Books & Ideas / AI investment

The 7 Gates
every AI investment must pass.

A practical framework for building AI products that create real value. By Harinath Pudipeddi.

Explore the seven gates ↓
The 7 Gates book cover
The decision before the build

Ask while the answers are still cheap.

A technically impressive demo can still solve the wrong problem, lose money at scale or fail to earn customer trust. The 7 Gates makes those investment questions explicit before the build.

The framework

Seven gates. One disciplined decision.

01

Customer Problem

Prove the customer problem is real, frequent and worth solving.

02

AI Necessity

Make AI earn its complexity; compare simpler alternatives.

03

AI Role & User Outcome

Choose whether AI assists, recommends or decides — and how the user benefits.

04

Trust & Failure

Plan what happens when AI is wrong, how outputs are verified and who oversees it.

05

Technical Readiness

Check data availability, permissions, reliability and the fallback.

06

Economics & Viability

Examine willingness to pay, cost per interaction and the revenue loop.

07

Learning & Advantage

Ask whether usage improves the product and creates an advantage worth renewing.

The rule

Pass all seven. Revise any unanswered gate.

These are gates, rather than weights in an average. A strength in one area cannot compensate for a fundamental failure in another.

Apply the thinking

Pressure-test a real AI initiative.

02

AI Value Sprint

Connect the investment questions to workflows, readiness and a costed direction.

Explore the Sprint →
Book enquiries

Stay connected to the work.

The current site lists the book as forthcoming. For publication and availability enquiries, contact Studio NAVAKA.

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