1. FIVE SIX
QUESTIONS
FOUNDERS MUST
ASK THEMSELVES.
Ajay Batrawww.startuplaunchbook.com

2. THE IDEA IN BRIEF
Launching a Startup is an
empowering and uplifting
experience. But it can also be a
daunting task to juggle so
many tasks and solve
innumerable challenges daily.
Are you ready for it? Do you
know that to do?
Use the 5-level roadmap to
know where you are, and to
plan your next steps towards
the launch of your high-
performing startup.
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3. 1. DO YOU KNOW WHAT
YOU ARE GETTING INTO?
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4. Sub-questions:
How unique and disruptive is your
startup idea?
Is this your life’s calling?
Do you have the funds and resources
to pull it off?
Do you have the skills and
experience to move ahead?
Do you have co-founders who
complement you?
You can handle technology. But can
you manage marketing?
4

5. 2. ARE THERE (ENOUGH) CUSTOMERS
WHO CARE ABOUT YOUR IDEA?
5

6. Sub-questions:
Who are your potential customers?
Are customer segments clearly
identified?
How well do you understand customers’
daily challenges, life aspirations and
needs?
Can your solution address customer’s
needs and problems? Is your solution
going to delight customers?
Are these needs important to the
customers?
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7. 3. CAN YOU GENERATE ADEQUATE
REVENUES AND PROFITS?
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8. Sub-questions:
Is your solution remarkably better than
the competitors’?
Do you have more than one revenue
model?
How will you price your offerings?
How will you acquire your customers?
Do you need partners in this journey?
How will you manage your costs and
expenses?
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9. 4. ARE YOU BUILDING
A WORLD-CLASS
PRODUCT/SERVICE?
9

10. Sub-questions:
Do you know the must-have
functionality of your solution?
Do you know the nice-to-have
functionality of your solution?
Will customer pay for the functionality
that you are offering?
How will your solution scale and
improve over time?
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11. 5. DO YOU HAVE AN ORGANIZATION
THAT CAN HANDLE LAUNCH &
GROWTH? 11

12. Sub-questions:
Have you hired the right people for
developing and marketing the solution?
What are your short and medium term
goals as a new venture?
How will you monitor venture’s
performance regularly?
What kind of culture are you creating?
Are customers/employees/partners
delighted to work with you?
Have you created systems/processes to
manage growth?
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13. IPR
FUNDING
LIFE OF A STARTUP FOUNDER
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“An organization becomes bewildered rather than energized when it’s
asked to do too much at once.” - Michael Hammer & James Champy

14. So many issues & questions!
Even though the questions are
binary, the answers are
anything but. Juggling so many
fronts of a startup is
challenging.
I am confused about Lean
Startups, Business Model
Canvas, Design Thinking, etc.
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“
“

15. 6. ISN’T THERE A SYSTEMATIC AND
SIMPLER WAY TO LAUNCH GREAT
STARTUPS?
15

16. Between identifying and understanding customers, developing the product / service, building
a team, raising funds, and making sales - founders juggle many things and face inexhaustible
questions daily as they proceed towards the launch of their startup.
With all the talk about Design Thinking, Product-market fit, Business Model Canvas and Lean
Startups, one expects clear answers to these questions — unfortunately that’s not the case.
Hence, in the absence of a practical blueprint, many startup founders get frustrated,
distracted or pick random strategies for launching their startup. As a result, they get
submerged in the din of operations and drown in an avalanche of cash burn while showing
little or no improvement in internal efficiencies or market effectiveness.
The need of the hour is a clear roadmap that serves as a guiding light in a startup’s journey;
one that serves as a starting point for founders with ideas and provides an outside-in view of
the venture while keeping a sharp focus on the issues that are critical to the startup’s current
stage of maturity. Fortunately, many others have traversed the same startup journey with
varying degrees of results, and thanks to them, we now have a tried and tested framework
that you can follow for your mission of converting an idea into a successful venture.
Introducing the Startup Maturity Model© (SMM), a global-first maturity framework
that balances the art, science, and practice of launching exceptional startups. SMM’s
unique five-level architecture allows founders to take the guessing game out of the
equation as they follow a clear approach for building innovative and scalable
startups.
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17. 6. ISN’T THERE A SYSTEMATIC AND SIMPLER
WAY TO LAUNCH GREAT STARTUPS?
NOW, THERE IS!
The Startup Maturity Model©
(SMM) is a framework
of practices that most contribute to building
customer-centric startups.
These practices are presented as a 5-level
architecture to offer a clear and actionable roadmap
to startup founders.
SMM seamlessly integrates concepts and methods
from the domains of Design Thinking, Lean Startup,
Strategy, Operations and Human Capital
Management.
STARTUP
MATURITY
MODEL
©
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18. FIVE LEVELS OF
STARTUP
MATURITY
MODEL©
LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 5
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19. LEVEL 5: LAUNCH MANAGEMENT
Launch, sustain and scale the venture.
LEVEL 4: SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT
Create products/services that will delight customers.
LEVEL 3: VIABILITY ANALYSIS
Prototype solutions. Evolve robust business models.
LEVEL 2: OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
Understand market dynamics. Know your potential customers.
LEVEL 1: IDEATION AND TEAM FORMATION
Build a cohesive founding team. Discover exciting startup ideas.
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20. NO GUESSING GAME
A clear five-level pathway that leads to the design and
launch of successful Startups. No more “brute force” or
“shooting in the dark” action while launching Startups.
LEARN & APPLY
Based on author’s work with hundreds of founders, SMM has
curated global startup success (and failure) lessons in an
actionable maturity framework.
LESS JARGON. MORE ACTION
Leverage the power of Design Thinking, Business Model
Canvas, Lean Startups, Customer Development, Pivoting,
Pitching and Prototyping through a user-friendly and
integrated framework.
HOLISTIC APPROACH
Develop an entrepreneurial mindset of curiosity, action and
reflection. Build products or services that address validated
customer needs, and are associated with robust business
models.
Advantage:
STARTUPMATURITYMODEL
©
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21. HELPING FOUNDERS
LAUNCH GREAT
STARTUPS.
Ajay Batra
Author:
• Startups and Beyond: Building Enduring
Organizations
• The Startup LaunchBook
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Startup Maturity Model© and Maturity Model for Building Enduring Organizations© are neither endorsed nor reviewed by Carnegie Mellon
University or Software Engineering Institute. Capability Maturity Model®, CMM® and CMMI® are registered in the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University. Image source: Unsplash.com