A standard operating procedure, or SOP, is a written answer to the question: how do we do this here? In a small startup the founder is usually the only place that answer lives. SOPs move it onto paper so work does not stop when you are busy, away, or asleep.
Start with the work that repeats
- Anything you have explained to a teammate more than twice.
- Anything that goes wrong when you are away, such as refunds, customer escalations or deploys.
- Anything a new hire needs in their first week.
A template that fits on one page
- Name: one plain line, such as How we handle a refund request.
- Why it matters: one sentence on what goes wrong without it.
- Steps: five to ten short numbered steps, each starting with a verb.
- Owner: the person who keeps it correct.
- Last confirmed: the date someone last checked it is still true.
- When to ask the founder: the cases this SOP does not cover.
Write it from the person doing the work
The best SOP is written by the person who does the task, not by the founder describing it from memory. Ask them to do the task once while writing down each step. Then you review it. The gaps you find are usually the exact reasons the task kept coming back to you.
Keep it short and findable
Name each SOP by the question people ask, so it comes up when they search. If a procedure needs more than two screens, split it. A short SOP that people open beats a perfect one that nobody reads.
Review on a schedule
Put a review date on every SOP, and check the oldest three each month. An out-of-date SOP is worse than none, because people trust it. Retire the ones nobody uses.
Where an AI clone fits
Once your SOPs exist, an AI clone built on approved facts can answer questions about them in your voice, and say when something is not covered. AskMyStartup is in private beta; you can join the waitlist from the buttons on this page.