If you're reading this, you're either the Lead Operator, considering the role, or one of a small number of people I've shared this material with for review. The document family below describes a single structured way to take the Bitcoin Storm protocol from launch to its founding-million target. It looks like a lot at first. It isn't. The size of the pack reflects the fact that we've already done most of the thinking — not that there's a lot for you to do.
Read this introduction first. Twenty minutes. You'll know what's in each of the eleven documents, which order to read them in, and where to start depending on why you're here. By the end of this page you should be thinking, I can grasp this. If you're not, the introduction has failed and I want to know about it.
"The role is straightforward. The documents are detailed because the work deserves to be done well, not because it's complicated."
Section 01 · The Operating Model
What you're actually doing.
The whole pack rests on one shape. Once you've seen the shape, the documents make sense.
The shape
One Lead Operator — you — sits at the top of the marketing programme. Underneath you sit up to fifty sub-affiliates: each is a real operator (a Bitcoin podcaster, a newsletter writer, a regional meetup organiser) running their own audience under your direction. Each sub-affiliate is capped at 10,000 paid users. The collective target is 1,000,000 paid users — the founding cohort.
Your job is to find the fifty (six weeks of focused sourcing), onboard them (fourteen days each, run from a checklist), support them (monthly check-in, library assets, attribution), and report monthly (one statement per sub-affiliate, one programme report to the founder). The protocol's smart contract handles the rest — participant caps, attribution, founding-cohort closure, settlement.
The engagement runs eighteen months from contract signing. Retainer of $80,000/month, with a $10 million performance bonus on Year 5 Bonanza Day if the founding-million target is reached and the protocol settles profitably. You aren't expected to deliver a million users alone. Fifty operators with realistic audiences and a 10K cap each does the work. Your job is to make sure the system runs well, not to run every part of it personally.
Section 02 · What's in the Marketing Tab
Three sections, eleven documents.
The Marketing tab contains everything you need to do the role. Three sections. Eleven documents. Each section covers a different layer of the work.
The strategic backbone. What we're building, why we're building it this way, and what the commercial terms are. Read these three first if you're considering the role — they answer the questions you'd otherwise ask.
- Marketing Programme — the strategy document. Full programme spec covering structure, funding, performance bonus mechanics, founding-cohort hooks, key-person risk, sequencing.
- The Delivery Model — the pitch document for the Lead Operator role. Org chart, tier structure, retainer mechanics. The "you'd run this" view.
- Lead Operator Term Sheet — commercial terms. $80K/month retainer, $10M Year 5 bonus, three-month gate, Operating Fee Reserve mechanics. Counsel-reviewed.
The operational tooling for managing the fifty sub-affiliates. Vetting, compliance posture, asset library, audit framework. These are the documents you use day-to-day once a sub-affiliate is being considered, contracted, or already in the cohort.
- Sub-Affiliate DD Form — two-part document: applicant section (10 sections, signed by the candidate) plus operator audit rubric (16 scoring items). Designed for 10–15-minute audits per applicant.
- DD Manual — Operator's Guide — standalone walkthrough for using the DD form. Eleven sections including mental model, end-to-end workflow, applicant patterns at scale, and operator failure modes to avoid.
- Storm Copy Library — Entry Template — the format every Library entry follows. Five-section structure: asset, mechanic, can-do, can't-do, variations.
- Sub-Affiliate House Rules — the universal compliance posture every sub-affiliate signs on onboarding. Eight sections covering disclosure, tone, frequency, attribution, escalation.
The day-to-day operational runway. How to find the fifty, onboard them, report on them, and pace the campaign across eighteen months. These are the documents you reach for during the actual work.
- Sub-Affiliate Sourcing Playbook — how to find the fifty. Six channels in priority order, six-week sourcing calendar, what not to do, pipeline tracker.
- Onboarding Checklist + Welcome Pack — per-sub-affiliate fourteen-day protocol with four templated communications (welcome email, library bundle, reference card, referral request).
- Monthly Reporting Templates — the pair: per-sub-affiliate statement (sent to each contracted sub-affiliate) and programme report (sent to founder).
- Campaign Calendar Template — eighteen-month calendar with protocol-determined milestones pre-marked. Eight phases, default cadence reference, quiet-period triggers.
Section 03 · Where To Start
Pick the path
that matches your purpose.
You don't need to read every document on day one. The pack supports four reading paths depending on why you're here. Pick the one that fits, and follow the order.
Path A
If you're considering the role
You want to know what you'd be agreeing to, what the terms are, and whether the model holds up. Read the three Programme documents in order. About ninety minutes of reading. By the end you'll know whether you want to take this further.
Read: Marketing Programme → The Delivery Model → Lead Operator Term Sheet
Path B
If you've signed and you're starting work
You're the Lead Operator. The contract is signed. You have eighteen months and you're starting from zero sub-affiliates. Read the operational documents in the order you'll use them. About four hours of reading total — do it across the first week.
Week 1: Sourcing Playbook → DD Form → DD Manual
Week 2: Onboarding Checklist → House Rules → Copy Library
Week 3: Monthly Reporting Templates → Campaign Calendar
Path C
If you're a deputy joining the Lead Operator
You're being brought in to handle a slice of the work — usually audit volume on incoming DD forms. Read the four documents that govern your slice. About ninety minutes. Then shadow the Lead Operator on ten audits before going solo.
Read: The Delivery Model → DD Form → DD Manual → House Rules
Path D
If you're the founder, counsel, or auditor reviewing the programme
You're not running the programme; you're checking that it's coherent, regulatorily defensible, and well-structured. Read the Programme documents plus the audit-side of the operational tooling. About two hours.
Read: Marketing Programme → Term Sheet → House Rules → DD Form (Part B audit) → Monthly Reporting Templates
Section 04 · What's Deliberately Not In Here
So you don't go looking.
The Marketing tab covers the marketing programme and the sub-affiliate system. Several adjacent things are intentionally elsewhere — flagged here so you don't waste time hunting for them in the wrong place.
- The protocol's compliance documentation (regulatory whitepaper, registration flow, jurisdictional restrictions, risk register, legal opinions) sits in the Compliance tab. Linked but separate. Counsel maintains those documents; the marketing programme inherits the constraints.
- The protocol's technical documentation (engineering specification, build programme, Storm Chat protocol, smart contract audits) sits in the Development tab. Engineering maintains those.
- The protocol's editorial & brand documentation (whitepaper, public communications, founder's notes) sits in the Editorial tab.
- Sub-affiliate-facing documents (the welcome email they receive, the reference card, the contract they sign) are generated from this tab but are not stored here as deliverables. The Onboarding Checklist contains the templates; the Lead Operator generates them per sub-affiliate.
- The Lead Operator's contract itself is a separate counsel-drafted document handled outside this tab. The Term Sheet you'll find here describes what's in the contract; it isn't the contract.
One last thing.
These documents are working tools. They've been written carefully, but they haven't been tested against an actual eighteen-month engagement — that begins with you. Use them. Question them where they don't fit. Tell me where they fail. The programme is more important than any individual document; if a document is in the way of the programme, the document loses.
You'll find places where I've over-specified and places where I've under-specified. The places where I've over-specified will feel constraining; loosen them in conversation with me. The places where I've under-specified will feel ambiguous; tighten them by writing the missing detail and adding it to the pack. That's how this becomes yours.
If you're sitting at this introduction thinking I can grasp this, that's the right reaction. The role is real but the structure is in your favour. The smart contract handles the things that need to be unforgivingly precise. The documents handle the things that need to be repeatable. What's left for the human is judgement — which is what we're paying you for.
— Nikolas, founder