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0. Improvise

Stage: 0

Stage Overview

What to do: Improvise

Your role: Researcher

Headcount: N/A

Leadership Structure: Just you.

Companies at this stage: N/A (you're not a company yet).

Area	Constraints	To Graduate
Product	You have nothing to sell.	Make something FREE to give away.
Marketing	No one knows about your stuff.	Tell people you have FREE stuff.
Sales	You don't know how to sell.	Get people to try it for free.
Customer Service	No customers to service.	Service your free customers.
Information Tech (IT)	You have no tech.	Get a Computer. Internet. Microphone. Phone. Email.
Recruiting	You don't know how to work.	You recruit yourself to work.
Human Resources (HR)	You're unprotected.	Create an entity to separate your personal assets from your business assets.
Finance	Your personal money is the business's money.	Get a business bank account. Put money in. Write off start up expenses to save on taxes.

Bottom line: Right now, nothing is happening.

Graduate by: Get people to try your stuff for free.

When you hit “Stage 0. Improvise”

Stage 0 is like being at the very beginning of building a house. You don’t even have the tools or materials yet, but you’re ready to start. At this stage, you’re just one person with an idea, but no actual business.

The goal is simple: get people to try your stuff for free.

Think of it like being a brand new cook who wants to open a restaurant someday.

Before charging anyone money, you need to practice cooking and have people taste your food to see if it’s any good.

That’s what Stage 0 is all about: testing things out without asking for money.

Here's what you need to focus on at Stage 0:

Product
Marketing
Sales
Customer Service
Technology
Basic Setup

Product

You need to make something you can give away for free. It could be a service (like helping someone with their computer), information (like teaching someone how to do something), or an actual product. The important thing is that it’s free so people will try it.

Marketing

You need to tell people about your free stuff. The easiest way is to start with people you know: friends, family, people you’ve emailed before, or people who follow you on social media. You just need to let them know you have something free that might help them.

Sales

Since you don’t know how to sell yet, you’re just asking people to try your free stuff. When they try it, you ask them what they think and what would make it better. This helps you learn what people actually want.

Customer Service

You need to take really good care of the people who try your free stuff. Answer their questions quickly, help them use what you gave them, and be super nice.

Even though they aren’t paying. These people are helping you learn what works and what doesn’t.

Technology

You just need the basics: a computer, internet connection, phone, and email address.

Nothing fancy. Think of these as your basic tools, like a hammer and screwdriver when building a house.

Basic Setup

You need to protect yourself by creating a business entity (like a SARL in France, a LLC in the US) to keep your personal money separate from business money.

You’ll also need a business bank account and to keep track of any money you spend on your business since you can write these off on taxes.

What success looks like at Stage 0

The most important thing at Stage 0 is to find out if people actually want what you’re offering.

It’s like cooking for friends before opening a restaurant: you want honest feedback about whether your food is good and what would make it better.

Some key things to remember:

Don’t worry about making money yet.
Focus on helping people and getting feedback.
Keep everything simple.
Be willing to change things based on what people tell you.
Don’t spend much money. Use free tools when possible.
Be patient and learn from every interaction.

0. Improvise

All stages