Jesse Pujji

I'll help you add $1 million to your bottom line

Co-Founder/CEO, Gateway X & Ampush

Watch Jesse diagnose real founder challenges (live!) and learn how to spot—and solve—the same issues in your business.

How to Identify and Fix What’s Holding Your Business Back

Learn how Jesse uncovers hidden growth opportunities and prioritizes what to do next for maximum impact.

How to Find Your Fastest Path to Growth

See Jesse’s real-time thought process for evaluating business models and strategic decision-making.

How Top Founders Think Through Business Problems

JTBD + BeSci is a powerful combination! They work together like Peanut Butter &amp; Jelly, Mac &amp; Cheese, Hot Cocoa &amp; Marshmallows. I've been teaching my clients how to leverage customer jobs-to-be-done based insights research for over a decade. It's a powerful approach to leverage when focused on customer development or product discovery. Just recently I discovered the power of integrating applied behavioral science leveraging the makeit toolkit into this approach and want to share what I've learned with anyone who wants to create better experiences for customers. Helping them overcome barriers to progress as they accomplish their jobs-to-be-done. We'll walk through The Wheel of Progress® framework, in a presentation format, teaching you about The Cycle of Customer Progress:- First Thought- Passively Looking- 1st Triggering Event- Actively Looking- 2nd Triggering Event- Deciding- Hiring/Firing- Consuming- Continuous Use You'll also learn about identifying the twelve (12) different Elements of Progress:- Events- Forces and Desires (habits, pushes, desires, avoidances, pulls, anxieties)- Jobs, Pains and Gains- Solutions (core job, prior, in-conjunction, co-existing)- Contraints (internal, external, temporal) and the concept of Switching Behavior, where promoting forces (pushes, desires, pulls) must outweigh blocking forces (habits, avoidances, anxieties) for switching behavior to occur. You'll get an introduction to the Five Laws of Behavior: 1st Law: B=f(P*E) by Kurt Lewin; 2nd Law: B=f(S1,S2) by Daniel Kahneman; 3rd Law: A-&gt; B -&gt; C by B. F. Skinner; 4th Law: B=MAP by B. J. Fogg; and 5th Law: B=f(I,E) by Deci and Ryan. We'll be focused on applying both the 1st Law: B=f(P*E) and 4th Law: B=MAP in relationship to Barriers to Progress analysis. You'll learn how to listen for and identify 18 behavioral barriers to progress having to do with Motivation-related:- Procrastination- Fear of Failure- Personal Belief (Norms)- Personal Belief (Cost)- Action-Impact Gap- Status Quo Bias Ability-related:- Lack of Time- Lack of Skill- Lack of Tools- Hassle Factor- Lack of social Support- Choice Overload Prompt/Attention-related:- Anchor Bias- Lack of Information- Lack of Prompts (triggers)- Low Mental Bandwidth- Forgetfulness- Present Bias Each of these behavioral barriers to progress has the ability to prevent people from completing the Cycle of Progress. Some having to do with the Person and others having to do with the Environment in relation to the 1st Law of Behavior. It's a practical, hands-on class packed full of eight tailored JTBD + BeSci listening exercises: (1) Listening for Customer Jobs (B2C focused)(2) Listening for Customer Jobs (B2B focused)(3) Listening for Forces and Desires (habits, pushes, desires, avoidances, pulls, anxieties)(4) Listening for Events as part of the Cycle of Progress (first thought, 1st triggering event, 2nd triggering event, hiring/firing, continuous use)(5) Listening for Constraints (internal, external, temporal) that influence the Solution Set(6) Listening for Solutions (prior, core functional job, considered, for progress, in conjunction)(7) Listening for Jobs, Pains and Gains(8) Listening for Behavioral Barriers to Progress (person, environment, motivation, ability, prompt/attention) You'll listen to a combination of advertisements and actual JTBD interviews practicing different JTBD listening skills. My clients have included: American Honda, Canada Goose, Citibank, ecobee, G Adventures, Gympass, Humana, lululemon athletica, Modesens, Porch, Royal Ambulance, Shaklee, and TransAlta.

