

Ask HN: Important milestones for a startup - orky56

For a founder of a startup, it's a bit difficult to celebrate the important milestones since things are always going on and happening. (Who needs distractions?) I thought it would be a good idea to ask the HN community what are the important milestones that a startup/founder goes through along the way. Significance could be defined as relevant to the founder, important to the business, etc.<p>Here's something to get it started:
MVP,
First user,
First customer,
First hire,
Funding<p>Edit: Comma-delineated the tentative list at the bottom
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VicT11
I'm definitely stealing some of this from Steve Blanks' Customer Development
Model, but thought it would be worth citing.

Concept/Idea, Customer Discovery (First User/Customer), x number of pivots of
MVP until Traction, Traction, Growth (Funding?)

[http://www.slideshare.net/venturehacks/customer-
development-...](http://www.slideshare.net/venturehacks/customer-development-
methodology-presentation)

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jsstartup
Thus far mine have been MVP/launch, first trial user, first paying user,
profitable.

The next milestone I'm hoping to achieve by the end of the year is "paying for
my living expenses"

