What Do I Do Now? The Startup Lifecycle

Startups go through a series of steps before they become a large company.
You’ll realize you’re ready to exit the Search step when you have customer validation:

• You’ve found a sales channel that matches how the customer wants to buy and the costs of using that channel are understood
• Sales (and/or customer acquisition in a multi-sided market) becomes achievable by a sales force (or network effect or virality) without heroic efforts from the founders
• Customer acquisition and activation are understood and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Life Time Value (LTV) can be estimated for the next 18 months

​https://steveblank.com/2015/02/12/what-do-i-do-now/