---
title: "Month one challenges assumptions"
description: "Month one is the audit, the budgets, the hires and the tools, then test shoots. By month three it is execution."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/lessons/month-one-challenges-assumptions/
updated: 2026-10-25
---

# Month one challenges assumptions

> What does month one, month three and month twelve look like for a founder starting from zero?

Month one is the audit, the budgets, the hires and the tools, then test shoots. By month three it is execution.

Month one is challenging assumptions. Finding out the why. What the landscape looks like, what has worked and what has not, what the team structure is, which hires we need, what the budgets are, which tools need to be bought or built. Then it is a case of actioning those things, and starting test shoots built on what is working in the market right now.

## What happens in months two and three?

Iterations of that. By then the team is built. The budgets are clear and going out. There is a cadence of booked shoots, and a very clear strategy: the North Star, the why, the enemy, the audience we are building, and how we get there.

Then it is execution. Chipping at it week by week, day by day.

## Questions

### What happens in month one?

Challenging assumptions: the why, the landscape, the team, the hires, the budgets and the tools. Then the first test shoots.

### What is in place by month three?

The team, clear budgets, a cadence of booked shoots and a clear strategy: the North Star, the why, the enemy and the audience.

### What comes after?

Execution, week by week and day by day.