KPIs and kill switches

• Gate 1 (week 3): Is the proof asset functional and demonstrable end to end? If not achievable in three weeks at your current skill level, the scope was wrong — cut it narrower, don't extend the timeline.
• Gate 2 (week 6): Are at least three qualified warm conversations booked? If zero came from your existing base, the phase-0 niche filter in Launch sequence was violated — no real warm relationship existed — pause and re-select rather than pushing forward on a cold-start niche.
• Gate 3 (weeks 8–10): Has a first paid pilot closed at $5K or more? If warm-channel outreach produces interest but no paid close after two full sales cycles, the offer is priced or scoped wrong — usually too broad, sounding like "AI transformation" rather than one bottleneck. Narrow further before concluding the market isn't there.
• Gate 4 (month 3): Does the case study have a real, instrumented number, not a testimonial quote alone? If the client can't or won't share usage data, the engagement wasn't scoped with success metrics defined upfront — fix this in every future statement of work, not just the next case study.
• Gate 5 (months 4–6): Decide sub-path emphasis based on what actually converted. If audits are converting faster than full builds, shift weight toward path (b) as a top-of-funnel. If retainer-renewal conversations are happening organically after a pilot, formalize path (c) pricing rather than improvising it deal by deal.
• Kill/pivot signal: if two full niche cycles — roughly four to five months — produce no repeatable warm-to-paid conversion, the niche-market-fit hypothesis is likely wrong, not the execution. Revisit the niche list in Market and regulatory reality rather than continuing to grind outreach in a niche with weak buyer readiness.

#A margin floor worth setting explicitly

None of the source research for this course disclosed a specific target contribution-margin threshold for this business the way COVER derives one for its own model — treat that as a gap, not a claim this course is making. What the gates above give you instead is a sequencing discipline: don't scale spend or outreach past a gate that hasn't cleared. If you want a numeric margin floor to run your own gates against, set one deliberately before you need it — after your fully-loaded cost per pilot (tooling, your time priced at a real rate, any subcontracted build work), not after the fact once a client relationship makes it awkward to walk away from a thin deal.