10 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: Being able to explain in two sentences what problem you solve, which kind of company has it and what it costs them today.
Where to start: Talk to ten people who have this problem at work. Do not show any product: ask how they solve it now and what it costs them.
Goal: Having in writing which companies you sell to (industry and size) and who makes the buying decision inside them, checked against real customers.
Where to start: Go back over your conversations and note in which companies the problem really hurt. What they have in common is your ideal customer.
Goal: Having one sentence that explains why they would buy from you, and hearing a customer repeat it in their own words.
Where to start: Write three versions of that sentence and try them in your next calls. Keep the one that makes people ask when they can try it.
Goal: Getting someone with buying power to give you half an hour and tell you what would make them pay.
Where to start: Get five meetings with the person who signs off the budget and ask them directly what they would pay for, and how much.
Goal: Having something you can show working in a meeting, live at a web address.
Where to start: Build only what solves the main problem, even if you do the rest by hand, and show it to the people who already said they were interested.
Goal: Getting a company to use it with its real data under a signed agreement, even if it is free.
Where to start: Offer a four-week pilot to three companies and put in writing, before you start, what has to happen for it to count as a success.
Goal: Getting an invoice paid by a customer who is neither a friend nor family.
Where to start: When a pilot meets what was agreed, propose carrying on with a specific price and a start date.
Goal: Getting each customer’s users to reach the part that solves their problem, and to come back on their own.
Where to start: Measure how many days a new account takes to get its first useful result, and remove whatever slows it down.
Goal: Getting a customer to pay for the second period without having to convince them.
Where to start: A month before it is due, go over with the customer what they have achieved with your product. If they cannot say, that renewal is at risk.
Goal: Knowing where your next customer will come from and what it costs you to win them.
Where to start: Write down where each of your customers came from. If two or more arrived the same way, repeat it on purpose and measure what it costs.
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.