11. 24-Month Gated Roadmap

Target: an MRR ladder, not one number. The on-plan path reaches $10k MRR full-time or $6k at ~15 hrs/week by month 24, profitable, at ≥80% gross margin. The odds of each level are in WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md.

Rule: nothing in a later phase starts until the current phase's gate is hit. Gates and pivot rules are in WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md. The detail for days 1–90 is in 08-90-day-plan.md.

Phase 1: Prove agencies will pay (Months 0–3) → Gates G1 (day 45), G2 (day 90)

Track	Work
Access	Business Profile API application in week 1. UK consumer-law review of defaults, request templates and claims by day 60.
Customers	20 agency calls (15 hrs: 12). Hand-run pilot for 5 agencies (15 hrs: 3).
Product	Thin v1: agency dashboard, Google consent link, honest widget + notice, request link/QR/email/SMS, alerts, approved AI replies, monthly PDF report, connection-health checks.
Pricing	Starter £39, Studio £79, Plus £159. Pilots get founding pricing locked for 12 months.
Exit	10 paying agencies, ≥$1k MRR (15 hrs: 6, ≥$600). API access approved.

Phase 2: Make it repeatable (Months 4–6) → Gate G3

Track	Work
Product	Zapier/webhook triggers. "No requests in 14 days" alert. Hidden-review log. Custom CSS.
Distribution	Listings in 2 partner directories (WordPress, Webflow or Wix experts). 1 UK agency community. Referral offer: 1 month free per referred agency. Free direct plan with "Powered by".
Content	"UK review rules" page, updated monthly with sources.
Metrics	Requests → reviews won per location, report open rate, support hours per 20 agencies.
Exit	$2k MRR (15 hrs: $1.2k). ≥1 agency with 20+ client locations. Support ≤2 hrs/week per 20 agencies.

Phase 3: Agency depth (Months 7–12) → Gate G4

Track	Work
Product	White-label dashboard on the agency's domain. Read-only client logins. Pinned reviews with an age limit and disclosure. A reseller pricing guide inside the app.
Distribution	Double down on whichever of calls, directories or referrals produced most of months 4–6. Guest posts for 2 UK agency newsletters.
Ops	Help center, onboarding emails, a cancellation-reason survey.
Decision	Facebook recommendations only if ≥30% of paying agencies ask.
Exit	$4.5k MRR (15 hrs: $2.5k). Agency logo churn ≤2.5%/month.

Phase 4: One channel, one new market (Months 13–24) → Gate G5

Track	Work
Product	One native integration (the booking or invoicing tool 30%+ of clients use). Competitor review-count comparison in the report (counts only, within Google's terms).
Distribution	All effort on the single best channel. Month 18: decide on Australia and New Zealand (same law pattern, English, agency care plans).
Team	First paid help: part-time support (5–10 hrs/week), not another developer.
Checkpoint	Month 18: $7k MRR (15 hrs: $4k). Missing it means concentrating on the single best channel.
Exit	$10k+ MRR (15 hrs: $6k+), profitable

Revenue path (illustrative, not a forecast)

Month	Full-time: agencies	Full-time: direct	Full-time MRR	~15 hrs/week: agencies	~15 hrs/week: direct	~15 hrs/week MRR
3	10	0	~$1.0k	6	0	~$0.6k
6	19	10	~$2.0k	11	5	~$1.2k
12	40	35	~$4.5k	22	20	~$2.5k
18	62	55	~$7.0k	35	35	~$4.0k
24	88	80	~$10.0k	52	55	~$6.0k

This assumes blended agency ARPU of ~$100 (after annual discounts), direct ARPU of ~$15, agency logo churn of 2–2.5% a month after month 6, and direct churn of 5–8%. At 5% agency churn, this path fails. Fix the report and onboarding before spending on growth.

Budget guardrails (bootstrapped)

Hosting, email, SMS (net of pass-through), AI and tools below 10% of revenue.
Zero paid acquisition before month 6. After it, only channels with payback under 3 months.
A one-off legal review (~£1–2k, unverified), then a yearly refresh.
Never pay for scraped review data. Never store Google content beyond 30 days.
If Google changes Business Profile API terms, pause new sign-ups within 48 hours until the impact is known.