These five prompts cover the full founder planning cycle. Copy them, fill in the brackets with your real situation, and run them in any AI tool. The more specific your inputs, the more useful the outputs.
Prompt 1: The Founder Triangle Audit
Use this: Every Sunday, before planning next week.
What it does: Categorizes last week’s work across Build, Sell, and Operate and compares to your target allocation.
I’m a [type of founder] building [brief product/service description]. I’m at [stage: pre-PMF / post-PMF / scaling].
Here is my calendar from last week — blocks with approximate durations: [paste calendar blocks and durations]
My target allocation for this stage is approximately: Build [X]%, Sell [Y]%, Operate [Z]%.
Please:
- Categorize each block as Build (creating the product), Sell (acquiring/retaining customers), or Operate (running the business)
- Calculate my actual percentage split
- Identify the three blocks that most contributed to any deviation from my target
- Suggest one structural calendar change for next week that would address the largest deviation
Do not suggest I work more hours. Work within my existing time.
The key output: The three specific blocks driving the deviation. That makes the problem concrete enough to solve.
Prompt 2: The Weekly Plan
Use this: Immediately after the Triangle Audit, same Sunday session.
What it does: Builds next week’s priority structure with protected maker time.
My one most important outcome this week is: [one sentence — complete this before running the prompt]
My quarterly priorities are:
- [Priority 1]
- [Priority 2]
- [Priority 3]
Fixed commitments next week (meetings, deadlines I cannot move): [list them with days and durations]
Everything else I need to work on: [brain dump — raw and unordered]
Please give me:
- Three maker-time tasks that most directly advance my weekly anchor, in priority order, with one sentence explaining each item’s position
- One task from my list that I should defer to a future week without consequence
- A suggested time-block template showing where maker time fits around my fixed commitments — at least [X] hours of uninterrupted time per day
My best maker-work hours are [morning/afternoon].
The key output: The deferred task. Finding one thing to remove from the week is often more valuable than optimizing the list of things to keep.
Prompt 3: The Daily Start
Use this: Every morning, before opening email or Slack.
What it does: Produces a focused three-item priority list for your maker time today.
Today is [day]. My weekly anchor is: [paste from weekly plan]
Here is what is on my plate today (include anything that arrived since the weekly plan): [paste tasks and any new items]
I have approximately [X] hours of maker time today (from [time] to [time]) and [Y] hours of meetings.
Give me a three-item priority list for my maker time. Item 1 must directly advance my weekly anchor. For each item, write one sentence: why is this item in this position?
If any new item I have added would displace my weekly anchor, flag it and ask me to confirm that trade-off explicitly.
The key output: The explicit confirmation request for anchor displacement. The pause it creates catches a meaningful fraction of urgency theater.
Prompt 4: The Mid-Week Replan
Use this: When disruption has significantly changed what is possible this week.
What it does: Salvages the most important elements of the original plan around the new reality.
My original weekly plan was: [paste from Sunday] My weekly anchor is: [paste]
Here is what has changed since Sunday: [describe the disruptions — new commitments, fires, things that took longer than expected]
Given this new reality, I have approximately [X] remaining maker hours this week (today through Friday).
Please:
- Tell me the minimum I need to accomplish to make this week a partial success (anchor protection, critical unblocks)
- Identify the two items from my original plan I should explicitly defer to next week
- Suggest whether my maker block tomorrow should be moved, shortened, or protected at full length given the new context
Be direct about trade-offs. Do not try to fit everything in.
The key output: Explicit permission to defer two items. The tendency under pressure is to try to recover everything. This prompt prevents that.
Prompt 5: The Weekly Close
Use this: Every Friday afternoon, last task of the week.
What it does: Creates an honest record of what happened and surfaces the root cause of the week’s biggest gap.
End of week for [date range]. Here is a brief summary of what I actually worked on: [3–5 sentences describing the week — what got done, what did not, what disrupted the plan]
My weekly anchor was: [paste] Did I accomplish it? [Yes / No / Partially]
My actual Triangle allocation this week was approximately: Build [X]%, Sell [Y]%, Operate [Z]%
Three questions I want answered:
- If I did not accomplish my anchor, what specifically displaced it — and was that displacement justified?
- What type of event most commonly interrupted my maker time this week?
- What is one structural change to next week’s setup that would address the most significant gap?
Give me honest answers. Flag it clearly if you think I am rationalizing a bad trade-off.
The key output: The “rationalizing a bad trade-off” flag. AI has a mild tendency toward validation. The explicit instruction to push back when needed typically produces more useful analysis.
A Note on These Prompts
The prompts work in proportion to the honesty and specificity of your inputs. “My quarterly priorities are to grow the business” produces generic output. “My quarterly priority is to reach $20k MRR from our current $11k before the end of Q3” produces specific analysis.
Replace every bracket with real information. The 90 seconds that takes is where the value comes from.
Your action: Copy Prompt 1 into your AI tool of choice right now. Paste last week’s calendar blocks. Run it. See what you learn.
Tags: AI prompts for founders, founder planning prompts, AI planning for founders, weekly planning prompts, founder productivity
Frequently Asked Questions
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Do these prompts work with any AI tool?
Yes. These prompts are designed to work with any capable language model — Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, or others. The quality of the output depends primarily on the specificity of the context you provide in the bracketed sections. Replace every bracket with real information about your situation — vague inputs produce vague outputs.
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How often should I use these prompts?
Prompt 1 (Triangle Audit) and Prompt 2 (Weekly Plan) are weekly, run together on Sunday or Monday morning. Prompt 3 (Daily Start) is daily. Prompt 4 (Mid-Week Replan) is used only when significant disruption requires reconsidering the week's priorities — typically once or twice per month. Prompt 5 (Weekly Close) is weekly, on Friday afternoon.