Stage gates validate progress, not just ideas

We changed that to create really small groups with stage gates that we call wonder, explore, make, impact, and then getting to scale. And that meant to assess those bets at every stage. And the idea was to iterate really quickly, either to it not working out and proving that it couldn't be a business or iterate really quickly to yes it could and we should invest more in this.

We were very disciplined, I guess you could say, about having the product prove itself at every given point.

Anytime that we were proposing doing something with the product, like running some research test, or running the pilot, or expanding the pilot, we always had the data that had convinced us that that was a good decision.

The way I think about setting up a plan when you have limited visibility and some major headwinds is setting up a really conservative plan and then having milestones, short term milestones that unlock the ability to lean into growth and spend based on hitting those targets.

Your job is to dream big and also have a plan to go tackle it. Here are the five milestones that it's going to take me to do quarter over quarter to achieve this really, really ambitious thing.