The infrastructure layer that powers an empire.
| Line Item | Type | Annual Est. |
|---|---|---|
| President / Head of Operations (Bruce) | Exec Compensation | $150–200K |
| Co-Lead / Head of Strategy (Lorenzo) | Exec Compensation | $120–160K |
| Chief Technology Officer | Priority Hire + Equity | $140–180K |
| Lead Full-Stack Engineer | Full-Time + Equity | $120–150K |
| Backend / DevOps Engineer | Full-Time or Contract | $90–120K |
| Product Manager | Full-Time + Equity | $90–110K |
| Product Designer (UI/UX) | Contract → FT | $70–100K |
| Legal Counsel (Retained) | IP, Contracts, Entity | $24–60K |
| AWS / Cloud Infrastructure (Hybrid) | Monthly SaaS | $18–36K |
| Hardware (Hybrid On-Prem Layer) | One-Time CapEx | $25–50K |
| Dev Tools, Licenses & SaaS Stack | Monthly | $6–12K |
| Entity Setup, IP, Trademarks | One-Time Legal | $10–20K |
| Brand, Website, Go-to-Market | One-Time + Ongoing | $15–30K |
| Contingency / Operating Reserve | Buffer (15%) | $50–80K |
| Year 1 Total Investment (Hybrid Recommendation) | $928K – $1.31M | |
You can’t be everything to everybody — and you shouldn’t try. The greatest tech companies in history became great because they owned one specific space so completely that everyone else played by their rules. The question Rod needs to answer, and the question we need to align on before we spend the first dollar, is: what does Mainstay Tech own?
Based on everything we’ve built, everything we know about the music industry’s technology gaps, and where Rod Wave’s brand has genuine authority — here is our thinking on three viable niche directions. Each one is a Harvard Business School case study waiting to be written.
“The answer isn’t to pick one lane on day one. The answer is to start with the lane we have the most proof in — and let the market tell us where to go next. Right now, that lane is Tour Tech. Touring OS, powered by Mainstay’s credibility and Rod Wave’s reach, is the fastest path to being taken seriously by the industry. Everything else grows from there.”
“Some legacies are too important to let fade. The Derek Project is about preserving one — in the most enduring form technology allows.”
Initiated and championed by Lorenzo Biddnes, The Derek Project is one of the most meaningful initiatives inside the Mainstay family. The mission is straightforward: build an AI persona — a living, intelligent model — that carries forward the wisdom, voice, management philosophy, and institutional knowledge of Derek, the founding architect of Mainstay Inc.
Take a powerful open-source model — LLaMA 3, Mistral, or Falcon — and fine-tune it on curated Derek-specific data: communications, decisions, philosophies, interview recordings, and institutional knowledge contributed by those who knew him best.
Build a proprietary Mainstay model architecture — trained from the ground up or as a deeply customized fork — that Mainstay Inc. owns outright. Derek becomes the first persona deployed on a model that can power future AI products across all four subsidiaries. This is the play if Mainstay Tech is serious about being an AI company.
Use Retrieval-Augmented Generation to build Derek as a persona on top of an existing model. A rich knowledge base of Derek’s communications, voice, philosophy, and decisions is stored and retrieved dynamically — the model responds as Derek without requiring full fine-tuning. Fastest to deploy, easiest to iterate on.
Alfred’s multi-agent architecture and persistent Grey Matter memory layer serve as the ideal scaffolding for Derek’s development. Alfred can autonomously research, compile, organize, and structure the training data pipeline — gathering communications, synthesizing decision patterns, and continuously refining Derek’s knowledge base without requiring constant human oversight. The two systems are designed to work together: Alfred as the builder, Derek as the persona that emerges. Mainstay Tech already has the infrastructure. The Derek Project puts it to its highest use.
“Start with Path C — deploy Derek as a RAG-powered persona within weeks using Alfred’s existing infrastructure. Run Path A in parallel, fine-tuning an open-source model on curated data. The long-term destination is Path B: a proprietary Mainstay model that Derek lives on — and that powers every AI product this company builds going forward. Lorenzo’s vision deserves the full build.”
If Mainstay Tech is incorporated as its own entity — which it should be — Mike Johnson and Lorenzo Biddnes need founding equity stakes. This is non-negotiable for anyone being asked to build a company from the ground floor. The percentage is the conversation, but the principle is not.
As Mainstay Tech begins generating commercial revenue — licensing Touring OS, selling Alfred as a service, deploying LoovaCast — a defined percentage of net profit should flow back to the leadership team that built it. This is separate from salary and separate from equity.
If Mainstay Tech is ever acquired, merges, or goes through a capital raise — equity holders participate in that outcome. This is the moment where building from zero pays off at scale. A company with real products, real revenue, and Rod Wave’s brand behind it is an acquisition target. That needs to be planned for now, not after.
Several Ground Rush products are candidates for transfer or licensing into Mainstay Tech — Alfred, LoovaCast, GR Gateway, and the Cloud infrastructure. The terms of that transfer need to be defined. Does Mike contribute these assets as equity-in-kind? Does Mainstay Tech license them? Does Ground Rush retain ownership?
Mike Johnson’s role at Mainstay Tech needs to be formalized with a clear title, defined scope of authority, and decision-making rights. The ability to hire, spend, and operate independently — within agreed parameters — is what separates an executive from an employee.
Beyond base salary, performance bonuses tied to company milestones create alignment between Mike’s output and Mainstay Tech’s growth. Suggested triggers: first commercial product launch, first $1M in external revenue, first enterprise licensing deal, and the Derek Project going live.
Mike Johnson maintains Ground Rush Inc. as a separate entity. The terms of how much time, resource, and intellectual contribution goes to Mainstay Tech versus Ground Rush need to be clearly scoped. This protects both parties and ensures there’s no ambiguity about where Mike’s primary obligations sit.