How to use Before

Before is a decision resource for founders, published by FTLAB in Dubai. It is owned by Shayan Kargarian. The words are in Australian English.

The path

A commitment has four states: considering it, making it, managing it, and responding when it has already gone wrong. The home page groups the twelve guides in the first three. If you have already signed, paid, or lost access, start at I have already signed, paid or lost access. That page keeps five paths separate, and you can mark more than one. The output is a resolution brief. It does not tell you to freeze every payment, to copy systems that are not yours, or to publish an accusation.

Start with the question on the home page, or choose a situation. A typed description is matched by keywords. Words that clearly say you have already signed, paid, or lost access open the response page. The guides then ask you to write answers. They are saved in this browser only, under a key that begins with before.record. Clearing the site data clears the notes. There is no account.

When you are ready, open the record. Print it, or use the browser’s save-as-PDF, or download a text file. Take that paper to your own lawyer. Guides 1 and 2 have a labelled sample so you can see the shape before you have written anything: the investor verification record and the term sheet obligations summary. The response page has a labelled resolution brief.

Jurisdiction inserts

Where a UAE rule is mentioned, an insert names the entity, the activity, the source date, and the fact that would change the answer. DIFC breach notification, where that law applies, is as soon as practicable, not a blanket 72 hours. ADGM’s rule for a Data Controller is without undue delay and, where feasible, within 72 hours. The DFSA AML module applies to defined Relevant Persons. Federal bankruptcy has exclusions. The inserts are questions for counsel. They do not recommend a jurisdiction.

Evidence labels

• Research: a paper or a formal study.
• Practitioner: a firm, a lawyer, or an operator writing from practice, or a published professional or standards guide.
• Community: a founder’s public account, or a survey of founders.
• Regulatory: a page published by a regulator, a court, or a registrar.

A label is not a grade, and a regulatory page is not a decision about your facts. If a source could not be opened, it is not cited. Dates are the publication date or the day the page was checked, and the page says which.

The optional router

Keyword matching always works, including on a static host. If you set NEXT_PUBLIC_LLM_ROUTER_URL when you build, the browser will also POST the description to that URL, with the list of guides, and will use a JSON reply of { "slug", "reason" } when the slug is one of the twelve. If the router fails, the keyword match remains. The screen says when your words have left the device. Do not put an API key in the browser. A sample worker is in deploy/llm-router.example.js.

The illustrations

The dilution tool assumes post-money SAFEs that dilute founders and not each other, then a priced round, then an option pool taken from existing holders. The waterfall assumes one investor, no dividends, and no stack of later preferences. Both are there so a founder can see the shape of a number before a lawyer or a finance lead builds the real model.

What is stubbed

Guides 3 to 12 include the situation, the decision, six to ten questions, and the name of the intended output. They do not yet include a full evidence essay, contrasting examples, or the longer branch for someone who has already acted. The topic map marks depth the same way.