8-Week Product Maker Curriculum
A comprehensive journey from idea to launch, combining first-principles thinking with AI-powered tools and hands-on mentorship to build real products that solve real problems.
Curriculum Progress
Week content will appear here...
INDUCTION & COMMUNITY ACCESS
Welcome to the Inner Circle
Week Objectives
5 GOALS- Meet your cohort members and instructors in private 1:1 sessions
- Join one of our 2 elite teams (5 members each) with a dedicated mentor
- Gain exclusive access to our private Discord community and Disco learning platform
- Get set up with our proprietary tools: Palette and Surview AI
- Access our curated Product Maker toolkit: Cursor, Windsurf, Bolt, Lovable, NotebookLM, Mixpanel, Julius AI
Detailed Assignments
4 TASKS-
Personal Product Maker AssessmentComplete profile assessment to identify strengths and growth areas
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Tools Setup & ConfigurationInstall and configure all required tools with guided mentor setup
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Introduction Video RecordingRecord 2-minute intro highlighting background and goals for cohort
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Session SchedulingSchedule all 1:1 sessions for program duration to ensure mentor availability
The Onboarding Challenge
CORE FOCUSHow might we create an onboarding experience that builds community while assessing skills?
You'll analyze how leading products onboard users, identify friction points, and design a seamless experience that collects critical information while creating immediate value.
- Onboarding flow analysis of 3 leading products
- Friction point identification and solutions
- Community-building strategy design
Mentorship Touchpoints
4 SESSIONSFIRST PRINCIPLES THINKING
Seeing What Others Miss
Week Objectives
- • The paradigm shift: Product Managers coordinate teams. Product Makers build the future themselves.
- • First principles thinking: Break problems down to their core when others stay on the surface
- • Identify hidden assumptions that limit conventional thinkers
- • Find root causes where others only see symptoms
Real Example: Food Delivery App
Traditional PMs: "Let's optimize driver routes to deliver food faster."
Product Makers: Using Palette AI to analyze the entire system, you discover the real bottleneck is restaurant capacity during peak hours. By implementing a predictive kitchen load balancing system, you reduce delivery times by 37% without changing a single driver route.
Detailed Assignments
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Deconstruct a popular product to its first principles (written analysis of 1500+ words)
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Identify 10 hidden assumptions in your current product thinking and create counter-arguments for each
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Create a root cause analysis for a failed product using the 5 Whys methodology
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Build a first principles map for your initial product concept, identifying at least 3 non-obvious insights
Tools You'll Master
PALETTE AI
For research and problem exploration, with specific prompts for first principles analysis
NOTEBOOKLM
For organizing your product thinking and creating interconnected knowledge graphs
Mentorship Touchpoints
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Mid-week check-in to review first principles mapping and provide course corrections
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On-demand support for assumption identification (available within 3 hours of request)
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End-of-week feedback session on root cause analysis with detailed improvement suggestions
AI-POWERED USER RESEARCH
10× Faster, 100× Deeper User Insights with Surview & Palette AI
Week Objectives
- • Conduct user research amplified by AI agents—Surview AI for autonomous interviews and Palette AI for drafting personas
- • Master qualitative research fundamentals while leveraging AI to accelerate deep user insights
- • Replace gut feelings with data-driven decisions grounded in real user voices
- • Balance human empathy with AI's scale to ensure authentic product decisions
The Research Revolution
Traditional Way: Spend weeks scheduling interviews, transcribing, and analyzing manually.
Product Maker Way: Use Surview to conduct 50+ user interviews in hours, automatically identify patterns, and generate actionable insights. Then use Palette AI to transform these insights into detailed personas and product requirements—all in a single day.
Detailed Assignments
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AI-Led User Interviews: Use Surview to conduct ≥5 simulated interviews for your product idea's audience
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Persona Generation with Palette AI: Create two detailed user personas including background, goals, frustrations
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User Journey Mapping: Outline a complete user journey map based on one persona
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Research-to-Requirements Brief: Write a one-page product requirements draft tracing each requirement to specific user insights
Real-World Impact Examples
Airbnb's Trust Revolution
Extensive user interviews revealed trust as the #1 barrier. This led to verified profiles, dual-sided reviews, and professional photography—features that 10x'd bookings.
Notion's Customer-Driven Pivot
Founders spent days talking with non-technical users, leading to a complete redesign in 2017 that transformed them into a billion-dollar company.
Superhuman's PMF Engine
Rahul Vohra's targeted user surveys pinpointed missing features that fueled viral adoption.
