RESULT

The CEO's 2-Minute Roadmap Risk Audit

Based on our internal vision or a direct request from upper management.

Based on what competitors are launching or what our loudest customer is asking for.

Based on a structured process of recent interviews with our target market, focused on their pains, not our solutions.

We create UI mockups and show them to a few customers to get their opinion.

We spec it out and start building the MVP. We need to ship code to learn.

We create a functional, interactive prototype in under 24 hours – often using AI tools – and test if users can achieve a goal with it.

We look at what competitors charge and pick a number that feels right.

We ask potential customers "what would you be willing to pay for this?".

We test the complete offer (value proposition + price) to get a concrete commitment before it's built.

A significant portion was spent on features that didn't get the market traction we'd hoped for.

We had some clear wins, but it's inconsistent. It feels like a gamble which projects will pay off.

We can trace our development spend to predictable revenue. Our roadmap is an asset, not a gamble.

A waiting list of qualified customers who have already validated the need and the offer.

The feedback from our beta testers, who are usually existing, friendly customers.

The quality of our code and the strength of our marketing push after the launch.