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Dawvia’s public Levels-aligned wedge page: 14-day real payment loop, Concierge delivery, kill rules; not a Photo AI clone; secrets never on the page.

Two-week paid validation wedge — charge first, automate later

Dawvia applies Pieter Levels（@levelsio）validation discipline to one public wedge path: within 14 days, complete real payment → perceptible delivery. Miss the bar → kill. Hit the bar → then automate. This page is an external explainer, not a fundraising story and not a Photo AI / headshot category clone.

Authoritative spec: docs/pieter-levels-case-dawvia-playbook-20260715.md (v1.0.0-levels-playbook). This page covers the Wedge A paid-validation loop only; no dual-source / delivery-os / trade-protocol work.

System breakdown

| # | Sub-problem | Answer on this page | |---|-------------|---------------------| | Q1 | Why charge before automation? | Automation optimizes a proven loop; it is not a prerequisite (G-LV2) | | Q2 | What does the wedge sell / not sell? | One vertical runnable capability pack; no Photo AI entertainment category | | Q3 | How do the 14 days run? | D0 charter → Checkout → Concierge → D14 decision | | Q4 | What counts as pass? | Non-internal paid count N, refund rate R, SLA, unit economics | | Q5 | When to kill? | N far below bar, R blown, negative unit economics, or free enthusiasm only | | Q6 | How are secrets handled? | No keys or plaintext delivery artifacts on page/public logs; metrics from payment ledger only |

Capability domains: acquisition → paid validation → Concierge delivery → decision (Kill / Iterate / Automate) → (optional) automation upgrade.

What we copy vs what we refuse

| Copy (method) | Refuse | |---------------|--------| | Two-week payable MVP; human delivery before automation | Photo AI / Interior AI category | | Single page + hosted Checkout; real charges | PHP/jQuery/SQLite stack | | Kill discipline + publicly auditable metrics | Solo influencer IP as the only growth engine | | Vertical need + subscription shape | Domestic livestream-style $0.99 dump pricing |

One line: copy validation discipline and commercial loop shape — not category, not stack, not “must be an influencer”.

Wedge SKU (validation minimum)

Validation allows exactly one SKU (BD-LV1). Parallel wedges dilute the signal.

| Field | Value | |-------|-------| | sku_id | lv_wedge_a_v0 | | kind | CK-Skill or CK-Prompt (pick one; never both in one validation) | | Shape | Paid runnable capability pack: one pain → one demoable result → one price → one checkout | | price | One-shot $29 or monthly $19 (test only one price) | | delivery | concierge: payment success → ticket → human/semi-auto delivery via email or Console | | sla | ≤ 24h (timezone pinned) | | Slogan direction (pick one) | Fire your release babysitter / Stop burning quota on the wrong account |

Forbidden: $0.99 dump pricing, free trials counting as paid validation, internal orders inflating N.

Main flows (MF-LV)

MF-LV1 Charter (D0)

  1. Write pain / promise / price / delivery / kill thresholds.
  2. Name one Owner; backup may be empty (capacity = Owner hours).
  3. Gate: any blank field → refuse charter.

MF-LV2 Paid checkout

  1. Visitor opens wedge landing → hosted Checkout (reuse PaymentGateway; no parallel billing system).
  2. Idempotency key = sku_id + buyer_id + attempt.
  3. payment.succeeded → create ops_ticket or entitlement; buyer gets “paid, delivering” receipt.
  4. Gate: no succeeded event → never enter delivery. No real payment = validation has not started.

MF-LV3 Concierge delivery

  1. Owner claims ticket → produce result (human or semi-auto).
  2. Delivery channel stores result hash/link; plaintext results and secrets never enter unrelated logs or this page.
  3. Buyer confirm or SLA policy → delivered.
  4. Gate: timeout → SLA breach handling (validation default: refund).

MF-LV4 Decision (D14)

Aggregate paid count, refund rate, margin, SLA breach rate, feedback — choose one:

  • kill — stop heavy assets; return to next wedge W0
  • iterate_price_or_promise — another 14-day box
  • automate_to_L1 — semi-auto prerun + human review

MF-LV5 Build in Public Lite (parallel)

Daily public: new paid count, cumulative refunds, known issues. No unaudited MRR myths; metrics must trace to payment events.

MF-LV6 Automation upgrade (only after pass)

L0 Concierge → L1 Semi → L2 Auto → L3 Scale (tiered subscription). Automation is not a validation prerequisite.

Two-week timebox

| Day | Output | Exit if | |-----|--------|---------| | D0 | One-pager | Pain unclear → no D1 | | D1–D2 | Landing + Checkout | Cannot create test payment → stop | | D3 | Webhook → workable ticket | No payment success → stop | | D4–D5 | 5–10 seed users with real charges | Free-only → does not count | | D6–D10 | Public iteration + friction fixes | Refund rate blown → retune or kill | | D11–D14 | Aggregate → Kill / Iterate / Automate | See kill rules |

Kill rules and metrics (required)

| Metric | Default bar | Meaning | |--------|-------------|---------| | Paid count N | N ≥ 10 | Non-internal payment.succeeded in 14 days | | Refund rate R | R ≤ 10% | Refunds / paid | | SLA breach rate | ≤ 5% | Late deliveries / paid | | Unit economics | > 0 | Price − payment fees − avg human hours |

| Condition | Decision | |-----------|----------| | N, R, SLA, unit economics all pass | automate_to_L1 | | N near bar but promise/price wrong | iterate_price_or_promise | | N far below, or R blown, or negative unit economics | kill | | Free enthusiasm only, no paid | kill (do not iterate features) |

Anti-metrics (never treat as success): landing UV, likes, celebrity RTs, signup counts, internal order stuffing.