Tools You'll Master
SURVIEW AI
Autonomous user interview agent that conducts research at scale, identifies patterns, and generates insight decks
PALETTE AI
Transform Surview insights into detailed personas, user stories, and product requirements
Deliverables & Outcomes
- User Research Report: Professional-grade insight deck with Surview transcripts, persona profiles, and key pain points
- Persona & Journey Documentation: Clear user narratives that translate raw research into actionable insights
- AI Tool Proficiency: Demonstrated mastery of Surview and Palette AI for conducting AI-assisted user research
PRODUCT DESIGN WITH AI
From Research to Delightful Prototypes with Windsurf & Lovable
Week Objectives
- • Transform research insights into user flows, wireframes, and functional prototypes using AI
- • Master UX principles: clarity, simplicity, and delight without needing a dedicated designer
- • Build clickable mockups with Windsurf (AI coding) and enhance them with Lovable (AI UX)
- • Learn the design–feedback–refine iteration loop for rapid product development
Design Sprint Transformation
Traditional Way: Weeks of back-and-forth between designers and developers.
Product Maker Way: Sketch your idea on paper, describe it to Windsurf in plain English, and watch it generate a functioning React prototype in minutes. Then use Lovable to add those delightful touches that make users fall in love with your product.
Your Design Workflow
Sketch & Flow
Paper sketches and user flow diagrams
Wireframe
Low-fi digital wireframes in Figma
AI Prototype
Windsurf converts to functional code
Delight
Lovable adds UX magic
Detailed Assignments
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User Flow Diagram: Map a core task flow (e.g., user onboarding) using FigJam or draw.io
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Wireframe Sprint: Create wireframes for 3 key screens, then use Windsurf to convert one into a functioning prototype
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Lovability Audit: Run your prototype through Lovable and implement at least one UX improvement
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Usability Test & Iterate: Conduct 5-minute tests, identify issues, and implement fixes
Tools You'll Master
WINDSURF
AI coding assistant that turns natural language into React/HTML prototypes
LOVABLE
AI design assistant for UI/UX improvements, microcopy, animations
FIGMA
Industry-standard design tool for wireframing before AI conversion
Portfolio-Ready Deliverables
- Interactive Prototype: A functional, AI-powered prototype of your core screens ready for user testing
- UI/UX Design Artifacts: Complete user flows, wireframes, and design iteration documentation
- Tool Proficiency: Certification in Windsurf and Lovable for AI-accelerated prototypes
STRATEGIC PLANNING & ROADMAPPING
Data-Driven Decisions with NotebookLM & Julius AI
Week Objectives
- • Master product strategy: prioritize "what to build when" using evidence, not opinions
- • Apply frameworks: ROI vs. Effort matrices, OKR alignment, and outcome-driven roadmapping
- • Use NotebookLM to synthesize market research, feedback, and competitor analyses
- • "Silence the HIPPO"—base decisions on customer needs and analytics, not hierarchy
Strategic Frameworks You'll Master
RICE Scoring
Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort
Working Backwards
Amazon's PR/FAQ approach
OKR Alignment
Objectives → Key Results → Features
70/20/10 Rule
Innovation / Iteration / Maintenance
Detailed Assignments
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Vision Statement & North Star Metric: Craft a 2-3 sentence vision and identify your key metric
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Competitive Analysis with NotebookLM: Upload competitor materials, generate feature comparisons
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Data-Driven Prioritization: Use Julius AI to analyze feature usage data and identify top 3 retention drivers
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Product Roadmap Draft: Build a 3-month roadmap with milestones, backed by data and strategic reasoning
Strategy in Action
Amazon's Working Backwards
Every feature starts with a press release. Forces clarity on customer benefit before writing code.
Netflix's Data-Driven Features
Skip Intro, 10-second rewind, and even House of Cards—all based on viewing data analysis.
Uber's Strategic Expansion
Targeted cities with taxi problems first, then expanded to adjacent services based on data.
