The AcademyIntermediate
Become a Value-First Practitioner
What you'll build
A methodology-coach agent on valuefirstagent.com configured with the Five Core Beliefs, the 8 Value Path stages, and the Four Conversations — that takes a real relationship and returns its Value Path stage plus the right next conversation. The credential (certificate property on your Contact) is the recognition; the agent is the proof of mastery.
The live cadence
How the live thing runs for this path.
Cohort-paced — the credential runs as a facilitated cohort with a defined start, backed by weekly Office Hours. Until a cohort is scheduled, runs Office-Hours-paced with the certification exam as the gate. LAUNCHES AS WAITLIST/APPLY.
There is no live cohort scheduled for this path yet. Apply below to join the waitlist — and you can join the weekly build clinic any week in the meantime.
The build, step by step
What you'll do, in order.
- Internalize the Five Core BeliefsStart at the foundation every methodology choice traces back to. Name each belief and spot its violation in a real org. (Practitioner Certification Module 1.)
- Master the 8 Value Path stagesAudience through Champion — Path TO Value and Path OF Value. Learn each transition trigger and the signals that a relationship is ready to progress. (Module 2.)
- Make the Four Unified Views and Three-Org Model fluentExplain how the four views eliminate fragmentation and how Customer/Operations/Finance map onto them — the operating frame you'll coach clients through. (Module 3.)
- Conduct the Four Conversations without compressionProbative, Qualifying, Value, Closing/Options. Surface a Desired Future State through questions, let value set the anchor, build three-option architecture. (Module 4.)
- Build your methodology-coach agentOn valuefirstagent.com, build the agent that encodes what you learned: feed it a relationship, it returns the Value Path stage and the right next conversation. Configuring it correctly IS demonstrating mastery.
- Pass the certification + earn your listingTake the practitioner exam (the gate). On a pass your certificate property is written to your Contact and you become eligible for the Collective practitioner directory — the cohort hands you off to valuefirstcollective.com.
Where the build becomes real
You build it on valuefirstagent.com.
build a methodology-coach agent: input a relationship, output its Value Path stage and the next of the Four Conversations.
Apply
Get on the list for this path.
Tell us where to reach you. We'll let you know the moment a cohort opens — and you're welcome at the weekly clinic any time.
Keep watching
Recent conversations to learn from.
Value-First AI DailyJuly 31, 2026
Value-First AI Daily - Jul 31, 2026
Ep. 8 opened on the problem Chris has not solved: agents that understand time too well. He had started the show prep about ten minutes before the hour, and the…
Open the episodeValue-First AI DailyJuly 30, 2026
Value-First AI Daily - Jul 30, 2026
Ep. 7 opened on a command that had run itself: Chris Carolan's morning schedule pass had set up his whole calendar and then, for the first time, prepped the…
Open the episodeThe AI-Native Shift - Beyond Industrial DefaultsJuly 29, 2026
Your Agents Are Only as Free as Your Rules — Part 3: Empowerment over Learned Helplessness
Belief two of five: Empowerment over Learned Helplessness. Trisha Merriam, Chris Carolan and Erin Wiggers take on the one that gets personal fastest, because…
Open the episodeThe next step
You're building. Here's where it goes next.
And then, the rest of the path:
- Practice with peersComing soon
- Teach the next personthe Academy