Reference · Phase 3 — Go-to-Market & Execution

Operating Model, KPI Tree & Decision Gates

Load when operating model, decision rights, governance, RACI, KPI tree, the five decision gates.

Part of the Product Strategy skill · loaded on demand from SKILL.md

Part of the product-strategy skill. See SKILL.md for the workflow spine and when to load this file.

XV. Operating Model & Governance

Purpose

Define how the product will be owned, built, governed, and scaled.

Operating Model Components

Define ownership for:

  • Product strategy
  • Product management
  • Engineering
  • Design
  • Data
  • Analytics
  • Marketing
  • Sales
  • Customer support
  • Operations
  • Risk
  • Compliance
  • Legal
  • Finance
  • Vendor management
  • Partner management

Decision Rights

Clarify who decides:

  • Product roadmap
  • Pricing
  • Customer eligibility
  • Risk appetite
  • Partner selection
  • Vendor selection
  • Launch readiness
  • Regulatory interpretation
  • Budget allocation
  • KPI targets
  • Feature de-scoping
  • Market expansion

Governance Forums

Potential forums include:

  • Executive steering committee
  • Product council
  • Risk and compliance committee
  • Launch readiness forum
  • Vendor governance forum
  • Growth review
  • KPI / performance review
  • Incident review
  • Customer feedback review

RACI Template

ActivityResponsibleAccountableConsultedInformed

Operating Model Outputs

  • Target operating model
  • RACI
  • Governance cadence
  • Decision rights
  • Resourcing plan
  • Hiring plan
  • Vendor management model
  • Launch governance
  • Escalation path

XVI. KPI Tree & Targets

Purpose

Define how success will be measured across acquisition, engagement, economics, customer experience, and risk.

A. Acquisition KPIs

  • Awareness
  • Reach
  • Leads
  • Applications
  • Sign-ups
  • Approvals
  • Qualified users
  • Activated users
  • First-use
  • CAC
  • Channel conversion
  • Cost per lead
  • Cost per activation

B. Engagement KPIs

  • MAU
  • WAU
  • DAU
  • Transactions per active user
  • Sessions per user
  • Usage frequency
  • Feature adoption
  • Repeat-use rate
  • Channel mix
  • Tokenized or digital share, where relevant
  • Time-to-value
  • Retention
  • Churn

C. Monetization KPIs

  • ARPU
  • ARPA
  • Revenue per transaction
  • Subscription conversion
  • Paid conversion
  • Gross margin
  • Contribution margin
  • Take rate
  • Upgrade rate
  • Cross-sell rate
  • Expansion revenue
  • LTV
  • CAC payback
  • LTV:CAC

D. Customer Experience KPIs

  • NPS
  • CSAT
  • CES
  • App rating
  • Support contact rate
  • First contact resolution
  • Complaint rate
  • Time to resolution
  • Onboarding completion
  • Drop-off rate
  • Trust or satisfaction measures

E. Risk and Compliance KPIs

  • Fraud rate
  • Loss rate
  • Chargeback or dispute rate
  • Refund rate
  • Compliance findings
  • Audit issues
  • SLA breaches
  • Operational incidents
  • Model exceptions
  • Manual review rate
  • Regulatory complaints

F. KPI Tree Template

North Star Metric
├── Acquisition
│   ├── Reach
│   ├── Conversion
│   └── Activation
├── Engagement
│   ├── Frequency
│   ├── Repeat usage
│   └── Retention
├── Monetization
│   ├── ARPU
│   ├── Margin
│   └── Payback
└── Risk / Experience
    ├── Complaints
    ├── Losses
    └── Satisfaction

XVII. Decision Gates

Purpose

Create explicit points to proceed, pause, pivot, or stop.

Gate 1 — Market Attractiveness Confirmed

Proceed if:

  • Market is large enough
  • Segment is reachable
  • Customer need is material
  • Competitive white space exists
  • Opportunity aligns with strategy
  • Risks are understood

Pause or pivot if:

  • Market is too small
  • Customer need is weak
  • Competitive intensity is too high
  • Client has no right-to-win

Gate 2 — Product Desirability Validated

Proceed if:

  • Customers understand the proposition
  • Customers show willingness to adopt
  • MVP addresses a high-priority pain point
  • Customer feedback supports the concept
  • Adoption barriers are manageable

Pause or pivot if:

  • Value proposition is unclear
  • Customers do not care enough
  • Product is too complex
  • Switching barriers are too high

Gate 3 — Economics Viable

Proceed if:

  • Gross margin clears threshold
  • CAC payback is acceptable
  • LTV:CAC is attractive
  • Cost-to-serve is manageable
  • Pricing is supported by evidence
  • Downside case is tolerable

Pause or pivot if:

  • CAC is too high
  • Retention is too weak
  • Margin is structurally unattractive
  • Revenue model is unproven

Gate 4 — Execution Feasible

Proceed if:

  • Regulatory path is clear
  • Capabilities can be built or sourced
  • Partners are available
  • Technology timeline is credible
  • Operating model is defined
  • Launch risk is manageable

Pause or pivot if:

  • Licensing is prohibitive
  • Partner dependency is unacceptable
  • Technology complexity is too high
  • Operational risk is too great

Gate 5 — Scale Readiness

Proceed if:

  • MVP has met success thresholds
  • Unit economics are improving
  • Customer feedback is positive
  • Operations are stable
  • Risk indicators are within appetite
  • Growth channels are repeatable

Pause or pivot if:

  • Engagement is weak
  • Losses or complaints are high
  • Product reliability is poor
  • Growth requires unsustainable incentives