Founding Pro: who it is for, and why we capped it

Founding Pro: who it is for, and why we capped it

The Founding Pro programme is a limited cohort for the first wave of providers on WorkMate. If you join before the cohort closes and complete Stripe Connect onboarding, you become a Founding Pro permanently — even after the programme ends and even if you later cancel a subscription.

What you get, in code-verified terms

There are exactly two benefits I will list here, because they are the only two backed by working code. Anything else I might claim would be marketing.

The first is the permanent Founding Pro badge on your public profile. It stays. If WorkMate is a household name in five years, your profile will still show that you were here in the first months.

The second is your referral milestone reward chain. Each Founding Pro gets a unique referral code. Five qualified referrals — each must complete Stripe onboarding — unlock a free month of the Pro subscription. Ten qualified referrals unlock a free month of Premium plus the Circle Ambassador tier, which is a separate badge that sits alongside Founding Pro on your profile. Higher Circle tiers (Silver, Gold) exist for providers who keep referring beyond ten.

One honest note on timing: while WorkMate is free at launch, the paid Pro and Premium tiers are not charging yet. So those subscription rewards are held in reserve for when paid tiers go live — but the Founding Pro badge and your Circle tier are yours regardless, and they do not expire.

That is the full offering. No promised feature requests. No promised search prominence. If you see those in older screenshots, that is because the page was rewritten after I realised it was claiming things that did not ship. The Consumer Protection Act is unambiguous about that kind of drift.

Why we capped the slots

The cap exists for one reason: the Founding Pro badge is meaningful precisely because it is not universal. If everyone who ever signs up becomes a Founding Pro, the badge stops signalling anything. So we close the cohort once the cap is reached. The remaining slot count is visible on the Founding Pro page and updates as people claim.

Who it is for

Founding Pro suits providers who are willing to be among the first names customers see on the platform — and to send feedback when something is broken. The trade-off is straightforward: you take the slight chaos of being in early, and we give you visibility that does not decay.

If you want a polished, fully-formed marketplace with millions of monthly users and twenty years of reviews, that is not us yet. If you want to be part of building one, that is the offer.