Company Roadmap & Progress Tracker · v4
Zero to Massive
The road from where the studio is today to where it's going — travelled left to right, in the order it's safe to build. Tap any stop on the road to open that phase; check off milestones and gates as you go and the road fills in behind you. Progress is shared live — when either of you checks something, the other sees it within seconds.
The road ahead
tap a stop to open it · ◆ = a decision, not a phaseThe job: get end-to-end — you can build → submit → update a real game, and the company behind it is real too.
- At least one game submitted to both stores (not just "building")
- Brand + store presence consistent across titles
Decide the intent now. Lifestyle / cash-flow studio → stay LLC, elect S-corp once profits justify it. Build-to-sell or raise → weigh becoming an actual C-corp while the company's value is still low to lock in QSBS (§1202) — potentially a federal- & Georgia-tax-free exit. It's the time-sensitive, semi-irreversible call.
Read the full breakdown — LLC / S-Corp vs C-Corp & QSBS →
Vetted by Ira (tax) · Booker (CPA) · Perry (legal) — still get licensed sign-off before you execute.The job: one or two titles live, earning real money — however small — and instrumented so you can see what's happening.
- First game live and generating revenue
- 3+ months of clean actuals for per-title unit economics
The job: the real unlock isn't "we made money" — it's a repeatable, profitable way to get players. Scale a leaky bucket and the money just runs out faster.
- LTV > CAC on ≥1 channel, or a real organic install engine
- ≥1 title with positive contribution margin after store fees + ads
- Cash reserve ≥ 6 months of studio fixed costs
The job: turn the proven loop into a portfolio across both games and utility apps, and build the audience that becomes your bridge to PC.
- 2–3 profitable titles — a reproducible pattern, not one lucky hit
- Portfolio-level recurring revenue covering baseline costs
- A repeatable production process (title N+1 faster/cheaper than N)
- 12 months runway in the bank
If you raise at all, raise to fund the step-up to longer PC builds — never to fund finding product-market fit. Bootstrapping through mobile is the leverage: it lets you raise later at a real valuation, or skip it. Raising before the loop is proven sells equity at the cheapest price. Requires the C-corp decision already made.
The job: a controlled step up in production values — funded from a ring-fenced budget, sold on pre-launch demand. The strategy / tower-defense audience you built is the natural bridge here.
- Reserves to fund a multi-month build with no store income
- ~7–10k+ wishlists (validate vs genre) + an active Discord
- Proven ASO / user-acquisition competence carried from mobile
- IP held cleanly in the entity · PC budget ring-fenced from operating reserves
AA-caliber, multi-year production — won on pre-launch demand and community, not ASO.
The job: a real team, real production discipline, and an owned hype cycle carrying a genuine premium title.
- A prior PC title that returned its full build cost + margin
- 18+ months runway or committed external capital
- Experienced team + production discipline in place
- The full Infrastructure Band (below) complete
The job: step outside games into spaces where compliance is the barrier to entry — starting with the medical app. Only from a position of strength.
- Company durably profitable with multi-year reserves
- Attorneys + a compliance officer retained before you start
- HIPAA program if it touches PHI — BAAs, security & privacy rule
- FDA / SaMD pathway assessed if it's a medical device or clinical decision support
- Security audited — SOC 2 / penetration testing
- Insurance bound — E&O / professional liability + cyber + product liability
- Separate legal entity to ring-fence liability from the games studio
- Separate brand — "fun games" and "trusted medical software" don't share trust equity
Why last: regulated verticals burn cash for years and carry catastrophic tail risk — a single breach can be an extinction event.
Your own read, from #brainstorm: "medical/health… too much liability" — parked for "down the road when we're flush with cizzash and can afford the attorneys." This phase is exactly that moment.
The job is done: multiple revenue streams and studios; the company is an asset, not a job — sellable if you want (the QSBS payoff, if you went C-corp) or a durable cash machine if you don't.
Not a phase you pass through — a track you build underneath the whole climb, each piece in place by the phase noted. This is exactly what a future acquirer or investor diligences.
Cash-reserve policy
by P2 → P5A named floor you never spend below: 6 mo → 12 mo → 18 mo as phases advance.
IP holding structure
by P3Games are the asset. Decide early if IP lives in a holding entity separate from ops — cheap now, painful to unwind later.
Insurance ladder
P1 → P6General liability early → cyber / E&O before scaling user data → professional / product liability before anything regulated.
Key-person & buy-sell
by P3Departing-founder equity/loans; key-person life insurance. Two founders = two single points of failure — the #1 diligence flag.
Books that survive diligence
by P3Migrate tracker → QBO with clean historicals before any raise or sale. You can't sell a company whose numbers you can't stand behind.
Operating-agreement teeth
P0 → P1Founder-equity vesting + IP assignment from both founders to the company. Perry (legal-reviewer) should review.
Everything you're cooking up, slotted into the phase where you can build it safely. Throw me a new one anytime and I'll place it, name the gate it waits behind, and add it here.
The through-line worth noticing
- Personal-asset management runs from cheap-and-safe now (vehicle, property) to high-value-and-regulated later (medical) — same instinct, sequenced by how much legal armor it needs.
- Strategy games (Tower Defense now; Strategic Empires when capacity allows) build the exact audience that makes the eventual premium-PC leap survivable.