Founder Field Manuals

Field-tested guides for
founders who ship.

After 30 years in federal and military service — including a decade running information security for the EPA — I kept looking for the same thing every solo founder needs: a clear, direct playbook that tells you exactly what to do and in what order. FounderFieldManuals is the result.

Browse the Catalog 14 guides · PDF download · Instant delivery

The Full Catalog

Fourteen guides. One operating system.

Each guide is a standalone field manual — focused, actionable, and built to run, not read once and shelve. New guides added regularly.

The AI Prompt Engineer's Playbook cover
Field Manual No. 1 $14

The AI Prompt Engineer's Playbook

The complete system for writing prompts that actually work — across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney, Runway, Perplexity, and GitHub Copilot.

51 pages 60+ prompts 7 platforms
Get Instant Access — $9.99
The Developer's Guide to Cursor & GitHub Copilot cover
Field Manual No. 3 $11.99

Cursor & GitHub Copilot Developer Guide: AI-Assisted Coding for Faster, Cleaner Workflows

Side-by-side workflows for the two most powerful AI coding tools — so you ship faster without constantly switching tabs.

22 pages 2 tools side-by-side
Get Instant Access — $11.99
The No-Code AI App Builder's Handbook cover
Field Manual No. 4 $9.99

The No-Code AI App Builder's Handbook

Build real, shippable apps with AI across Lovable, Bubble, Glide, Zapier, and Softr — no engineering degree required.

18 pages 5 platforms ship faster
Get Instant Access — $9.99
The Privacy-First AI Handbook cover
Field Manual No. 6 $17

The Privacy-First AI Handbook

GDPR, CCPA, EU AI Act, and FTC guidelines — translated into practical frameworks for founders using AI tools. Written by a retired federal Information Security Officer, not a consultant who read the regulations last month.

33 pages practical frameworks federal-grade rigor
Get Instant Access — $17
The LLM Cost Control Manual cover
Field Manual No. 8 $19

The LLM Cost Control Manual

Cut your OpenAI bill without cutting features. Caching, token optimization, model routing, and architectural decisions that reduce API spend by 50–70%.

37 pages 26 code examples 3 scenarios
Get Instant Access — $19
The SaaS Moat Manual cover
Field Manual No. 9 $19

The SaaS Moat Manual

Build AI products competitors can't copy. Data moats, workflow integration, UX lock-in, network effects, and a 12-month moat-building roadmap.

31 pages 80+ checklist items 5 moat types
Get Instant Access — $19
Market Recon Playbook for Solo Founders cover
Field Manual No. 10 $19

Market Recon Playbook for Solo Founders

Weekly market recon for solo founders. Research competitor feature releases, pricing changes, and hiring signals — with a 30-minute weekly routine and 5 reusable AI prompt templates.

34 pages 5 AI prompt templates 30-min routine
Get Instant Access — $19
The Self-Hosted Email Stack That Almost Broke Me cover
Field Manual No. 11 $14.99

Self-Hosted Email Stack: The Complete Setup Guide for Founders Who Own Their Data

A real 6-hour SMTP debugging incident — five failure layers documented with the exact fix, a pre-flight checklist, and an error message decoder for Mautic 5, Brevo, and Docker Compose.

10 pages 5 layers diagnosed real incident
Get Instant Access — $14.99
The Cyber Insurance Readiness Manual cover
Field Manual No. 13 $22

Cyber Insurance Readiness Manual: Get Approved on the First Application

73% of small businesses fail their first cyber insurance application. This guide walks you through every control carriers require — MFA, EDR, Backup, Email Security, IR Plan, Vendor Risk — with evidence checklists and a 30-Day Readiness Plan. Built from the same control frameworks used in federal cybersecurity programs, translated for a one-person operation.

44 pages 98-item checklist carrier comparison
Get Instant Access — $22
Hiring and Managing AI as a Team cover
Field Manual No. 12 $19

Hiring and Managing AI as a Team

You've got AI tools. Now build an AI team. Assign roles, run QA loops, set persistent memory, and build workflows that actually scale — with the 5-Role Minimum, drop-in Role Charter templates, and an end-to-end SOP from idea to shipped product.

44 pages 5 AI roles tool-agnostic
Get Instant Access — $22
The Solo Founder's AI Compliance Checklist cover
Field Manual No. 7 $17

The Solo Founder's AI Compliance Checklist

GDPR, CCPA, EU AI Act, and FTC guidelines — 205+ checklist items in plain language. Know what you need to have in place before you flip the switch.

33 pages 205+ checklist items pre-launch ready
Get Instant Access — $17
MOBILE VOTING
SECURITY
READINESS GUIDE
Civic Tech Series $19

The Mobile Voting Security Readiness Guide

A field assessment framework for election officials, civic technologists, and policy researchers evaluating mobile voting system security. Written from a federal InfoSec program lead perspective.

civic tech election security policy framework
Get Instant Access — $19
THE CITIZEN'S
ALPR READINESS
GUIDE
Civic Tech Series Free

The Citizen's ALPR Readiness Guide

What every citizen, journalist, and local official should know about Automated License Plate Reader deployments — policy gaps, privacy exposure, and what to ask your local government.

civic tech privacy free download
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About

Darnell Baker

After 30 years in federal and military service — Marine Corps, Army Corps of Engineers, and a decade as Information Security Officer at the EPA — I retired and went to build products.

When I started, I kept looking for the same thing I'd relied on throughout my career: a clear, direct playbook. Most of what existed was too vague to act on or buried inside a course I didn't have time to finish. The guides I needed — written for operators who move fast and need to stay defensible — didn't exist. So I wrote them.

FounderFieldManuals is a growing catalog of field-tested AI guides built around the actual tools, prompts, and workflows I use to run a one-person operation. No filler. No theory for its own sake. Just the system, documented clearly, so you can execute.