People, markets and methods belong together. We connect Founder Formation with investigating demand, developing digital products and learning from their outcomes.
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We build long-term relationships with people who want to create companies. Working together makes capabilities, expectations and collaboration visible. It provides a basis for forming founder teams.
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AI helps with analysis, recommendations, drafts and documentation. People make the essential decisions about ventures, capital and collaboration. Human-in-the-Loop is our governance principle.
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We connect assumptions, decisions and outcomes, then examine what worked. A venture that ends can still leave knowledge that helps prepare the next decision.
Read more in the journalWe connect shared work with the investigation of markets, demand and economic viability. The next question to resolve depends on the particular venture.
These six areas of work are a simplified overview. They can overlap and be revisited; they do not represent a fixed timetable.
Get to know people, clarify expectations and experience collaboration through bounded tasks.
Founder Formation begins before a shared company. Working together helps reveal capabilities and collaboration. Not every relationship has to lead to a venture.
Do capabilities, expectations and the intended form of collaboration fit together?
Understand who has a problem, how it is addressed today and why a different solution might matter.
An idea becomes a testable assumption about a specific situation. Conversations and research should also reveal what contradicts it. The solution remains open while the problem is unclear.
For whom does the problem matter, and which alternatives already exist?
Observe behaviour and examine how value, willingness to pay, distribution and costs fit together.
A bounded test should address the most important open assumption. Interest alone does not establish a business. Economic viability therefore belongs in the preparation of product development.
Which evidence justifies the next step and the resources it requires?
Develop a focused first solution, examine it in use and work with the feedback it generates.
Scope follows the question being investigated. Adoption, support and operation are considered together. A first version provides new evidence; it does not guarantee product-market fit.
Does the product address the specific problem under actual conditions of use?
Understand usage, quality, distribution and economics during ongoing operation.
Growth needs a sound foundation. Before committing more resources, we examine what holds under changing conditions and which capabilities or responsibilities are missing.
Which foundations are sound enough to support the next growth step?
Examine which organisational structure and responsibilities fit the venture's further development.
A spinout is one possible development of a venture. Operations, ownership and governance need to fit the situation. Evidence remains useful for future ventures when the direction changes or work stops.
Which development fits the evidence, the people and the responsibility for the venture?
Evidence, open questions and alternatives are examined before essential resources are committed. A person makes the decision; its reasoning and the conditions for reconsideration are recorded.
The evidence supports the next bounded step.
A material uncertainty needs attention before further resources are committed.
The evidence suggests a different approach or a new assumption to test.
Further commitment lacks sufficient support. The learning is retained.
SchLock OS is the internal operating system of our Venture Factory. It connects knowledge, traceable decisions and AI-supported analysis. It supports our work and is not offered as SaaS.
AI prepares, structures and documents. People make the essential decisions about investments, spinouts and collaboration.
Decisions are considered alongside their reasoning and context. Outcomes can correct earlier assumptions and help develop the method.
The SchLock group separates ownership and capital responsibilities from operational venture building. The people responsible for each area make the essential decisions.
Holds equity interests and is responsible for capital, governance and ownership decisions.
Operates the Venture Factory, develops ventures and builds SchLock OS as internal infrastructure.
We welcome conversations with future founders, experts and partners. Tell us about a problem, experience or question you would like to contribute.
Write to usAn initial conversation carries no commitment to start a company.