Project Kleros · Before we sit down
The Founder’s Brief
This started as a hundred-question instrument. Your brief answered or reshaped most of it, so what is left is nineteen questions in six short parts. They are the things I could not close from your document, and they are what our first session should be spent on.
Three rules to make this easy. Rough answers are perfect: a guess marked as a guess helps me more than a polished paragraph, and ‘we have not decided’ is a real answer everywhere. Where a question is easier said than typed, send a WhatsApp voice note; a few are marked for it. And if a question deserves ‘talk in person’, write exactly that. The whole thing should take about half an hour.
One more thing. You already own a brand guide and a phased plan. I am not going to sell you what you already have. These questions are how I make sure of that.
Chapter 1
The Table
Who is deciding, what our session has to settle, and who else is in this. Three questions.
A01Your brief tells me what you want delivered. What decision do you need our first session to unlock?
DecisiveVoice note welcome
The deliverables are clear. The decision behind them is not. e.g. 'whether December is real', 'which audience we build first', 'whether to do this in-house'. A voice note works perfectly here.
A08You and Njombo both signed the brief. Tell me who does what, and how the two of you settle it when you disagree.
DecisiveVoice note welcome
Roles and the real decision habit, not the org chart. For example 'I decide product, he decides money, we argue it out' or 'we have never disagreed on anything yet'. Include who gives the final yes before anything goes out in Kleros's name. A voice note is easiest here.
A09Who else has seen the brief, and has anyone else responded to it yet? Then the practical half: what has to happen between now and a yes, and roughly when do you expect to decide?
Decisive
I noticed the Notion page has an Approach document filed against it. If you are talking to others, that is completely fine and I would rather know; it changes how I use our time, not whether I want the work. On the second half, give me the real steps: 'you and I meet, I show Njombo, we decide in the first week of August', or 'we are seeing two people and picking at the end of the month'. A rough date is fine.
Chapter 2
The Machine
What exists today, and whose technology it is. Two questions.
B10What is actually working today, and what is still on paper? If something already runs, roughly how many recognitions has it logged, and from how many different people?
Decisive
A brief describes the finished thing; I want the honest line between the two. 'The app matches tracks on my phone but there are no rewards yet' and 'nothing is built yet, the brand guide is the only asset' are both fine answers. It only changes where the work starts. On the numbers, any honest figure is useful, including a small one: 'about four hundred, from maybe thirty of us testing it' is a perfect answer, and so is zero.
B21Does Kleros do the audio matching itself, or does another company do it for you?
Decisive
Either answer is completely normal, so just tell me which it is. For example 'we built our own model', 'we pay a supplier per lookup', or 'we are testing a couple and have not committed'. If it is a supplier, the name helps, but it is not needed.
Chapter 3
The Money
Your brief quantifies the problem to the rand and never says who pays, for the product or for the work. Four questions.
D15Who pays Kleros? There is no answer to this anywhere in the brief, which I mention because it is the biggest thing I could not find.
Decisive
Even 'we genuinely have not decided' is the most useful answer you can give me, because it tells me what this work has to settle. Rank them if you have a hunch: societies, venues, artists, labels, brands, someone else.
D16Who funds the rewards, and roughly how many months is that funded for? Travel, accommodation and equipment for DJs is a real cost that grows with every new user.
Decisive
Vitality can do this because insurance premiums pay for it. Tell me what pays for yours: your own pocket, a sponsor, a brand partner, future revenue, or nothing decided yet. On the months, 'not funded' and 'no idea yet' are both real answers, and more useful to me than a guess dressed up as a plan.
D18For the two sprints in your brief, what band have you got in mind for the fee itself? And have you decided on both sprints already, or is the second one a separate decision once you see the first?
Decisive
A band is fine and normal: 'under R100k', 'R100k to R250k', 'over R250k', or 'tell me what it should cost'. No number appears in the brief, and I would rather we both know early than design something you did not want to buy. On the second half, 'not decided yet' is a fine answer; it changes how I phase and price the work, nothing else.
D19Who is paying for this piece of work, and what actually has to happen on your side for money to move?
Decisive
Just the shape of it, rough is fine. On where it comes from: 'the two of us out of pocket', 'an existing company budget', 'an investor has committed and funds land in August', or 'it depends on a raise we have not closed yet'. On how it moves: 'I approve it and it goes out same week', 'Njombo signs', 'we pay on invoice at thirty days'. And if the entity behind Project Kleros is still being set up, say so; that is normal at this stage and it only changes the sequencing.