Exceptions and boundaries

Exceptions (fail-closed)

| ID | Scene | Handling | |----|-------|----------| | XE-LV1 | Lost webhook | Reconcile from provider events; backfill ticket | | XE-LV2 | Duplicate webhook | Dedupe on idempotency key | | XE-LV3 | In-window refund | Full refund + revoke entitlement / close ticket | | XE-LV4 | SLA breach | Validation default: auto refund | | XE-LV5 | Deliverer unavailable | Stop selling + announce; no oversell | | XE-LV6 | Fraud / chargeback | Freeze entitlement + chargeback flow | | XE-LV7 | Region non-compliant | Switch MoR/channel or refuse sale | | XE-LV8 | Public metrics ≠ ledger | Unpublish numbers until reconciled |

Boundaries

| ID | Rule | |----|------| | BD-LV1 | Exactly one validation SKU | | BD-LV2 | Friend orders must real-charge; internal excluded from N | | BD-LV3 | Free trials do not count toward paid pass | | BD-LV4 | Hit daily capacity C → stop selling | | BD-LV5 | Out-of-promise asks refused or separate paid ticket | | BD-LV6 | Validation bypass allowed; must remove or audit-gate before L2 | | BD-LV7 | No dumping price below cost to inflate N | | BD-LV8 | Author IP may help growth; platform contracts unbound to one influencer |

Secrets and safety (hard constraints)

  • Never paste API keys, webhook secrets, Checkout session secrets, DB DSNs, private keys, or buyer PII into this page, landing copy, public changelog, or screenshots.
  • Delivery results referenced by hash / controlled link; plaintext stays out of unrelated logs.
  • Build in Public publishes auditable ops metrics only — not unaudited revenue myths.
  • Overseas path defaults to Stripe / hosted MoR; region capabilities follow compliance gating — refuse sale rather than bypass.

Assumptions and risks

Assumptions (H-LV)

| ID | Assumption | If false | |----|------------|----------| | H-LV1 | Buyers pay ≥ $19 for vertical time-saved results | Change pain or Kill | | H-LV2 | PaymentGateway can run small live traffic in 2 days | Fix payments first | | H-LV3 | Concierge can support N deliveries | Lower N / raise price / stop selling | | H-LV4 | Auditable public metrics help conversion and stay compliant | Shrink disclosure | | H-LV5 | Overseas cards are the first buyer path | Adjust channel/MoR | | H-LV6 | Single-wedge signal beats multi-feature narrative | Refuse a second parallel wedge | | H-LV7 | Dual author/platform brand reduces IP single-point risk | Strengthen terms + SLA | | H-LV8 | Existing Skill/Prompt chain can host L2 | Else Concierge service SKU only |

Risks (R-LV)

| ID | Risk | Mitigation | |----|------|------------| | R-LV1 | Keep platform-stacking and skip validation | W0 gate; no heavy assets without N | | R-LV2 | Unstable Concierge quality | SLA auto-refund; capacity cap | | R-LV3 | Inaccurate public metrics | Metrics from payment ledger only | | R-LV4 | Dump pricing destroys margin | BD-LV7 pricing discipline | | R-LV5 | Cross-border pay/tax/copyright | Compliance gating + MoR + listing scan | | R-LV6 | Author IP overload | Multi-author + platform brand | | R-LV7 | Human bypass becomes a security hole | L2 gate removes bypass or forces audit role | | R-LV8 | Early Bundle dilutes focus | Bundle only at L3 | | R-LV9 | Treating Levels public revenue as internal OKR | Public self-report ≠ audit target | | R-LV10 | Digital goods cloned | Subscription + continuous updates + execution differentiation |

Self-check

Default output requirements

| Requirement | Location | |-------------|----------| | System breakdown | Section above | | Main flows, exceptions, boundaries | MF-LV* / XE-LV* / BD-LV* | | Assumptions and risks | H-LV* / R-LV* | | Self-check | This section |

Acceptance checklist (LV-WEB-01)

  • [x] File exists (zh primary + en pair for site bilingual gate)
  • [x] Paid validation / kill points present (N/R/SLA, Kill/Iterate/Automate)
  • [x] No secrets (no API key / secret / DSN / private-key samples)
  • [x] Self-check (this section)
  • [x] Charge-first-then-automate; not a Photo AI clone

Main-flow coverage

  • [x] MF-LV1 charter
  • [x] MF-LV2 payment
  • [x] MF-LV3 delivery
  • [x] MF-LV4 decision
  • [x] MF-LV5 public trust
  • [x] MF-LV6 automation upgrade (post-validation)

Open questions (do not block publishing this page)

| ID | Question | Close by | |----|----------|----------| | Q-LV1 | Final pain copy | Lock after W0 interviews (5 people) | | Q-LV2 | Skill vs Prompt kind | Depends on execution protection needs | | Q-LV3 | Is N=10 too high? | May lower to N=5; never drop the paid bar | | Q-LV4 | Concierge legal characterization | Legal review of service-terms template |

Next steps