First Graphic Services × Fiction Factory — Business Plan Outline

1. Purpose / one-sentence thesis

Build a company that competes with BuildASign / VistaPrint-style web-to-print: multiple niche sign/graphics sites, fulfilled by a distributed print network, run on Fiction Factory’s digital production system with First Graphic Services as the first shop.

Fiction Factory and Rick Cartwright partner to build Rainman software. First Graphic Services is first customer.

2. Parties & roles

3. New joint venture.

Name to be determined, code name Rainman.

JV = Joint Venture, new joint venture LLC.

• New business entity.
• FGS / Rick side: cash investment (amount TBD).
• Fiction Factory: technology contribution (IP, build, agents, sites).

4. Capital vs technology contribution

5. Build a Sign Competitor.

We're building a family of branded, specialty sign sites — each one aimed at a different audience, like Democratic signs, Republican signs, Black Lives Matter signs, LGBTQ signs, cheerleading signs, and more. The idea is simple — when a parent or a student lands on one of these sites, they see only what matters to them. No political signs mixed in with cheerleading gear, no home-builder promos cluttering a cause-driven page. Each site stays focused on its niche, which keeps the experience clean and the conversion higher. Behind the scenes, every order runs through the same system and gets routed to the right shop in our print network — so we're selling deep into each audience while the fulfillment stays distributed across shops nationwide.

On record (illustrative, not terms):

• Baseline = counterfactual trajectory (e.g. average ~10 years of growth). Example from 7/07 talk track: if trajectory was $10M and you hit $15M, share a % of the delta — and of margin lift (example spoken: 30% → 50%). Those $ figures are call illustrations, not audited forecasts.
• FGS revenue as stated: Rick ~$6.7M last year, ~$1M/yr growth; Tommy often $8–10M. FLAG as sensitive before outside investors. Aspirational targets 20 / 30 / 50 / 100M are wishes, not model inputs.
• Rick online ambition: $5–10M print-and-ship before telling home builders bye.
• License economics to other shops: TBD (SaaS fee? rev share? setup?).
• Network / niche-site P&L: TBD.

TBD list (must close before a real deck):

• Baseline formula (years, CAGR, exclusions, owner comp)
• Incremental profit definition (EBITDA? owner’s discretionary? after owner salary?)
• FF share % and duration / sunset
• License price list and Rick equity %
• Cash investment amount, instrument (equity/SAFE/note), valuation
• Whether outside investors see FGS shop books at all

6. Product / tech scope (MVP → license product)

MVP / shop nucleus (first buyer = FGS):

• Digital production manager: quotes-out / approved-no-deposit / AR / in-production / forecast / per-job profit / role views / asset archive
• Digital intake; barcode WIP (scanners already in motion toward Roark)
• Parallel run beside Print OPS + QuickBooks (“train robbery” — mirror process, flag exceptions only)
• Read-only monitoring first (Mike Curtis) → intake → dashboard → fuller system
• AWS migration off vulnerable on-prem NAS

License product (other shops):

• Same PM + WIP stack, multi-tenant / white-label path
• Must survive shops that are not FGS’s Exact stack

Expansion threads (thesis, not MVP):

• Niche GEO sites (political, faith, school, muni, cheer, etc.)
• Distributed print network (~10 sites / spec’d equipment — idea sizing from Tree)
• Agent purchasing / agent-to-agent workforce
• VistaPrint-style scale (multi-location, API, white-label, partner production)

7. Go-to-market

1. FGS first — prove WIP visibility + parallel run on a live Garland shop (Rick’s #1 ask).
2. Niche sites fed by FGS — Prosper Senior 2027 portals already prove school/niche self-order; expand niches Tommy named 8/25.
3. License PM to peer shops — Brandon: no sign shop doing this right now (competitive claim — validate).
4. Distributed network — overflow routing across spec’d shops; freight rules decide ship-vs-local.
5. Positioning line already written: local, human-backed alternative to VistaPrint — AI-powered, fulfilled in-house. Do not feature-copy BuildASign; win on local/niche + fab/install.

8. Roadmap (6-phase + parallel-run)

From existing analysis package (not a signed delivery contract):

1. Internal Sales Command Center
2. Customer Portal
3. Online Ordering
4. AI Design Assistant
5. Production Automation
6. VistaPrint-style scale (multi-location, API, white-label, franchise/partner production)

Parallel-run rule: new system rides beside OPS + QB; workflow stations / permitting / inventory approach approved with Rick 8/12.

Known start blockers (datasheet): Print OPS admin: reconcile live status if needed. Curtis monitoring: assume done per Tommy 2026-09-07. QuickBooks: replacement in scope (not forever CSV-beside-Desktop).

