What is a validation gate?

A validation gate is a rule you set before you start: we only build X once Y is true. Y is something you can observe, like a number of active users, a number of pre-sales or a repeated request from real customers. The point is to decide while you are still calm, not halfway through when you are attached to the idea.

Examples

From Plumerie's business plan:

• Charge money only after 200 active users, clear usage patterns and retention data.
• Friend connections wait until 30–50 users have libraries. Book clubs wait for 100+ users with friend networks.
• Dark mode waits for 10 or more requests.

From our own plan for One Small Ship: the OS pack must sell 15 copies in 30 days before we build anything bigger, and a cohort only runs if 12 seats are paid by the enrolment deadline.

Gates beat roadmaps with dates

A roadmap with dates tells you when to build something. A gate tells you whether it's time. Features scored on mission fit, documented demand and revenue, each with a trigger instead of a deadline, keep a small team from building things nobody asked for yet.

Pair it with a "does not assume" list

Next to the gates, write down what your plan does not depend on: viral growth, press, grants, paid ads, app-store featuring, big partnership deals. Any of those would be a bonus. If one of them is quietly holding up the whole plan, you have found your real risk.

Common mistakes

• Setting the gate after you've already built the thing.
• Gates nobody can measure. "Strong interest" is not a gate; "15 paid pre-orders" is.
• Moving the gate when it isn't met. Change the plan instead, out loud.

Gates show up again at conversion time as the capacity gate, and product loops are often what gets you over them.