📚 How to Play BUCK'D
A realistic startup simulation where every decision matters. Learn how to build, scale, and exit a successful startup—or go bankrupt trying.
🎯 The Goal
Transform your initial $10,000 seed funding into a thriving company worth millions
✅ Win Conditions
- ▸IPO Exit: Take your company public with strong metrics (Turn 40+)
- ▸Acquisition Exit: Get acquired by a larger company (any turn)
- ▸Strategic Exit: Sell to a competitor or partner at the right time
- ▸Maximum valuation: The higher your exit valuation, the better your score
❌ Lose Condition
- ▸Bankruptcy: When your cash hits $0, game over immediately
- ▸Warning signs: High burn rate + low revenue = danger zone
- ▸Death spiral: Losing customers while team size grows = unsustainable
⚖️ How Gameplay Works
Each turn presents a critical business decision based on real startup scenarios
1️⃣ Read the Scenario
You'll face situations like: Should you raise VC funding? Hire a senior engineer? Launch a risky marketing campaign? Each scenario is categorized:
2️⃣ Choose Your Approach
- • Lower risk, predictable outcomes
- • Smaller gains, slower growth
- • Higher success rate (70-90%)
- • Best for preserving runway
- • High risk, big potential rewards
- • Can 3-5x your metrics quickly
- • Lower success rate (30-60%)
- • Failure can be devastating
3️⃣ See the Results
Based on your founder type and the choice's inherent probability, you'll either succeed or fail. Success/failure affects your metrics differently:
Risky product launch succeeds → +2000 customers, +$5000 revenue, -$2000 cash (development costs), +5 brand
Risky product launch fails → -500 customers (bugs drive users away), -$3000 cash (wasted), -3 brand (reputation hit)
4️⃣ Adapt Your Strategy
Every 5-10 turns, reassess: Are you growing too fast (high burn)? Too slow (competitors gaining)? The game adapts scenarios based on your current state—if you're low on cash, you'll see more funding opportunities.
📊 Key Metrics Explained
Six critical numbers that determine your startup's survival and success
💰 Cash (Runway)
What it is: Your available capital. Starts at $10,000.
Why it matters: Hit $0 = instant bankruptcy. Track your "months of runway" by dividing cash by burn rate.
How to increase: Raise funding, increase revenue, cut burn rate, or achieve profitability.
👥 Customers
What it is: Total active users/customers. Starts at 0.
Why it matters: Customers drive revenue. More customers = more MRR. Losing customers tanks your valuation.
How to increase: Product launches, marketing campaigns, viral growth, partnerships.
📈 Revenue (MRR)
What it is: Monthly Recurring Revenue. Starts at $0.
Why it matters: Revenue > burn rate = profitability (infinite runway!). Key driver of valuation at exit.
How to increase: Gain customers, increase pricing, upsell, add revenue channels (direct, organic, paid, partnerships).
✨ Brand
What it is: Your reputation, marketing power, and customer trust. Starts at 5/100.
Why it matters: High brand = marketing campaigns succeed more often. Low brand = harder to acquire customers.
How to increase: Successful marketing, PR campaigns, product launches, community building.
🔥 Burn Rate
What it is: Monthly expenses (salaries, infrastructure, marketing spend). Starts at ~$2,000.
Why it matters: Subtracts from cash every turn. High burn + low revenue = death spiral.
How to manage: Hire carefully, negotiate office leases, optimize infrastructure. Layoffs reduce burn but hurt morale.
👨💼 Team Size
What it is: Number of employees. Starts at 2 (you + co-founder).
Why it matters: More team = more capabilities, but increases burn rate. Each hire adds ~$800-1500/month burn.
How to grow: Hire strategically—engineers for product, marketers for growth, sales for enterprise.
🎭 Choose Your Founder Type
Each founder type plays differently—choose based on your strategy
🎲 Risk-Taker
Playstyle: High variance, swing for the fences
- • Risky choices have +10% higher success rate
- • When you succeed, gains are 20% larger
- • When you fail, losses are 20% worse
- • Best for: Aggressive growth, going for unicorn status
- • Risk: High chance of bankruptcy if luck doesn't go your way
🛡️ Conservative
Playstyle: Steady growth, minimize risk
- • Safe choices have +15% higher success rate
- • Failures are 30% less punishing
- • Slower growth, but more sustainable
- • Best for: Bootstrapped growth, profitability-focused
- • Risk: May get outcompeted by faster-moving rivals
💼 Hustler
Playstyle: Sales and growth focused
- • Marketing/sales scenarios have +20% better outcomes
- • Customer acquisition costs are 15% lower
- • Brand grows 25% faster
- • Best for: Consumer apps, viral growth, B2C
- • Risk: Product quality may suffer if you focus only on growth
🚀 Visionary
Playstyle: Product and innovation driven
- • Product scenarios have +20% better outcomes
- • Successful product launches bring 30% more customers
- • Easier to attract top engineering talent
- • Best for: Deep tech, SaaS platforms, B2B
- • Risk: May over-engineer and waste time on features nobody wants
💡 Pro Tips & Strategy
Lessons from hundreds of playthroughs—avoid common pitfalls
Early Game (Turns 1-15)
- ▸Focus on product-market fit: Get to 1,000+ customers before scaling marketing
- ▸Keep burn rate low: Don't hire aggressively yet—you can't afford a big team
- ▸Take calculated risks: Early failures are cheaper—experiment while stakes are low
- ▸Don't raise VC too early: Raising at low valuation = heavy dilution. Bootstrap if possible
Mid Game (Turns 16-30)
- ▸Scale smart: Grow team in proportion to revenue—don't overhire
- ▸Diversify revenue channels: Don't rely on just one channel (e.g., paid ads only)
- ▸Watch competitors: Competition scenarios can make or break you—respond strategically
- ▸Build brand: Invest in marketing to make future campaigns more effective
Late Game (Turns 31+)
- ▸Prepare for exit: Exit scenarios appear after Turn 30—make sure metrics are strong
- ▸Don't exit too early: Wait for the right valuation—timing is everything
- ▸Profitability matters: Revenue > burn rate increases your exit multiple
- ▸Crisis management: Late-game crises can destroy your valuation—handle carefully
🚨 Common Mistakes (Avoid These!)
- ❌ Hiring too fast → burn rate explodes, run out of cash
- ❌ Ignoring burn rate → "We'll figure it out later" = bankruptcy
- ❌ All risky choices → one bad streak = game over
- ❌ All safe choices → competitors outpace you, acquisition offers are low
- ❌ Raising too much VC → heavy dilution, pressure to exit early
- ❌ Neglecting customers → churn kills your MRR
🎮 Game Modes
Multiple ways to play and compete
📖 Story Mode
The classic experience. Build your startup from scratch with randomly selected scenarios. Your choices determine the story. Save and resume anytime.
⚔️ Challenge a Friend
Create a challenge link with your name. You and your friend face the EXACT same scenarios. Whoever exits with higher valuation wins. Perfect for competitive players.
📅 Daily Challenge
Everyone worldwide plays the same scenario today. Compete on a global leaderboard. Resets every 24 hours. One attempt per day—make it count!
🏆 Achievements
Unlock special badges: "Unicorn" (exit at $1B+), "Bootstrapper" (never raise VC), "Survivor" (turn 50+), and many more hidden achievements.
Ready to Build?
Now that you understand the mechanics, it's time to put your skills to the test. Will you build the next unicorn or join the 90% of startups that fail?
Start Building→