When to Stop
Anyone running something that may or may not be working, and anyone deciding whether to start at all. ENT-103 is useful before this but is not required.
What you will be able to do
- Set kill criteria in advance, in writing, while you can still think clearly.
- Distinguish a slow start from a dead idea using evidence rather than mood.
- Recognise sunk-cost reasoning in your own head, not only in a definition.
- Close something down without damaging relationships, credit or your own record.
- Judge honestly whether self-employment is the right path for you at this point.
How this is assessed
Kill criteria set in advance, and one honest post-mortemSubmit two documents. First, kill criteria for a live venture: the specific number, the specific date, and the named person who will hold you to it, with their agreement noted. Second, a post-mortem of something you have already stopped — a venture, a project, a job, a course, a partnership. If you have never stopped anything, analyse a documented case instead and say why you chose it. A practitioner reads both against the rubric below and returns a written mark. If it does not pass, you get the reasons and one resubmission.
| Grade | What earns it |
|---|---|
| Pass | Kill criteria stated as a specific number by a specific date with a named person attached, and a completed post-mortem of something genuinely stopped. |
| Merit | Criteria you would plausibly act on, and a post-mortem that identifies the decision point actually missed rather than the one that is comfortable to name. |
| Distinction | The post-mortem separates what the evidence said at the time from what you know now, with no hindsight smuggled in. |
Before you submit
- The kill criteria state a specific number and a specific date, not a condition in words.
- A named person has agreed to hold you to it, and knows both the number and the date.
- You have written why this number, and whether hitting it would make you uncomfortable.
- The post-mortem states what you decided, when, and what the evidence was at the time.
- It names the decision point you now think you missed.
- For merit: criteria you would genuinely act on, not a formality set where failure is already total.
- For distinction: no hindsight is smuggled in — what the evidence said then is kept separate from what you know now.
Handing it in
Marked by a founder, operator or coach who has closed something down and can assess the quality of the reasoning rather than the outcome. You will need an account to submit, so that the mark has somewhere to land. Sign in or create one. The modules are open either way.
Modules
6 modules, self-paced. Nothing is timed and nothing is scored.
- 1Why the decision is made before you are attached to the answerThe one moment you can think about this clearly is now.
- 2Kill criteriaThe number, the date, and the person who holds you to it.
- 3Slow or deadThe evidence that tells a slow start apart from a dead idea.
- 4Sunk cost in your own headCatching the reasoning as you do it, not recognising it afterwards.
- 5Winding down wellCustomers, suppliers, staff, money, and your name.
- 6What you keepSkills, evidence and relationships survive the venture.
This course stacks
Finds a problem worth solving, prices the answer from a floor they can defend, and sets the criteria for stopping before they are too attached to apply them.
A credential is issued when all of its artifacts have passed. It records the courses, the bands and the dates, nothing else, and no score.