Already-Done Blueprint
Shortcut a problem by learning from someone who has solved it repeatedly
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 97%
The Already-Done Blueprint begins by turning a vague ambition into a specific problem, then finding people with direct, repeated evidence of solving that same problem. Learn what is already publicly available so the eventual request is focused rather than lazy. Nathan recommends identifying five people within reach, asking for a conversation, and extracting their frameworks, blueprints, and lessons. The value comes from compressing experience: an e-commerce founder should learn from someone who has built several stores, while an advertiser should learn from someone who has managed substantial spend. The final step is application, because access to an expert only becomes a shortcut when one concrete lesson changes the founder's next action.
Origin
Nathan Chan says this method helped him secure prominent magazine interviews after another publisher showed him the blueprint for reaching well-known people. It became the core ethos of Foundr.
Core principles
- 01Learn from demonstrated results rather than theory alone
- 02Choose experience that matches the exact problem
- 03One useful lesson can repay the effort
- 04Do enough self-learning to ask better questions
How to run it
- 1
Specify the problem
State the exact result or obstacle rather than asking broadly how to succeed. A narrow problem makes relevant experience easier to recognize.
Pro tip Describe the business model, stage, and channel involved.
- 2
Find proven operators
List five people within reach who have already achieved the relevant result, ideally more than once.
Pro tip Repeated results are stronger evidence than a single lucky outcome.
Watch out Fame is not a substitute for problem-specific experience.
- 3
Learn before asking
Use podcasts, books, videos, or other available material to build baseline knowledge and identify the gap only the operator can fill.
Pro tip Bring a question that shows what you have already tried.
- 4
Request a focused conversation
Reach out to all five people and ask for a bounded conversation about the precise problem.
Pro tip A specific request is easier to accept than an open-ended mentorship ask.
Watch out Do not expect every person to reply.
- 5
Extract the blueprint
Capture the operator's sequence, decision rules, mistakes, and shortcuts rather than collecting inspiration alone.
Pro tip Ask what they would do first if starting again.
- 6
Apply one lesson
Translate the most relevant insight into an immediate action and observe the result.
Pro tip One applied lesson is worth more than a large archive of unused advice.
Watch out Do not copy tactics without adapting them to your context.
In the wild
Nathan found a publisher whose vegan magazine was landing interviews with well-known people such as Bono and Jamie Oliver. He asked how they did it, learned their blueprint, and used that knowledge while building Foundr's interview pipeline.
→ Foundr secured a Richard Branson interview in its first year and strengthened its authority.
A first-time e-commerce founder studies operators who have built several stores, identifies five reachable candidates, and asks one focused question about validating a product before buying inventory.
→ The founder replaces guesswork with a tested validation sequence.
Common mistakes
Choosing status over relevance
A famous person without direct experience of the specific problem may offer less useful guidance than an accessible specialist.
Skipping the groundwork
Asking questions answered in public material wastes the operator's time and produces a shallower conversation.
Collecting without applying
Frameworks create no shortcut until they change a real decision or action.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders entering an unfamiliar business model, channel, or operating challenge.
Not ideal for
Novel problems with no credible precedent or situations where copying would ignore important context.
From the transcript
“the best thing you can do if you have a problem is to find somebody that's already done it and learn from them”
“identify five people that you believe are within your reach to learn from and reach out to them and see if you can have a…”
“they showed me the blueprint”
From the episode
Nathan Chan: The Founders Blueprint
Nathan Chan