Stage 1
Stage 1 is process of turning a business idea into a real business planning. Typically founders are working for no salary, as paying themselves makes little sense. The focus is market research
and gathering data that will allow founder(s) to steer the enterprise into a differentiate market niche where resistance to market entry will be the lowest and sales can be achieved most easily (lowest fruit).
By going after a narrowly targeted customer profile or specific customer list who have a visible pain they will get companies to take the extra risk of dealing with a startup company. With a low burn
rate you want to take your time and learn as much as possible before taking on any expenses. Bootstrapping and personal savings are generally allowing the founders to work without income.
The catch-22 here is that more expertise is needed than the small team usually has. Using virtual team members is usually a partial solution to this dilemma. The business design process will
lower risk and reduce time and capital needed dramatically. Many business model options should be explored with the idea that starting with one business model to financing getting to another will
preserve the founders’ ownership by reducing capital needs.
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