A sample startup's brief

Where and when it worked

From 10 of this founder's posts, counted by visits in the 2 days after each post, from their analytics tool. Small numbers: a lean, not a rule.

• Channel: LinkedIn, 43 visits a post over 6 posts (other channels: 12 a post over 4 posts).
• Day: Tuesday, 47 visits a post over 3 posts (other days: 23 a post over 7 posts; UTC days).
• Time: morning (06:00 to 12:00 UTC), 46 visits a post over 4 posts (other times: 20 a post over 6 posts).

It only says this once there are at least 5 posts with a reading, and names a channel, day or time only with at least 2 posts behind it. Before that it says how many more posts it needs. Made-up posts, like the rest of this page.

Where it moved

• Visits down 31% against your usual week; 80% of the drop is /pricing, and 70% of it is from google.com.1,610 visits in the last 7 days against about 2,330 expected from the same weekdays over the earlier four weeks. Pages and sources compare this reading with the one taken last Sunday.Source: Cloudflare Web Analytics, read Sunday
• 4 new subscriptions in 30 days, 75% from Germany.Stripe stores the customer's country but not a plan split for new subscriptions, so only the country is named.Source: Stripe, pulled Sunday

A tool that stores only a daily total says so instead of guessing where it moved, and under two weeks of data the brief says "too new to tell". Press "Not this one" and that alert stays away for 14 days. Made-up figures.

Promises to keep

Shipped: CSV export for reports. 3 people asked for it. Tell them.

3 people asked for this (oldest 21 days ago): @alice, @bob, @carol (GitHub issues). The issue said "closes #12" in the change that shipped it, so there is no guessing in the match.

Where it looks: GitHub issues (author and "+1" comments, by login) and changelog reader notes that left an email. Where there is nothing, it says "No requests found in your connected sources yet" and names what it checked. Made-up people, like the rest of this page.

Your monthly update, written for you

Acme: monthly update, November 2026

Made-up numbers. In a real account you press Draft my monthly update, edit the text, and copy it or open it in your own email; FoxPlug sends nothing. There is also a public build-in-public version with no revenue numbers.

Money

Shown as a Pro account sees it, with the per-customer lists. On Free you see these totals and a locked preview of the lists.

• Your Stripe customer portal does not offer a pause. Pausing instead of cancelling saves some of them, and the reason tells you why.
• 2 of your 10 biggest customers have only one card on file ($158 a month). With a backup card, one failed card does not stop the payment.
• 3 customers have paid monthly for 3+ months while you sell a yearly price. Offering it would bring in about $870 up front. Notes are drafts; you send them.

Made-up customers and amounts. In a real account every number names where it came from, and FoxPlug sends nothing and changes nothing in Stripe.

Win Back

Pro and Serial. Free sees the count of people you could invite back, not who they are.

Everyone who cancelled, read from your Stripe (read only). Drafts only: you send each note from your own email. Anyone who opted out, disputed a charge or was written to too recently is greyed out and cannot be selected.

3 of the 5 people who match "export" left before CSV export shipped. Two others are greyed out and cannot be contacted.

• Maya R. Pro · $29 a month lost · left Oct 14 (25 days ago)

  Reason: too expensive · asked for: CSV export; dark mode

  Match: asked for CSV export, which shipped Nov 5

  Status: cancelled

• Leo T. Pro · $29 a month lost · left Oct 29 (10 days ago)

  Reason: missing feature · “I need export to Excel”

  Match: wrote about export, which shipped Nov 5

  Status: cancelled

• Priya N. Serial · $99 a month lost · left Sep 30 (39 days ago)

  Reason: switched to a competitor

  Match: asked for: export your reports

  Status: cancelled

• Sam K. Pro · $29 a month lost · left Nov 2 (6 days ago)

  Reason: too expensive · asked for: export

  Status: opted out

  Opted out: not selectable

• Ana P. Pro · $29 a month lost · left Oct 21 (18 days ago)

  Reason: missing feature

  Status: disputed a charge

  Disputed a charge: not selectable

Made-up people and amounts. FoxPlug never sends: each note is a draft you copy or open in your own email, always with your address and an unsubscribe link at the foot.

