Part 4

The staged playbook

Three stages, from the lab to first design partners. Tick what you have done, click any line to read the full reasoning. Progress saves in your browser.

Stage 0We are here

Still in the lab, no company yet

No legal entity, usually public funding that prohibits marketing spend, no budget, part-time attention.

0 / 6 done

Do now

Open canvas boxes 1–4 →

Can wait

  • Logo systems
  • Brand books
  • Agencies
  • A real website
  • Any campaign
  • Category creation

Cost Effectively nil, plus roughly €1,500–3,000 for name clearance and a first trademark filing.

Done when
The team gives the same answer to “what do you do”, the name is cleared and filed, and at least three external people outside your field have repeated your one sentence back to you correctly.

Stage 1

Spinning out and raising the first round

Some money, enormous time pressure, everything is on fire.

0 / 5 done

Do now

Can wait

  • An agency retainer
  • PR campaigns
  • Paid media
  • A rebrand

Done when
You can hand the deck and the site to someone outside the field and they can explain, unprompted, what problem you solve and why you might be able to.

Stage 2

Funded, first design partners

0 / 4 done

Do now

Can wait

  • Volume marketing
  • Trade show scale
  • Automation
  • Analyst relations at Gartner-tier expense