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We read interest rates and credit markets and tell you when to pause or resume hiring, spending and fundraising. Updated every Monday, with an email the day a line is crossed.

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Rule for each areaRules before you commitTest a decisionSet this plan's linesFinance strategy
DecideRunway plannerScenariosSaaS multiples

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Decide

This week's guidance, turned into rules for hiring, spend and the roadmap.

Data as of
Oct 26, 2026
Sources
All sources live
Margin
Risk appetite 3 pts from Freezing · Could change next week
Scored on
The record's inputs ·
  • Rule for each area
  • Rules before you commit
  • Test a decision
  • Set this plan's lines
  • Finance strategy

This week's rule for each area

Each rule pauses at one line and resumes at another, far enough apart that one noisy week can't flip it back and forth.

This week's rule for each decision area
AreaThis weekPause lineResume line
Hiring

Rules before you commit

The work to stop, start and keep limited this week.

Test a decision

Check one move against this week's lines before you commit to it: a hire, a price change, a roadmap bet or an acquisition.

Start from the published pause and resume lines for Hiring, Roadmap, Fundraising, Spending and New bets, then move the ones your plan needs. You get an email the day one is crossed.

Keep 18–24 months of runway, and keep side bets small.

startup-market inputs left outStartup-market inputs would put risk appetite at 42, below its change line. They're left out because their data doesn't go back far enough to check against past months.
·How this is judged

Checked Oct 28, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC

Only replace people who leave, and hire for roles you can't deliver without
Pause lineFunding pressure > 76 or Risk appetite < 44past the line
Resume lineFunding pressure < 66 and Risk appetite > 5424 pts away
RoadmapKeep the core roadmap on schedule, and ship what customers can use this quarter firstPause lineRisk appetite < 44 or two weekly readings in a row come in weaker9 pts awayResume lineRisk appetite > 54 and the weekly reading holds or improves1 pt away
FundraisingIf you're planning to raise, get your materials ready now so you decide when to go outPause lineFunding pressure > 76 or Risk appetite < 44past the lineResume lineFunding pressure < 66 and Risk appetite > 5424 pts away
SpendingBefore you approve any optional spend, work out how long it takes to pay backPause lineFunding pressure > 76past the lineResume lineFunding pressure < 66 and the payback figures still hold24 pts away
New betsKeep only the experiments you can stop within a week, each with a review datePause lineFunding pressure > 76 or Risk appetite < 44past the lineResume lineFunding pressure < 66 and Risk appetite > 5424 pts away

Before adding fixed costs or growing scope, look again at what you approved last week.

Planning a month, not a week? Open the monthly guidance.

New customers cost more to win now. Get more from the ones you already have.

Stop

  • • New market expansion
  • • Low-margin tiers
  • • Speculative R&D

Start

  • • Fixing pricing and simplifying your plans
  • • Keeping the customers you have
  • • Using fewer vendors

Keep limited

  • • Focus on margin expansion and retention.
  • • Cut low-leverage experiments.
  • • Convert demand with tighter sales cycles.

Showing the top 3 of each list.

Phrases to use, and to avoid, in this week's meetings

More often

  • • Protect margin and retention before chasing new logos.
  • • Every hire must be accretive to unit economics.
  • • Win rate and expansion matter more than top-line noise.

Less often

  • • Let's open three new markets at once.
  • • Big R&D bets without a near-term customer.
  • • Growth at any price.
How to describe the decision
Try an example:

Guides answers the most common decisions and says where each stands this week.