Every stage from first impression to community member. Every message. Every mechanic. Every extraction layer.
Content goes out on Jason's channels. No selling. Just showing what Forge does. Curiosity is the only call to action.
| Post | Hook | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| "What My AI Did Last Night" | Real screenshots of morning brief, completed tasks, content published while sleeping | Proof. No explanation of how — just results. |
| "The Puppy Theory" | AI agents are like puppies — useful day one, real value comes from training | Reframe expectations. Set up the metaphor before we sell. |
| "Why I Don't Use [Popular Tool]" | Forge vs OpenClaw, ChatGPT. Not attacking — explaining chatbot vs OS | Category creation. "This is different." |
| "I'm Building 3 More" | The announcement. Short. Direct. Link. | Open the funnel. Let DMs and comments do the work. |
| "The Venture Studio Thesis" | Why building businesses WITH AI agents, not just tools FOR humans | Attract cascade thinkers. Filter out feature shoppers. |
Round 1: Derek sources from warm network in parallel. Content builds background demand for Round 2.
Round 2+: Content is the primary top-of-funnel. 2-3 weeks of content before applications open.
A sales/boarding page (vibe-coded app). Not a traditional landing page — it's an experience that filters and impresses simultaneously.
Not a static form. A guided, conversational questionnaire that adapts based on answers. The AI probes for depth. This is the first extraction layer.
Name, business, role, website
"Describe your business in 2 sentences"
AI follow-up: "What's the one thing that takes most of your time that shouldn't?"
→ Auto-tags: industry, company size, pain category
"Describe your ideal Monday morning if an AI agent handled everything it could"
"What 3 tasks would you hand off first?"
AI follow-up: probes specificity — "When you say 'handle my email,' do you mean draft? Triage? Auto-respond to certain types?"
→ Auto-tags: use cases, complexity tier (simple/moderate/complex)
"If your Forge worked perfectly for 6 months, what changes in your business?"
"What becomes possible that isn't possible today?"
→ AI scores cascade thinking: shallow / moderate / deep. This is THE filter. People who can't answer this are self-selecting toward a different silo.
"Walk me through your typical Tuesday, hour by hour"
"What tools do you open first thing in the morning?"
"Where do you lose time between tasks?"
→ Produces workflow graph: tools, transitions, bottlenecks, automation candidates
"Who do you communicate with daily? How? (Slack, email, text, calls)"
"Which communications could be templated? Which need your voice?"
→ Configures Commander channels, draft-vs-auto rules, notification priority
"When do you start work? When do you stop?"
"Morning person or night owl?"
"How do you want to be nudged — aggressive or gentle?"
→ Configures daily rituals, quiet hours, notification tone. Puppy matches owner.
"What other ventures or projects are you involved in?"
"Is there anyone in your network who should know about this?"
→ Jason's adjacency filter. Also: soft referral prompt = viral seed.
"When do you need this running?"
"What budget range are you working with?"
"Attach a refundable deposit to secure your spot" [Deposit link — 20%]
→ Hard data. Deposit = strongest signal of seriousness.
forge_applications tableNobody gets rejected. Everyone gets routed. The boarding app is a triage engine, not a filter. Every person who enters the funnel lands somewhere useful.
| Signal | Route | What They Get |
|---|---|---|
| High signal (finalist) | Alignment call pipeline | Full Forge Builds experience. Pre-call page published for them. |
| Medium signal | Waitlist + Forge University | "You're close. Join the community, learn the thinking, reapply next round." |
| Low signal, has budget | Intelligence Brief ($497) | "A Forge might be premature. Start here — we'll map what's agentifiable." |
| Low signal, low budget | Free content funnel | "Here's how to start: Forge U public content, Lobster U model." |
| Wrong product, right person | Athio / MasteryOS / Labs | "What you described sounds like [X]. Here's where it lives." |
After triage routes them as a finalist (or they can attach deposit during boarding to jump the queue). Nothing happens without deposit. No calls, no pages, no build.
A NowPage at jasondmacdonald.com/forge/[their-name] — Pulse-enabled, built from their application data.
| Section | Source | Editable? |
|---|---|---|
| About [Name] | AI summary from boarding Steps 1-2 | Client can add notes via Pulse |
| What Your Forge Could Do | AI-mapped from their use cases + workflow | Client can react / correct |
| Your Workflow Map | From boarding Step 4 (tools, transitions, bottlenecks) | Client can annotate |
| Communication Channels | From boarding Step 5 | Client can add channels |
| Your Rhythm | From boarding Step 6 | Client can adjust |
| Alignment Brief (empty) | Template — filled live on call | Filled by Jason on call |
| What Happens Next | Fixed template — process explanation | No |
Job 1: Validate Fit (Jason's exit ramp)
Job 2: Deep Extraction (Layers 2, 4, 6 — the ones AI can't get from a form)
"What decisions do you make daily that follow a pattern?"
