Framework

Outline

The 10-module syllabus across four phases. Phase goals, per-module outcomes, study-time totals, sequence rationale.

HiON Executive Curriculum — Outline

Document version: v0.1 — 2026-05-20 Source structure: hion-context.md (master context brief), site-v3/COPY.md (compliance-redlined public copy), brand-guidelines/index.html (voice playbook), HiON-Investment Deck 4.6.26 (CONFIDENTIAL).pdf (internal-only economics).

Ten modules in four phases. ~12–15 hours of total self-study. A new executive hire who completes the program can hold a credible conversation about HiON with a franchisee, a Site Host, a regulator, a journalist, or an LP — and knows which canonical source to open when the next question lands.

The three-tier structure inside every module

Every module ships against the same shape:

Tier 1 — The 60-second brief. What you must be able to say without notes.
Tier 2 — Source map. Where to find more — doc, dashboard, owner, contact.
Tier 3 — Deep dive. The full mechanics, the numbers, the decision frameworks.

A reader can stop at Tier 1 and still hold the basic line. A reader who needs to act — write a doc, brief an LP, answer a regulator — goes to Tier 3.

Full template in 02_Module-Template.md.

The four phases

Phase A · The Business (what HiON is)

Three modules covering what HiON sells, the market it sells into, and the Tesla relationship that makes the whole thing work. After Phase A, the executive can deliver the 60-second HiON story, explain why the buildout is urgent, and articulate HiON’s position in Tesla’s Canvas Program without overstating it.

Phase B · The Model (how it makes money)

Three modules covering the franchise product, the host product, and the unit economics that drive both. After Phase B, the executive can walk a $550K unit economic model, defend the development-agreement structure, explain the zero-capital host model, and read the internal-only EBITDA / payback / ROI numbers without confusing them with the public-safe set.

Phase C · How sites get built and run (operations)

Two modules covering the site lifecycle from sourcing to live, and the operating split between Tesla, HiON, and the franchisee — including a top-down summary of what the Franchisee Training Program covers. After Phase C, the executive can describe a 9–14-month site build with the utility-interconnection long pole, explain what Tesla operates vs what HiON operates, and reference the 15-module franchisee curriculum at the right level of detail for any audience.

Phase D · The rails (legal, brand, capital, team)

Two modules covering the legal/compliance frame and the team/capital structure. After Phase D, the executive can navigate FDD basics, recite the Akerman-redlined “don’t say / say instead” rules from memory, brief the brand voice, and place every named principal and advisor on the org chart with their actual scope of authority.

The ten modules

Phase A · The Business

M01 · What HiON is The 60-second story. HFG Holdings, LLC dba HiON Franchise Group. Two products — a franchise for operators (~$550K per site, 10-location development agreement) and a host program for property owners (HiON brings capital and operations, host brings the land). One menu item: electricity. One platform: Tesla’s Supercharger network. One thesis: ~70,000 DC fast-charging ports today, ~182,000 needed by 2030, HiON targets 4,000 (~3.6%). Why operator-light infrastructure is the structural argument and why the first-mover window is measured in months. Outcome: Executive can deliver the 60-second HiON account to any counterparty — investor, journalist, regulator, prospective franchisee — without notes and without violating Section 7 of the master brief. Study time: ~60 minutes.

M02 · The market The numbers behind the thesis. US DC fast-charging ports today (~70K). NREL 2030 estimate (~182K). The 112K-port buildout gap. US gas pumps for scale (~1.5M). Tesla’s 52% market share and 99.9% uptime. Network comparison table (Electrify America, ChargePoint, EVgo — share and uptime). EV adoption curve (11–27% of new car sales today, ~50% within a decade, 40M+ EVs on US roads by 2030). The 1905 gas station historical anchor. The capacity moat — utility-grid reservations and prime sites as the durable barrier to late movers. Outcome: Executive can defend the market thesis with numbers in any direction the conversation goes, and knows which numbers are public-safe vs internal-only. Study time: ~60 minutes.

M03 · The Tesla relationship The Canvas Program — approximately four third-party operators in the US, of whom HiON is one, brought in at the earliest stage by Jim. What “Canvas” actually means in scope and authority. NACS as the standard now adopted by most US automakers. The Magic Dock CCS1 adapter for older-standard vehicles. V4 Supercharger hardware (up to 500kW). The pre-construction “Coming Soon” visibility in Tesla’s in-vehicle navigation — and the precise compliance-redlined phrasing for it (not “first-in-line”). What Tesla operates (station software, billing, remote monitoring, driver experience through the Tesla app) vs what HiON operates (franchisor, operations partner, on-call maintenance, brand). The exec-level account of why this division of labor is what makes the business operator-light. Outcome: Executive can describe the Tesla relationship to an LP, a regulator, or a journalist without overstating exclusivity and without violating the Akerman-redlined phrasings. Study time: ~75 minutes.

