CEO review: should we actually build this?
Before you start building, this checks whether the thing you're about to build is worth building at all.
Builders love building. That's the problem. It's easy to get excited about a feature, sketch it out, and start working — without ever asking whether anyone actually wants it. CEO Review puts on the business hat and asks the uncomfortable questions: Is this the most important thing you could work on right now? Who's going to pay for it? What evidence do you have that people need this?
The features that feel most exciting to build are often the least important to your business. CEO Review forces you to think about opportunity cost — every week you spend on Feature A is a week you're not spending on Feature B. If Feature B would have brought in revenue and Feature A is just fun to build, you need someone to point that out. This is that someone.
Run it after you have a plan but before you start working on it. It evaluates whether the idea fits your bigger goals, whether there's real demand or just your assumptions, whether the timeline is realistic, and whether this moves any number that actually matters. You get a clear pass or fail, along with specific concerns. Make it a habit for anything that'll take more than a day.
Before committing to any significant piece of work. The builder in you wants to start coding. The CEO Review asks whether coding this specific thing is the best use of your next two weeks.
Product leader shipping across enterprise SaaS, AI in production, and 0→1. Writing about what actually ships — not what sounds good in a deck.