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The startup process,
idea to scale.
The eleven steps of starting a startup, in the order most founders meet them, with the Feedough guides and free tools for each one. Mark the stage you are at and start reading there.
11 stages 58 guides 20 free tools
Where are you right now?
- 01Ideation10 guides
- 02Finding a cofounder4 guides
- 03Prototype4 guides
- 04MVP, beta and early adopters8 guides
- 05Business and revenue model7 guides
- 06Business plan3 guides
- 07Branding4 guides
- 08Registering the company3 guides
- 09Pitch deck3 guides
- 10Money and funding9 guides
- 11Scaling up3 guides
Feedough remembers the stage you pick on this device.
01
Ideation
Question the idea before anyone else does. Ask yourself, then the people you want to sell to, until the idea survives both.
Done when you can name the customer, the problem, and the evidence that they would pay to have it solved.
Read in this order
- Start hereIdea vs. conceptGuide · 4 min
- How to get a startup ideaGuide · 9 min
- 20 questions to ask yourself before startingGuide · 9 min
- Research, evaluate and validate your startup ideaGuide · 7 min
- How to validate your business ideaGuide · 9 min
- Target market, explainedGuide · 5 min
- How to do market researchGuide · 6 min
- Problem-solution fit and how to reach itGuide · 8 min
- What a proof of concept isGuide · 7 min
- The best ideation tools for startupsTool list · 10 min
Free tools for this stage
02
Finding a cofounder
A cofounder splits the work, the risk and the equity. Pick for the skills you lack, and agree the split before the work starts.
Done when roles, equity and vesting are agreed in writing.
03
Prototype
The most skipped step. A rough model shows what the product does before you pay to build it, and costs far less to throw away.
Done when a stranger can walk through the prototype and tell you what the product does.
04
MVP, beta and early adopters
Early adopters give you the first honest feedback. Whether they keep using the product tells you if it fits the market.
Done when early adopters use the MVP without being chased, and you know which feature they came for.
Read in this order
- Start hereWhat a minimum viable product (MVP) isGuide · 5 min
- Validating your product hypothesis with an MVPGuide · 3 min
- The innovation adoption lifecycleGuide · 5 min
- Who early adopters are and why they matterGuide · 3 min
- What a beta version isGuide · 3 min
- MVP vs. betaGuide · 2 min
- The best MVP and beta toolsTool list · 17 min
- The best app buildersTool list · 13 min
Free tools for this stage
05
Business and revenue model
The business model is how the idea works and makes money in the real market. The revenue model is the part that says who pays, how and how often.
Done when you can say who pays, how much, how often, and why the numbers add up.
Read in this order
- Start hereWhat a business model is, with 30 typesGuide · 12 min
- The business model canvasGuide · 9 min
- The lean canvasGuide · 6 min
- How to develop a business modelGuide · 5 min
- Choosing the right business modelGuide · 5 min
- What a revenue model isGuide · 5 min
- Product-market fit and why it mattersGuide · 7 min
Free tools for this stage
06
Business plan
A plan is more than a goal. It sets how every part of the business works towards that goal, and what it will cost to get there.
Done when the plan shows costs, milestones and how many months the money lasts.
Read in this order
- Start hereWhat a business plan is, and its partsGuide · 6 min
- Why a startup needs a business planGuide · 6 min
- How to write a business planGuide · 7 min
Free tools for this stage
07
Branding
Branding gives the idea a name, a look and a voice that people remember and can tell apart from the rest.
Done when you have a name you can register, a logo, and one sentence that says what you do.
08
Registering the company
Register before you launch. A company can sign contracts, open a bank account and take investment, and registering is far less work than it used to be.
Done when the company is registered and the founders’ shares are on paper.
Read in this order
- Start hereWhat a company isGuide · 5 min
- Types of companiesGuide · 4 min
- How to register a companyGuide · 5 min
Free tools for this stage
09
Pitch deck
The deck is how you ask for money: the problem, the product, the traction and the ask, in about a dozen slides.
Done when the deck tells the story in about 12 slides and you can pitch it out loud in two minutes.
10
Money and funding
Good funding comes from knowing whom to ask, when to ask, and what to ask them for.
Done when the round is closed, or you have decided to bootstrap and know how long that lasts.
Read in this order
- Start hereStartup funding, from idea to IPOGuide · 6 min
- Funding rounds: seed, series A, B and CGuide · 11 min
- Bootstrapping a startupGuide · 6 min
- How to find investorsGuide · 12 min
- What investors look for in a startupGuide · 5 min
- The most active angel investorsGuide · 7 min
- Pre-money and post-money valuationGuide · 3 min
- The term sheet, explainedGuide · 32 min
- What crowdfunding is and where to do itGuide · 6 min
Free tools for this stage
11
Scaling up
The real work starts after the money arrives. Grow when demand is already there: scaling before it is how many funded startups run out of cash.
Done when growth comes from a channel you can repeat, and you hire for jobs you have already done yourself.
Read in this order
- Start hereWhat a scaleup company isGuide · 4 min
- Startup marketing: the full guideGuide · 4 min
- A guide to crowdsourcingGuide · 7 min
Free tools for this stage
What is the startup process?
The startup process is the sequence of steps a founder takes to turn an idea into a business that can grow: test the idea, build a team and a first version of the product, work out how it makes money, set up the company, raise money if it needs any, and scale. Feedough splits it into eleven stages, from ideation to scaling up.
Most early mistakes come from doing the right thing at the wrong time: building before the idea is tested, or raising money before anyone uses the product. The stages above are in the order most founders need them, so each one gives the next a footing.
Do the steps have to go in this order?
No. Treat the order as a map rather than a checklist. Some founders find a cofounder before the idea is settled, and some register the company on day one because a client needs an invoice. When a stage does not apply to you yet, skip it and come back. When you are unsure whether to move on, read the stage’s Done when line.
Do I need a business plan before building an MVP?
Usually not. A rough model of who pays and why (stage 05) is enough to build and test an MVP. The full business plan earns its time once you know what early adopters use, and when a bank, an investor or a partner asks to see one.
Where do the free tools fit in?
Each stage lists Feedough AI tools that write a first draft of the work in that stage, from validating the idea to the investor email. For tools by job rather than by stage, see the full list of free AI tools and the startup resources directory.
One startup lesson
a week.
Startup tips, courses and business model guides from Feedough, by email, every week. Free.
