Cat’s Whiskers: Channel Resilience

What happens to the business if one channel closes?

Channel Resilience is the fifth foundation. It asks whether the business’s reach is robust or fragile: whether one marketplace, one acquisition channel or one algorithm change could break it. The failure cluster is Channel Dependency, and it is usually invisible until the day the channel changes its terms.

The four checks

Is any single marketplace able to break the business?
Are marketplace economics understood on their own terms?
Is retention infrastructure built alongside acquisition?
Is diversification built before it is needed?

The three readiness ratings

Foundation Ready

Strong foundations. External investment in platforms, acquisition and channel expansion is likely to generate returns, and the focus shifts to optimisation and scale.

At Risk

Meaningful gaps in one or more foundations. Continued investment generates diminishing returns until they are addressed, so a prioritised fix programme comes before scaling.

Foundations First

Critical gaps across multiple foundations, with external spend destroying value. Stop, rebuild the base, then grow.

Terms of Trade reads through this foundation

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