Brand Founder Academy The six stops
01 · Start Here
The deal, the rules, and why any of this is possible without a fortune behind you.
You leave with: A public commitment and a founder's vocabulary.
02 · Sharpen
Turn a vague idea into a clear bet: your why, your edge, the customer who actually exists, and the one assumption that could sink it.
You leave with: A finished Brand Brief and your riskiest assumption, named.
03 · Make It Real
The part where people start to believe you. A name that holds up, a brand identity, product photos taken before the product exists, and a page you can send to anyone.
You leave with: A name, a brand, a look book and a live web page.
04 · Validate
Go get evidence. Put the page in front of people who don't know you and watch what they actually do, not what they politely say.
You leave with: A decision backed by numbers: pass, sharpen or pivot.
05 · Your Roadmap
Work out what a first run would cost and how you'd pay for it. Then AI turns your answers into your plan.
You leave with: A personal roadmap for everything that comes next.
06 · Graduation
Look back at what you built from nothing, and decide what to do with it.
You leave with: Proof you can do this, and a decision to make.
The 4 rules
- 1 · Show up.
- Nobody fails this because their idea was bad. They fail in the gaps. Some days you'll have an hour, some days 15 minutes. Give it what you have, but give it something.
- 2 · Cheap is the point.
- The MVP Accelerator is free. Everything else stays under a hard limit of $200. When you can't spend your way past a question, you have to go and answer it.
- 3 · Data over feelings.
- Your mom loves your idea. Your best friend says it's brilliant. That's kindness, not evidence. Go get real evidence and let it make the call.
- 4 · Build in public.
- Starting today. Not polished, not perfect, just visible. The founders who post their rough first drafts are the ones who finish.
B.Y.O.B. · Build Your Own Brand
How every lesson works
In every lesson with real work in it, the laptop comes out and Pete does that work on camera, for real, mistakes included. Then you do the same steps on your own idea.
The brand Pete builds alongside you is Mauna, a Hawaiian electrolyte stick for people who spend all day outdoors. It starts at zero, same as yours.
Your first move
- Open the Brand Founder Academy community.
- Post 3 sentences.Who you are and where you're from, what you want to build (a vague idea is fine), and that you're starting.
- Hit post.That's the whole ask. 5 minutes. Not your pitch, not a business plan, just the smallest step that says you're in.