{"id":"requirements","type":"concept","title":"Requirements","created":"2026-07-15","status":"active","authors":["Upstream Zero"],"edges":[{"rel":"cites","to":"commercial-evaluation"}],"pubState":"published","body":"Why do some vendors keep making the shortlist while others never get a\nlook? Because every evaluation comes down to requirements: the specific\nthings a buyer needs to be true before they'll pick you.\n\nYou see them everywhere once you notice. An RFP is a list of requirements.\nA procurement process filters for them. A buying committee argues about\nwhich ones matter. An AI screening vendors checks you against the ones it\nthinks apply. Different surfaces, same thing underneath.\n\nThis is why the work holds up over time. The tools change constantly: new\nmodels, new interfaces, whatever buyers are using this year. What a buyer\nactually needs changes far more slowly. Study the requirements and what you\nlearn lasts. Study this quarter's tool and it's stale by the next one.\n\n**Status note:** we're still working out how to measure requirement\ncoverage precisely, alongside [M-1](/methods/M-1). Requirements are here\nbecause the whole thing rests on them, not because that measurement is\nfinished.","url":"/concepts/requirements","machineUrl":"/objects/requirements","referencedBy":[{"from":"commercial-evaluation","rel":"observes"},{"from":"recommendation-survivability","rel":"depends-on"}],"_meta":{"site":"Upstream Zero · Commercial Evaluation Observatory","version":"0.1","note":"Claims are presented at their evidence tier; Narrated is the lowest. Verify by walking edges, not by trusting us."}}