Early stage valuations are never scientific. What I would say however is that its increasingly challenging to get outside capital (apart from fff-funding, Friends, Fools and Family) for any concept, idea or development-stage idea. An early indication of promise and ability to execute on behalf of the entrepreneur is the ability to put out an MVP or a first phase product onto the market with little or no outside funding. This brings back to the valuation. For a pure idea-stage company with no product on the market and therefore no metrics, I would be shocked if a pre-money valuation would exceed $500k. If you already have an MVP on the market, have been able to demonstrate traction etc, then those things tend to influence your valuation. As does obviously the local availability of capital. For any pre-product/market fit startup however, an early-stage valuation rarely exceeds $4m. Another option to "postpone" the valuation discussion is to take in the capital as a convertible note with a cap. The cap should be something you believe you can exceed as the valuation for the next round of funding.