Customer Jobs-to-be-Done Listening Skills (JTBD + BeSci ) 

You will get a comprehensive overview of job theory, core principles, different perspectives regarding jobs-to-be-done, and its application across the enterprise.<ul><li>A Definition: Customer Job to be Done</li><li>Core Principles of Job Theory</li><li>Goal or Job Hierarchy</li><li>Different Perspectives</li><li>Types of Customer Jobs</li><li>The Customer</li><li>Application across the Enterprise</li></ul>

Job Theory and Its' Application

You will learn about the The Wheel of Progress® framework along with how it will be utilized when conducting customer jobs-to-be-done interviews:<ul><li>The Wheel of Progress® framework (awareness, expectations, trade-offs, experience)</li><li>The Cycle of Customer Progress (First Thought to Continuous Use)</li><li>Multiple Cycles of Progress with different Solutions</li></ul>

The Wheel of Progress®

You will learn about the twelve elements of customer progress, switching behavior, constraints and behavioral-based barriers to progress.<ul><li>The 12 Elements of Customer Progress</li><li>First Thought or Struggling Moment</li><li>Switching Behavior (Hiring/Firing)</li><li>Promoting and Blocking Forces to Customer Progress</li><li>Constraints and Barriers to Progress</li><li>Continuous Use</li></ul>

Customer Progress and BeSci Barriers & Constraints

You will learn how to plan out your JTBD Insights Research from start to finish as well as selecting your Case Study so that you can apply what you've learned.<ul><li>The Focus of your Research</li><li>Planning your JTBD Insights Research</li><li>Target Segments and Recruitment</li><li>The Interview Guide and Process</li><li>Selecting your Case Study</li></ul>

The End to End Process for JTBD Insights Research

You will select a Case Study as a Team to plan and execute applying what you've learned during the course.<ul><li>Planning your JTBD Insights Research</li><li>Creating the Interview Guide for your Case Study</li><li>Conducting your JTBD Interviews</li><li>Synthesizing what you Heard during Interviews</li></ul>

Applying it all around Case Study of your Choice (Teams)

You will present alongside your Team the results of your JTBD Insights Research Case Study receiving feedback from the group.<ul><li>Presenting your Case Study</li><li>Feedback from the Group</li><li>Summary recap of the Course</li><li>Staying Connected</li></ul>

Showcasing your Case Study

Customer jobs-to-be-done Insights Research + Applied Behavioral Science

We'll be meeting LIVE as a cohort walking through specific topics each session, some group discussion, and a combination of individual and group exercises.

Three LIVE Cohort Sessions + Homework Assignments

Session 1: Overview of The Wheel of Progress (Cycle of Customer Progress) Session 2: Customer Progress and BeSci Barriers &amp; Constraints Session 3: Review and feedback on Assignments plus Additional JTBD Topics

LIVE Cohort Sessions with eight different JTBD Listening Exercises

Leveraging the Maven community for posting announcements, reading materials, general discussion, and takeaways from the class

Maven Community

Three Sessions LIVE Cohort Classes

A Startup Founder who wants to shorten the path to product-market fit.

The Marketer who wants to better tailor their messaging speaking to the core job-to-be-done, motivational forces, desires and avoidances.

A Product Owner who wants to prioritize and fall in love with the problem prior to thinking about the solution.

The Designer or Researcher who wants to better understand constraints or behavioral-based barriers to customer progress.

The Product Trio (PM, UX, Tech) who want to learn how to improve the customer interview process as a team (multiple perspectives).

To go beyond simply understanding jobs-to-be-done principles to building the necessary skillsets to apply it in your organization.

What you’ll get out of this course

Learn about different perspectives related to job theory and how to best apply it given your industry, company, product or service offering, and your role or function within the organization.

