# Understanding Decisions
Canonical URL: https://monetly.io/docs/understanding-decisions
Last updated: 2026-06-18
Audience: Monetly users and AI assistants helping users operate Monetly
Status: Public usage documentation, non-authoritative
## Summary
Monetly decisions are meant to reduce ambiguity. They convert measured behavior into one of three outcomes: BUILD, ITERATE, or KILL.

A decision should guide your next product move. It should not be treated as a guarantee about the future.
## Key Rules
- BUILD means the evidence supports moving forward.
- ITERATE means the current version needs refinement or stronger evidence.
- KILL means the evidence does not justify continuing with the idea as tested.
- Confidence explains evidence quality; it is not a separate growth score.

## Common Mistakes
- Treating ITERATE as failure.
- Ignoring confidence and only reading the decision label.
- Assuming BUILD means the product will succeed commercially.
- Overriding KILL because the idea still feels promising.

## BUILD
BUILD means the experiment produced enough behavior to support continuing. The next step is usually to turn the validated version into a real product plan.

BUILD does not mean every part of the product is known. It means the tested offer showed enough evidence to continue.

## ITERATE
ITERATE means the current test did not create a clean build-or-kill answer. You may need to clarify the audience, offer, price, traffic source, or page.

Treat ITERATE as a prompt to improve the validation setup before investing in a full build.

## KILL
KILL means the tested version did not show enough behavior to justify continuing. This is useful because it can save weeks or months of work.

You can still test a materially different audience, offer, or positioning as a new experiment.
## Related Pages
- [How Monetly Works](https://monetly.io/docs/how-monetly-works.md)
- [Troubleshooting No Decision](https://monetly.io/docs/troubleshooting-no-decision.md)
- [Validation Modes](https://monetly.io/docs/validation-modes.md)