Stage gates
Useful for
Introduction
The stage-gate model provides the public outline of the decision structure. Each gate asks whether the company is ready to move to the next level of risk and commitment.
Knowledge scope
This is startup-specific guidance in the public playbook. It is framed around the Whole journey decision point and the practical trade-offs a small company faces while moving from idea to Production.
Why it matters
Startups drift when the product gets traction faster than the operating model matures. Gates create decision points: what can stay lightweight, what needs evidence and what risk is being accepted.
How it fits the playbook
This reference supports the Whole journey stage of the startup CTO playbook. It gives the public context for the decision without exposing the deeper assessment method behind the agentic operating model.
Design considerations
- Use gates as decision points, not ceremonies.
- Carry conditional pass actions forward deliberately.
- Treat unresolved earlier risks as blockers when the next stage raises the stakes.
- Keep the public stage model readable while assessment depth remains behind the scenes.
- Expect future CTO playbooks to use different gates for different company contexts.
What good looks like
The company knows why it is moving forward, what has changed and which risks are accepted, reduced or still blocking progress.
How Brokenhouse helps
Turn this into a practical plan.
I help technology teams turn this guidance into decisions, implementation plans, governance evidence and production-ready operating models.
Talk through your situationNext guidance
Related decisions to work through
Startup playbook: from POC to Production
This is a CTO playbook for augmenting the agentic SDLC with the company work that sits around the software. Most startup writing focuses on building the product. This playbook focuses on the identity, governance, data protection, delivery, cloud and operational decisions that allow a small SaaS company to move from idea to production without creating avoidable risk.
Is the company ready?
The first few months of a software business are not just about building the product. They are about creating the conditions that allow the product to be built, deployed, governed and supported without the company tripping over its own foundations.
Can we start the POC?
Before starting the POC, there is a small amount of governance that should be put in place. This is not about slowing the team down or pretending to be an enterprise. It is about creating enough shape that the first few months do not become a mess of forgotten passwords, inconsistent names, unclear decisions and accidental access.