Stages → milestones → tasks
Three nested columns show the high-level phases, the major goals inside each, and the actionable items inside each goal.
Startup Journey: a curated path from idea to scale
A curated, three-column timeline that walks you from idea to scale — see what's next, mark tasks as you finish them, jot notes, and watch your overall progress climb.
- LayoutStages × Milestones × Tasks
- ProgressPer-stage + Overall
- MobileCollapsible
app.nautis.io/journey
What is Startup Journey?
A startup journey tracker is a checklist of what early-stage companies usually need to do, grouped by stage, with your progress against it. Nautis Startup Journey shows stages, milestones and tasks in three columns, with links, videos and files on tasks, a status for each (Pending, Completed or Not applicable), private notes per task, and an overall progress bar.
First-time founders rarely lack effort. They lack a map. The Journey Tracker gives you one: pick a stage on the left, a milestone in the middle, and that milestone's tasks appear on the right with a priority badge and any attached resources. Click Details for the description and the expected outcome, so you know what done looks like before you start.
The content is curated by Nautis, which is both its strength and its limit. You can't add your own tasks here, and that's deliberate. Think of it as a reference path, the questions a good advisor would ask at each stage, while your company's own work belongs on Task Boards. The two pair well: read the journey, then put the work that applies to you on a board with owners and dates.
Mark things honestly. Not applicable counts toward progress the same as Completed, so a services business isn't punished for skipping a step that only matters to a venture-backed software company. Completed tasks get a green border and Not applicable ones a red border, so a quick scan of a milestone shows what you chose to skip and lets a co-founder question it.
Built for
- First-time founders unsure what's next
- Solo founders without a built-in support network
- Accelerator participants tracking cohort progress
Capabilities
What you can do with Startup Journey
Everything ships out of the box. No setup, no plugins, no extra tools.
Live progress meters
Every stage and milestone displays its own progress percentage, with an overall Journey progress bar at the top.
Per-task notes
Capture context, links, and learnings on every task so the journey doubles as a founder log.
Mobile-friendly layout
On narrow screens the columns collapse into dropdowns so you can update on the go.
Use cases
How startups use Startup Journey
A first-time founder's first month
Start at the earliest stage and work one milestone at a time. Use Edit Note on each task to write what you decided and why. Six months later those notes are a founder log, useful when an investor asks why you picked this market.
Bringing a late co-founder up to speed
The selected stage and milestone stick in the URL, so you can send a deep link to exactly where the company is. They see the same progress, notes and resources you do, as long as their role has access to the Journey module.
Getting ready for an accelerator interview
Before an application or interview, scan the milestones in your current stage for anything still Pending. Each one is a likely question. Pair the review with a complete business profile and you'll have most answers written down.
Ticking off a task from your phone
On a narrow screen, the stage and milestone columns collapse into two dropdowns at the top of the tasks pane. Updating a task straight after a meeting takes seconds.
Quick start
From zero to using Startup Journey
- 1
Open the Journey Tracker
Sidebar → Profile & Company → Journey Tracker.
- 2
Pick a stage
Stages map to common startup phases — choose the one you're in.
- 3
Work through milestones
Each milestone is a meaningful goal; tick its tasks off as you complete them.
- 4
Watch the overall bar move
Your top-of-page progress climbs as tasks complete.
Startup journey tracker vs a checklist post vs a mentor
Each one is useful. They answer different questions, and only one of them knows your company.
| What you get | Blog checklist or template | Nautis Startup Journey | Accelerator or mentor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structured path by stage | Usually one long list | Stages, milestones and tasks | A program curriculum |
| Your progress saved | No | Per milestone, per stage and overall | Varies |
| Notes in context | A separate doc | Edit Note on every task | Your own notes |
| Resources attached | Links in the post | Links, videos and files per task | Sessions and office hours |
| Advice specific to you | No | No, the path is the same for everyone | Yes, that's the point |
| Your own tasks | Copy and edit | Not here; use Task Boards | Varies |
Plans and limits
- The Journey feature must be enabled for your organization. Reading needs access to the Journey module, and marking tasks or saving notes needs write rights; Super Admin has both by default.
- Every Nautis plan starts with a 14-day trial with no card. See pricing.
What Startup Journey doesn't do
- You can't add, edit or remove tasks or milestones. The path is fixed, so anything specific to your business goes on a task board or in Notes.
- It's general guidance, not advice for your situation. It won't tell you whether your market is big enough or your terms are fair; a mentor, lawyer or accountant still has that job.
- Progress rounds to a whole number, so one finished task in a large milestone may not move the headline figure.
- Resources are read-only. You can open, watch or download them but not attach your own; keep your context in each task's note.
Startup Journey questions
What is a startup journey tracker for?+
It's for knowing what to do next. Instead of piecing advice together from blog posts, you follow one path of stages and milestones and see what's done. It suits first-time and solo founders most; experienced founders tend to use it as a gap check.
Is the Startup Journey the same for every company?+
Yes. The stages, milestones and tasks are curated by Nautis and identical across organizations. What differs is your status on each task and the notes you keep.
How is the Startup Journey different from Task Boards?+
The journey is a fixed reference path that every company shares. Task Boards hold your own work, with owners, due dates, priorities and KPI targets. Use the first to find gaps and the second to close them.
Should I mark a task Not applicable or leave it Pending?+
If a task truly doesn't apply, for example a fundraising step for a company that won't raise, mark it Not applicable so progress reflects reality. Leave it Pending if it applies and you haven't done it yet. Honesty here is what makes the progress bar worth reading.
Can I share my journey progress with a mentor outside the company?+
Not directly. Only people in your organization with access to the Journey module can see it. For someone outside, share your public business profile or summarize your progress in a document.
Can I add my own tasks or milestones to the journey?+
The default Journey content is curated by Nautis, so you can't add custom tasks here. Use Task Boards or Notes for your own to-dos.
What does 'Not applicable' actually do?+
It tells Nautis this task doesn't apply to your business so it stops counting as outstanding work. Your progress bars treat it the same as Completed.
Where do my task notes live?+
They're attached to each task and visible only to people in your organization who have access to the Journey module.
Do my notes go away if I change a task's status?+
No. Status and notes are independent — changing one doesn't touch the other.
Why didn't my progress percentage move when I completed a task?+
The percentage rounds to a whole number. If a milestone has many tasks, finishing one might not be enough to bump the headline number. Keep going — it'll move soon.
Is the timeline customizable?+
The journey is a curated path that reflects what most founders need at each stage. You can add notes per task, but the stage structure is fixed for now.
Can my whole team see the journey?+
Yes — it lives at the organization level, so everyone with access to the module sees the same view.
Does the journey work on mobile?+
Yes. On narrow screens the stage and milestone columns collapse into dropdowns at the top of the tasks pane, so you can update on the go.
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