9. Assets already built / proof

• July 2026 package: GEO Strategy Study, Brand Guide + logo suite, Revised Workflow & Automation Map (Dropbox FF-AI/FGS/)
• Live Command Center: fgs-command-center.vercel.app (in Rick’s hands)
• Order-tracking software demoed; parallel with Print OPS + QB; barcodes; ShipStation notifications
• Rick loading customer/product/invoice data; barcode scanner shipping to Roark
• Workflow design signed off 8/12
• Prosper multi-school portal precedent
• Evidence bin: 250-item FGS pick list + Pitch Desk artifact (too granular for the room — use as receipts, not slides)
• Relationship: 19–20 year trust with Rick (the soft asset)

10. Risks, sensitive items, diligence gaps

• Entity mismatch: presenting “FGS invests cash” while the signed-intent record is still profit-share + license — confuse Rick or counsel.
• Revenue figure conflict ($6.7M vs $8–10M) — pick one sourced number for any outside party, or show both.
• Terms unsigned — no baseline, no %, no equity docs.
• Public framing: grow-not-cut; internal “which humans leave” talk must not hit investor or employee decks.
• Print IQ scar tissue — $70k sunk never launched; new software must not feel like round two.
• Sherry departure / staff drama — diligence landmine if outsiders dig shop HR.
• TWH-confidential info disclosed to FGS — clean that up before multi-party docs.
• Credential hygiene — picklist note: plaintext third-party distributor credential in an imported note; rotate.
• People/Kiki contradiction in older People entry vs Facts correction — Facts wins: Kiki still there.
• Outside investors vs friends deal — different diligence bar; shop books may stay out of the room.
• Rainman owns ops truth day-to-day; this outline does not replace an ops audit.

11. Decision checklist for Tommy before a real deck

1. Entity: A (digital partners + license), B (new JV cash-for-equity), or C (hybrid)? One sentence Tommy will say out loud to Rick.
2. Cash: Is Rick writing a check? If yes, amount range and into which entity? If no, stop saying “invest money” in the title.
3. Baseline + %: Who models it, by when, using which books?
4. Rick equity: % in license/network Co; vesting; what happens if he sells FGS.
5. IP: FF owns and licenses? Assign to JV? Shop gets perpetual internal license?
6. Audience for first deck: Rick only, Rick+Brandon, or outside capital? (Changes what numbers appear.)
7. Blockers: OPS admin + Curtis monitoring + QB access — unblock before promising go-live dates.
8. Comparable $5–10k/mo: in or out?
9. Name of the new entity (if B/C) and who forms it.
10. Kill criteria: what makes this a shop IT project only, not a company.

Call (BizDev)

• Structure locked: Option C hybrid. Framing 1 shop economics stay. Framing 3 parked.
• Lead number: Rick $6.7M. Audience: Rick + Brandon.
• Assume Curtis path available; QB replacement in scope.
• Next: term-sheet skeleton with blanks (cash, baseline/%, equity %, IP, entity name). No invented figures.

SUPPLEMENT 2026-09-07 — Three framings on record (do not collapse)

Tree mine (via CoS) confirms three different stories in the corpus. A deck that merges them will lie.

Framing 1 — Digital partners + license (Jul 7 / FGS Facts)

• Build for the existing FGS shop. No upfront fee. FF share of incremental profit above a modeled baseline (Kelly-style).
• License finished PM system to other shops; Rick equity partner — agreed in principle 7/07 with Brandon.
• Unsigned. Baseline definition TBD. This is Option A in the outline above.

Framing 2 — Investable Build-a-Sign competitor / PARENT COMPANY (Aug 25–27)

• Not a shop IT project: a parent company — generic name, “its own company,” “not a line item on Fiction Factory.”
• Thesis: niche sites + ~10-site distributed print network + agent workforce.
• Tommy talk track includes a potential “$200M” scale line — aspirational speech, not a model or valuation.
• Same planning window: FGS and SPG investment decks ASAP; close deals for Sean and Rick.
• This is closest to Option B / the “new entity, FGS invests cash, FF builds tech” ask — but cash amount and instrument for FGS are still thin on paper.

Framing 3 — Sale-prep / “golden goose” (Jul 21)

• System built “in disguise” so FGS becomes the first fully-implemented shop in a sale story.
• Spoken narrative bits like “invested a million,” “$20M company,” “get a million” — speculative story beats, NOT agreed terms, NOT diligence facts.
• Do not put Framing 3 numbers on a slide unless Tommy explicitly wants a sale narrative deck (separate from investor terms).

SPG parallel (clearer writing than FGS)

• Lauren Bot / SPG track has a cleaner written shape: new co owns the software; SPG is equity partner + investor; FF does tech.
• FGS sits in the same deck/deal bucket as SPG, but FGS cash-invest terms are thinner — call that out to Tommy: don’t copy-paste SPG’s clarity onto Rick without a real term sheet.

Gaps still open (unchanged, now sharper)

• No named JV / parent entity
• No confirmed FGS cash amount
• IP / ownership undefined
• Whether Framing 2 replaces, wraps, or sits beside Framing 1 — unresolved
• Framing 3 must stay labeled speculative if it appears at all

Artifacts: pick list 3db993a0-…; Pitch Desk note on that node; Discovery Intake cce0b434-….

Updated BizDev call: Pick which framing(s) the first Rick conversation uses. Default recommendation if silent: lead with Framing 1 economics for the shop, put Framing 2 in a separate parent-co one-pager, keep Framing 3 off the page.

TOMMY DECISIONS — 2026-09-07 (from chat)

Locked unless Tommy corrects:

Still open (Tommy did not close):

• Cash check size / instrument into the new entity
• Baseline formula + FF incremental %
• Rick equity % in the new/license entity
• IP assignment wording
• New entity name / formation state
• Sibling $5–10k/mo comparable in or out
• Confirm “3b” = park framing 3; “6 yes” = Rick+Brandon

Next artifact: one-page term-sheet skeleton with blanks (no invented numbers).