Welcome to the Course

B2B vs. B2C and the Two Course Brands

The course is built around two virtual companies that anchor every applied exercise: Clairo, a B2B example, and Zoko, a B2C example.

Business Models

B2B (business-to-business): one company sells to another company — e.g., an IT firm building software for other businesses rather than individual consumers.

B2C (business-to-consumer): a company sells directly to individual consumers — e.g., an e-commerce store.

Clairo and Zoko

Clairo and Zoko were purpose-built as virtual brands for this course, but each is modelled closely on a real product. Grounding the virtual brand in the real one is what makes later strategy decisions concrete rather than abstract — for example, an exercise about removing a calendar-integration step from Clairo's onboarding only fully makes sense once you've been through fireflies.ai's own calendar-connection step yourself.

Key takeaways

• B2B = sells to businesses (e.g., enterprise software); B2C = sells to individual consumers (e.g., e-commerce, D2C brands).
• Clairo is the course's B2B case, modelled on fireflies.ai (a meeting-recording SaaS tool); Zoko is the B2C case, modelled on Oziva (a D2C wellness subscription brand).
• Every applied exercise in the course is done against one of these two brands.

The Brand Bible: Structure and Navigation

The brand bible is the single reference document for both companies and is the primary source of truth for every number used in the course. It has two parts — Part A: Clairo and Part B: Zoko — built from the same seven sections, so learning one brand's layout means you already know the other's.

The Seven Sections

Sections 1–5 and 7 are structurally identical across both brands; only section 6 differs, because B2B and B2C need different supporting context.

Section 4 — AARRR Metrics Baseline

This is the section referenced constantly through the course: roughly 70% of the numbers needed across all modules live here. It has five sub-blocks:

Section 5 — Growth Constraint Map

Names each brand's primary constraint, secondary constraint, and course hypothesis. These diagnoses are treated as authoritative hard data, not guesses to second-guess — the expectation is to re-derive them from the underlying figures so the reasoning is understood, not to dispute them.

• Clairo's primary activation constraint: 66% of users never record a meeting.
• Zoko's primary activation constraint: 62% don't repurchase by day 9.

Section 6 — Category-Specific Context

• Clairo (B2B): an objection-handling bank — common B2B sales objections paired with Clairo's sales-team responses. Used when writing acquisition and sales copy.
• Zoko (B2C): a comparative landscape against real Indian D2C brands (e.g., Oziva, Mamaearth, Plum), with Zoko's positioning against each.

The Four-Step Navigation Pattern

Every lookup follows the same route: document → part → section → line item.

Four Rules for Using the Brand Bible

1. It is the source of truth. If a worksheet disagrees with the brand bible, the worksheet is wrong.
2. Current-state numbers are immutable. They describe the brand today and are used verbatim, never modified; only target numbers are yours to design.
3. Diagnoses are authoritative. Primary constraint, aha moment, and growth motion are not up for debate — re-derive them from the data rather than disagreeing with them.
4. Flag gaps explicitly. If a number isn't in the brand bible, state the assumption and its basis rather than guessing silently.

Key takeaways

• One brand bible, two parts (Clairo = B2B, Zoko = B2C), seven parallel sections each.
• Section 4 (AARRR metrics baseline) supplies roughly 70% of the numbers used across the course.
• Section 5's growth-constraint diagnoses are hard data: Clairo's is a 66% never-record-a-meeting activation gap; Zoko's is 62% non-repurchase by day 9.
• Every lookup follows the same four-step path: document → part → section → line.
• Four rules govern use: brand bible as source of truth, immutable current-state numbers, authoritative diagnoses, and explicit assumption-flagging for gaps.

The Three-Source Capstone Framework

Every number used in the capstone project must trace back to exactly one of three sources — this is described as the single most important framework in the course.

Basis Hierarchy for Projections

When generating a projected number, justify it using the first available source, in priority order:

1. The brand bible's own course hypothesis.
2. Numbers from the module's assigned readings.
3. Framework-derived logic (reasoning from a course model).
4. A flat assumption — last resort only.

Worked Example: Clairo's Activation System Slide

A capstone slide mixes all three sources in a fixed 3–2–1 pattern:

Zoko's activation slide follows the identical 3–2–1 pattern with its own numbers.

Exam tip: whenever an exercise asks where a number came from, the answer is always one of exactly three labels — hard data, projection (+ basis), or strategic choice (+ defence). There is no fourth category.

How the Course Accumulates Toward the Capstone

Work is tracked in a single growth workbook — one Google Sheet with one tab per module. Each tab feeds a named section of the final capstone, so applied work compounds module by module: by the final module, roughly 70% of the capstone already exists in draft form from this accumulated work. Tools referenced through the course map to real products: Mixpanel (analytics), VWO (A/B testing), and HubSpot (CRM).

Key takeaways

• Every capstone number must be labelled as hard data, a defensible projection, or a strategic choice — no other category exists.
• Hard data is used verbatim; projections need a stated basis, prioritized as: brand bible hypothesis → assigned readings → framework logic → flat assumption (last resort).
• The activation-slide pattern (3 hard-data cells + 2 basis-backed projections + 1 defended strategic choice) is the template for capstone slides generally.
• The growth workbook accumulates module-by-module work directly into the capstone — by the final module, about 70% of it already exists in draft form.
• Mixpanel, VWO, and HubSpot are the analytics, testing, and CRM tools referenced across the course.