How we work

Taking ideas from a “sketch on a napkin” to reality and then scale businesses is part art and part science. We rely on BOTH: the paint brushes and the science kit.

Together. Thoughtfully. Or not at all.

Our process is focused on increasing confidence and reducing risk through each stage. While most idea eventually requires a leap, we rely on proven methods and rigor to guide and evolve each idea toward something that can be executed and scaled.

  • During ideation, we are starting broad. As a result, there are more UNKNOWNS than facts we know to be true.

    Here, the target is a completed and testable thought on a page.

  • Every idea sounds great at first. More often, though, it's not.

    During Validation we put an idea through rigorous customer discovery to answer critical questions:

    • Who are our target customers?

    • Are these potential customers actually experiencing the problems we think they do?

    • How high are these problems on their priority list?

    • How have they tried to solve these problems and why are existing options inadequate?

    This baseline discovery helps us collectively determine whether there is sufficient reason to continue, evolve, or disqualify the original idea.

  • Discovering a real unaddressed pain is exhilarating. Resist the urge to build, just yet.

    During Qualification we test whether the pain we discovered can be solved technically, in a way that makes the customer happy, and whether we can move a solution into the market with a solid, defensible business model and unit economics.

    Sometimes the problems are real, but cannot be solved (yet). Other times, path to the customer is fatally obstructed.

  • Good idea in-hand, it's time to run. Fast.

    Our team of designers, engineers, marketers, and company builders help you turn a validated concept into a product for your early customers.

  • Focus and execution. In the early phases the only things that matter are the team, customer, and product. You focus there. We take care of the rest: Legal, HR, Accounting, and Finance.