Answer
The launch plan grows from five design partners to reads opened in small batches, with a six week calendar in Ocho's voice beside the partner work; there is no launch date, and no opening happens until partners say it works.
Today
| Fact | Source |
|---|---|
| Five design partners on production: Arata, Nutrova, Mana, Puma India, Scrubroom | memory brew-live-stores memory brew-prod-backend |
| Gully Labs was the first design partner on 17 Oct and is not on the 24 Oct list | memory brew-go-live-2026-10-17 |
| The landing says design partner preview | brew/public/app.js:404 |
| Reads are limited: three new brands a day per person and a daily reading budget | brew/build.js:222-226 |
| What partners get, what we ask and how they graduate are not written down | handbook content/product/design-partner-program.md |
| Pricing is parked; the 26 Oct proposal is a plan, a wallet and a share of ad spend at v4, not to be quoted | memory brew-pricing-parked |
| The Shopify app was submitted for review on 21 Oct | memory brew-shopify-app-review |
| No launch date, launch event or waitlist exists | no source found in memory or brew origin/main |
Tomorrow
The design partner programme, as Ocho's book has it
| A partner gets | Version | Tag |
|---|---|---|
| A read of your store from public pages, about 3 to 4 minutes | v1 | New |
| Your feed with drafts and a numbered brief to hand off | v1 | New |
| A call every week or two with the founders | v1 | New |
| A direct line when something feels wrong | v1 | New |
| First say on what we build next | v1 | New |
| We ask | Version | Tag |
|---|---|---|
| Open the feed on Mondays for six weeks | v1 | New |
| Tell us when an idea is wrong or generic | v1 | New |
| Hand off at least one brief and tell us what the shipper said | v1 | New |
| Permission to learn from your feed, never to share your data or name | v1 | New |
Ocho on the deal: You get eight arms. We get your honest face.
The cap, said once and plainly: each read costs real time and money while we build. No countdowns, no fake spots left. Ocho: Even I run out of arms. That is the cap.
After a founder asks
| When | What happens | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Same day | A reply by email, from a person, no character | A founder |
| Within a few days | The read runs; the link goes out with one finding to look at first | The person who ran it |
| Week one | First call, 30 minutes: what you handle, your next big moment, one thing you never post; walk the picks; make one and hand it off | A founder |
| Weeks two to five | Monday picks, short calls, notes from the partner | A founder |
| Fridays | The weekly founder note; Ocho signs off: Arms free. New picks Monday. | A founder |
| Week six | Keep going, and what to change | A founder |
Ocho: Six weeks, eight arms, one coffee. Fine, two.
Six weeks, one theme a week
| Week | Theme | Partner work | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meet Ocho | Posts 1 to 3: hello, what the arms hold, arms full Monday | What a founder's Monday looks like | Ten warm intros, invite email |
| 2 | The read | Posts 4 and 5: knot, reel one | We cap reads, here's why | Read ready messages from a person |
| 3 | Drafts | Posts 6 and 7: take four, I said yes to | A teardown of one sample card, source to draft | First calls, with the agenda |
| 4 | Honesty | Posts 8 and 9: reel two, arms free Friday | Why our tool doesn't post for you, yet | Weekly founder note starts |
| 5 | Hand offs | Arms full, knot, reel three take four | What a good brief looks like | Agency pitch to five agencies |
| 6 | AI search | Arms full, ink level, the phone arm | Does ChatGPT recommend small brands, the 12 of 32 example | Second round of invites |
What we watch each week, inside the team only: read asks, reads run, first hand offs, second Monday opens.
From partners to launch
| Opening | What it needs first | Version | Tag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second partner cycle | First cycle notes reviewed; the reveal and the Monday drop shipped | v1 | New |
| Open reads in batches | Read cost known and under control; the cap lifted honestly | v1 | New |
| Posts with your OK | Posting with approval and undo, tested with partners | v2 | New |
| Shows what worked | How it went, per live pick | v3 | New |
| Ads inside your rules | Rules and budget limits set by the founder | v4 | New |
Each opening gets the same small kit: a reel in Ocho's voice, a founder post, an email to the waitlist and a note to partners first. Never call it open to all before it is.
Ocho on the date: When all arms agree, we open the door.
How we do it
- Reply to every ask the same day, as a person.
- Run the read only for an email at the brand's own domain; anyone else gets the demo stores.
- Book the week one call before sending the read link.
- Log every call and note in the partner feedback log the same day.
- Post the week's calendar row; partner work comes before posts when time is short.
- Before any opening, check the list in From partners to launch is done.
Numbers
| Metric | Definition | Where measured | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partners active | Partners with a hand off in the last seven days | Brief status | Proposed |
| Week four opens | Partners still opening Today in week four | Visitors log and feed opens | Proposed |
| Asks per week | Store links sent to us | The asks list | Proposed |
Open
- What is the launch date? Proposal: none until every partner hands off weekly for four weeks; then open reads in batches.
- What do partners get on paper? Proposal: free use through the partnership and a loaded wallet, as in design partner program.
- When does the six week calendar start? Proposal: the Monday after the direction and name are picked.
- Is there a public launch day at all? Proposal: no single day; each version gets its own small opening.
- Who sends the Friday founder note? Proposal: Param, every Friday from week four.