An Introduction to Job Theory and Customer Progress

A deep dive into The Wheel of Progress®&nbsp;framework covering the cycle of customer progress from first thought, passively looking, actively looking, deciding, hiring/firing, consuming, and continuous use.

An in-depth review of The Wheel of Progress® Framework

Learn advanced jobs-to-be-done listening methods leveraging The Wheel of Progress® framework. How to listen for and capture the twelve (12) elements of customer progress.

Hands-on Practice developing jobs-to-be-done listening skills

Learn about the five laws of behavioral science. Get an introduction to eighteen (18) unique behavioral science informed barriers to customer progress related to motivation, ability, and prompt.

How to leverage Applied Behavioral Science alongside JTBD-based Methods

Seeing and understanding your customers through the lens of jobs-to-be-done and applied behavioral science will make you a better founder, marketer, product manager, designer, researcher, and/or customer advocate.

Become more Customer Focused in whatever Role you perform within the Organization

Leverage The Wheel of Progress® to learn advanced listening skills (JTBD + BeSci) for conducting customer JTBD research.

JOHN GUSIFF

Cohort 10

Cohort 11

You’ve launched. Customers are using the product. But growth still isn’t where it should be—and it’s hard to tell what’s working, what’s not, or where to focus next. You’re in the most critical phase between early traction and scalable growth. The moves you make now will define your trajectory—and if you get them wrong, it’s hard to recover later. This course gives you the structure to get it right. Growth for Founders helps you lead with clarity—without needing to be a growth expert from day one. You’ll learn how to identify what’s driving value, what’s getting in the way, and how to align your team around focused, high-leverage growth efforts. Sean Ellis has been a trailblazer in this phase of growth—helping companies like Dropbox, LogMeIn, and Eventbrite turn early traction into repeatable, scalable systems. At Dropbox, he helped lay the foundation for the company’s rapid growth—setting in motion the systems that contributed to it becoming the fastest SaaS business to reach $1B in recurring revenue. And his frameworks have been used by countless other global successes ranging from TikTok to Nubank (the world's fastest growing bank). He knows what it takes to move fast without creating chaos—and how to lead growth in the uniquely cross-functional way only a founder can. In just two weeks, you’ll learn how to: - Choose a success metric that reflects real value—and use it to focus your team- Run the PMF survey to understand what makes your product a must-have (and for whom)- Build a growth model that maps how users experience value—and where growth breaks down- Prioritize experiments using the ICE framework to focus on what moves the needle- Design a 90-day plan to lead growth confidently—or hand it off with clarity- Avoid common early mistakes—from misaligned metrics to premature growth hires You’ll walk away with a clear roadmap, sharper instincts, and the confidence to lead—not guess—your way through this critical phase of growth.

The growth foundation every founder needs

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

Course syllabus

Live sessions run June 10–19, 2025 Each 90-minute session is hands-on and founder-focused. You’ll learn directly from Sean Ellis, applying his proven frameworks like the PMF Survey, Growth Model, and ICE prioritization to your own business in real time.

Tuesdays & Thursdays

Want feedback on your decisions or ideas? Sean will stay on after each session for an open group AMA to go deeper, clarify takeaways, or offer direct feedback on your unique growth challenges.

Optional AMAs after each live session

This isn’t theory. After each session, you’ll apply the material to your startup—refining your metric, uncovering growth levers, or aligning your team. Each project is designed to drive clarity and momentum you can act on immediately.

Projects after each live session

Course schedule

You’ve launched—but growth is unclear: Learn what drives growth, where users drop off, and how to build a repeatable system.

You’re hiring a Head of Growth soon: Get the tools to choose the right person, stay aligned, and support growth without dropping the baton.

You’re considering owning growth yourself: Build the skills to lead growth now—and decide if you want to own the role long term.

Who will benefit most from this course?

