Insights
Seven markers to set before you build a company
Jalon Consulting · 10 November 2026
Most companies do not fail on launch day. They fail months earlier, on a question nobody settled. Here are the seven markers we set with every founder we accompany, in this order.
Before a road is built, someone walks the ground and drives stakes into it. In French, those stakes are called jalons. They show where the work will go and where it starts. A company deserves the same care.
Marker I
The thesis: who pays, and why now
Not “everyone who likes good products”. One precise customer, the moment they feel the problem, and what they pay today to live with it. In CB Insights’ review of failed startups, the absence of a real market need ranked among the most cited reasons, alongside running out of cash. Ten honest conversations with real customers, not friends, settle more than a month of slides.
Marker II
The business model: a price that holds
Your price is a decision, not a guess. Compare it with what customers already pay, write down your unit cost and your margin, and build a prudent twelve-month plan. If the plan only works in the best case, it does not work.
Marker III
The brand: a promise you can keep
A name, an identity and a message are not decoration. They tell one specific customer what changes for them. Write the promise in one sentence, then check that every page, product and conversation keeps it.
Marker IV
The structure: settled while trust is high
Carta’s data on venture-backed two-founder teams shows that about one in four lose a co-founder within four years. The departure is rarely the damage; the missing paperwork is. Country, legal form, shareholders’ agreement, vesting, roles, a leaving clause: decide them early, with licensed lawyers and accountants.
Marker V
Operations: boring on purpose
Tools in the company’s name, suppliers compared on minimums and lead times, procedures written down. Good operations are invisible to customers. Bad ones are the first thing they notice.
Marker VI
Go-to-market: the first customers, by hand
Choose one segment and one or two channels. Set weekly targets for conversations and proposals, and follow every first customer by name. Advertising comes once you know what converts, never before.
Marker VII
Steering: decide every month
Five figures that matter, a sixty-minute monthly ritual, three decisions, three priorities. A company that measures and adjusts every month is rarely surprised by the year.
Where to start
If you are about to register a company, start with the first marker, not the fourth. And if you would like to set these markers with someone at your side for the long run, tell us about your project.
Tell us about your projectJalon Consulting chooses very few founders and builds their company with them, from inside the team. We never take equity and we do not promise results: we commit to the work, the method and our presence.