The planning stage or strategic stage is on-going and doesn't indicate a specific benchmark. I advise startup founders to focus on profit before they ask for investor participation. Determine what customer demographic represents your key income. Then assess how you will connect with that customer and provide value to them. Whether your business is B2C or B2B, the above steps apply. Prior to requesting investment take your business from anecdotal to proven by establishing a customer base. Proof of Concept is not established with a few customers, so you will need to prove your business is not relying on funding. Identify who your business aligns with - which VC firms. Every venture firm has areas in which they focus. This is also true of early seed stage funding.