The Four Critical Phases of a Start-Up

If you have had any involvement with VCs or start-ups you will have probably been involved in a discussion about what funding round the start-up is in. There are many different terms that are used (pre-seed, seed, post-seed, angel,  pre-A, Series A, Late A, B, C, D etc). The distinction between these rounds provides some clues as to the prospects of the start-up.

Often the different round descriptions come from start-ups trying to define their stage to help their fundraising efforts. Venture capital firms will use different descriptions to help them clarify the stage of investment they are interested in to support deal flow filtering.

Gil Dibner from Angular Ventures in a well-reasoned article considers there are three phases. Some others consider there as many as seven phases - Arsalan Sajid from Cloudways.

In VC land, the ‘stage’ or ‘phase’ of a start-up can be the subject of heated debate. Suffice to say, there are many different opinions about the different phases.

There is no perfect description, but it is helpful to think about the phases by reference to the ‘maturity’ of the start-up -  milestones it has achieved,  the challenges it is yet to overcome and the things it is focused on. At 11eight we like to consider four phases of start-up – see below.

Here is a framework. I have found useful….

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