Chapter 4
The Clock and the Name
Three dates that do not reconcile, a name nothing schedules, and a programme someone has to produce. Four questions.
F15Your brief says twelve weeks in the header, six to eight per sprint, and a Q3 start. At the long end that lands in January. Which of those three moves? And if it is the December date that moves, what would actually break?
Decisive
One of them has to give: the December date, the scope, or the start. Tell me which you would rather bend, and I will build the plan around that. On the second half, name the real thing, not the disappointment: 'nothing much, it is a date we picked', 'an investor was told December', 'a sponsor is tied to the season', or 'something signed has a date in it'. If anything already signed fixes the date or limits what you can say publicly before then, say so plainly.
E14The brief calls Project Kleros the stealth mode name. When does the real name land, and is it before or after the launch party?
Decisive
This one sits upstream of nearly everything: the domain, the category paper, the podcast, the press. Also worth knowing whether kleros.io, the well-known blockchain arbitration project, is part of why you would change it. 'We have not decided' is a completely fine answer and a useful one.
E16Your brief asks for a brand identity direction, and a brand guide already exists. Which parts of that guide are locked, and which are still open to change? Who made it, and are they still involved?
Decisive
Rough is fine. 'Logo and colours are locked, everything else is open', 'an agency built it, we paid, we own the files', 'a friend did it, nothing signed', 'honestly it was a first pass and we would redo it'. Say plainly if any of it is off limits.
F17Who produces the party, the panel and the podcast?
Decisive
I want to be straight with you: I can own the thinking, the positioning, the narrative, the content systems, the measurement and the data story. I cannot personally produce a party, a panel, two workshops, twelve episodes and five activations in a quarter, and I would rather say so now than discover it in November. Tell me whether you have producers, or whether you expected that in scope.
Chapter 5
The Trust Layer
Every recognition is a claim someone will one day challenge. This is the chapter your brief does not have yet, and it is the hardest ground. Five questions.
H01The moment a recognition earns points, someone will try to farm them. What stops a person pinging the same track from their kitchen all night?
DecisiveVoice note welcome
Even 'we have not built this yet' is a full answer, and an honest one. If something is already in place, tell me what it is in your own words. A voice note works well here.
H03If a collecting society auditor challenged one of your play records and said 'prove this really happened', what would you show them?
Decisive
Societies only accept data they can check. Tell me what evidence sits behind a single play. Rough answer or 'show me in person' is fine.
H05Your brief maps the four groups and how value moves between them. The path I want in your own words is the single one: a song plays, someone in the room recognises it on Kleros, and eventually a rand reaches the person who made that song. Walk me through the steps in between, and who has to do what at each one.
DecisiveVoice note welcome
This is the one I would most like as a voice note, and rough is completely fine. Tell it like a story, even if parts are still a guess. 'We log it, it goes to the society, the artist gets paid' is a perfectly good answer, and so is 'honestly, the middle of that chain is where I am least sure'. If a step is one you have not worked out yet, say so plainly. I would rather have your real map than a tidy one.
C03Which of the five societies, SAMRO, SAMPRA, CAPASSO, IMPRA or RiSA, have you actually spoken to about Kleros, even loosely? And the R460m your brief leads with is money the societies have not paid out, while your plan puts their people on a panel: how do you think they will hear that number coming from you?
DecisiveVoice note welcome
On the first half: who, how warm, and what was said. Even a 'we should talk' over drinks counts, and 'nobody yet' is a real answer. On the second half, give me your honest read, not the diplomatic one: 'they say it themselves, they will be fine', 'it will land badly with at least one of them', or 'I had not thought about it that way'. A voice note suits this one.
H04Your brief is built for the artists who are least paid today. Where do you expect your fan-recognition activity to be strongest, and does that match where those artists actually play?
DecisiveVoice note welcome
An honest guess is all I want, for example 'Joburg first, then Durban', or 'wherever our first DJs are playing'. Think of real rooms on real weekends. This one is worth thinking out loud about, so a voice note is ideal.
Chapter 6
The Last Question
One question, and it is the one I will read first.
A11What part of Kleros are you least sure about?
DecisiveVoice note welcome
Answer roughly, no need to be tidy. Every early business has two or three things that are still open, and I would rather hear yours from you than guess at them. It could be about the product, the people, the money, the timing, or something I have not thought of. One or two things is enough, and say why if you can. This one is also perfect as a voice note.
That is the territory. Hit send and it comes straight to me, and I will build against your words before we meet rather than guess in the room.
Received. I will come back to you on WhatsApp shortly.