Startups are waterfall

Process note: One of my lessons-learned from Subconscious was that project management for startups should be done via deadlines and workbacks not via agile methods.

Agile is designed for steady-state maintenance. But when you are going from 0-1, you are not in a steady state. You have a fixed amount of time, determined by your funding and your burn rate, and there are certain milestones you must hit during that timeframe, or else you die.

The right way to manage the zero to one phase is by doing a workback from your time of death, covering what you need to deliver to get to your next business goal (product-market fit, default alive, next funding round, etc).

Put due dates on major milestones. Track progress waterfall style.