Use Sean’s proven PMF survey to identify what your best users value most—then turn those insights into sharper positioning and conversion. Originally developed by Sean, this survey has been used by top startups around the world to sharpen their growth strategy.

Nail messaging with the Must-Have Survey

Build a working growth model based on how users actually discover, activate, and return—so you can focus on what truly drives your metric.

Map your product’s real growth system

Pressure-test your North Star Metric to ensure it reflects real value—and align your team around a clear, focused measure of progress. Avoid the common mistake of rallying around a metric that misleads your team or misrepresents value.

Define and align around your success metric

Apply the ICE framework to spot and test improvements that move your metric—and don't just sound good in a brainstorm. Sean’s ICE framework is now a startup standard for fast, resource-conscious decision-making.

Prioritize fast, high-leverage experiments

Stop wasting time on surface-level wins, scattered tests, or premature hires. Learn when to double down, delegate, or hire—based on signal.

Avoid common growth missteps

Build a test-driven growth plan you can lead with confidence. You’ll leave with a 90-day roadmap to move your key metric—and a rhythm to keep momentum going. This is the same framework Sean has used in interim VP roles, now available publicly for the first time.

Build a focused 90-day growth plan

Turn early traction into repeatable growth. Learn the systems and tools founders need to lead early growth with confidence.

Sean Ellis

May 2025

Maybe you’re feeling stuck, burnt out, or not lit up by your full-time job anymore. Or, maybe you’re craving more balance, freedom, and ownership over how you spend your time. You might be realizing that your 9-5 isn’t as safe (or fulfilling) as it used to be. You’ve thought about going out on your own, but the “how” feels scary. → How do I position myself and standout?→ How do I find my first clients?→ How (and what) do I charge?→ How do I handle taxes and health insurance?→ How do I manage uncertainty? Moving away from the traditional career ladder can feel risky and confusing—but it doesn’t have to be this way. This course is designed for experienced full-time operators who are ready to explore independent consulting and don’t want to figure it out alone. I’ll walk you through the exact framework I used to launch a thriving, 6-figure fractional practice, step-by-step. What You'll LearnIn this 2-week sprint, we’ll get you out of idea mode and into action. You’ll learn how to:👉&nbsp;Sharpen your positioning and define the unique value you can offer to clients👉&nbsp;Build your initial pipeline of projects through proven sales and relationship-building strategies👉&nbsp;Follow a step-by-step playbook—with easy-to-apply templates—to take your practice from 0 to 1👉&nbsp;Stand up light-weight systems and tools to set your business up for success👉&nbsp;Gain confidence—through hands-on workshops, coaching, and community—to actually start this next step in your career Course FrameworkThis two-week sprint is jam packed with:👉&nbsp;4 Live Workshops👉&nbsp;2 Office Hours👉&nbsp;2 Projects for Feedback👉&nbsp;Async Feedback &amp; Community Support Why learn from me?I've spent the past decade working inside high-growth consumer startups like Rent the Runway, The Wing, and Tia. Three years ago, I left that world behind and launched my fractional consulting practice, Next Wave Marketing. Since then, I’ve worked with 25+ mission-driven clients I love, built a 6-figure fractional practice, and designed a career that fits into my life—not the other way around. Whether you're all-in on fractional work, in transition, or looking to diversify your income outside of your 9-5, I'm here to help you kickstart your independent journey with confidence. So, what are you waiting for?This way of working is powerful. Learning how to monetize your expertise and make money on your own terms gives you options. Leverage. Flexibility. Greater impact. Freedom. This path isn’t for everyone. But if you’ve been thinking about it for a while—if your gut is saying there has to be another way—I'm here to show you how.

Get off the sidelines and kickstart your independent consulting practice.

We'll come together for live, interactive workshops on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

Live Sessions – Monday & Wednesday

Have a question or want to workshop progress? Join office hours to get hands-on, actionable feedback from me and your peers.

