Get blunt feedback on your startup

The truth about your startup, with receipts.

Stung, fired up and clear about Monday.

Download RiverHow to start

How it works.

River reads your numbers, calendar, calls and customer mail, does the math on growth and runway, and writes your office hours: a roast with evidence, a scorecard and three things to do this week.

  1. Name your next six months

    Profitable before the cash runs out, the next round, or finding what customers want. Add what you suspect.

  2. River checks what you do

    Weekly growth, runway with and without your hires, and how much of your week goes to customers.

  3. Your office hours, written

    A one-line verdict, the roast, what’s working, grades, and what investors will ask you.

What you get.

  • An Office hours Doc you can read in five minutes, opening with a one-line verdict
  • A roast and a graded scorecard, every point linked to its evidence
  • Three concrete moves for this week, plus strong answers to investors’ likely questions
The finished result of Get blunt feedback on your startup in River

Start in three steps.

  1. River’s app icon

    Get River

    Download the app for your computer.

  2. River’s first question, “What’s your role?”, with Founder chosen

    Sign up as a founder

    When River asks your role, choose Founder.

  3. Start “Get blunt feedback on your startup”

    Press + in your Dock, open Playbooks, and press Start. River reads your numbers and calendar first, then asks what the next six months are for.

A few things to know.

How blunt is it?

Direct and specific, never personal. River roasts decisions and habits with evidence, never you or a teammate by name, and stays optimistic about what you could become.

Is this YC’s advice?

It’s advice in the YC tradition: the few principles that matter most for your situation, each essay cited by title. River never speaks as a YC partner.

What does it cost?

It uses your plan’s AI credit, like everything else in River. It needs only what you already have: Stripe, your calendar and your calls.

View pricing

More for founders.

All founder playbooks

Try it on your own work.

Download River, choose Founder, and press Start on “Get blunt feedback on your startup”.

Download RiverSee every playbook