Phase B · The Model

M04 · The Franchise product The $550K unit-investment breakdown ($400K site dev / equipment / construction, $100K permits / taxes / operating costs, $50K franchise fee). The development agreement: 10 locations over 3 years, year-one target of 5 sites selected and under development. Royalty stack: $0.05/kWh royalty, $0.01/kWh technology contribution, marketing fund not required initially. Term: 10 years with two 5-year renewals. Staffing standard: 0–1 on-site employees. What HiON & Tesla provide that justifies the royalty (site sourcing, utility engagement, design to Tesla standards, construction coordination, 24/7 remote monitoring, software dashboard, automated billing, on-call maintenance, traffic analytics, real-time comparable site performance). The Ideal Franchisee Profile — sophisticated multi-unit operators (Steve Wazny: 150+ locations across 6 brands). Outcome: Executive can walk the unit-investment model, defend each line item, and explain the DA structure to a sophisticated multi-unit operator without re-explaining what a DA is. Study time: ~90 minutes.

M05 · The Host product The zero-capital host structure: host provides land, signs a long-term site agreement, contributes $0 capital. What HiON brings (design, utility engagement, full build financing, V4 equipment, 24/7 operations, billing). Typical timeline 9–14 months signed-to-live with utility interconnection as the long pole. Ideal site profile: highway/arterial visibility, 4–12 stalls, co-tenants nearby, 3-phase commercial power. The ancillary-revenue policy: businesses on the site (QSR, coffee, convenience, car wash, retail, hospitality) are independent of the HiON franchise; HiON does not collect royalties on ancillary revenue. The Akerman-redlined ancillary phrasing (must not say “100% of profit”). The cap-rate effect (host page only): $120K/yr rent at 6.5% cap → $1.85M asset value + 4-port Supercharger → ~$4.2M. Why this example was removed from the Franchise page but survives on the Host page. Outcome: Executive can pitch a property owner on the host program inside the compliance rails, knows the ancillary revenue policy by heart, and can explain why the cap-rate effect appears on one page and not the other. Study time: ~75 minutes.

M06 · Unit economics and portfolio math Note: this module contains internal-only numbers. None of it goes public without legal review. Year-3 EBITDA target per site (~~$171K). Year-4 EBITDA target per site (~~$200K). Targeted EBITDA margin (40%+). Targeted payback (~~3.5 years unleveraged; under 1 year with 20% leverage at 95–121% ROI). 10-location portfolio annual EBITDA target (~~$2M+). Why the FDD Item 19 phrasing matters — what HiON can show in writing vs in conversation. The compliance translation: how “40%+ EBITDA margins” becomes (omitted from public copy); how “3.5-year payback” becomes (omitted from public copy); how to brief these numbers to an LP and never to a journalist. The portfolio math (multiplying single-site economics by a DA’s 10 sites; modeling the year-one ramp at 5 sites). Outcome: Executive can walk the internal-only unit and portfolio economics with a capital partner, and knows which figures cross the compliance line if they appear in any public material. Study time: ~90 minutes.

Phase C · How sites get built and run

M07 · Site lifecycle The 9–14-month signed-to-live timeline broken into its actual phases: site sourcing (HiON’s role + the franchisee’s pipeline discipline), utility engagement (the long pole — transformer backlogs of 9–18 months in many markets), design to Tesla standards, permits (building / electrical / grading / signage / right-of-way / conditional-use), construction with the franchisee as general contractor of record, commissioning (the inspection sequence and the False Call-Out risk), the 5-day ribbon-cutting window, go-live. Where each handoff happens between HiON, the franchisee, the Site Host, the utility, the AHJ, and Tesla. The capacity-moat consequence: every utility-grid reservation HiON locks in is one fewer reservation available to a late mover. Outcome: Executive can describe the build timeline phase-by-phase, identify the utility-interconnection long pole as the controlling constraint, and explain why the franchisee — not HiON — is the general contractor of record. Study time: ~75 minutes.

