A simulator for engineers transitioning from IC to management
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Hi HN,I’m a former C++ dev turned Product Manager.I’ve noticed many engineers struggle with the "politics" side of things when they become Leads. To help with this, I’m building a text-based simulator.It is NOT an AI chatbot. It is a hand-crafted, branching narrative (logic tree) based on real experiences.I just launched the first scenario: "The Backchannel VP."The Setup: Your VP Engineering is bypassing you and giving tasks directly to your juniors, causing chaos.Your Goal: Stop the backchanneling without getting fired.It’s a short, specific puzzle. I’d love to know if you think the "Correct" path I designed matches your real-world experience, or if I’m off base.Link: https://apmcommunication.com/scenario/backchannel-vp
HN · launched Jan 5, 2026 · 74 upvotes (top 14%) · 0 views
Niche: management and simulation games · 82 launches, 5 in the last 7 days ▼ -58% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- HR & recruiting
- Vertical SaaS
- B2C
- Not AI
- Commercial product
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 82 launches in management and simulation games →
Could you build this?
Yes A text-based branching narrative simulation is a finite-state machine with a decision tree, which is essentially interactive storytelling UI easily built with an AI assistant.
Discussion
20 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: polar.sh (checkout solution), Executive Suite DOS game (management simulation)
Concerns raised: People expect high-production content for $15/month, not text, Free or cheaper alternatives available for similar offerings, Only applicable to startups, not large corporations with multiple management layers, VP would not directly request work from individual contributors in corporate structures, AI responses may not capture nuance of real workplace relationships and trust
Feature requests: Simulators for other negotiation scenarios: hiring, salary, promotions, Scenarios beyond startup/flat structures
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 130 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #24 of 131 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 64 days after the earliest competitor.
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- An AI podcast on real engineering tradeoffs · hn · 2026-07-21 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.39
- Equirect · hn · 2026-04-13 · 14 upvotes · similarity 0.38
- Proto.Engineer · ph · 2026-11-01 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.38
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