When women say "we started as friends" this is rarely a "besties-to-lovers" scenario, it actually just means there was a "talking stage"

most friendships develop among people of a similar age bracket and the amount of men who fall for their friend and end up NOT having their feelings reciprocated tells you just how one-sided interest is and how most women seem to pass the minimum looks threshold, but not the guys.

which makes the friends first attempt just much of a "luck" or "numbers" game like approaching women you know nothing about and asking them to grab a coffee, minus (-) the wasted time and potential drama, accusations of having "ulterior" motives, being a nice guy and eventually cementing your status as "that guy" in a social circle.

I think that when women say "we started as friends" just means that a guy asked her out, she agreed, but they didn't hookup immediately and were in a talking stage, but which had romantic intent from the go.