BBJKS · Coordination doc · v3 (2026-09-17)

Launch Coordination

Dependency map, projected timeline, and the estimates we need to firm up to make the launch date real.

Owners: Kelly, Brian, Shawn, John, Bret Projected launch: Oct 12, 2026 (Kelly deadlines firm; positioning still open) Status: Living doc — iterated per Kelly 9/17 and Shawn 9/16

Dependency map

Solid arrows are hard blockers. Dotted arrows are soft influences (may shift a decision but don't stop the downstream work).

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flowchart LR
    KB["Kelly
Brand identity"]:::box
    KS["Marketing site
(design + copy + build)"]:::box
    SS["Shawn
Positioning + copy"]:::box
    SR["John + Bret
Staging requirements"]:::box
    ST["John + Bret
Set up staging"]:::box
    BD["Bret
Purchase domains"]:::box
    SP["Brian + John
Stripe / Paddle setup"]:::box
    CA["Brian
Chart of accounts"]:::box
    PS["Brian
Polling to GL"]:::box
    TP["Brian
Test payments"]:::box
    L(("LAUNCH")):::launch

    KB --> KS
    SR --> ST
    BD --> KS
    SP --> CA
    SP --> TP
    SP --> PS
    ST --> TP
    CA --> PS
    KS --> L
    TP --> L
    PS --> L
    CA --> L

    SS --> KS
    SS -.-> SP

    classDef box fill:#ffffff,stroke:#0f4c81,color:#151820,stroke-width:1.5px
    classDef launch fill:#0f4c81,stroke:#0f4c81,color:#ffffff,stroke-width:2px

Projected timeline

Projected launch Monday, October 12, 2026

Based on the estimates we have plus placeholders for what we don't. Real estimates from Kelly and Brian will move this date. Firm dates only exist for items with confirmed durations; everything else is a working assumption.

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gantt
    title Launch timeline (projected, business days)
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    axisFormat %b %d
    tickInterval 3day
    excludes weekends

    section Design (Kelly)
    Site review                :ksr, 2026-09-17, 2d
    Page ideas                 :klp, 2026-09-17, 3d
    Draft Pathom logo          :kld, 2026-09-17, 7d
    Set up socials             :ksm, 2026-09-22, 4d
    Final logo + brand guide   :klf, after kld, 8d

    section Positioning (Shawn)
    Positioning decision       :active, spd, 2026-09-17, 5d
    Warm outreach list         :active, swl, 2026-09-17, 6d
    Landing page copy          :active, slc, after spd, 8d

    section Infrastructure
    Purchase domains           :bd, 2026-09-14, 1d
    Staging requirements       :sr, 2026-09-14, 1d
    Set up staging             :st, after sr, 2d
    Deploy payments to staging :dp, after st, 1d

    section Payments (Brian)
    Stripe / Paddle setup      :sp, 2026-09-15, 1d
    Chart of accts (pt 1)      :active, ca1, after sp, 3d
    Chart of accts (pt 2)      :active, ca2, 2026-09-28, 2d
    Test payments              :tp, after ca2, 2d
    Polling to GL              :ps, after tp, 1d

    section Availability
    Brian OOO                    :crit, ooo, 2026-09-21, 5d

    section Milestone
    LAUNCH                       :milestone, launch, 2026-10-12, 0d
Firm estimate Placeholder (needs a real number) Availability constraint

Missing estimates that drive the launch date

Each of these is currently a working placeholder. Real numbers from the owners will shift the projected launch date up or down. Firming these up is the fastest way to get a real ship date.

Shawn

Positioning direction decision

Placeholder: ~5 business days for team consensus

Sent problem statements + 4 positioning options 9/16. Blocks landing page copy and downstream site work. Team feedback needed.

Shawn (+ Kelly)

Landing page copy

Placeholder: ~8 business days after positioning locks

Depends on positioning direction being decided. Kelly designs, Shawn writes, John reviews for framework accuracy.

Brian

Chart of accounts

Placeholder: 5 business days

Straddles Brian's OOO. Splits into a 3-day pre-OOO block and 2-day post-OOO block above.

Brian

Test payments in staging

2 business days (Brian: hours; padded to 2d)

John

Deploy payments to staging

~1 hour (shown as 1 day for Gantt visibility) once staging is provisioned

John

Payments integration in app

Complete (confirmed 9/17)

Kelly

Landing page ideas

Deadline: Mon, Sep 21

Kelly

Draft Pathom logo

Deadline: Fri, Sep 25

Kelly

Set up social media accounts

Deadline: Fri, Sep 25

Kelly

Final logo + brand guide

Deadline: Tue, Oct 7

Kelly

Current site review

Near-term (~2 days)

John

Landing page iteration + site build

After brand guide (Oct 7); iterates on existing marketing/home.html.erb skeleton

Shawn + John

Pricing decision (launch numbers)

Owned jointly (per John 9/17)

Brian + John

Stripe / Paddle setup

~2 hours (shown as 1 day for Gantt visibility)

John + Bret

Set up staging

1 to 2 days (using 2 for planning)

Brian

Polling: payments → GL

A few hours (shown as 1 day)

