The 4 Stages of Every Business
Stage 0: Problem Identification
- Identify a community you'd like to serve, and talk with them
- The goal of this stage is to understand the problems in your target community
- Begin having conversations with as many community members as possible
Stage 1: MVP Development & Feedback (Alpha)
- Small test group of users, 5-10 people
- Should be part of the innovator crowd, and ideally have influence or prestige in the community you're serving
- Should be in constant contact, ideally talking with every member of the group at least once a week
Stage 2: Limited Private Release (Beta)
- Larger group of users, around 100 but depends on product
- Should have an open channel where users can provide regular feedback
- Use this stage to start developing your growth formula
- Should have basic analytics tools set up in your product prior to first releasing to this audience
- Google Analytics and Amplitude are enough to track what you need at this stage