'point of departure' definitions:

noun

A place from which an enterprise or expedition is launched; "one day when I was at a suitable jumping-off place I decided to see if I could find him"; "my point of departure was San Francisco" [syn: jumping-off place, point of departure]

noun

A beginning from which an enterprise is launched; "he uses other people's ideas as a springboard for his own"; "reality provides the jumping-off point for his illusions"; "the point of departure of international comparison cannot be an institution but must be the function it carries out" [syn: springboard, jumping-off point, point of departure]