Every startup faces moments that define its future — the "critical events." These are the milestones that, if achieved, address your market’s real needs, but if missed, lead to wasted resources and potential. A CRITICAL EVENT refers to an event that, if it doesn't turn out positively, the business will fail.
If you're pitching to investors. They're not interested in seeing the login page of your app. If your product were a burger, that's just the bun! What they care about is your secret sauce—what makes your product unique and worth investing in.
The path to a successful product begins with a big idea that requires proper validation and execution. You need to prove your concept through a functional prototype that allows you to refine it along the way. Your first version doesn't need to be perfect; it needs to prove your product's potential by addressing a genuine market need.
Presenting just surface-level features to investors, like a login page, signals you've missed crucial critical-event steps (milestones). Only after validating your core assumptions should you progress to building an MVP, a minimum marketable product, and beyond.
David, in this Startup Roadmap, talks about the critical stages of SaaS growth from a sales perspective, and while we agree, our experience with US-based SaaS startups shows crucial technical steps before focusing on sales:
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If your product isn’t generating enough revenue to cover costs, there’s a problem. Technology and business must evolve hand-in-hand. Each step in your roadmap has unique challenges, and skipping can lead to technical debt, delays, and missed resources.
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