Roadmap Warrior
Navigating Feature Requests and Staying True to Your Startup’s Roadmap
By Ron Gula, Gula Tech Adventures
If you’re building a technology company — whether you’re a founder, CTO, or engineer — you’ve probably heard a variation of this plea:
“We’ll buy your product if you just add this one feature…”
Welcome to the battlefield of startup roadmaps, where customers, engineers, and the market itself all clamor for your time and code. In this week’s VC 101, I shared some hard-earned lessons from my years running Tenable Network Security, co-founding Network Security Wizards, and now advising dozens of startups through Gula Tech Adventures.
Here’s a condensed version of that advice — a strategic breakdown on how to stay focused while evolving your product.
Your Roadmap Is a Reflection of Your Vision
Let’s get something clear: if your roadmap doesn’t support your five-slide pitch deck — that is, the problem you solve, how you solve it, proof you can deliver, your business model, and your vision of success — then you’re veering off course.
Every feature you build should map to that bigger vision. If it doesn’t, no matter how lucrative or tempting it seems, it risks becoming a distraction.
Beware the Feature Ambush
Startups are frequently ambushed by well-meaning but misaligned requests:
“We need a mobile version.”
“Can you add this UX thing? We’ll pay.”
“My dev team wants a new framework.”
“Your competitor supports this, why don’t you?”
“We don’t use cloud. Can you give us an on-premises build?”
These requests are often valid. But if you’re not disciplined about why you’re saying yes or no, your product will sprawl in unintended ways. That’s how a focused startup becomes a sluggish, confused vendor.
Understand the Types of Features
Not all features are created equal. Categorize them so you can make smarter decisions:
Customer Features: These make your product easier to install, use, or integrate. They increase renewal likelihood and customer happiness. But beware over-customizing — if a feature only helps one customer, be cautious unless they represent a market segment you’re targeting.
Competitive Features: These are features your rivals have that you don’t. But ask: is it truly competitive loss, or is your ideal customer profile (ICP) just different? Don’t fall into the trap of building everything your competitors have.
Vision Features: These are your “leap-ahead” capabilities — things that make your product stand out in a changing market. At Tenable, we added configuration auditing and passive detection well before the market demanded them. These future-facing bets kept us relevant.
Internal Features: Framework upgrades, better testing, licensing improvements — these are invisible to users but vital for scaling and velocity. Just be wary of developer-led detours that promise speed but deliver churn. Trust, but verify.
Know Your Product Type
Your roadmap priorities also depend on your product’s delivery model:
SaaS: You can release quietly behind the scenes. You have flexibility.
Agents, apps, or appliances: Customers must download updates. Timelines matter.
Content-driven tools (e.g. malware plugins, configs): You can push features through regular updates without heavy lifts.
Understanding how you ship will help you manage complexity and set realistic release expectations.
Evaluate Feature Value vs. Complexity
Map your potential features on two axes: value to company and difficulty to implement. Features that are high value and low complexity should always be prioritized.
This matrix keeps you honest — and helps you avoid spending months on a shiny feature that only impacts 1% of customers.
Specialization Can Kill Scale
Selling to a single sector (e.g. hospitals, defense) is fine if that’s your market. But if you’re building a general-purpose product, be careful about fulfilling ultra-specific requests. If your top customer is dragging your roadmap into a niche, stop and ask: is that where we want to go?
Should You Go On-Prem?
SaaS-only startups often get asked to ship on-prem versions, especially by security-sensitive customers. If that aligns with your vision — great. But don’t do it just to win one deal. Supporting on-prem deployments is a long-term commitment. You’ll need the infrastructure, support model, and upgrade paths to match.
Markets Shift — Fast
Sometimes, your roadmap must pivot. At Network Security Wizards, we built a network intrusion detection system just as the market flipped to intrusion prevention. Blackberry had satisfied customers — until iPhones redefined the market.
If the market has moved, your vision must adapt — or risk irrelevance.
Who Should You Tell About Your Roadmap?
Transparency is tough. Your roadmap message may vary depending on the audience:
Customers: Commit where appropriate, especially on renewals or expansions. But avoid overpromising.
Developers: Keep them aligned with the “why” behind each priority. They’re not just coders — they’re stakeholders.
Sales & Marketing: Train them on what's coming and why. Roadmaps affect messaging and positioning.
The Board: Don’t present features without rationale. Board members can’t advise without context.
Investors: Show how the roadmap ties to growth, customer retention, and differentiation.
Consistency is key. Don’t tell customers one thing and your team another. That breaks trust and morale.
Don’t Forget Time and Resources
Even if you had a million dollars and a team of elite coders, you still couldn’t do everything. Every company — from startup to Fortune 100 — is in a constant battle to prioritize.
Feature bloat and roadmap chaos happen when you say “yes” too much. Say “no” more often — but back it with logic. And if you must change direction mid-quarter? That’s okay. Just be honest and decisive about it.
Roadmaps Aren’t Static
Your roadmap isn’t a contract — it’s a compass. It points toward your vision. You’ll revise it as you learn more. What matters is whether each feature gets you closer to solving your customer’s problem in a way that reflects your mission.
So the next time a customer, investor, or engineer comes at you with “just one more feature,” ask yourself:
Does this move us closer to our vision — or further away?
If you found this helpful, subscribe to the Gula Tech Adventures YouTube channel or connect with me on LinkedIn. We’ve got more VC 101 videos to help you navigate startup growth, security, product strategy, and the rollercoaster of innovation.
Stay focused, stay nimble — and stick to the roadmap.
– Ron Gula
Gula Tech Adventures