Office Hours

Throughout the course, access bonus materials, pre-work, projects, and templates that you can directly apply to your business.

Async – Pre-Work, Post-Work & Templates

Full-Time Operators Looking For Greater Freedom + ImpactLearn how to monetize your expertise and diversify your income outside of your 9-5.

Senior Leaders (8+ Years of Experience) in TransitionAssess whether or not fractional work is the right path for your career journey.

New (&lt;6 mo) to Fractional WorkStandup your practice with confidence, clarity, and proven playbooks and accelerate the learning curve.

Who this course is for

You'll leave this course with:

Walk away with a focused, ownable way to describe what you do, who you help, and the unique value you bring.<ul><li>Define your initial offerings</li><li>Create your initial one-pager to use in outreach and discovery calls</li><li>Get personalized feedback from me and your peers</li></ul>

A clear positioning statement and offer suite that reflects your strengths

Learn proven, relationship-driven sales strategies to activate your network and attract your first clients—without feeling salesy.<ul><li>Apply proven, relationship-driven outreach strategies</li><li>Set up your lightweight CRM</li><li>Start building a pipeline of warm leads and referrals</li></ul>

Tactical networking & sales strategies to build your early pipeline and land your first projects

Take the guesswork out of pricing and scoping so you feel confident putting together proposals that close.<ul><li>Understand pricing models (hourly, retainer, project-based)</li><li>Define your pricing and offer strategy</li><li>Learn how to structure scopes that protect your time and value</li></ul>

Proven techniques to scope, price & set up client engagements for success

Leave with a step-by-step action plan and templates to launch your fractional practice, whether you're taking the leaping now or easing into it over time, including:<ul><li>Outreach Templates</li><li>Discovery Call Scripts</li><li>Scope &amp; Contract Templates</li><li>Systems Starter Kit</li></ul>

Templates, tools, systems, and a clear action plan to go from 0 to 1

You don't have to figure this out alone. Accelerate your transition with confidence with through:<ul><li>Personalized feedback on your positioning statement &amp; sales plan</li><li>Weekly office hours for 1:1 support</li><li>Collaboration and connections with operators navigating similar challenges</li></ul>

Personalized feedback and peer support from other operators navigating this transition

Kickstart your independent consulting practice with confidence; learn positioning, pricing, and sales fundamentals to land your first client

