Start-Up
The growth initiation phase focused on learning, improvisation, and achieving product-market fit. Teams are small but growing, with emphasis on rapid iteration and customer feedback. This stage is characterized by experimentation, agile development, and the search for scalable business models. Success depends on the ability to pivot quickly based on market learning while maintaining team cohesion and vision alignment.
Jazz Trio
A small, tight-knit group that improvises together, each member playing a crucial role while maintaining harmony and responding dynamically to the audience and each other. Like jazz musicians, the team must be skilled individually but excel at collaborative improvisation, reading each other's cues, and adapting their performance based on real-time feedback from their audience (market).
KEY FOCUS
Learning & Improvisation
The primary focus is on rapid learning and achieving product-market fit through continuous experimentation. Key questions include: How do we achieve product-market fit? What do customers really want? How can we iterate faster? Activities center around A/B testing, customer feedback loops, product iterations, and metric-driven decision making.
KEY QUESTION
What?
What do customers really want? What features matter most? What business model will work? What metrics should we track? These questions drive the experimental approach of the Start-Up mode, focusing on discovering the right product-market combination through systematic testing and validation.
MINDSET
Experimental
Embracing uncertainty as a source of learning and treating every assumption as a hypothesis to be tested. This mindset values data over opinions, learning over being right, and speed over perfection. It requires intellectual humility, curiosity, and the ability to fail fast and learn quickly from mistakes.
LEADERSHIP
The Innovator
A creative problem-solver who thrives on experimentation and learning. They foster a culture of innovation and aren't afraid to pivot when data suggests a better direction. They excel at balancing vision with flexibility, maintaining team morale during uncertainty, and making rapid decisions with incomplete information. Their leadership style emphasizes learning, adaptation, and collaborative problem-solving.
FUNDING
Seed & Grants
Seed funding from angel investors, early-stage VCs, and accelerator programs. This stage requires capital for team building, product development, and initial market validation. Typical funding ranges from $100K to $2M, with investors looking for strong founding teams, clear market opportunity, and early traction indicators.
METHODOLOGY
Lean Startup & MVP
USE OF AI AND DIGITAL TOOLS
Your Co-Creator
Your mission now is to find product-market fit before resources run dry. AI can act as a powerful co-creator to accelerate this cycle. You could leverage AI to generate foundational code for your MVP, create realistic design mockups from text prompts, or even draft initial marketing copy.