A company's development stage is how far it has come, from testing an idea to running a profitable business with predictable growth. In Equidam you pick one of six stages in the questionnaire. That choice sets the default method weight of each valuation method, the annual return the VC method requires, and part of the Checklist and Scorecard scoring. Pick the stage that describes the company today.
What are the six development stages?
The questionnaire asks Which stage of development are you facing now? in the Business Model section, question 13. The options and their definitions are:
Idea stage: working on business plan and testing the initial problem-solution assumptions.
Development stage: building the product and establishing operations.
Startup stage: active with yearly revenue up to a threshold.
Expansion stage: scaling operations, with yearly revenue in excess of that threshold.
Growth stage: a sizable business with robust, proven, and repeatable growth.
Maturity stage: a profitable business with predictable growth aligned with industry.
The threshold between the Startup stage and the Expansion stage is USD 200,000, converted into your company's currency and rounded to the nearest 100,000. The questionnaire shows the converted figure.
How does the development stage change the method weights?
Your stage picks one of six default weight sets for the five methods. The valuation is the weighted average of the methods' values.
Idea stage: Scorecard 38%, Checklist 38%, VC method 16%, DCF with long-term growth 4%, DCF with multiples 4%.
Development stage: Scorecard 30%, Checklist 30%, VC method 16%, DCF with long-term growth 12%, DCF with multiples 12%.
Startup stage: Scorecard 15%, Checklist 15%, VC method 16%, DCF with long-term growth 27%, DCF with multiples 27%.
Expansion stage: Scorecard 6%, Checklist 6%, VC method 16%, DCF with long-term growth 36%, DCF with multiples 36%.
Growth stage: Scorecard 0%, Checklist 0%, VC method 20%, DCF with long-term growth 40%, DCF with multiples 40%.
Maturity stage: Scorecard 0%, Checklist 0%, VC method 0%, DCF with long-term growth 50%, DCF with multiples 50%.
Early stages lean on the Scorecard method and the Checklist method, which score your questionnaire answers, because performance uncertainty is highest there. Later stages lean on the two DCF (discounted cash flow) methods, which value your financial projections, because projections become more reliable once the company has a financial track record.
The valuation report repeats these weights in its appendix, under Weights of the methods, and highlights your stage.
How does the stage change the VC method's required return?
The VC method estimates the exit value, what the company could be worth when investors sell, then discounts it back to today at an annual required return, also called required ROI (return on investment). The default rates are based on the returns investors require at each stage of development, and they fall as the company matures: Idea stage 94.08%, Development stage 76.32%, Startup stage 56.77%, Expansion stage 48.93%, Growth stage 34.89%, Maturity stage 26.41%.
The VC method computes the post-money valuation (the value including the new investment) as exit value / (1 + required return) ^ number of forecast years. Its pre-money valuation (the value before the investment) is that figure minus the capital you are raising. The report appendix for the VC method lists every stage's rate and highlights yours.
What else in the valuation reads your stage?
The Checklist method scores your stage under its Operating Stage criterion, together with whether the company is sustainably breakeven.
The Scorecard method scores your revenue projection for year 4 against ranges that differ by stage, under its Size of the Opportunity criterion.
The discount rate (WACC) also reads the stage, through beta. Beta, a measure of risk relative to the market, averages four factors, one of which is financial condition. At the Expansion, Growth and Maturity stages, if your first forecast year shows revenue, that factor drops from 2.46 to 1.14 for a net loss, or to 0.82 for zero or positive net income. A lower beta lowers the discount rate (WACC), which raises the two DCF values.
How do you change your development stage?
Open the questionnaire, go to the Business Model section and change question 13. The valuation recalculates using the new stage's defaults.
If you started with AI Discovery, it suggests a stage in the Development Stage row of its recap, and you can change it there before confirming. A company it identifies as publicly listed is set to the Maturity stage.
If you want weights other than the stage defaults, turn on Custom values in Advanced Settings and enter your own. Your saved weights and your own Annual Required ROI replace the stage defaults while Custom values is on. Turn it off and the stage defaults apply again.
For licensed organisations: while Custom values is on, the Presets menu in Advanced Settings saves a set of weights for the whole organisation and applies it to other companies.
Limits
The stage question offers six fixed options.
You can edit questionnaire answers, including the stage, only after your first estimate is complete, whether through the 10-question estimate, AI Discovery or Document Upload.
On the free plan, Advanced Settings is a read-only preview. You can see the weights for your stage but cannot override them. Editing is unlocked on the Advanced and Expert plans.
While Custom values is on, a weight or required return you saved stays in place when you change stage. Only the values you have not overridden follow the new stage.
The Multiples method has a weight of 0% at every stage unless you change it in Advanced Settings.
Common questions
Why did my valuation drop when I moved to a later stage?
A later stage shifts weight from the Scorecard and Checklist methods to the DCF methods, so your financial projections matter more. If the DCF values are lower than the qualitative scores, the blended valuation falls. The VC method's required return and the Checklist's Operating Stage score change too.
Why do the Scorecard and Checklist show 0% weight?
Their default method weight is 0% at the Growth and Maturity stages. On a paid plan you can give them weight with Custom values.
Is development stage the same as funding stage?
No. Equidam asks for development stage, not funding round (pre-seed, seed, Series A). AI Discovery may use a funding round it finds to suggest a stage when it has nothing better, and you confirm or change it.