Where this fits - Pre-seed to Series A
Startup
The decisions made in the first year set the ceiling on everything after it.
What this stage typically needs
- Feasibility before commitment: can this be built at your cost, in your timeframe, under the regulation that applies
- A target architecture an investor and a first engineer can both read
- Technical sections of the raise, and diligence that survives an investor's own advisor
- A hiring sequence, so the first three engineers are the right three
- How it usually runs
- Research support on the hard choice, then a prototype that settles it.
- Where the depth comes from
- Feasibility and target architecture settled at the stage where the decision still changes the plan, before there is a team to inherit it.
- First step
- A 30-minute call, no charge.
- Then
- A budget scoping exercise. This is senior engineering time and it is priced like it.
Usually involved
The capabilities this stage draws on most.
Not a limit - any of the twelve domains applies. These are simply the ones that come up first at this size.
Other stages