2026-03-13 — Platform and launch foundation complete

What shipped today

The entire platform-and-launch foundation shipped in a single session. Five Linear issues were prepped, executed, and moved to Done — all interconnected through a dependency chain that started with pricing and cascaded through every customer-facing artifact.

The three-tier pricing structure (platform/pricing.md) anchors everything. $1,500 / $2,500 / $4,000 with the middle tier designed as the default — competitive positioning tables show it undercuts MIT, Kellogg, and Cornell while offering more intimacy and a thesis none of them own. The founding cohort gets 20% off; payment plans add a 5% premium. Team pricing scales from 10% (3-5 seats) to 15% (6-10) to custom (10+). Margin analysis: ~87% net after Maven’s 13% cut, yielding $32K-$44K net per cohort of 15-20 students.

With pricing settled, the Maven listing (platform/maven-listing.md) went up — 9 sections covering description, audience profiles, learning outcomes, curriculum, instructor bio, and FAQ. Then the course landing page (marketing/course-landing-page.md) — 11 conversion-focused sections designed for warm traffic from LinkedIn and email. The hero line: “You don’t have an AI problem. You have a human problem.” Both need Paul’s review, especially the bio section for factual verification of credentials.

The launch email sequence (marketing/launch-email-sequence.md) is 6 emails over 10 days — announce, problem, what you get, social proof, objection handling, final invitation. Each follows the email template arc and was written to avoid overlap with the existing nurture sequence. Email 4 (case study) and Email 2 (concrete example) have placeholders for Paul’s real consulting stories.

Finally, the unit economics model (launch/unit-economics.md) ties it all together — per-enrollment margins, 6 cohort revenue scenarios (founding vs. standard, conservative/target/full), annual projections for Phase 1 and Phase 2, and 10 specific decision triggers (when to raise prices, add Kajabi, hire help, pause cohorts). At the target scenario (17 students, standard pricing), one cohort nets $38,280 for ~51 hours — an effective rate of $751/hr.

Completed

• SYN-259 — Design three-tier pricing structure for Maven
• SYN-248 — Write Maven course listing
• SYN-272 — Write course landing page copy
• SYN-273 — Design launch email sequence for first cohort announcement
• SYN-277 — Set up course revenue tracking and unit economics dashboard

Release progress

• Module outlines: 6/6 done
• Supporting content: 2/3 done (SYN-245 case study library in review)
• Audience: 7/8 done (SYN-269 repurposing pipeline in backlog)
• Platform: 3/7 done (SYN-247 Maven application in review; 3 backlog: Lightning Lesson, cohort logistics, B2B invoicing)
• Production: 1/7 done (SYN-252 equipment purchase in review; 5 backlog)
• Launch: 5/8 done (SYN-270 corporate pilots in review; SYN-271 pitch + SYN-275 dates in backlog)

Carry-over

• Two untracked source files still need Paul’s decision: the work of being ed2.txt and the AI Era outline — track or gitignore
• All 5 deliverables shipped today need Paul’s voice review before going live (especially the Maven listing instructor bio for factual accuracy)
• Launch email sequence has [PAUL: ...] placeholders for real consulting stories (Emails 2 and 4)
• Landing page social proof section is placeholder — needs testimonials after first cohort

Risks

• Production track is the critical path. 1 of 7 issues done, and equipment/recording have the longest lead times. Nothing else gates launch as hard as this.
• Maven application (SYN-247) is an external blocker. Platform setup, cohort logistics, and B2B invoicing all wait on approval.
• No cohort dates set yet (SYN-275). Everything downstream — enrollment deadline, email send dates, live session schedule — depends on this.

Flags and watch-outs

• The landing page and Maven listing have different tones by design (landing page for warm traffic, Maven listing for cold marketplace browsers) — but pricing and feature tables should stay perfectly aligned between them and platform/pricing.md
• GitHub issues #2-#7 (module outlines) are still open despite the work being done in Linear (SYN-239 through SYN-244). Should be closed to avoid confusion.

Next session

1. Close GitHub issues #2-#7 — module outlines are done; sync GitHub with Linear
2. Paul reviews the 5 new deliverables — pricing, Maven listing, landing page, launch emails, unit economics. Flag any voice or factual issues.
3. Unblock production — SYN-252 (equipment purchase) and SYN-253 (recording space) are the longest lead-time items. Get a decision.
4. Set cohort dates (SYN-275) — this unlocks the entire launch timeline
5. Start case studies (SYN-245) — still in review waiting on Paul’s consulting stories