Revenue rescue

2 customers to write to. At risk: $116 a month. Recovered since FoxPlug told you: $99.

• Win: the card networks quietly updated 4 of your customers' cards in the last 30 days, so those renewals will go through.
• 1 card expires within 14 days and the networks have not updated it ($29 a month at risk). Worth a short note.
• 1 failed payment needs the customer to act (the card has expired).
• 1 payment failed for lack of funds. Stripe's automatic retries usually fix these, so no message yet.
• 1 payment was refused by the bank without a reason. Do not chase it; the customer has to sort it out with their bank.

Still paying, about to leave

3 customers set their plan to end. Together $87 a month, and the soonest has 4 days left.

• Reasons they gave Stripe: too expensive 1, missing features 1, no reason given 1.
• 1 is booked to move to a cheaper plan at the next renewal.

Win back

You shipped Shared notebooks. 3 people who left may want it (2 asked for something like it, 1 said missing features). Invite them back.

• 2 of 3 left 45 to 90 days ago, the best time to write.
• Skipped on purpose: 1 disputed a charge, 1 asked not to be contacted, 1 left over 180 days ago.

Why they left

Acme cancelled Tue. Their last visit: 2 pages, 1 day before. They hit errors on /export (3 times) in the 2 days before.

Matched by the email Stripe holds, to the founder's own PostHog (last visit) and Sentry (errors). Facts only: it says what happened, never why they left.

When a customer cannot be matched it says so, names the tool that has no one with that email, and tells you how to identify your users in PostHog and Sentry so the next one can be. Made-up customer and figures.

Fix: where people get stuck

People rage-click "Export" on /dashboard.

14 sessions in the last 7 days; it started after Friday's deploy "Production deploy: export page rewrite"; a change that mentions "dashboard": "Rework the dashboard export button".

Read from your own PostHog or Microsoft Clarity when you press the button. Clarity reports the page, not the button. "Not this one" hides it for 14 days. Made-up numbers and names.

With a team (Serial)

Dana is on the Fix line, Sam commented, and Priya (client) can read the brief.

• Fix Look at the three failed payments from Monday · assigned to Dana by you, “please look at this first”
• Sam (editor): “I can reach two of them today.” · 2 hours ago
• Activity: you assigned the Fix line to Dana · Sam commented · Dana marked it done

Made-up people and figures. In a real account you invite each person by a single-use link, choose a role and the projects they see, and a client never sees customer names unless you allow it.

Share this

Shared notebooks are live

Worth a post

It scored 78 out of 100, the highest of anything waiting, and it is from this week.

Why it ranks here: it is one of your shipped features, customers can see it, 11 commits went into it, it is bigger than most of what you have shipped lately, you usually approve shipped features.

The editor's verdict on every win

Every win gets one plain label and the reason for it. Change a label in one tap, and FoxPlug learns what you would rather post, mention or skip.

• Worth a post Shared notebooks are live. Scored 78 of 100, customers can see it, you usually approve shipped features.
• Mention it briefly CSV export. Scored 52 of 100: small and visible to users, so it goes in the weekly roundup.
• Mention it briefly Dark mode. Scored 47 of 100: small and visible to users, so it goes in the weekly roundup.
• Skip it Test runner upgrade. Internal work your users cannot see.

Your week

One card, built when the founder presses the button, with the last 7 days of a made-up startup. Nothing is scheduled and nothing is emailed.

All figures here are made up. In a real account every number is read from the tools the founder connected, and a line that cannot be read is left out, not guessed.

What I've learned about you

• You approve shipped features (6 times), so I rank them higher.
• You turn down internal plumbing (9 times), so I rank it lower. Mostly: too small.
• I have learned from 15 decisions on this project in the last 120 days.

Ask the sample startup's chief of staff

Try it. It answers only from the facts above (made up), shows where each answer came from, and says so when it does not know.