"What decisions require your gut — no rules could capture them?"
→ Maps off-rails vs on-rails boundary. Determines what Ralph handles vs what needs human gates.
"What documents define how your business runs?"
"What's in your head that's nowhere written down?"
→ Seeds KFS knowledge graph. More context on day one = smarter Forge.
"How will you know in 30 days this was worth it?"
"What number changes if this works?"
→ Measurable satisfaction criteria beyond the 5-7 brief items. Feeds the check-in conversation.
Jason fills the Alignment Brief section on their pre-call page in real time using Pulse. Client watches and reacts. By end of call:
On the call: "What do you want to name your Forge?" Personal. Makes it theirs from minute one.
Client selected, brief approved. 50% payment due before build starts.
| Build Fee | 20% Deposit (Paid) | 50% Due Now | 30% at Check-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15,000 example | $3,000 ✓ | $7,500 | $4,500 |
| $20,000 example | $4,000 ✓ | $10,000 | $6,000 |
48-72 hours to pay. After that, slot offered to next finalist. No chasing.
A step-by-step setup page at jasondmacdonald.com/forge/[name]/setup. Paint-by-numbers. Every step has screenshots.
| # | Task | Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create Hetzner account → provision CAX21 VPS | ~$10-20/mo | 15 min |
| 2 | Create Supabase account → create project → copy keys | Free tier | 10 min |
| 3 | Create Telegram bot via @BotFather | Free | 5 min |
| 4 | Subscribe to Claude Max ($200/mo) | $200/mo | 5 min |
| 5 | Register domain for dashboard | ~$10/yr | 10 min |
| 6 | Save all keys/tokens to secure form | — | 5 min |
Total client time: ~50 minutes. Total ongoing cost: ~$220-240/mo.
forge-factory.json)| Phase | Blocks | Who | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Configure | Generate CLAUDE.md, skills, rituals from extraction data | Agentic (Ralph) | 1-2 days |
| Human Gate | Jason reviews generated config | Jason | 30 min |
| Deploy | VPS provisioning, service install, migrations, health checks | Agentic (factory script) | 1-2 hours |
| Human Gate | Jason verifies deployment, all services green | Jason | 15 min |
| Customize | Write custom skills, configure dashboard, set up integrations | Agentic (Ralph) + Jason | 3-5 days |
| Human Gate | Jason + client review on Pulse-enabled page | Both | 30 min |
| Test | Simulate daily rituals, execute test tasks, verify Commander | Agentic | 1 day |
| Generate | Create HC walkthrough page, prep handoff materials | Agentic | 2 hours |
Jason's total time during build: ~2-3 hours (human gates + custom skill review). The factory handles the rest.
Their page at jasondmacdonald.com/forge/[name] updates as phases complete. They see progress. They can add notes via Pulse.
All 5-7 brief items verified working. Client has seen the Forge in action. 50% invoice sent at end of handoff or within 24 hours.
After check-in, final invoice. This is the natural moment — client has lived with the Forge, relationship is strongest, referral energy is highest.
| Stage | Fixed Template | Customized |
|---|---|---|
| 0. Attract | Content calendar, page design | Nothing |
| 1. Land | Sales page, FAQ, criteria | Nothing |
| 2. Board | Question flow, AI logic, scoring | AI adapts follow-ups to answers |
| 3. Triage | Rubric, routing rules, all messaging | Personalized redirect reasons |
| 4. Deposit | Payment flow, Stripe, messaging | Amount (bid or proposal) |
| 5. Pre-Call Page | Page template, section structure | Everything — their data, their map |
| 6. Alignment Call | Prep doc, extraction framework, brief template | Everything discussed + extracted |
| 7. Payment 50% | Invoice, deadline, messaging | Amount |
| 8. Pre-Build Setup | HC walkthrough (paint-by-numbers) | Forge name, domain |
| 9. Build | Factory template, block types, gates | CLAUDE.md, skills, rituals, dashboard |
| 10. Handoff | Agenda, homework, brief verification | Demo is their Forge, their workflows |
| 11. Check-in | Agenda, success metric check | Their specific issues + metrics |
| ∞. Community | Forge U content, messaging cadence | Nothing |
| Activity | Hours |
|---|---|
| Review applications (dashboard, not calls) | 0.5 |
| Alignment call | 0.75 |
| Human gates during build (3 gates × 20 min) | 1.0 |
| Handoff session | 1.5 |
| One-week check-in | 0.5 |
| Total | ~4-5 hours |