13. The Week Rule to Prevent Failure

The urge to ship can turn initial excitement into months of avoidable work. A short research period can expose fatal assumptions about demand, competition, pricing, distribution, or technical feasibility while changing direction is still cheap. The goal is not paralysis; it is moving the first meaningful feedback forward.

Before development, reserve at least a few weeks for a structured scan of customers, substitutes, economics, channels, and constraints. Write what would make you abandon or reshape the idea. If the opportunity survives and remains exciting, build; if not, count the early pivot as saved time.

Original sketch and model by Paras Chopra. Read the source chapter.