This is a statement of how we work at Formant right now. It describes the operating patterns that define us and the culture we're deliberately building. It's meant to make explicit what we believe it takes to win in the phase we're in.

The moment we're in

Formant is in a pivotal phase. Our success in the next 6–9 months depends on:

• discovering undeniable product–market fit,

• learning faster than the market can punish us,

• doing so with a small team under radically new technological conditions.

This is a qualitatively different phase than execution-at-scale. It requires a qualitatively different way of operating.

The core premise

The question we ask ourselves is not:

"Am I good at my role?"

The question is:

"Am I built for this moment?"

Titles, tenure, and historical scope matter less than slope, adaptability, and leverage. What matters is whether we—individually and collectively—are operating in a way that compounds our learning and accelerates our path to product–market fit.

What it looks like to meet this moment

At Formant, meeting this moment means consistently demonstrating the following patterns:

1. End-to-end ownership

We take ambiguous problems and push them forward without waiting for perfect clarity or complete inputs.

We bias toward:

• playing offense over defense,

• rough but real first passes,

• prototypes over abstractions,

• decisions over options.

We improve the whole system, not just our slice of it. We make the people we work with better and deliberately prioritize the team alongside our own success.

2. Tool-driven leverage

We actively reshape our workflows as tools evolve. AI fluency is a core expectation, not a nice-to-have.

Visible signs:

• our output velocity has increased,

• the scope of what we can do independently has expanded,

• we regularly surprise others with what we can produce alone.

We treat AI like a fast-developing junior teammate we're learning to manage better every week.

A tell: our workflow has meaningfully changed in the last 3 months (or even weeks).

3. Curiosity with momentum

We are curious in a way that creates motion, not discussion.

We default to:

• "Let me try this quickly,"

• "What breaks if we assume X?"

• "I'll just test it and show you."

We often ask for forgiveness rather than permission—and bring others along by showing concrete progress.

Meetings with us feel forward-pulling and energizing.

4. High intrinsic motivation

We don't need to be dragged into new ways of working. We:

• self-educate aggressively,

• experiment without prompting,

• feel personally accountable for the company learning faster.

AI has made this distinction structural. The gap between people who lean in and those who don't is large and growing rapidly.

5. Comfort outside our lane

We willingly do work that is:

• uncomfortable,

• beneath our title,

• outside our formal expertise.

We are generalists by default and specialists by necessity.

What we're moving away from

We recognize that some operating patterns don't serve this moment:

• waiting for clarity before acting,

• executing well inside narrow lanes but hesitating outside them,

• letting workflows stagnate while tools evolve around us,

• skepticism toward new tools in practice, even while being supportive in principle.

These patterns may have worked in other contexts or other phases. They don't work here, now.

The question we hold ourselves to

For each of us, the honest question is:

"If more of Formant operated like me over the next 6–9 months, would we be meaningfully closer to product–market fit?"

This isn't about hours worked, raw intelligence, loyalty, or past contributions. It's about fit for the present moment.

Why this matters now

AI changes the economics of teams.

In earlier eras, strong performers could carry others along. In a small, AI-amplified team, that math no longer works. Every person operating at full leverage compounds the whole. Every gap costs more than it used to.

We either become a team of AI-amplified full-stack operators—or we get beaten by one.

Final framing

This is about being honest with ourselves about the velocity we need at this moment.

This document is how we hold ourselves accountable to that standard—not as a judgment, but as a commitment to who we're choosing to become.