Tools You'll Master
NOTEBOOKLM
Google's AI research assistant for synthesizing market data and competitor analysis
JULIUS AI
AI data analyst for cohort analysis, retention curves, and predictive modeling
Strategic Deliverables
- Product Roadmap & Strategy Doc: A polished multi-month roadmap with strategic narrative and PR/FAQ
- Data-Driven Artifacts: Julius AI charts and NotebookLM analyses showing how data influenced decisions
- Strategic Frameworks: Demonstrated mastery of RICE scoring, OKRs, and Working Backwards methodology
GROWTH STRATEGY & MARKETING
Build the Growth Machine with AI-Powered Marketing
Week Objectives
- • Master growth strategy: "Build the growth machine first"—think distribution early, not after launch
- • Craft compelling positioning using proven frameworks (Geoffrey Moore's templates)
- • Use Palette AI to generate and test multiple copy variants at scale
- • Set up growth funnels in Mixpanel: Awareness → Acquisition → Activation → Retention → Referral
Your Growth Funnel
Positioning Template in Action
For freelance creatives who hate financial admin, EZBudget is a mobile expense tracker that automates bookkeeping. Unlike generic budgeting apps, our product uses AI to categorize receipts and save you hours weekly.
Detailed Assignments
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Positioning Statement: Write using Moore's template for your product, clearly defining target, need, and differentiator
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Landing Page & Copy: Design hero section with Palette AI generated variations
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Growth Experiment Design: Propose hypothesis with implementation and metrics
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Analytics Implementation: Set up Mixpanel funnel tracking Activation Rate, Week-1 Retention, and Referral Rate
Growth Tactics That Built Unicorns
Uber's Referral Engine
Free ride credits for both parties fueled city-by-city expansion with minimal ad spend.
Dropbox's Viral Loop
100k to 4M users in 15 months via storage rewards and sharing features.
Notion's Community Growth
User champions on Twitter/YouTube, waiting-list hype, and positioning against fragmented tools.
Key Metrics You'll Master
Tools You'll Master
PALETTE AI
Generate multiple headline variants, ad copy, and marketing plans
MIXPANEL
Track funnels, cohorts, and user behavior
JULIUS AI
Analyze which channels deliver highest retention
Growth Arsenal Deliverables
- Go-to-Market Plan: Complete GTM strategy with positioning, channels, and campaign outlines
- Marketing Assets: Landing page, social posts, ad copy with performance metrics
- Analytics Dashboard: Mixpanel setup tracking activation, retention, and referral metrics
- Growth Experiments: Documented A/B tests with hypotheses, results, and learnings
BUILD SPRINT I – MVP BUILD
From Architecture to Live Deployment with AI-Powered Development
Week Objectives
- • Transition from planning to execution—build a working MVP using modern tools and AI assistance
- • Master system architecture: how front-end, back-end, and database components interact
- • Use Cursor AI to debug and generate code, reducing development time from weeks to days
- • Deploy your prototype live with proper environment configuration and CI/CD pipelines
Your MVP Architecture
Frontend
React/Next.js
Backend
Node.js/Supabase
Database
PostgreSQL
Build Philosophy: Speed Over Perfection
Focus Question: "What's the simplest version that proves the concept?"
Traditional approach: Spend weeks building perfect architecture. Product Maker approach: Deploy a working prototype in 48 hours using AI assistants, then iterate based on real user feedback. Your first version should embarrass you—if it doesn't, you launched too late.
Deployment Pipeline
Local Dev
Cursor AI assists
Git Push
Version control
CI/CD
Auto build & test
Deploy
Live in minutes
Detailed Assignments
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Architecture Diagram & Prototype: Create system diagram and implement core feature. Deploy live with working URL
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AI-Assisted Debugging Log: Document 2+ bugs and show how Cursor helped solve them
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Deployment Walkthrough: Step-by-step guide of your deployment process
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Feature Feedback Loop: Add feedback widget to capture user input
Tools You'll Master
CURSOR
AI coding assistant for debugging and code generation
VERCEL
One-click frontend deployment with automatic CI/CD
SUPABASE
Backend-as-a-Service with auth, database, and real-time subscriptions
Week 6 Deliverables
- Live MVP: A deployed, functional prototype with at least one core feature accessible via public URL
- Architecture Documentation: System diagram showing how components interact and data flows
- Deployment Pipeline: Automated CI/CD setup enabling rapid iteration and deployment
- AI Development Skills: Demonstrated ability to leverage Cursor for 10x development speed
BUILD SPRINT II – REFINEMENT & LAUNCH PREP
Polish Your MVP into a Launch-Ready Product
Week Objectives
- • Transform your MVP into a polished, launch-ready product with advanced features
- • Master UX refinement: usability testing, accessibility, responsive design, and performance
- • Implement security basics: input validation, secret management, vulnerability checks
- • Integrate analytics (Mixpanel) for real-time usage tracking and data-driven decisions
Launch Readiness Checklist
🔒 Security
- Input validation
- API key protection
- HTTPS enabled
- Auth flow tested
Analytics
- Mixpanel integrated
- Key events tracked
- Funnels configured
- Dashboards live
UX Polish
- Mobile responsive
- Accessibility audit
- Loading states
- Error handling
Deployment
- Production env
- Monitoring setup
- Backup strategy
- Support channel
The Last Mile Mindset
Focus Question: "The difference between a prototype and a product is in the details."
