As a divinatory line, the first nine of Fellowship with Men counsels a querent to begin any new alliance, partnership, or shared undertaking in the open rather than through some narrower, more private channel. The image of going out at the gate suggests literally stepping beyond one's own household or immediate circle before committing to union with others, and the line's judgment, no error, tells the querent that this outward first step cannot itself be blamed even if the fellowship it seeks is not yet secured.
Within the hexagram's larger movement, this line stands at the greatest possible distance from the single yielding line at the second place, the line every other line in the hexagram is drawn toward as fellowship's true center. Being correctly placed but furthest from that center, the first line's task is simply to set out toward it rather than to arrive. A reading landing here often marks the very beginning of a relationship or collaboration whose real test, and real reward, still lie ahead in the lines that follow.
Read against the hexagram's warning that fellowship confined to one's own kind is a narrower and lesser thing, the first line's example matters precisely because it comes before any such narrowing has occurred. The querent is advised that an open, public beginning, sought honestly and without private motive, is the soundest possible foundation, even though the line offers no promise beyond that soundness. What is built afterward will depend on how faithfully the union stays open as it develops.