Start with these seven records
In priority order, because the first three do most of the work:
- Profile — what the business does, who it serves, how it makes money.
- Products & services — with real prices and real margins.
- Goals — the numbers you are actually trying to move this quarter.
- Customer segments — who is worth winning, and who is not.
- Brand — tone, wording you use, wording you never use.
- Policies — refunds, warranties, approvals, anything with a rule.
- AI rules — hard constraints every employee must obey.
Write it for a competent new hire
The right level of detail is what you would tell a sharp new employee in their first week. Not marketing copy, not a legal document. Specific numbers beat adjectives every time: 'target 42% gross margin' is useful, 'premium positioning' is not.
Keep it honest about the unknowns
If you do not know your CAC, say so rather than guessing. An AI employee handles a stated gap sensibly; it cannot detect a confident wrong number.
Revisit after two weeks
The fastest improvement loop: read three pieces of AI output, find the assumption that was wrong, and fix the underlying record instead of rewriting the request.