Week 6 built functionality. Week 7 builds trust. Security, accessibility, performance, and polish transform a working prototype into something users will actually pay for. This week teaches you to spot and fix the thousand tiny issues that separate amateur projects from professional products.
Testing & QA Workflow
Unit Tests
Core functions covered
Manual QA
User flows verified
Beta Testing
Real user feedback
Launch Ready
All systems go
Detailed Assignments
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Feature Enhancement: Implement one advanced feature (payments, uploads, etc.) with trade-off documentation
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UX Improvement: Fix a user-reported issue with before/after screenshots and impact metrics
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Analytics Dashboard: Configure Mixpanel with funnels showing real usage patterns
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Beta Feedback: Gather feedback from 2-5 external users and create action plan
Tools You'll Master
MIXPANEL
Production analytics integration with real-time dashboards
JEST/MOCHA
Automated testing frameworks for unit and integration testing
SENTRY
Error monitoring and performance tracking for production
Launch-Ready Deliverables
- Polished Product: A fully tested, secure, and refined product ready for real users
- Test Coverage: Automated test suite or comprehensive QA documentation
- Analytics Setup: Production-ready analytics tracking with actionable dashboards
- Launch Checklist: Complete pre-launch verification covering security, performance, and UX
DEMO DAY PREP & LAUNCH
Pitch Perfect, Launch Strong, Scale Smart
Week Objectives
- • Master the art of pitching: problem hook, solution demo, market opportunity, and traction metrics
- • Create compelling storytelling that leads with user pain, not just features
- • Execute strategic launches on Product Hunt, communities, or press outreach
- • Handle live Q&A with confidence using data-backed answers and strategic positioning
Your Winning Pitch Structure
Launch Strategy Playbook
Product Hunt
Best Time: 12:01 AM PST Tuesday
Key Tactic: Engage every comment
Success Metric: Top 5 of day
💬 Communities
Targets: Reddit, Discord, Slack
Key Tactic: Value-first approach
Success Metric: 20% conversion
📰 Press/Media
Approach: Personalized pitches
Key Tactic: Exclusive angles
Success Metric: 2-3 features
🐦 Social Media
Platform: Twitter/LinkedIn
Key Tactic: Build in public
Success Metric: Viral moment
Demo Day Mindset
Remember: "You're not selling a product. You're selling a vision of a better future."
The best pitches don't list features—they paint a picture of transformation. Start with a story that makes the audience feel the problem, then position your product as the inevitable solution. Your demo should feel like magic, not a tutorial.
Final UX Polish
First Impressions
- Landing page hero
- Loading animations
- Welcome emails
Onboarding
- Tutorial flow
- Sample data
- Quick wins
Branding
- Logo & colors
- Consistent copy
- Social assets
Responsive
- Mobile perfect
- Touch targets
- Offline states
Detailed Assignments
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Pitch Deck & Demo Video: 5-slide deck + 2-3 minute polished demo video showcasing your product's magic
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Launch Plan Document: Platform selection, messaging, timing, engagement strategy, and support structure
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Final UX Polish: Screenshots of onboarding, mobile views, and micro-interactions with performance notes
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Mock Q&A Session: Handle 3+ tough questions with polished, data-backed responses
Q&A Battle Preparation
The Competition Question
"How do you differ from [Competitor X]?"
→ Focus on unique insights, not features. Show deep user understanding.
The Revenue Question
"What's your business model?"
→ Present clear monetization path with comparable examples.
The Timing Question
"Why is now the right time?"
→ Point to market shifts, tech enablers, or behavior changes.
Launch Week Toolkit
LOOM/OBS
Professional demo recording with smooth narration and screen capture
CANVA/FIGMA
Create pitch decks, social assets, and product screenshots
ANALYTICS
Track launch metrics, user behavior, and conversion funnels
Demo Day Deliverables
- Pitch Perfect: A compelling pitch deck and demo video ready for investors or customers
- Launch Execution: Documented launch with metrics, feedback, and iteration plans
- Presentation Mastery: Confident delivery with strong storytelling and Q&A handling
- Market-Ready Product: Fully polished product with support systems and growth strategy