Why We Built Circle Forward: From EOS at Billd to a New System for Startups in Chaos
- Jon Katz
- Jun 22
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 24
Because every startup needs a system—but not every system fits the stage you’re in.
When I joined Billd towards the end of 2019 (billd.com), we were growing fast. Like most high-potential startups, it felt like every week was make-or-break. The team was small (I was the 6th hire and my partner, Russ Briscoe was the 3rd), but the stakes were already high, and the ambition was even higher. Our CEO, Christopher Doyle, recognized something that many early leaders miss: hustle wasn’t going to be enough. We needed more than drive. We needed structure. We were experimenting with OKRs, but to be honest, it just wasn’t cutting it.
OKRs lacked structure. It lacked alignment. It lacked accountability. And most importantly, it lacked effectiveness.
So we made the call to implement EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). We hired an EOS implementer to come in, run the system for us, and challenge us week in and week out to implement it correctly.
EOS Was a Game-Changer
Starting EOS when we were under 10 people felt bold at the time. But it worked.
✅ It aligned the team around our mission and vision
✅ It gave us a real cadence for execution
✅ It introduced weekly accountability for metrics and initiatives
✅ It helped us grow without micromanaging
I fell in love with it. The structure, the clarity, the focus—it was everything a high-performing team needed. So naturally, I started recommending it to every startup I advised. And for many, it made a huge difference. One of my advisory clients, who I started working with in 2019 when they were working out of a 100 square foot apartment in Louisville Kentucky, has gone from $100k in annual revenue to almost $50M on the back of EOS.
But over time, I started noticing something.
The Truth About EOS, OKRs, and Scaling Up
These systems are powerful. But they were never designed for the earliest stage of company building—when you’re still figuring out. Think Seed to Series A. When core hypotheses around the business are still up in the air - figuring out things like:
Who your customer really is
Whether your product actually solves their problem
What you should even be measuring
Whether your business model is even right
Why does the company even exist and what is our mission or North Star?
This is where the chaos lives: the zero-to-one phase. Where you're still validating, testing, learning, and making dozens of decisions each day—often with incomplete information and way too little time.
That’s when it hit me: Every startup needs a system. But not every system fits the stage you’re in.
The Myth of Heroic Effort
Far too many early-stage founders rely on talent, passion, and effort to carry them through. But talent without structure leads to burnout. And effort without direction leads to wasted time. You can’t scale chaos. You can’t fundraise your way out of confusion. You can’t build a high-performance team without a framework.
I became obsessed with answering this question: What does the ideal business management system look like for a truly early-stage, high-growth startup?
Introducing Circle Forward: Built for the Stage You’re Actually In
We took everything we learned from EOS, OKRs, Scaling Up, and real-world startup experience—and built our own system.
It’s called The Circle Forward Method.
Designed specifically for early-stage startups (Seed to Series A), Circle Forward helps founders manage the chaos, move faster, and align their teams while they’re still learning and building.
At the core of Circle Forward is our Triple A Method:
Alignment – around vision, strategy, and the customer
Acceleration – via learning loops and rapid iteration, all within current constraints
Accountability – to data, execution, and decisions
But it goes even further than that. Here’s what makes it different:
🚀 Decision-Making Velocity
Circle Forward includes a built-in decision-making framework to ensure fast, aligned choices without endless debate or founder bottlenecks.
🔁 Learning and Iteration
We embed lean startup principles into weekly and quarterly cadences. You’re not just executing; you’re learning what works and what doesn’t, fast.
✅ Startup Hypothesis Checklist
We help you identify and test key assumptions around product-market fit, ICP, pricing, and more, all before you scale something that’s not ready.
💸 Constraints-First Planning
Cash, burn, hiring, and bandwidth—these real-world constraints are part of the system, not an afterthought.
👥 Challenger Role + Mission Alignment
Every department has a built-in “Challenger” role to challenge groupthink. And we align your people not just around core values, but around your mission.
The Bottom Line
If you’re in early-stage, high-growth mode—you don’t need more theory. You need a system that meets you where you are. EOS is great. OKRs are great. Scaling Up is great. But none of them are fully optimized for the 0–1 chaos of a startup still figuring it out.
Circle Forward is.
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