New project. New hire. New partner. New strategy. New focus. New expectations. Start with a Ground.

Alignment status

Every ground carries an alignment status. It is not a grade out of five. It is a plain summary of how many areas are aligned, how many are partly there, and how many are still open, so you can always see exactly what it is based on.

A new hire and their manager each describe what success looks like in the first ninety days, independently. Groundwork shows where the two pictures match and where they quietly differ, before month three turns a small gap into a hard review conversation.

Everyone joining a new project sets out scope, ownership, and what done looks like, on their own. Groundwork surfaces the assumptions that do not line up, so the project starts on agreed ground rather than discovering the mismatch at delivery.

A new board member and the team each set out what the role is for and what good looks like. Groundwork shows where expectations diverge, so the relationship is defined before it starts costing more than it returns.

Each founder records their own account of roles, contribution, and what success means. Groundwork shows where they agree and where they differ, so equity and authority rest on something written, not on memory.

Both sides of a contract describe what was delivered against what was expected, independently. Groundwork builds the record the renewal or exit decision rests on, rather than leaving it to relationship management.

Before a pivot, each person sets out the goals, responsibilities, and risks as they see them. Groundwork surfaces where the new direction is understood differently, so the team commits to the same plan.

The person and their manager each account for what was contributed over the period, independently. Groundwork builds the case from a record made over time, not assembled the night before the conversation.

Both sides describe the scope and impact of the role as it actually ran. Groundwork shows where the accounts agree, so the case is built from the record rather than from who argues best in the moment.

Each party documents contribution and expectation before the negotiation. Groundwork puts both accounts side by side, so the conversation starts from a shared picture instead of two competing memories.

Before a PIP is issued, the manager and the person each set out what good performance looks like and where the gaps are, independently. Groundwork shows where expectations match and where they don't, so the conversation starts from a shared picture rather than a surprise. The record is there from the beginning, not assembled after things have already gone wrong.

Each person checks in on where the team is and what matters most, independently. Groundwork shows where people are pulling in different directions without realising it, so the team can reset to one outcome.

Teams, partners, funders, and implementers each give their own account, with no one seeing the others. Groundwork builds one shared picture across all of them, so a programme with many parties moves on the same facts.

Everyone records what was agreed, what was delivered, and what should happen next. Groundwork shows where those accounts line up and where they do not, so the review produces decisions rather than debate.

"Pay when something real happens. Stop when it doesn't. We built the pricing to match how trust actually works."

Groundwork was created by people who built and ran companies and kept hitting the same wall. Not open conflict. Quiet misalignment. Different expectations, different assumptions, different ideas of what success looked like, none of it said out loud until it had already become expensive.

Real contribution went unseen. Real disagreements went unnamed. Because there was no place for each person to put down their own account and see where it actually matched everyone else's.

Groundwork was built to be that place. Each person gives their own account. The report shows where they agree and where they don't. Nobody has to argue their version. The record does it.

The founding principle

The record belongs to the people who built it. Not the organisation. Not the platform. The person. Take that away and people stop being honest. Keep it and everything else works.

Built for the moments that matter most. Something starting. Someone stepping up. A team that needs to see the same picture again.

Built for founders, managers, partners, and teams who would rather get aligned early than manage the fallout later.

Built first for African leaders and the companies they run, and useful anywhere people start things together.

Questions or feedback