The next morning Ethan stood before the assembled founders inside the warehouse His voice calm his posture steady he looked like a person who had done this a thousand times before because he had In another world in another life he had prepared countless early stage teams for the tension between vision and execution Here the principles remained the same only the raw materials were different Instead of machinery they had spells Instead of servers they had crystals Instead of engineers they had mages alchemists and beast tamers Each one held power but lacked structure and Ethan was determined to give them that missing frame

He drew a large triangle on the wall Value Creation Value Delivery Value Capture He explained that every business no matter how magical or ancient still followed this path The founders stared as if watching someone weave an invisible spell Ethan pointed at Toren and asked him to describe what value a fireball offered besides destruction Toren hesitated then said controlled heat Ethan said correct now what problems in the world relied on controlled heat Toren listed only two Ethan listed ten The difference widened Toren’s eyes

Next Ethan turned to Lira and asked her what the smallest unit of her summoning magic was She demonstrated a weak creature that flickered in and out of existence Ethan said that flickering was a form of natural throttling She could turn her ability into a predictable timed service if she trained it properly Lira had never thought of timing spells as a product but she took notes quickly her eyes bright with possibility

Mira the healer stepped forward Ethan explained that her stabilizing magic could be turned into a subscription service He described health networks and predictable mana treatments Mira almost dropped her staff at the idea of people paying regularly for preventative maintenance instead of waiting for emergencies She asked whether people would accept such a system Ethan said people accept systems when those systems remove pain Mira understood immediately

The crowd grew more confident so Ethan challenged them He asked Velra the alchemist whether potion effects could be standardized She admitted inconsistencies happened due to ambient mana Ethan suggested testing her potions inside a controlled mana field calibrated by the crystal tuner The founders looked at each other as the idea clicked across the room This was the synergy he wanted to create cross discipline collaboration that unlocked new directions

He walked from founder to founder giving each a set of goals for the week For Corren and his stone lizard he set a loop test route that traveled along the river docks For the rune engraver he mapped out a plan for creating temporary seal tags that could store brief energy pulses For the necromancer he suggested something unusual Instead of raising skeletal chickens he should test whether animated skeletal creatures could transport tiny items if kept stable by Mira’s mana pulse The necromancer agreed nervously yet excitedly

By midday Ethan brought everyone into a circle He told them that founders often collapsed not because their ideas were weak but because they feared embarrassment or failure He taught them the phrase Ship early fix fast learn always The founders repeated it though some pronounced the words awkwardly Ethan smiled because he knew the meaning would sink in with time

He then explained something deeper something core to every accelerator he had ever built A startup did not succeed because of magic talent or the brilliance of the founder It succeeded because of relentless iteration The ability to refine shape and push the idea until it fit the world like a well carved key The founders listened quietly absorbing every word as if the speech was sacred text

As evening approached Ethan walked outside onto the riverbank letting the breeze settle his thoughts He considered timelines risks and the presence of the Mage Guild watching from afar He expected resistance He expected regulations He expected fear from those who believed magic should remain personal and isolated But he also expected something else Once the first magical startup succeeded once the world saw the value of structured innovation the old systems would break open and opportunity would flood the realm

Behind him inside the warehouse the founders practiced well past sundown Their spells lit the dark interior with flickers of heat blue runes and shimmering green summoning trails They did not know it yet but they were already writing the early chapters of a new economy Ethan felt a rare sense of clarity He whispered ArcSpark is becoming a force

Tomorrow would be the first test day
And tests always revealed the future