The product is specified. The mechanism has an owner.

A child says they want a story about a dragon who is frightened of the postman. Talebrix asks them who it is about, where it happens, what goes wrong and how it ends — out loud, with touchscreen choices, no spelling — then writes it, draws it, prints it and binds it into a real picture book with their name on the cover as the author. The target is a few minutes. It happens in the room they are sitting in, while they are still arguing about whether the dragon is friendly.

There is an engineering specification behind that now, revised as the design has moved: the chassis, the power, the panel the grown-up looks at, and the book itself — one continuous strip of card, printed and folded, rather than loose sheets gathered and stitched. The industrial design is drawn, inside and out, and the manufacturing partner is chosen.

None of it has been made for anybody yet, and every figure here is design intent. The mechanism that folds and binds the book has not been built, certification has not started, and this site is a demand test whose whole job is to find out how many parents ask for one. It is meant to cost £149 with 4 books in the box, and a Story Pack of 4 is meant to cost £15.

So both roles arrive early enough to change what the product is, and early enough that it might not get made. That is the accurate description of them and it is most of what is on offer: the decisions that set what this becomes have not been taken, and whoever takes them will be one of a handful of people rather than one of four hundred.

We are seeking a Growth Lead and a Children’s Book Author & Story Lead. Salary, equity and the basis of appointment for both are still open, and will be agreed with whoever takes each one.

Vesting, IP assignment and start dates must be agreed individually. Paid work depends on the raise; no fixed salary date is promised.

What that depends on is money that is not in the bank today. The likeliest route to it is that this site does its job and the bench rig does its — enough parents ask for one, and there is a machine that folds and binds a book to put in front of the people who would fund the making of it. That is a plan rather than a promise, and anybody who tells you otherwise at this stage is selling something.

Write to hello@talebrix.com. Say which of the two, and send one thing you have made that you would defend — a launch, a channel you grew, a book, a story you wrote. A CV is welcome and a portfolio is welcome; neither is worth as much as the one thing.

One of us reads everything that arrives, and answers it. The first conversation is about the work rather than about you: what you would change about the specification, or about the books on this site, and why you would change it.

Ask hard questions about the money — the ones you would want answered before agreeing to work without any, and the ones a shareholders’ agreement has to settle before either of us signs anything. Nobody sensible takes terms like these on trust.

There is no form on this page on purpose. The only thing this site collects is an email address, and a page arguing for that is not the place to start asking for more.