Building businesses that outlive you
Your business runs on five operating systems. One of them is leaking.
Find out which one in twelve minutes. Then build the 90-day plan to fix it.
You don't need another business idea. You need an operating system.
— The thesis
The framework
The five operating systems
Every business runs on five. When growth stalls, one of them is leaking. Usually only one.
The Founder OS · The Builder
You
Vision, mindset, discipline, leadership, decision-making capacity. Build the founder before the business. If this leaks, nothing else holds.
The Market OS · The Map
Customer
Real customer problems, demand validation, market landscape, the gap nobody else is naming. If this leaks, marketing burns money.
The Model OS · The Engine
Business model
How you make money, deliver value, price, package the offer. The engine of the business — designed deliberately, not by accident.
The Management OS · The Skeleton
Structure
Roles, workflows, documentation, delegation, cash flow, compliance, team systems. If this leaks, growth breaks the business instead of carrying it.
The Momentum OS · The Loop
Growth
Sales, marketing, customer experience, retention, referrals. How the business becomes visible, trusted, chosen, and remembered.
The book
Eighteen years of building, distilled.
Started with ₦30,000 in 2009. SMS gateway, then fleet management, then a mentor's one sentence that took thirteen years to fully understand.
This is the book I wish someone had handed the 2009 version of me. Twenty-five chapters. Five parts. One companion workbook.
- 322 pages, designed for the working founder
- Five named frameworks you can carry into any conversation
- Companion workbook with fill-in answer spaces
The workshop
The framework, in a room, in half a day.
Thirty seats. One Saturday. Lagos. You walk in with a problem. You walk out with a written 90-day fix plan for the one operating system that is leaking hardest.
Next cohort
19 September
2026 — Lagos
Per seat
₦185,000
Pay in full or in two instalments.
Start here
The Founder Diagnostic
Fifteen questions. Five operating systems. One clear answer about where your business is silently leaking.
Free. No credit card. Your result lands in your inbox immediately.
Start the diagnostic →The author
Shina Salako
Started his first business in 2009 with ₦30,000 gifted by a neighbour — money originally intended for rent, redirected with the neighbour's blessing into a business. Built and sold across SMS, fleet management, and consulting over the next eighteen years. Postgraduate studies at Liverpool (2014) and Lagos Business School (2019). Joined the Maxwell Leadership team in 2022.
The Entrepreneur Operating System is what he wishes someone had handed him in 2009.
In one sentence
“I write for the founder I was in 2009, the one who thought hustle was strategy.”
Twelve minutes can save you twelve months.
Most founders patch the wrong system. The diagnostic shows you which one is actually leaking.
Take the diagnostic →