Case Study · Founders
How a Founder Reclaimed Deep Work and Doubled Product Throughput with Cortexta
The operational blueprint of a venture‑backed SaaS founder who moved from reactive firefighting to a living schedule—protecting strategy time, aligning work to outcomes, and shipping predictably.
Executive summary
A founder at a 12‑person SaaS startup faced the classic trap: back‑to‑back meetings, constant context switching, and a backlog that grew faster than it shipped. Planning rituals existed, but the plan never survived the day. Cortexta was introduced to enforce outcome‑aligned prioritization and maintain a living schedule that adapts to reality.
- Throughput: +87% features/quarter, +34% cycle time improvement (P50 → P75 tasks).
- Deep work: From 2.3 hrs/week to 9.6 hrs/week of protected strategy time.
- Predictability: Missed deadlines down 62%; on‑time delivery for Tier‑1 items up to 92%.
- Stress: Reported “mental load” dropped from 8/10 to 4/10 by week 4.
From firefighting to a living schedule
Before Cortexta
- Deep work gets pushed by meetings, context switching, and Slack pings.
- Weekly planning doesn’t survive Monday changes.
- High‑impact items slip due to reactive support and sales escalations.
- Personal tasks bleed into workday; no clean buffers.
After Cortexta
- Protected 3× 90‑minute deep‑work blocks per week, auto‑rescheduled if interrupted.
- AI Prioritization Engine ranks tasks by outcome impact and deadline risk.
- Google Calendar auto‑time‑blocking adapts to meeting changes in real time.
- Routines for 1:1s, board prep, release reviews, and personal admin—without overbooking.
Implementation blueprint (week 0 → week 2)
1) Connect and ingest
- Connected Google Calendar; imported Linear epics and Notion product specs.
- Pasted last 6 weeks of board notes and sprint retros for RAG grounding.
- Forwarded “must‑win” emails to the unified inbox for extraction.
2) Define outcomes and tiers
- Tagged initiatives by outcomes: ARR growth, retention, incident rate, and velocity.
- Created Tier‑1/2/3 priority taxonomy; mapped deadlines and dependencies.
- Set effort estimates for deep‑work chunks (45/60/90 minutes).
3) Scheduling rules
- Focus hours: Tue/Thu 9:30–12:00; Fri 1:30–4:00 with 15‑min buffers.
- Hard boundaries for 1:1s, sales reviews, and investor updates.
- Do‑not‑disturb and travel windows to avoid overbooking.
4) AI Prioritization Engine
Weighted criteria aligned to outcomes:
- Outcome impact (40%): direct effect on ARR/retention/incident rate.
- Deadline risk (25%): proximity and dependency risk.
- Effort fit (15%): match to available focus windows.
- RAG confidence (10%): alignment to historical decisions and notes.
- Recovery cost (10%): penalty for context switches and preemption.
5) Living schedule
- Tasks time‑blocked automatically; reschedules when meetings move.
- Overruns trigger re‑planning with minimal disruption to Tier‑1 blocks.
- Daily “Now” suggestion: one click to start the highest‑impact task.
Quantified outcomes (week 2 → week 8)
Features shipped / week
Median days from start → ship
Protected focus per week
Commitments met
Daily rituals the founder adopted
Morning calibration (7 minutes)
- Glance “Today plan” and accept auto‑schedule.
- Convert new email/Slack inputs into tasks via quick capture.
- Lock the first deep‑work block; snooze non‑critical meetings if needed.
Midday re‑plan (3 minutes)
- If overrun > 20 minutes, let Cortexta shift lower tiers to preserve Tier‑1.
- Use “Now” to start next best action; block Slack for 45 minutes.
Evening closure (5 minutes)
- Mark completions; annotate blockers for RAG learning.
- Queue tomorrow’s top 3; leave calendar clean by 6:30pm.
Exact configuration used
Scheduling rules
- Buffers: 10 minutes between meetings; 15 minutes before deep‑work blocks.
- Do‑not‑book windows: daily 12:00–1:00 for lunch; Fri 4:00–5:00 for review.
- Hard constraints: board meetings and investor calls remain fixed.
Prioritization weights
- ARR impact 0.40 · Deadline risk 0.25 · Effort fit 0.15 · RAG confidence 0.10 · Recovery cost 0.10
- Escalations capped to 20% time budget/week unless Tier‑1 affected.
- Personal admin limited to 30 minutes per weekday, auto‑scheduled.
Time allocation (weekly)
A week at a glance
Milestones achieved
Week 1: Living schedule online
Connected calendars, imported backlog, defined Tier‑1 outcomes and rules.
Week 2: Deep work stabilized
3× 90‑minute blocks consistently protected; meetings reshuffled automatically.
Week 4: Predictability up
On‑time Tier‑1 commitments above 85%; escalations capped to 20% time budget.
Week 8: Throughput surge
+87% features shipped quarter‑over‑quarter; founder stress materially reduced.
“The biggest shift wasn’t speed. It was finally being able to think. Cortexta gave me a schedule that defended strategy time without me babysitting it.”
— Founder‑CEO, B2B SaaS (12→24 people)
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