You do not know what you are worth
Without a number you can defend, the conversation becomes a request. A request can be refused politely, and that is usually the end of it.
For the person asking — and the manager across the table
Know your leverage before you say a word.
Most people lose the raise in the first thirty seconds: they ask for a number they cannot defend, or they wait for a moment that never comes. FirstRoundKO reads the situation with you, finds what you are actually holding, prepares the sentence you will say, and then plays the other side so you have already heard the answer.
About three answered rounds, free, no card. Asking costs nothing — only a finished answer does.
The three things that go wrong
Almost every failed negotiation fails in one of these three places, and none of them is about being brave.
You do not know what to say
"I would like a raise" is not a sentence that survives contact with a budget. What survives is a specific claim, with evidence, and a fallback you are genuinely willing to take.
You do not know how they will react
The answer is rarely a flat no. It is "not this cycle", or a counter-offer you did not expect — and if you have never heard it before, you will agree to something worse than you planned.
What FirstRoundKO actually does
It is not an article about negotiation. It is a conversation that ends with a line you can say and a plan for the reply.
Reads the situation with you
Ask it anything, in your own words. It asks back for the things that decide the outcome — what you have delivered, what your market pays, whether you have a real alternative — instead of assuming them.
Finds your leverage
Your alternative, your evidence, your timing, and what the other side needs from you. Leverage is not attitude: it is the list of things that are true whether or not you feel confident.
Prepares the actual words
Not principles — sentences. An opener, the ask, and the two or three replies you are most likely to get, written so you can say them out loud without rehearsing in the mirror for a week.
Plays the other side
It reads how your manager actually talks — from what you tell it about the real conversations — and then answers you the way they would. You find out what you will say before it costs you anything.
How it works
Three steps, and the first one is a sentence.
Say what is happening
One sentence is enough to start: "My review is next month and I have been doing two people's work since April." You do not need to have thought it through first — that is the point.
Answer what it asks back
It will ask for the two or three facts that change the advice. Being asked is how you find out which facts matter.
Leave with something you can use
A line to open with, a number you can defend, and a plan for the answer you are most afraid of.
Plans
Every plan is charged per answer, and only when an answer is finished. Asking questions is free.
Basic
30 answers a month — enough for one negotiation, prepared properly: the situation, the leverage, the words, and a rehearsal.
Pro
100 answers a month — for a search that runs over weeks: several conversations, a counter-offer, and the follow-up after a no.
Max
300 answers a month — for a team, a long negotiation, or somebody who wants the other side modelled in detail before every meeting.
Prices are shown in your own currency on the next page, with a 30% discount if you pay for a year.
Questions people ask first
Do I need to prepare anything before I start?
No. Start with the sentence you would say to a friend. It will find the missing pieces by asking, and it will tell you which of your answers changed its advice.
Is this generic advice from an article?
No. It asks about your specific situation and answers that. When it generalises it says so, and when it needs a fact it does not have — your market rate, for instance — it tells you to go and find it rather than inventing a number.
I do not have another offer. Is there any point?
Yes, and it will say so honestly. Having no alternative changes the strategy rather than ending it — it usually means building one first, or negotiating something other than base pay. What it will not do is pretend you have leverage you do not have.
What happens when my free answers run out?
Asking stays free. When the allowance is used up the next answer pauses and you are offered a plan — the answers you already have are yours to keep, and nothing is charged for a question that was not answered.