Where early-stage founders find clarity.

  • Welcome!
  • Startup Resources
  • Founder Features
  • Partner With Us
  • About CSE
  • More
    • Welcome!
    • Startup Resources
    • Founder Features
    • Partner With Us
    • About CSE
VIEW THE CALENDAR!
  • Welcome!
  • Startup Resources
  • Founder Features
  • Partner With Us
  • About CSE
VIEW THE CALENDAR!

Stage 2: Solution Shaping

From Insight to Value Creation

Stage 2 exists to explore a central question:
“What solution actually creates value for this problem?”


This stage is commonly where insights begin to take shape as tested solutions.

What founders are often learning by the end of Stage 2

By the end of Stage 2, founders often have signals that help them:


  • See which solution approaches appear to work — and which do not
     
  • Observe users reaching value through interaction
     
  • Notice patterns that reduce time-to-value
     
  • Identify features that add little or no value
     
  • Align the shape of the solution to real buyer behavior

Phase 1 — Hypothesis-Driven Building

Goal: Learn through small, intentional tests rather than polished execution


At this phase, founders are often examining:


  • Which assumptions each test is intended to explore
     
  • What outcomes would meaningfully challenge those assumptions
     
  • How small or lightweight a test can be while still generating signal
     

Artifact: A prioritized list of hypotheses and experiments being explored.

Phase 2 — Value Observation

Goal: Notice how users experience value in practice


Founders frequently pay attention to:


  • Where users hesitate, slow down, or disengage
     
  • Moments when users describe something as helpful without prompting
     
  • Actions or behaviors that tend to correlate with perceived value
     

Artifact: Documented value moments connected to observable user behavior.

Phase 3 — Convergence

Goal: Narrow the solution toward what matters most


At this stage, founders often reflect on:


  • Which features are consistently ignored
     
  • Which workflows users naturally gravitate toward
     
  • What the smallest version of the solution that still delivers value might look like
     

Artifact: A deliberately narrowed and intentional solution scope.

Stage 2 Principle: Learning outperforms complexity over tim

What is commonly delayed during Stage 2

Signals a founder may be lingering in Stage 2

Signals a founder may be lingering in Stage 2

At this stage, founders often hold off on:


  • Overbuilding
     
  • Expanding the ideal customer profile prematurely
     
  • Optimizing for edge cases
     
  • Framing the solution around scale narratives

<< STAGE 1

Signals a founder may be lingering in Stage 2

Signals a founder may be lingering in Stage 2

Signals a founder may be lingering in Stage 2

  • Features continue to be added or refined, but user value is not becoming clearer
     
  • Users require significant explanation or hand-holding to reach value
     
  • Experiments are running, but learnings are not converging toward a tighter solution
     
  • Effort is focused on optimizing the product rather than deciding what to remove

Exit Criteria (Stage 2 → Stage 3)

Signals a founder may be lingering in Stage 2

Exit Criteria (Stage 2 → Stage 3)

Founders often feel ready to move forward when:


  • Users reach value with minimal guidance
     
  • Usage patterns begin to repeat consistently
     
  • The reason the solution works can be explained clearly

stage 3 >>

Stage 2: Chicago Organizations

Chicago Early Growth Ventures

Serves: Founders with early traction preparing for seed capital and institutional feedback


Fit: Supports capital-ready companies by backing disciplined growth, validating revenue signals, and aligning early traction with an intentional capital path

Chicago Urban League: Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Serves: Black founders and entrepreneurs building and formalizing early-stage businesses
 

Fit: Provides structured programs, coaching, and capital-readiness support that help founders move from validated ideas into viable solutions and early revenue generation.

Founder Institute Chicago

Serves: First-time and early repeat founders building venture-scale startups


Fit: Structured pre-seed accelerator helping founders turn validated problems into MVPs, positioning, and early solution clarity.

mHUB

Serves: Hardtech, manufacturing, and physical-product founders


Fit: Provides labs, pilots, and applied programs that help founders shape and test real-world solutions before full GTM.

The EdTech Institute of Chicago

Serves: EdTech founders building solutions for K-12, higher education, and workforce learning
 

Fit: Provides domain-specific programs, educator access, and pilots that help founders shape viable edtech solutions and validate early adoption in real learning environments.

UIC Innovation Center

Serves: University-affiliated founders, researchers, and applied innovators


Fit: Supports solution development, prototyping, and commercialization for founders translating research or ideas into testable products.

Stage 2: 🧠 Resources

How to build an MVP

Y Combinator Group Partner, Michael Seibel, explains how to build a minimum viable product (MVP) for your startup idea. 

How to find Product Market Fit (PMF)

A practical breakdown of how founders should think about starting a company, weighing personal readiness, risk, timing, and tradeoffs before committing fully to the startup path.

Forget the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Build Minimal Viable Runway first

A practical breakdown of how early founders should evaluate ideas, pressure-test assumptions, and avoid mistaking enthusiasm or feedback for real customer validation.

426: How to create a successful pilot program for your startup

Our workshops and talks provide opportunities to learn new skills and techniques. Enhance your knowledge and stay ahead of the curve.

Copyright © 2025 chicagostartupevents.com - All Rights Reserved.


We ♥️ founders!

Get the Weekly Roundup delivered every Monday morning!

Sign up

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

Accept