Founder alignment
Companies rarely fail because the market said no. They fail because two people who agreed on the product never agreed on what each of them was getting, and nobody wrote it down while it was still true.
Check The Motives is a facilitated system for surfacing motives, expectations and commitments early, then keeping them current for as long as the company lasts.
What it sounds like
The questionnaire is answered privately, before anyone sits down. The room meets the answers, not the people, and the work begins where two of them cannot both be satisfied.
The method
Not a personality test, and not a team-building afternoon. A structured conversation, run by a facilitator, that ends with documents you can hold each other to.
The questionnaire asks about money, authority, time, exit, and what each person believes they are owed. Answers are given privately, so the room starts from what is true rather than what is polite.
A facilitated session with the answers, not the people, on the table first. The job is to find the places where two honest answers cannot both be satisfied, and settle them on purpose.
An alignment report states what was agreed, in plain language, with names attached. It becomes the reference when a decision months later sounds like it came from nowhere.
How it is delivered
The room is where alignment happens. The instrument is what makes it repeatable, and what lets a company check a seat instead of a person.
Stage one
A baseline session with the founding team, then a quarterly rhythm that keeps the record honest. Best for a company small enough that everyone can sit in one conversation.
Stage two
A weighted instrument across the frameworks that predict how a person will behave in a seat: how they decide, what they avoid, what they will not say out loud. Built for hiring and succession, not just founding teams.
The person in the room
She has spent most of her life paying attention to people who were carrying more than they said out loud. She reads everything, holds herself to a standard nobody asked of her, and keeps showing up long after it would have been reasonable to stop.
What she brings to a baseline is not a framework. It is the habit of taking people seriously, and the patience to wait for the second answer, which is usually the true one.
Facilitator, Check The Motives.
Plans
Most teams begin with one room and decide about the year afterwards. Pricing depends on the size of the founding team and how much facilitation the company wants.
One time
Baseline interviews and the facilitated room, ending in an alignment report.
Most chosen
Annual
The baseline, three quarterly check-ins, and the annual review. The record stays current all year.
Custom
Growth, plus a cadence built around your calendar and training for whoever runs the room internally.
Tell us the size of the founding team and what is currently unsaid. We will tell you honestly whether a baseline is the right next step.
Start the conversation