Web Tool Project created during the Warwick Finance Societies hackathon 2026, on the 'Startups' stream. With the aim of "Building a tool to aid with creating startups that face uncertainty", Founder OS is a stage-aware operating system for early-stage founders. The web app is designed to aid small startup teams of 1–3 people in gaining the end-to-end knowledge required to build a working product and start pitching to investors and stakeholders.
Prerequisites:
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Clone the repository and navigate to the project root, then run:
npm install node server.js
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Open a new terminal before navigating to the project root again, then run:
npm run dev
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Open the localhost link provided, then after onboarding go to profile and upload your anthropic API key
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Begin using the rest of the application
Founder OS is built around helping founders find the right questions at the right time - everytime. This is aided by the guidance of an integrated AI assistant that knows their startup context and provides structured, expert direction throughout.
- The user will first be led through a series of questions, to not only inform future suggestions but force the user to get a more fleshed out view of the application in their heads and get an overview of what the future must hold.
- Specifically, there are 10 directed questions that build context of the user's application
- Each answer feeds into the relevant tracks of the personalised roadmap, and any uploaded materials (decks, prototypes, research) are automatically sorted into their appropriate track
- A main dashboard that serves as the founder's home base, combining three elements: the roadmap visual for track navigation, a lightweight Kanban board for managing tasks across the business, and a freeform sticky notes area for quick thoughts and reminders.
- On Onboarding completion, the user is presented with a roadmap that holds a personalised level of current completion based on their answers
- The roadmap is structured across 5 fixed tracks with several modules from Foundation & Problem Specification through to Team, Legal & Ops, a full ride of the most important considerations for any startup founder.
- This is displayed as a visual timeline at the top of the dashboard and serves as the primary navigation layer for the app