Bret

Purchase domains

Assumed: 1 day

Tasks by owner

Brian Critical payments chain
Task Depends on Notes
Stripe / Paddle setup
~2 hours
 Joint with John Sales strategy may shift pricing model.
Chart of accounts
Needs at least 1 week before launch
 Stripe / Paddle setup Blocking. Straddles Brian's OOO week.
Polling: payments → GL
A few hours
 Stripe / Paddle setup, Chart of accounts Ties payment gateways to the general ledger.
Test payments in staging
 Stripe / Paddle setup, Staging with payments deployed Waiting on staging + payments deployed.
John Shared ownership on several items
Task Depends on Notes
Payments integration in the app
Code work
 — Complete (confirmed 9/17).
Staging requirements discussion
 Joint with Bret Precursor to staging setup.
Set up staging
1–2 days
 Staging requirements discussion Blocks Brian's payments testing.
Landing page iteration + site build
Iterates on existing marketing/home.html.erb
 Kelly landing page ideas + brand guide (Oct 7); Shawn positioning + copy Skeleton exists (feature-flagged with :public_signup). John iterates using own expertise + Kelly inputs; final pass once brand guide lands.
Pricing decision (with Shawn)
 Joint with Shawn Specific launch numbers within Sales Playbook tier ranges.
Support Shawn as needed on Sales Playbook items
 Shawn primary John acts as minion where useful; Shawn owns and drives.
OBS stack + other infra
 Joint with Bret Bret primary.
Bret Infrastructure and platform
Task Depends on Notes
OBS stack + other infra
 Joint with John Bret primary.
Purchase domains
 — Pathom.app plus defensive TLDs.
GitHub issues (ongoing)
 — Product work, tracked in issues.
Kelly Brand identity + design direction (dates from Kelly 9/17)
Task Deadline Notes
Draft Pathom logo
 Fri, Sep 25 First-pass wordmark for review.
Set up social media accounts
 Fri, Sep 25 Pathom handles claimed on relevant platforms.
Landing page ideas
 Mon, Sep 21 Design direction / layout ideas. Feeds into landing page copy + site build.
Current site review
 Near-term Review current site for flow / design / friction reduction opportunities.
Final logo + brand guide
 Tue, Oct 7 Depends on draft logo (Sep 25). Brand guide follows logo.
Shawn Positioning + go-to-market (Shawn owns; John assists on request)
Task Depends on Notes
Positioning direction decision
Sent 9/16: 3 problem statements + 4 positioning options (A/B/C/D)
 Team feedback Blocks landing page copy and downstream site work. Needs consensus.
Landing page copy
 Positioning decision + Kelly landing page ideas Shawn writes, Kelly designs, John reviews for framework accuracy.
Warm outreach target list
 Joint with John (+ inputs from Bret, Brian, Kelly) 20-30 warmest contacts across all founder networks. Pre-launch personal outreach wave.
Sales strategy (with John)
 — Ongoing. Soft influence on pricing decisions.

Constraints and timing

Brian unavailable last week of September (Sept 21–25)

Splits chart of accounts into pre-OOO and post-OOO blocks on the Gantt. If Brian's real availability window is different, that changes.

Chart of accounts needs at least 1 week of runway before launch

Which means Stripe / Paddle setup must complete at least 1 week + a few days before launch, since chart of accounts depends on it.

Payments testing requires staging with payments deployed

Sequence: John & Bret discuss staging → set up staging → John deploys payments to staging → Brian tests.

Non-estimate questions to resolve

Coordination questions

  • Positioning decision: target date to lock it? Shawn sent 9/16; landing page copy blocks until team decides A/B/C/D. If "reply within a week" the decision lands 9/23; every day past pushes copy start.
  • Anyone else have hard availability constraints (travel, holidays, external commitments) between now and launch?

Launch-critical items in GitHub not yet on this Gantt (owner + timeline needed)

  • #666 Legal pages (Privacy + Terms) + LegalController + layouts/legal. Cannot take payment without these. Blocks launch hard.
  • #409 Provision counsel-production app infra (VPC, SG, EC2, RDS) via OpenTofu. Needs to exist before Kamal deploy can target it. Bret's plate?
  • #370 / #372 / #373 Deploy error tracking (GlitchTip), APM (SigNoz), and Grafana + VictoriaMetrics. Should exist before real users hit the app. Bret's obs-stack umbrella (#363).
  • #732 Verify every email address the app references has a live Google Workspace inbox. Transactional email will bounce silently otherwise.
  • #481 Postmark cutover — activate inbound + migrate outbound from Resend. Email deliverability at launch.
  • #430 Re-enable llm_eval workflow on PR trigger. Issue title explicitly says "before going live."
  • #722 Buy pathom.app domain. Already on Gantt as "Purchase domains" — confirm this issue is the same and closable when done.

93 open issues total in the repo. The above are the ones with obvious launch-blocker character based on title. Some issues (compensation polish, Case Story rework, Case Story overwhelm, mobile responsiveness audit) may or may not be launch scope depending on cut lines that need to be drawn.

Draft v3 (2026-09-17) — Kelly's brand deliverables now have real deadlines from her 9/17 note; Shawn's positioning + copy work added following his 9/16 email. Task management tool question still deferred until we see whether this doc plus the weekly call closes the coordination gap. Redeploys land at the same URL.