Emily Hollender

Fractional Operator | Startup Advisor

Cohort 1

The ChallengeWhen you start work each day, where’s the first place you look: your goals or someone else’s messages? Your days are filled with:🗓️ back-to-back meetings,🚀 sky-high customer or investor expectations,⏱️ wishes that your team could move faster sooner,🔥 wishes that you could move even faster and work on what really matters instead of fighting fires. You start each day with the best intentions, but somehow find yourself constantly reacting instead of leading.&nbsp;Sure, it would be nice to focus on your own goals, but you care about those other people (or at least some of them 😁). They’re colleagues and customers, family and friends... How can you collaborate with them responsively without forsaking your goals and becoming just a (re-)Actor in their story? 🎬 ✨ You wonder if AI can help, you wonder how other leaders are using AI to manage it all and manage their teams--but honestly, who's got the time to figure that out? ⏳ As you try to move faster, people fall short of your expectations and their potential. It causes friction and frustration (even if you hide it well). It's uncomfortable to call out, so you avoid giving feedback or mention it lightly, which makes the situation more uncomfortable. Eventually, you decide to give feedback. Sometimes it goes okay. Often, you try to move through and out of the conversation as quickly as possible because it feels so awkward. Growth and improvements rarely last. You take on more work yourself to get it done. The Solution (Evidence-based. Immediately applicable.)⏱️&nbsp;EVERYTHING YOU READ BELOW WILL BE ORIENTED TO IMMEDIATE APPLICATION DURING THE COURSE ⏱️What if you could shift from being a re-Actor in someone else's story to becoming the (co-) Author of your own? This course will support you, step by step, in building your Operating System to make this shift. Fancy apps aren't enough. Nor are bursts of motivation. A sustainable Operating System has 3 features:🧰 Tools (simple enough to keep using, and amplified by AI)🔁&nbsp;Habits (the tools don't use themselves...except for some of the AI ones we'll build)🧠 Mindsets (you can "productively" spend your life responding to other people's messages and requests--or build something that matters) No, "perfection" isn't possible (or even desirable). But our days--and our results--completely shift when we focus our attention systematically instead of ad-hoc and reactively. And our conversations shift when we stop trying to fix people and start inspiring them to take action and grow. We teach you how to do this by using straightforward approaches that reliably transform defensiveness and friction into self-reflection, connection, and motivation to grow. You will start to look forward to feedback conversations because you will know how to use them as powerful tools for building trust and deepening connection. You will also explore your own mindsets and beliefs around feedback, identifying your own patterns around conflict avoidance, people-pleasing, and controlling behaviors. AI is woven throughout the course, including:1️⃣ building your own Custom GPTs2️⃣&nbsp;mastering your calendar3️⃣ using AI as a practice partner for difficult conversations and coaching skills4️⃣ helping your team use AI, and so much more! Once you've shifted the way you manage yourself and lead your team conversations, applying evidence-based approaches tested with 1000s of managers and amplified with AI, the whole game becomes fun again. Bonus:📝 You will also get 5 step-by-step facilitation guides for sharing and teaching your team members everything we cover in this course. This helps establish shared language and frameworks within your team/organization, and positions you as the leader of change. 📖&nbsp;You'll also get our 20-page Offsite Playbook with step-by-step guidance on how to design and facilitate unforgettable team and company gatherings. 🚀 And you'll get to do this while in a practice lab with other high-growth leaders.

Spend your days fighting fires or each other?

Sundays (+ 1 Thursday)

Weekly Office Hours

High-Growth ManagersReady to move out of IC mode, you want to be the inspiring leader people thank for the rest of their careers.

ExecutivesYou know there's a better way than back-to-back meetings everyday. To scale your impact, you know you must scale yourself first

Startup FoundersYou're expanding your focus from building a product to building a team. And to do so, you need the team to step up fast.

Who is this course for

You'll have the Inner and Outer Game in place:<ul><li>A systematic set of habits, tools, and mindsets to define What Matters Most each day and week</li><li>You'll be using your emotions as signals for what needs to happen next</li><li>Your mind will be at ease</li></ul>

Clear Focus & Emotional Balance

Whether you're currently intimidated by AI, curious, or all-in, you will:<ul><li>know exactly how to leverage Claude and ChatGPT to improve your skills and help you prepare for key conversations</li><li>have your own CustomGPT to do a recurring management task FOR you</li></ul>

AI As Your Ally (including your own CustomGPT)

<ul><li>Next Actions template (simplest tool possible to stay organized)</li><li>Weekly Preview Checklist (define what matters most and who should do it)</li><li>Daily Defining Checklist</li></ul>

The Operating System (feel on top of your s***)

<ul><li>Know how to decide WHAT to delegate to increase your leverage</li><li>Know HOW to delegate (to a person or AI) in ways that build confidence and follow-through</li></ul>

The Leverage Framework

<ul><li>GAIN Template for how to structure feedback conversations that inspire response-ability, action, and growth</li><li>how to use AI to prepare and practice</li></ul>

GAIN Feedback Framework

<ul><li>GROW Template for coaching conversations</li><li>The key skill to coach effectively</li><li>Know the difference between a feedback and a coaching conversation</li><li>how to use AI to practice and get feedback on a coaching conversation</li></ul>

GROW Coaching Framework

What if you felt on top of everything and your team were aligning and growing through every conversation with you?

Lightning Lessons

I'll help you add $1 million to your bottom line