RNA strands can either be replicated by themselves, due to amino acids bumping into them or this process can be sped up with an RNA replicase, which is a ribosyme (RNA enzyme). Also the division of the RNA replicase happens many times, there are more than 2 copies, it explains in the video. The daughter cells with the right ribosymes (the replicase, and the other ones doing the necessary reactions for homeostasis) can survive and divide, hence, evolution.
Can a cell exist without a membrane? Viroids exist but they are viruses, maybe in the past there were some replicases that lived like cells, or maybe they always needed a membrane.
We can have a molecular stage. Zooming on a single hex and seeing how it grows, upgrading the RNAs, unlocking nadh or nadph in the editor, and designing a non lawk citric acid cycle.