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Capstone: Full Mock Loop1 / 2

2 min lesson

Build the loop before you run it

Walk through "Build the loop before you run it" in order, then name the proof that tells you it worked.

Step 1 of 2

Build the loop before you run itOne setup pass, then you can rerun any stage cold

  1. 1Recruit a partner - or record yourself. Ideally one human who can switch hats: warm recruiter, skeptical engineering buyer, metrics-driven hiring manager, then an AE. If you are solo, run each stage to a recording and grade the playback. A real voice on the other end is worth a lot, so trade reps with another candidate if you can.
  2. 2Brief them on the persona. Hand your partner one paragraph per role: what to push on, what objections to throw, what a strong answer sounds like. A buyer who is randomly nice teaches you nothing.
  3. 3Time-box every stage to the real length. A 30-minute screen runs 30 minutes. The cold call is one live shot with no restart. The take-home gets a hard deadline and a closed tab.
  4. 4Sequence in the real order. Screen, then call, then take-home, then behavioral. Stamina is a skill - answering your fifth hard question of the day is different from answering your first.
  5. 5Capture an artifact from each stage. A call recording, the actual email you wrote, your spoken answers. You cannot grade what you did not record and memory flatters you.
Watch out

Cursor screens hard for whether you actually use and love the product, weighing genuine product passion over 'just a job' energy. So your mock has to respect a real Cursor norm: do the writing and the role-play unaided. If you lean on an AI to draft your cold email in practice, you are rehearsing a skill you cannot use in the room and you are dodging the exact thing they want to see - your own judgment and voice.

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Full explanation

Why the full loop, not five drills

Why the full loop, not five drills

Each stage is testing the same person under a different lens. The recruiter checks motivation, the call checks composure, the take-home checks your writing, the AE checks whether they would trust your pipeline. Running them back to back surfaces the cracks that only show up when you are tired - the rushed close, the over-long answer, the email typo at minute 50.

QWhy is it important to do the written take-home unaided in your mock, even though no one is watching?