I used to think startups moved in a straight line:
Idea → MVP → Launch → Growth → Success.
That fantasy lasted about three weeks.
What actually happens is messier, slower, and far more humbling. A startup moves through distinct phases, and each phase demands a different mindset, different work, and different evidence.
The mistake is doing the right work at the wrong time: polishing before validating, chasing growth before retention, hiring before the process works, or scaling before product-market fit.
Here is the complete journey, reduced to what matters most.
