Practice & capstones

These aren’t homework you do alongside the real work. Each capstone IS a piece of the real work — the exact deliverables from the direction memo, assembled from the one-moves you did lesson by lesson. Every lesson hands you a screw. The capstone is where you find you’ve built the machine. And the level gates aren’t grades. They’re the honest question a level was always trying to answer, asked once, out loud.

Level 0 — The cadence ran

Brief. Run the weekly cadence once, end to end. The coverage tracker is live with honest stages. The playbook doc exists with one real entry. And you held a Friday review — the fifteen minutes where you ask whether the week caused, advanced, or converted a conversation.

Not yet — the tracker exists but nothing moved through it, or Friday never happened.
Passing — one full week ran: signal digest read, touches made, Friday review held.
Strong — the cadence ran two consecutive weeks without a skipped Friday. That’s the proof it’s a habit, not a stunt.

Level 1 — The system exists

Brief. Three things stand up together. The account system: 80 accounts tiered, the top 10 contact-mapped with 3–5 named people each, and a signal watch entry per account. The positioning statement, written from WPH’s real competitive alternatives — the status quo and the global agency retainer, not other Webflow shops. And a proof-stack audit with a ship-list of what’s missing.

Gate: Explain why the buyer is invisible — and show the live account system.

Not yet — a list of companies with no tiers, no contacts, no positioning written down.
Passing — 80 accounts tiered, top 10 mapped, positioning drafted, proof gaps named.
Strong — the signal watch entries are specific enough that a Monday digest surfaces something you’d actually act on.

Level 2 — The motion runs

Brief. The benchmark methodology is locked and data collection has started. The interview series has a one-pager and the first ask is sent. A dinner is proposed to the partner. A referral ask is made. The discovery script and diagnostic one-pager are written. And the coverage tracker shows ≥10 accounts moved one stage right.

Gate: Generate 2 qualified warm conversations in one month.

Not yet — assets exist but nothing’s in market; no account has moved.
Passing — the motion is running: research collecting, one interview asked, dinner proposed, ≥10 accounts advanced.
Strong — a real conversation happened and it passed all four qualification tests in the pipeline rulebook. That’s the only kind that counts toward the year.

Level 3 — The close

Brief. The three-option proposal skeleton is ready, with $50k sitting as the middle choice. The customs folder is assembled for the paper process. Your give-get list is written. The white-space map is drawn for the ownership group. Pipeline numbers are computed honestly — coverage ratio, velocity, weighted commit. And the playbook’s best play is documented at its R&D stage.

Gate: Close and expand a $50k+ account.

Not yet — a proposal drafted but no options, no anchor, no pipeline math.
Passing — a live $50k+ opportunity has a three-option proposal in front of it and the numbers are honest.
Strong — you closed it, started an expansion conversation inside the same ownership group, and wrote the winning play into the playbook so it can happen again without you.

The real sign-off

There’s no certificate at the end, and there shouldn’t be. The sign-off is the board itself: accounts moving right, conversations happening, plays getting documented. Watch it on the board and re-read the signal whenever the work starts to feel busy instead of pointed.