1. Purpose and scope
Test chip results tell the founders whether the core claim holds on their own silicon. They do not tell anyone whether a customer will pay for it. This stage closes that gap. One or more potential customers, the design partners, evaluate the test chip or a platform built around it on their own workloads, systems or signals, under an agreement that sets out what they evaluate, how success is judged and what each side commits. Their findings shape the product before its specification is frozen, and their written statements are the strongest commercial evidence the company can put in front of Series A investors.
In scope: choosing and recruiting design partners, the design partner agreement, the evaluation plan, the evaluation kit and evaluation software, support during the evaluation, the partner evaluation report, the customer feedback log, letters of intent and reference permission. Out of scope: freezing the product requirements and specification, which belongs to Series A & Product Definition, and the first customer supply agreement, which belongs to Qualification & First Revenue.
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