Organizing a start-up competition, I realized that it was important to be clear on what start-up "stage" your a looking into. When organizing iWeekend, I learn that we can grade a start-up from 0 to 100.

0 is the moment when the entrepreneurs have the idea. 100 is when the start-up is ready for funding. It has nothing to do with the incorporation, let's consider the company has not even been incorporated.

iWeekend is an event that bring your start-up idea into a real project (we are located on 20-50 on the scale I would say). I should make a drawing out of this, but basically this is how I see it:
0- idea
10- you talk about your idea to friend. You have a small pitch
20- you have a team (2-3 person max)
30- you are all on the same page, why your idea make the world better and cans tart working on a demo (you are ready for incubation if your idea is disrupting)
40- you have a working demo, look for traction
50- you have traction, start to look into users feedback
60- iterate
70- iterate
80- growth of you user base
90- user survey confirm you are on the right way
100- have a pitch ready for investor

I found this article about different phase a Silicon valley startup usually encounter, it is very interesting.

As for your startup competition, we will probably create 2 category:
– seed startup (located between 30-60)
– mature start-up (located between 60-100)

I wish there was an official way to evaluate a start-up stage and official name…