Guide
What a Sprint is, stripped of the word “agile”
It is a writing job with a calendar. It is not a listing. It is not a raise.
On day 1 we open a desk. You meet the named owner. We replay the intent sentence and the exclusions. We inventory the twelve fields. Anything absent is scheduled or locked off-public. On day 14 we sit with the pack and ask: would a later reader, including hostile counsel, understand what this company is, who may hear about it, and what we have refused? If yes, the pack is accepted. If no, it is not. There is no third outcome called “we’ll polish on the website.”
The pack contains: narrative (the product in English), audience matrix (who, where, what they may be told), pathway status (named, locked not-offering, or silent), claims register (sentence, evidence, audience, channel, kill), geography lock, partner map, 90-day plan, funnel without a purchase journey unless counsel has a route. That is a lot. It is also the minimum that makes Build safe.
Sprint ≠ raise. A date in the pack is a checkpoint. It is not a listing.
Guide
The fourteen days, without theatre
Each day has a noun. If the noun does not land, we do not “make it up on Friday.”
Day 1 kick-off and exclusions. Day 2 operating map. Day 3–4 claims draft. Day 5 geography lock. Day 6 audience matrix. Day 7 pathway status in writing — even if the writing says “counsel to name.” Day 8 funnel and surfaces list. Day 9 partner and provider map. Day 10 creator policy (usually: none, or a tight list). Day 11 redlines with you. Day 12 pack assembly. Day 13 internal read. Day 14 read-out and accept or not.
You will be asked for evidence on days 2, 4, 7 and 11. If you disappear, the sprint does not pause into a vague retainer. It ends, or it waits on a dated input. Waiting is honest. Ghosting is how packs rot.
Guide
The claims register is the spine
Every public sentence is a row: claim, evidence, audience, channel, status, kill.
If you cannot evidence it, it is not a claim — it is a wish. Wishes do not ship. “Institutional-grade” without an institution is a wish. “Regulated” without a path is a wish. “Live in 12 countries” without named markets is a wish. We will cut them in front of you. That is the job.
Status is live, draft, or withdrawn. Withdrawn is a first-class state. It is how you survive a later reader who has the Wayback Machine. Kill is the person and the switch that can take the sentence down in an hour. If kill is “we’ll tweet,” you do not have kill.
A row is complete only when:
- The sentence is specific enough to be false.
- Evidence is a document or URL, not a vibe.
- Audience and geography are named.
- Channel is named (site, deck, creator, press).
- Someone can take it down without a committee.
Guide
Acceptance is a read-out
We do not “feel good about the week.” We score the pack against the proposal.
The proposal said what “done” looks like. Day 14 is that list, in order. Missing pathway status is not done. A claims register with empty evidence columns is not done. A funnel that still contains “Buy now” is not done. You may accept with locks: not-offering, US off, creators off. You may not accept with a wink.
If the pack is accepted, Build may be proposed. If it is not, you leave with the draft and a written list of what failed. We do not hold the draft hostage. We do not convert failure into a discount Growth retainer. Failure is information.