pathways
Choosing a startup program that fits: a decision guide
Batch programs, incubators and community programs differ in length, terms and fit. What research reports, and ten questions to ask before applying.
Insights / Pathways
Pathways desk
The routes into a company and the routes to capital, side by side.
Companies begin in different places: an idea, a skill, a client, an employer, a product someone else built or a side project.
The articles on this desk set those starting points, and the ways to pay for the work that follows, side by side. None of them ranks the routes or tells you which one to take.
Several cover law and tax, so each carries a dated note that it is general information, not legal or financial advice, and lists questions to bring to a professional licensed where you operate. Each article cites its sources so you can read them yourself, and says plainly what it cannot tell you.
- Dream 7 articles
- Build 11 articles
- Grow 6 articles
- Fundable 8 articles
- Starting out 14 articles
- Funding and capital 13 articles
- Legal and company basics 8 articles
- Team and hiring 9 articles
- AI-native building 9 articles
- Go-to-market 10 articles
- Pathways 12 articles
- Business models 8 articles
- Sectors 8 articles
- Operations and wellbeing 11 articles
Show the figures as a table
| Desk | Articles |
|---|---|
| Dream | 7 |
| Build | 11 |
| Grow | 6 |
| Fundable | 8 |
| Starting out | 14 |
| Funding and capital | 13 |
| Legal and company basics | 8 |
| Team and hiring | 9 |
| AI-native building | 9 |
| Go-to-market | 10 |
| Pathways | 12 |
| Business models | 8 |
| Sectors | 8 |
| Operations and wellbeing | 11 |
Illustration: World Enterprise Group Incorporated, drawn at build time from the articles published on this site.
Pathways
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Each dot is one article; the amber mark is the desk’s median.
Show the figures as a table
| Group | Article | Reading time |
|---|---|---|
| Pathways | Choosing a startup program that fits: a decision guide | 6 min |
| Pathways | Using SBA resource partners: SBDC, SCORE, WBC and VBOC | 6 min |
| Pathways | Acquiring a small software product instead of building one: what to check | 7 min |
| Pathways | Acquisitions, acqui-hires and wind-downs: the exits to recognize | 7 min |
| Pathways | Customers as capital: pilots, prepayment and design partners | 7 min |
| Pathways | From client work to a product: productizing a service business | 7 min |
| Pathways | From side project to company: the decision points | 7 min |
| Pathways | Joining as a founding team member: what to ask before you commit | 7 min |
| Pathways | Matching a funding route to a stage: a decision guide | 7 min |
| Pathways | Paying a first team before funding: the options and what each risks | 7 min |
| Pathways | Spinning a product out of an employer: what to settle first | 7 min |
| Pathways | Three ways to start: an idea, a skill, a problem you have lived | 7 min |
Chart: World Enterprise Group Incorporated, counted at build time from the articles on this desk.
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pathways
Using SBA resource partners: SBDC, SCORE, WBC and VBOC
Federal business counseling centers, volunteer advisers, women's centers and veteran centers. What each does, who it serves, and how to find one.
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pathways
Acquiring a small software product instead of building one: what to check
A checklist of what to verify before buying a small software product: the ownership chain, accounts and data, customer contracts, tax reporting and filings.
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pathways
Acquisitions, acqui-hires and wind-downs: the exits to recognize
How selling a company, selling its assets, an acqui-hire and a wind-down differ, and the votes, filings and records each can involve, for first-time founders.
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pathways
Customers as capital: pilots, prepayment and design partners
How pilots, prepayment and design partners can fund a first product, and the terms worth writing down before any of them starts.
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pathways
From client work to a product: productizing a service business
How a service business can turn repeated client work into a product: what to check about ownership, client data and pricing before the first version ships.
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pathways
From side project to company: the decision points
When a side project starts to need a legal home, a bank account and written agreements, and the questions each moment raises for solo and student founders.
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pathways
Joining as a founding team member: what to ask before you commit
Questions to ask before joining an early company: role, equity, pay, work authorization and exit terms, for people changing careers or countries.
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pathways
Matching a funding route to a stage: a decision guide
A decision guide for early founders: the main routes to capital, what each asks of you, and the questions that connect a route to what you can show today.
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pathways
Paying a first team before funding: the options and what each risks
Ways early founders pay first helpers without outside funding: fixed fees, wages, deferred pay and shares, what each risks and what to put in writing.
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pathways
Spinning a product out of an employer: what to settle first
Questions to settle before a product built at an employer becomes your company: who owns the work, what your agreement says, and which laws differ by place.
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pathways
Three ways to start: an idea, a skill, a problem you have lived
Founders begin from an idea, a skill or a problem they have lived. This article sets the three starting points side by side and names what each skips.
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