The first 90 days: what we do before a company has a name
A look inside the studio machine — from thesis to a founder, a team, and a fundable milestone.
By the time most people hear about a new company, it already has a name, a logo, and a seed round. Here’s what happens in the ninety days before any of that — the part nobody sees.
Weeks 1–3 — Kill the weak ideas
We start with a thesis, not a company. Hundreds of theses a year get pressure-tested against real markets, real customers, and real unit economics. Most die here, quickly and cheaply. That’s the point.
Weeks 4–6 — Find the one founder
An idea is only as good as the person who will obsess over it. We recruit a single exceptional founder — someone who could have started anything, and chooses this. Everything downstream depends on getting this right.
Weeks 7–10 — Build the founding team
The founder doesn’t start alone. They inherit a founding bench on day one: design, engineering, recruiting, finance, and go-to-market, drawn from the studio and hired against the specific shape of the company.
Weeks 11–13 — Reach a fundable milestone
Capital, playbooks, and infrastructure compress what normally takes a year into a quarter. The goal isn’t a demo — it’s a milestone a great investor would fund on its own merits.
Then the company gets its name, and the world finally sees it.