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Table stakes

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Also called Cost of entry, Baseline requirement, Price of admission

What is Table stakes?

The minimum features a product must have just to be considered by users. They don't win anyone over — their absence simply disqualifies you from competing.

Borrowed from poker, where table stakes are the minimum chips required to sit down and play, the term describes the baseline capabilities a product needs to be taken seriously in its market. Table stakes are not differentiators; they are the things customers assume will be present and notice only when missing. As a market matures, yesterday's standout features routinely become today's table stakes.

When you would use it

You invoke it when prioritizing a roadmap — distinguishing the features required just to compete from the ones that actually set your product apart.

Common operations

  • Separating must-have baseline features from genuine differentiators when scoping a product.
  • Justifying work that doesn't excite anyone but is required for market credibility.

Related terms

  • MVP
  • Differentiator
  • Product-market fit

Dashed terms are named in the source but do not have a page here yet.

Where this is taught

No learning path uses this term yet. Browse the Learning Atlas for guided sequences through related ideas.