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Writer's pictureJasaro In

3 Stages of a Startup!

The 3 stages define the 3 riskiest moments for any startup, and those are:

3 Stages of a Startup!

Let's go 1-by-1 on each:


1. Conception


This stage is further segregated into:


a. Ideation: Idea Research & Validation

  • What is the problem/pain that you're solving?

  • Who is it for (targeted customer)?

  • Is this market large enough to build a scalable, profitable business?

  • Finally, what is missing in the existing products/services?

Fact: Everybody has ideas, yet 99.5% of people never execute them, and miss the ""entrepreneurship bus!


b. Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Product/Solution Fit

  • Can I quickly launch a bare minimum prototype (MVP) to validate this idea?

  • What features are a necessity to building an MVP that is differentiated/unique from existing available products/services?

    • Build the most basic, functioning features (highlighting the core concept of your solution) for early customers to test/use. Don't worry about bugs, there will be too many.

    • Use Minimum Viable Testing Framework for quick testing!

  • Will the customer use my product/service, and actually pay for it?



This stage proves whether your business model is actually working or not.

  • Are customers buying your product/service?

  • Is there a huge demand from your target market?

  • Do customers love your product/service (high reviews, low churn), and are creating strong word-of-mouth/referral sales for you?


Fact: More than 90% of startups fail, and the #1 reason is there was little/no demand for the product/service!

Fact: Finding the Product/Market Fit is the hardest challenge for all early-stage startups, and most of them fail because they couldn't get to their PMF.

Quote: Until you’ve found your Product/Market Fit, do not scale up, do not hire/grow the team, and don't drive for blistering/rapid growth, as this is the fastest way to actually kill your startup - Rajan Anandan, Sequoia India.



3. Scaling up (Growth)

  • Are you experiencing a strong (compounding) growth month-on-month, such that your resources can't cope with it?

  • Do you've the required resources and strategy to build a profitable, and scalable distribution business?

  • You might want to explore external funding for help on this!


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