Kill criteria protect a growth thesis from becoming identity and make capital allocation responsive to evidence.

Commitment changes interpretation

Once teams, targets and narratives form around a bet, ambiguous evidence is interpreted in its favor. Pre-agreed criteria preserve the option to learn before institutional incentives harden.

Define thresholds and dates

A useful criterion names the assumption, evidence, threshold, review date and decision owner. “We will monitor adoption” is not enough; the organization needs to know what level changes funding or scope.

Stopping can preserve the thesis

A failed route to market does not always invalidate the customer problem, and a weak assumption may not invalidate the entire opportunity. Criteria should show what exactly has been disproven.