Include founder time in an acquisition experiment

Cash spend and economic effort answer different planning questions.

ContractCanvas insights

Keep two views

A founder may spend little cash while using many hours to recruit and support evaluations. Track cash separately from an explicit value assigned to time. The time allowance is a planning measure, not proof of payroll or an accounting expense.

Measure actual effort

Record the cash actually spent and the hours actually used for research, invitations and support. Divide cash by the resulting paying accounts only after there are accounts to count. Keep a separate economic view using an explicit value for founder time. When no account has converted, report the effort and outcome without inventing a cost per customer.

Connect contribution carefully

Compare observed acquisition cost with contribution from the same account group, allowing for support, churn and delayed payment. The current CAD 103 contribution assumption is a planning input. Actual service effort must replace it before a recovery period is used to justify expansion.

Set a bounded decision

Choose a cash ceiling and review point before starting. Record what would justify another cycle: useful repeat tasks, an acceptable buying proposition and support capacity. The ContractCanvas plan prepares this decision; it does not authorize spending or assume that founder capacity has been committed.