example.js.jsx

  validationPlaceholder() {
    if (this.state.validation_error && this.state.validation_data.status === 'required') {
      return 'REQUIRED';
    }
  }, 

toggleInput() { 
    if (this.props.edit) { 
      return ( 
        <div>
          <PodInput
            placeholder={this.validationPlaceholder()}
          />
        </div>
      );
    } 

I would probably rewrite as:

toggleInput() {
  const { validation_error, validation_data } = this.state;
  const placeholder = (validation_error && validation_data.status === 'required') ? 'REQUIRED' : '';
  return (
    <div>
      { this.props.edit &&
        <PodInput
          placeholder={placeholder}
        />
      }
    </div>
  );
}

Oh woah, mapping those variables to this.state is pretty sweet. That's definitely not something I have seen before.

I suppose in this context, given the ternary statement, returning an empty string is a totally valid return.