M08 · Operating split and the Franchisee Training Program The three-party split once a site is live. Tesla: station software, the driver app (find / approach / arrive / connect / charge / finish), payments, remote monitoring, the equipment itself. HiON: franchisor, the brand, on-call maintenance, network operations support, the NOC hotline, the Partner Portal as system of record. Franchisee (Owner + DBM): day-to-day site presence, site-area maintenance (outside the cabinet — snow, trash, bollards, lighting, striping), fault escalation through the right channel, the Sinking Fund, customer-interaction logging, vendor management. Uptime targets — the public-safe “designed to support high uptime” and the internal-only 98%+. A top-down summary of the 15-module Franchisee Training Program (M01 Role Split through M15 Lifecycle Events) so the executive can reference it at the right level of abstraction without re-learning it. Outcome: Executive can answer “who does what once a site is live” without confusion, can place any operational concern in the right party’s lane, and can speak to the franchisee curriculum at a level that satisfies a sophisticated franchisee candidate. Study time: ~90 minutes.

Phase D · The rails

M09 · Legal, compliance, and brand The FDD as the legal product of the business: what it is, who delivers it, when it can be delivered (15 regulated states require registration / exemption / qualification before any offer or sale). The franchise-disclosure block and regulated-states notice verbatim. Kevin Hein at Akerman LLP as outside general counsel and the redline as the floor for all public communications. The Akerman “don’t say / say instead” table from hion-context.md Section 7 — committed to working memory. Why “semi-passive autonomous business” becomes “operator-light infrastructure business” and what’s at stake if the wrong phrasing slips into a deck, a tweet, a press release, or a sales call. The incentives hedging rule — federal, state, utility, and local incentives (bonus depreciation, NEVI, state grants, utility rebates, landlord TIA, LCFS credits) are administered by third parties; HiON does not guarantee qualification or amount. The brand identity rails — orange as the only chromatic hue, three orange tones, everything else grayscale, Geist + Geist Mono, sentence case, em-dashes structural. Voice rules: two facts no adjectives; assume the reader is a sophisticated operator or investor who already knows franchise vocabulary. Outcome: Executive can write a public-facing line, vet a piece of marketing copy, brief a journalist, or read a draft press release through the compliance rails without consulting the redline for every sentence. Study time: ~120 minutes.

M10 · Team, capital, and investor relations The named principals and advisors — Jim Frank (Co-Founder & CEO), Bill O’Connor (Co-Founder & CFO), Joe Lewis (COO), Steve Wazny (Founding Franchisee), Kevin Hein (Outside General Counsel, Akerman LLP) — with the credential summary that goes in any investor or partnership pitch. Joe Lewis’s franchise-scaling pedigree (Smoothie King 39 → 1,400+; prior CEO roles at Mrs. Fields, TCBY, Smalls Sliders, Painting with a Twist, Color Me Mine). What each principal owns at the company today. The capital stack at the franchise level (franchisee equity + franchise fee + royalty + tech + sinking fund) vs at the corporate level (HFG Holdings capital structure — to be filled with primary sources). The investor narrative arc — 1905 gas station analogy → NREL 112K-port gap → Tesla 52% / 99.9% → HiON’s Canvas Program position (~4 in the US) → team pedigree → operator-light unit economics. Public vs investor framing: in public, no EBITDA / payback / ROI claims; in an investor 1:1 or confidential deck, the full internal set is on the table. Outcome: Executive can place every named principal and advisor in the org with the correct scope of authority, walk the investor narrative arc in order, and switch fluently between public-safe and confidential-deck framing. Study time: ~90 minutes.

Study time math

Phase	Modules	Study time
A · The Business	M01–M03	~3.25 hours
B · The Model	M04–M06	~4.25 hours
C · How sites get built and run	M07–M08	~2.75 hours
D · The rails	M09–M10	~3.50 hours
Total	10	~13.75 hours

A new exec hire who completes one module per workday finishes in two weeks. A principal refreshing on a single topic spends 60–120 minutes per module.

Sequence rationale

Phase A first because every later module assumes the reader can name what HiON sells, why the market needs it, and how the Tesla relationship works. Phase B before C because the unit economics constrain how sites get built (M04’s $550K budget is the operating constraint M07’s site lifecycle has to honor). Phase C before D because the legal and brand rails make more sense once the reader understands what the business actually does day-to-day. M09 (legal, compliance, brand) before M10 (team, capital, IR) because the compliance rails govern how the team and capital story can be told publicly.

What this outline does NOT decide

Surfaced for resolution before M01 is drafted:

Scope confirmation. Ten modules in four phases — right, or should capital be its own module (M10 currently bundles team + capital + IR), or should governance be its own module?
Internal-only number policy. Confirm internal-only figures (Year-3 / Year-4 EBITDA, payback, ROI, 10-loc portfolio EBITDA) land in M06 with the standard compliance caveat.
Source-verification depth. Aggressive [CONFIRM] tagging (recommended) or pragmatic.
Web delivery target. Extend existing Astro app at ~/HiON Training Module/web/ (recommended) or sibling deployment.

None of these block this outline’s review. Items 1–3 must be answered before M01 ships.