the-first-mile-mapperlisted

> **Check the events exist before designing on them.** An activation path measured on events that are > not instrumented is a diagram, not a plan, and this is a common real state: a declared north-star > metric with zero events configured behind it. For each step, ask whether the event is currently > tracked, and mark it `tracked`, `partially tracked`, or `not tracked`. Where the aha moment itself is > not tracked, instrumenting it is the first recommendation and everything downstream waits on it — > say that rather than delivering a flow whose drop-off can never be measured. > **Map both funnels before optimising either.** Read **The Product-Qualified Path, and Why MQL Alone > Is the Wrong Model** in `references/funnel-benchmarks.md`. > > - **Ask whether any self-serve path exists** before assuming a single sales-led funnel. Most companies > with a signup form are running two funnels and measuring one. > - Sales-led qualifies on **MQL**, product-led on **PQL** — a PQL has used the product and shown buying > behaviour, an MQL downloaded something. Bare logins never qualify: a habitual logger with no > expansion behaviour is a habitual user, and those are disproportionately the accounts quietly > evaluating alternatives. > - **Where both paths run, compare them.** A measured case showed MQL→SQL of 10.9% against PQL→SQL of > 57.9% at the same company — a 5.3x gap at the qualifying step, where the leverage is routing traffic > into the product path rather than repa