Gilded path is 📝John Zdanowski's term for the course people start down when the excitement of a big vision leads them to agree, unclearly or unhealthily, to build toward it before anyone has shown it can produce positive unit economics.
The term borrows from gilded, which Vocabulary.com defines this way:
gilded
Something gilded looks like gold, whether it is or not. If you've heard the expression "all that glitters is not gold," it's especially true of anything gilded.A gilded path often begins while people brainstorm energetically about what's possible. The 📝Big Vision at its end can be as simple as "yeah if we can rent our house out on VRBO then we can use that money to rent a place in Spain for the summer." When it becomes clear the plan won't produce positive 📝Unit Economics, it can feel like having the rug pulled out from underneath you: "wait, what? If I rent my house out for a month then I can stay in this place in Spain for 3 days? Where do we stay the rest of the month." The same feeling arises when someone who was excited, or used to be a partner or ally, starts to doubt that positive unit economics are possible.
The counterweight John offers is the 📝Stockdale Paradox of big vision and positive unit economics: maintain an undying belief in the biggest dream you can dream while taking a stoic look at your unit economics. 📝The Process by 📝Jeff Abrams is a methodology to maintain alignment and find the true path.