The Founders’ Factory · Curriculum in Brief
A continuous process for turning one real research finding into one real company. The work is organised by the stage the team has reached—not by a classroom calendar.
Design Principle
Organise by stage, not by calendar week. Teach on demand, not in advance. Reflect at every checkpoint, grade at none.
Who This Is For
Students and early-career researchers in sociology, geology, economics, technology, and adjacent fields.
Candidates with a genuine claim on one research finding—their own work or one matched through Useful Knowledge Extraction.
People ready to be judged by evidence rather than effort. No previous entrepreneurial experience is required.
Teams are formed around extracted findings, usually with two to four people. The first cohort is designed for three teams and eight to twelve participants across at least two research domains.
The Venture Journey
A team moves at the pace of its evidence. If a checkpoint is not cleared, the learning is carried into another extracted finding—not recorded as a failure.
STAGE 00
Ongoing · year-round
The work — The studio’s standing review screens partner-department research for prescriptive potential. Selected findings are matched with teams as each cohort begins.
Taught just in time — Nothing yet. This is a studio function, not participant curriculum.
A research finding with a credible path to practical value.
STAGE 01
Weeks 1–3
The work — The team is confirmed and paired with the originating researcher and a venture-lead mentor. Together they frame the specific hypothesis the venture will test.
Taught just in time — How to frame a testable venture hypothesis and use the studio’s go/no-go logic through the team’s own case.
Go/No-Go 0 — is the hypothesis clear, and is the team committed?
STAGE 02
Typically weeks 4–12
The work — The team builds the first working version of the value: a prototype, piloted service, working model, or whatever form the domain genuinely requires.
Taught just in time — Domain-appropriate rapid prototyping, working within real constraints, and balancing scientific rigour with build speed.
Go/No-Go 1 — is there a working prototype of the value?
STAGE 03
Pace varies by team
The work — The prototype is tested with real external users, customers, or stakeholders—not simulated audiences and not the team itself.
Taught just in time — Customer-discovery interviewing, separating signal from noise, and treating rejection as evidence rather than verdict.
Go/No-Go 2 — does anyone outside the lab actually want this?
STAGE 04
Pace varies by team
The work — The team assembles evidence of a repeatable model through willingness to pay, repeat use, unit economics, or the domain’s equivalent standard of fit.
Taught just in time — Cap tables, SAFEs, financial modelling, legal formation, and the studio’s own equity terms—introduced when those decisions become real.
Go/No-Go 3 — is there a repeatable, scalable business model?
STAGE 05
No fixed end
The work — The company is incorporated, the team is confirmed as founders, and the venture begins operating on its own market evidence.
Taught just in time — Whatever the company needs next: hiring, fundraising, board governance, and continuing founder support.
The company’s market performance becomes the evidence that matters.
Mentors & Teaching
No session teaches entrepreneurship in the abstract. Specialist input arrives when a team is about to use it, while two consistent mentors keep the research and the venture aligned.
01
The originating researcher protects the integrity of the finding and makes sure commercial translation does not distort it.
02
An experienced practitioner works with the team every week across validation, company building, and financing decisions.
Reflection, Not Grading
Every go/no-go checkpoint is also a structured reflection. The team records what it tried, what the evidence showed, and what it would change—with both mentors in the room.
That record becomes the team’s own case study. If one venture ends, its learning travels with the founders into the next finding.
First Cohort
What Does Not Happen
No graduation ceremony or certificate detached from the venture’s outcome.
No lecture syllabus delivered in advance “just in case.”
No fixed finish line imposed on a company still earning its next chapter.
Join the Founders’ Factory
We welcome conversations with prospective participants, originating researchers, partner departments, and experienced mentors.
