The Stages

Product Development
The first and foremost thing is have to your product. It is assumed that market research has been done, competitors have been figured out and the revenue generation module has been thought of and well surveyed.
Then comes, the phase of product planning. The rule is simple, be one step or atleast at par to your competitor. If you fail this step, you have failed in your venture.
Product Development should be as per product planning. Not this is important point. Don’t run from technical issues. Deal with every micro issue with full details.

Creating Up Front
What actually is upfront. It is not necessarily a fake series of steps you need to take or implement which involves brand building stag. Win some innovative venture of the year etc. prizes or do whatever according to your product. But building a product upfront is whole lot important than your marketing and promotion.

Marketing and promotion
You know better than me. You wouldn’t have been reading it otherwise. But my experiences say people dive into this stage very much earlier because they are impatient to see the result of their innovation. But if you have confidence in your product, go with the proper stages.