About Seedstage Notes

Seedstage Notes covers the two years before anyone would call it a startup: testing an idea without building it, finding people who will pay before the product is finished, and doing the paperwork once instead of twice.

This stage gets the least honest writing, because there is no funding announcement to hang a story on and nothing yet to boast about. We write for people in it right now — before revenue, often before incorporation — who need the unglamorous specifics rather than encouragement.

What we cover

• Validation — how to find out whether anyone wants this, without building it first
• First Customers — the unscalable work of getting the first ten people to pay
• Incorporation — the paperwork, in the order it actually needs doing
• Startups — companies at this stage, covered while the outcome is still unknown

How we work

Our editors have started small companies themselves — some worked, some taught us what to write here. Guidance is grounded in cases we can point at, and where something depends on your jurisdiction we say so rather than generalising. Nothing here is legal advice. Every piece is reviewed by a human before publishing.