Which product first?
The Architect stage is about choosing the right hill to take first. Concentration beats diversification in federal productization. One product pursued with full resources beats three products pursued with split attention. The right hill is not always the biggest -- it is the hill where your specific capabilities give you the best chance of reaching the summit before your capital runs out.
Stage Objectives
- Apply Hill Selection Matrix to shortlisted candidates
- Select one product to pursue with full commitment
- Define resource allocation and concentration strategy
- Establish 3-customer validation threshold before considering Product #2
- Create product commitment and validation roadmap
Key Activities
Hill Selection
Apply a 4-filter deep analysis to your shortlisted candidates: Market access, Competitive position, Authorization burden, and Economics. Select which product to pursue.
Resource Concentration
Define how to concentrate resources on your selected product. Budget, team allocation, and timeline. Resist the temptation to hedge with multiple products.
Validation Planning
Plan 3-customer validation: prove repeatability with three paying customers before expanding to Product #2. This is the commitment threshold.
Product Commitment
Formalize your product commitment with milestones, kill criteria, and a validation roadmap. Set an 18+ month strategic concentration discipline.
Run Architect as an engagement
The framework is published in full, so you can run Architect yourself. If you would rather have it done with you, the Architect Workshop is the engagement that covers it. A product specification you can hand to a developer, a BD team, or an investor, with pricing, sample CLINs, and a 90-day go-to-market plan settled.
The longer treatment is How to productize a government contract.