making things like this. "From the field" notes are drawn from real Rossi Works engagements, anonymized and shared with permission.
This guide offers planning frameworks and general information, not legal, insurance, tax, or financial advice. Rules and permits vary by location ... for your specific situation, one hour with a qualified local professional is worth forty guesses.