Twelve weeks. Three gates. One honest answer.
Cohort 0 is a validation program. You test your assumptions with real buyers, log the evidence, and an advisor panel reviews it at the end of every cycle.
- 12
- weeks
- 3
- cycles of 4 weeks
- 3
- gates: Pain, Commitment, Path
- 3
- advisors
- 5
- Cohort 0 founders
How one cycle works
Week 1
Set up and first tests
Weekly validation tasks. You talk to buyers, run experiments, and log what you predicted and what happened.
Week 2
Test the assumptions
Weekly validation tasks. You talk to buyers, run experiments, and log what you predicted and what happened.
Week 3
Gather evidence and prepare your gate pack
Weekly validation tasks. You talk to buyers, run experiments, and log what you predicted and what happened.
Week 4
Advisory session
Advisors review your evidence and give you a decision. Nothing new is produced in this week.
Three cycles, three gates
Cycle 1, weeks 1 to 4
Gate 1 Pain
- Is the pain real? Show documented conversations with buyers, in their own words.
Cycle 2, weeks 5 to 8
Gate 2 Commitment
- Has a buyer committed? Show a real transaction or written commitment.
Cycle 3, weeks 9 to 12
Gate 3 Path
- Is there a tested route forward? Show tested willingness to pay, the size of the buyer segment, margin logic and a six-month plan.
What you hand in
The gate pack
A half-page note at the end of weeks 3, 7 and 11.
- the gate you are claiming and your own call on it
- the IDs of the evidence you are relying on
- the experiments you ran and their verdicts
- one decision question for the advisors
- your intention for the next cycle
What the gate decision can be
Pass
The evidence supports moving to the next cycle.
Conditional
One named task to complete, within up to two weeks of the next cycle, with an advisor check-in.
Hold
Repeat the core task with support. The program team reviews whether to continue.
At the end of week 12
A written evaluation and a recommendation: proceed, proceed with named changes, or stop and redirect.
An honest 'stop' is a valid result. Cohort 0 exists to find that out early.
How progress is measured
- Gate evidence
- Test discipline (prediction written before the result)
- Evidence velocity (the log is updated weekly)
- Decision quality