From whiteboard to pilot in 90 days
The sprint structure behind every venture we spin out.
Ninety days is not a stunt. It is the longest a thesis can stay theoretical before the studio starts learning things that are no longer true. The structure below is what we run for every venture that survives the pipeline.
Days 1–20: the disproof sprint
No building. Twenty to thirty conversations with the exact buyer named in the thesis, structured around the kill criteria rather than around the idea. The deliverable is a memo that either recommends a kill or names the single wedge worth prototyping.
Days 21–55: the paid prototype
The bench builds the narrowest possible product that a customer would pay for, and we charge for it. The price can be small; it cannot be zero. Free pilots teach you about politeness, not demand.
"An unpaid pilot is a compliment. A paid one is a fact."
Days 56–90: the second customer
One paying customer is an anecdote, and often a favour. The final stretch exists to answer whether the same pitch, sold the same way, closes a second and third buyer who owe us nothing. That is the evidence that unlocks incorporation, a founding CEO search, and the first cheque.
Ventures that clear all three gates go to spin-out at roughly week twenty. Ventures that stall in any of them go back into the pipeline or into the archive — and both of those are acceptable outcomes.