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January 3, 20261 min readBy Renish Mithani

The Founder Standup That Works

A 12-minute daily standup structure that keeps founders aligned without wasting time.

communicationleadershipcadencefocus

Why founders need their own standup

A founder standup is not a status update; it is a commitment ritual. It aligns priorities and exposes blockers before they become fires.

The 3-question script

I keep it to 12 minutes: What shipped yesterday? What ships today? What do you need? No slides, no excuses, only outcomes.

Radical clarity on blockers

If a blocker shows up twice, it becomes my problem to unblock. This keeps the company from normalizing friction.

Async notes, live decisions

We log notes asynchronously in a single doc. The standup itself is for decisions—budget, scope, sequence—not storytelling.

Cadence builds trust

Short, predictable meetings build trust faster than long, irregular ones. The standup proves we respect time and focus.

If you're building something meaningful and want long-term scale, follow my journey on renishmithani.com.

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