Bonus: all steps in one place

Every milestone from idea to exit

The SaaS Progress Checklist

This checklist follows the eleven articles in this series. Start at Phase 1 and move forward only when the current phase is clear. The first unchecked item is your next task.

Phase 1: Ideation

1. Name the problem: Can you explain the painful problem in one sentence?
   
   
2. Identify the person: Do you know exactly who has this problem?
   
   
3. Understand the failure: Do you know why existing solutions fail this person?
   
   
4. Separate excitement from evidence: Are you excited because of a real insight, not just because the idea sounds like a good business?
   
   
5. Define the promise: Can you describe the value of the solution clearly?
   
   

Phase 2: Validation

6. Talk to real people: Have you stopped relying on your own reflection and spoken with potential users?
   
   
7. Find active frustration: Do people have a problem they are already trying to solve?
   
   
8. Test the workaround: Do you understand what users use today and why it is insufficient?
   
   
9. Accept modification: Have you changed the idea where the evidence demanded it?
   
   
10. Find first believers: Is there a small group genuinely interested in an alternative?
    
    

Phase 3: Pre-MVP

11. Choose one workflow: Can you draw the complete user journey on one whiteboard?
    
    
12. Cut the scope: Have you removed everything that is not required to solve the core problem?
    
    
13. Protect the MVP: Can you say “no” to features that belong in a later phase?
    
    
14. Define the value: Can you explain the product’s value in one sentence?
    
    
15. Accept smallness: Are you uncomfortable with how little the first version includes?
    
    

Phase 4: MVP

16. Build the core workflow: Can a user complete the main job from start to finish?
    
    
17. Ship imperfectly: Is the product functional even if the UI, copy, and documentation are rough?
    
    
18. Put it in users’ hands: Are real users testing the product rather than only reviewing mockups?
    
    
19. Watch behavior: Are you learning from what users do, not only what they say?
    
    
20. Let users teach you: Are you prepared to change direction based on the evidence?
    
    

Phase 5: Early Traction

21. Get strangers using it: Are people outside your immediate network trying the product?
    
    
22. Earn the first payment: Has someone paid for the solution?
    
    
23. Measure return visits: Do users come back after their first experience?
    
    
24. Track churn honestly: Do you know why users leave?
    
    
25. Improve the core: Are you improving speed, clarity, and value instead of adding distractions?
    
    

Phase 6: Public Launch

26. Prepare the message: Can you explain the value proposition in one sentence?
    
    
27. Launch publicly: Have strangers had a chance to discover and judge the product?
    
    
28. Measure reality: Are analytics showing what users actually do?
    
    
29. Handle the noise: Can you respond to bugs, support requests, and criticism without losing focus?
    
    
30. Turn launch into routine: Is acquiring and supporting users becoming normal business activity?
    
    

Phase 7: Growth

31. Repeat what works: Do you have an acquisition motion you can run consistently?
    
    
32. Know your channel: Can you explain where your best users come from?
    
    
33. Watch the economics: Is customer acquisition cost below lifetime value?
    
    
34. Reduce churn: Is retention stable or improving as acquisition grows?
    
    
35. Document the motion: Can you describe the acquisition strategy in a few repeatable steps?
    
    

Phase 8: Product-Market Fit

36. Recognize the pull: Are customers recommending the product without being asked?
    
    
37. See stronger retention: Are customers staying because the product has become part of their work?
    
    
38. Learn from unexpected use: Are customers showing you valuable uses you did not originally imagine?
    
    
39. Turn complaints into ideas: Are support conversations becoming product insight rather than repeated rejection?
    
    
40. Feel the shift: Does growth feel less like convincing and more like responding to demand?
    
    

Phase 9: Scaling

41. Stop being the bottleneck: Can the company operate without your daily input?
    
    
42. Hire for leverage: Have you built a team that can own important areas of the business?
    
    
43. Document decisions: Can new people understand how onboarding, support, and operations work?
    
    
44. Delegate judgment: Does your team make decisions you would endorse without waiting for you?
    
    
45. Build predictability: Are revenue and key metrics growing in a way you can plan around?
    
    

Phase 10: Profitability

46. Cover the costs: Does revenue consistently exceed expenses?
    
    
47. Spend deliberately: Have you stopped chasing every opportunity and started investing with intent?
    
    
48. Build stability: Are you independent of the next funding round?
    
    
49. Improve over time: Is profitability becoming a durable trend rather than a one-time result?
    
    
50. Sleep better: Does the business give the team emotional and financial stability?
    
    

Phase 11: Maturity

51. Build for longevity: Is the company designed to last beyond its original growth phase?
    
    
52. Create a lasting product: Do customers stay because the product has become indispensable?
    
    
53. Grow the next generation: Does the team want to work there for the work itself, not only the mission statement or equity?
    
    
54. Let the company evolve: Can the vision change with the market without depending on one founder?
    
    
55. Make it bigger than you: Would the business remain strong even if your name disappeared from the product?
    
    

How to use: Start at step 1. If you cannot check an item, that is your current work. Do not skip ahead to a later phase before the foundation is solid.