🚀 Phase 3 — Ship It · Week 11

Ship a Full Product

⏱ ~6 hours 📚 4 lessons 🛠 All tools · Whimsical · Claude AI

Scope it. Wireframe it. Build it. Test it. Ship it. This is the week everything comes together into one real product you built from scratch.

Lesson 1 of 4

🗺 Scoping Your Capstone Product

This week you build something real — your capstone project. The most common mistake beginners make: scoping too big. A focused, finished product beats an ambitious, half-built one every time.

📋
The one-page brief

Before writing a single line of code, fill out: (1) What does it do in one sentence? (2) Who is it for? (3) What's the one main action a user takes? (4) What are you NOT building? That last one is the most important.

Help me scope a web app project. My idea: [describe it]. Help me: 1. Write a one-sentence description of what it does 2. Define the one core user action 3. List 3 features for the MVP (minimum viable version) 4. List 3 features to cut from the MVP (save for later) 5. Estimate if this is buildable in a week for a beginner Be honest if I'm scoping too big.

Lesson 2 of 4

🎨 Wireframe Before You Build

A wireframe is a rough sketch of what your app will look like — boxes and labels, no colors or details. Spending 30 minutes wireframing before coding saves hours of rebuilding later.

1

Use Whimsical (free, browser-based)

Go to whimsical.com → New → Wireframe. Drag boxes, add labels, draw arrows showing user flow.

2

Map each screen your user sees

Landing/home → main app screen → result/success state. Even 3 simple boxes helps clarify what you're building.

3

Share the wireframe with Claude

Screenshot your wireframe and paste it into Claude. Ask: "Based on this wireframe, what HTML structure and components should I build first?"

Lesson 3 of 4

🧪 Testing Before You Share

Before you share anything, test it yourself — systematically. Not just "does it work," but "what happens when someone uses it wrong?"

☐ Does the main feature work end-to-end?
☐ What if the user leaves a field empty?
☐ What if the API call fails?
☐ Does it work on mobile?
☐ Is the loading state handled?
☐ Is the success state clear to the user?
☐ Would a stranger understand how to use it without instructions?
Lesson 4 of 4

📣 Writing Your Product Description

You built something. Now tell people about it in a way that makes them want to try it. One paragraph, written like a human, not a press release.

Write a product description for my app: [describe it]. Target reader: [who would use this] Write: - 1 punchy opener sentence - 2-3 sentences on what it does and why it's useful - 1 sentence on what makes it different or interesting Keep it under 80 words. Sound like a founder, not a marketer.

🏗 Week 11 Project

Your Capstone: An AI-Powered Mini-Product

Build This

A polished, working tool that combines what you've learned

Use any combination of: HTML/CSS/JS, Claude API, Airtable, Make automations, Netlify/Replit. Make it genuinely useful — even for one person (you).

  • Scope it with the one-page brief
  • Wireframe before coding
  • Build the MVP — cut anything non-essential
  • Test it against the checklist above
  • Write a product description
  • Deploy it and share the link

Week 11 Done!

Mark it complete and keep your momentum going.

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