Excellence BusinessAT THE SUMMIT, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO
EXCELLENCE BUSINESS
Build Your Business from Zero
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From an uncertain idea to a business people understand, buy and recommend.
9h 29m10 constellations
01Validate a real opportunity
02Create and price an offer
03Build a brand and sales system
04Launch with financial clarity
Every lesson of Build Your Business from Zero
50 lessons in 10 levels, about 9 hours. Level 1 is free.
Level 1Find Your Founder EdgeFree · 5 lessons
- Why most businesses die, and what it means for yoursTell the symptom that kills a business from the cause behind it, and name the risk that matters most in your idea.9 min
- Start with what you already haveInventory who you are, what you know and whom you know, and turn it into directions you can test this month.10 min
- Decide what you can afford to loseSet a clear budget of money and time for testing, so every experiment is survivable.9 min
- Notice what is missingGenerate ideas by noticing real friction, including the boring kind others avoid.9 min
- Checkpoint: your founder edgeCombine means, affordable loss and noticed friction into one direction you commit to test.11 min
Level 2Choose a Problem Worth SolvingMembership · 5 lessons
- The four signs of a problem worth solvingScore any problem on the four signals that predict people will pay: pain, frequency, existing spending and urgency.9 min
- Conversations that can't lie to youRun a customer conversation that produces facts instead of compliments, using the three rules of The Mom Test.12 min
- Compliments are not evidenceTell compliments and fluff from real signals, and ask for commitments that cost time, reputation or money.10 min
- Test the assumption that could kill youMap your assumptions by importance and evidence, then design a cheap test for the riskiest one.12 min
- Checkpoint: five real conversationsFind, book and run five customer conversations, then turn your notes into a decision.15 min
Level 3Build an Offer People WantMembership · 5 lessons
- People buy the movement, not the productRewrite any offer as a movement from a painful “before” to an “after” the buyer can picture.9 min
- The value equationRaise the perceived value of an offer by pulling the four levers of the value equation.11 min
- Proof and a believable mechanismMake a promise believable with specific proof and a mechanism that explains why it works.10 min
- Guarantees that make yes easyChoose and write a guarantee that removes the buyer's biggest risk without inviting abuse.10 min
- Checkpoint: your offer on one pageAssemble promise, mechanism, proof, guarantee and price on one page, then test it on real people.15 min
Level 4Know Your Customer Better Than They DoMembership · 5 lessons
- The job your customer hires you forDescribe what your customer is really trying to get done: functionally, emotionally and socially.10 min
- Why people switch, and why they don'tMap the four forces behind a switch, and change your offer to shrink the anxiety and habit that hold buyers back.11 min
- Steal your customer's wordsCollect the exact words customers use for their problem, and use them in your offer.10 min
- The switch interviewInterview a recent buyer to rebuild the timeline of their decision, from first thought to purchase.13 min
- Checkpoint: your ideal customer profileDefine the specific customer you will serve first (by situation, trigger and ability to pay) and where to find them.13 min
Level 5Build a Brand That Means SomethingMembership · 5 lessons
- Positioning: the context that makes you obviousBuild a positioning from its five components, in the order April Dunford recommends.11 min
- Your biggest competitor is “do nothing”Recognize status-quo competition and help hesitant buyers decide instead of stalling.10 min
- Make the customer the heroTell your brand story with the customer as the hero and your business as the guide.10 min
- A brand people recognize without your logoDefine a consistent brand voice and a few distinctive assets people can recognize anywhere.10 min
- Checkpoint: your positioning, testedWrite your positioning statement and check that strangers understand it in five seconds.13 min
Level 6Sell Without BeggingMembership · 5 lessons
- Ask before you tell: SPINUse situation, problem, implication and need-payoff questions so buyers discover the value themselves.11 min
- A sales conversation, start to finishRun a discovery-led sales conversation that ends with a clear next step, without pitching too early.14 min
- Objections are questions in disguiseAnswer the real concern behind the common objections: price, timing, trust and “I need to think about it”.11 min
- Influence without manipulationUse Cialdini's seven principles of influence honestly, and recognize when a tactic crosses into manipulation.10 min
- Checkpoint: follow-up and your first pipelineBuild a simple pipeline, calculate how many conversations your goal needs, and follow up without being pushy.14 min
Level 7Build Your Delivery SystemMembership · 5 lessons
- Do things that don't scaleRecruit and delight your first customers by hand, and know when manual work is the smart choice.9 min
- Get them to the first win, fastDesign a customer's first days around one early, visible win.10 min
- Write the process once: checklists that workTurn a recurring task into a short checklist that makes quality repeatable.11 min
- Retention and the 40% testMeasure whether customers truly need what you deliver, using retention and the 40% test.12 min
- Checkpoint: your delivery mapMap how you keep your promise, from payment to result, with owners, standards and early checks.13 min
Level 8Pricing, Profit & Cash FlowMembership · 5 lessons
- Price the value, not your hoursSet a price from the value you create, and check it with the four Van Westendorp questions.12 min
- Good, better, best: tiers and anchorsDesign three price tiers that make the right choice easy, and use anchoring honestly.10 min
- Unit economics: does each customer make money?Calculate lifetime value, acquisition cost and payback, and judge whether growth will make you richer or poorer.13 min
- Profit is an opinion, cash is a factTell profit from cash, spot a cash gap before it happens, and keep a simple cash forecast.12 min
- Checkpoint: your break-evenCalculate how many sales cover your costs, and plan how to get there.12 min
Level 9Create a Growth EngineMembership · 5 lessons
- The pirate funnel: AARRRMap your customer journey on the five AARRR stages and find the leakiest step.11 min
- Find your one channel: the BullseyeBrainstorm across every traction channel, test the three most promising cheaply, and focus on the one that works.11 min
- Run growth like experimentsTurn growth ideas into scored, time-boxed experiments with a hypothesis and a success threshold.11 min
- Loops beat funnels: referralsDesign a referral loop in which each customer helps bring the next, the way Dropbox did.11 min
- Checkpoint: content that sells. They ask, you answerPlan content that honestly answers buyers' real questions (cost, problems, comparisons) and connect it to your growth loop.13 min
Level 10Launch Your Founder Operating SystemMembership · 5 lessons
- MVPs that aren't productsChoose the cheapest MVP that tests your riskiest assumption: concierge, Wizard of Oz, smoke test or pre-order.11 min
- Pre-sell before you buildMake a real pre-sale offer (a deposit, a paid pilot or a letter of intent) and handle the conversation with confidence.13 min
- The founder's weekly operating rhythmRun a 30-minute weekly review with a scorecard, one priority and a list of experiments.12 min
- The admin basics (not legal advice)Know the administrative basics to handle at launch (separate money, clear terms, invoices, taxes and data) and when to call a professional.10 min
- Capstone: your 30-day launch planBring your customer, offer, price, channel and numbers together in a 30-day launch plan, and commit to it.20 min
AFTER THE CORE