The four stages

Each stage exists to answer one question. You cannot move forward until that question is answered.

Stage	Name	Core Question	Entry State	Exit State
Stage 1	Discover & Validate the Right Vision	Is this the right product for the right market?	Thesis + team	Validated vision + 3 co-builders committed
Stage 2	Build & Close First Customers	Can we build something that customers will pay for?	Validated vision	3+ paying clients (50K+), 15 look-alikes in pipe
Stage 3	Develop & Repeat	Can we find repeatable growth?	First customers	20+ clients, 500K+ ARR, referrals, working playbook
Stage 4	Scale & Accelerate	Can we scale what works?	Repeatable model	Exponential growth

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The relationship to Product-Market Fit

The process is a structured search for product-market fit. Each stage represents a different relationship to PMF:

Stage 1: No PMF signal — Full search mode. You have a thesis, not evidence. Everything is uncertain.
Stage 2: First PMF signals — Tangible product, tangible customer success. Something is working, but you don't yet know if it repeats.
Stage 3: PMF validation — Finding and proving repeatability. The goal is a playbook, not just wins.
Stage 4: PMF confirmed — Scale brutally. The model works. Now go fast.

Before Stage 2, you have zero. After Stage 2, you have something to accelerate your search. Stage 3 is where you prove it wasn't luck.

Beyond deliverables, the entire operating mode shifts:

Dimension	Stage 1: Discover & Validate	Stage 2: Build & Close	Stage 3: Create & Repeat
Focus	Learn	Build & Sell	Focus on Demand & Repeat
Mode	Discovery	Execution at small scale	Systematization
Customer relationship	Research subjects → Co-builders	Co-builders → First clients	Clients → Segments
Team	Commando (product-heavy)	+ Design + Tech	+ Sales + Ops
Revenue	€0	50K+ (validation)	250K+ → 500K+ (repeatability)
Uncertainty	Everything	Product & Segment	Go-to-market

The team stays small and product-heavy until the product works. Then it grows — but only as fast as certainty justifies.

Each stage contains sub-gates that help sequence the work. The final sub-gate of each stage is the real gate — the decision point for advancing.