8 stages, from the first conversation to a business that repeats. 6 are key milestones: if you do not beat them, nothing else counts. Each stage says how to know it is done and what to do this week.
Goal: Finding a technical problem an industry pays to solve, and knowing who makes the decision inside it.
Where to start: Talk to five technical leads in the industry and ask what the problem costs them today.
Goal: Showing in the lab that it works, with data you can share.
Where to start: Decide which measurement would convince a customer and get it in the lab.
Goal: Having someone outside confirm it: a technology centre, a peer-reviewed paper or a certification.
Where to start: Ask a technology centre to repeat your measurement.
Goal: Having filed a patent application and holding its number.
Where to start: Ask a patent attorney for a search of what already exists, before you publish anything.
Goal: Winning a public grant that pays for part of the research.
Where to start: Look in 🏛️ Grants for the call that fits your stage and prepare the application.
Goal: Getting a company to test it in its real process, under a signed agreement.
Where to start: Propose a pilot where, before you start, you agree on one figure from the customer’s process that has to improve.
Goal: Getting someone to pay you, whether for the pilot, a licence or the development.
Where to start: When the pilot delivers what was agreed, propose a contract with a price and a timeline.
Goal: Your second customer not needing custom development.
Where to start: Separate what you built especially for the first customer from what works for anyone, and offer only the latter.
Inside Madrid Ventures the path becomes your day: your AI CEO turns the stage you are at into missions for each person, and every proof you get raises your FounderSeal.