From idea to company in nine months: our working notes

How long does it take to turn an idea into a company that trades, and where does the time go? Founders hear very different answers. We wanted a record instead of a guess, so we started keeping one.

Time is the cost founders feel most. If you know which stage tends to stall, you can start it sooner, or ask for help before it stalls. Banks and investors ask about time too, and a plain answer with dates is easier to believe.

For each venture we build with a founder, we keep one tracking sheet. It lists the steps between a first idea and a company that trades. They are the plan, the company setup, the first website and the launch. For every step, we note when it started, when it ended, and who had to decide something before it could move.

By a company that trades, we mean a registered company that has made its first sale. It is a plain finish line, and easy to check.

Nine months is the length we plan against. It is an estimate to test, not a promise and not an average. We put it in the title so that we can be held to it.

We expect the waiting, not the work, to take most of that time. Work moves when the people who must decide are ready: a founder choosing a structure, a partner signing, an office replying. We also expect choosing the company's structure to take longer than choosing the idea.

The reason is simple. Choosing a structure means choosing who owns what, who decides, and how money comes in. Those choices involve other people, such as co-founders, lawyers and banks, so they wait on more calendars than an idea does.

One early sign comes from our own projects, not yet from the sheet. When the pitch was settled early, it seemed to need fewer rewrites later. We also think a written plan shortens each talk with a bank or an investor. Both are impressions, and we will keep them only if the records agree.

Here is how we will measure. A stage counts as finished when its result exists: a signed plan, a registered company, a live website, a first sale. For each stage, we will split the time into working and waiting, and name the kind of decision that held it up.

When enough ventures have been through the sheet, we will publish how long each stage took. We will not name a founder or a company without their written agreement.

You can keep the same record for your own company, starting today. Make one line for each step. Write the date it started, the date it ended, and the name of whoever had to decide.

After a month, read the gaps between the dates. They show where the time went, and who you need to ask sooner next time.

We will update these notes as ventures finish each stage, and say plainly where our estimate was wrong.