The napkin
Forty-five minutes in a room. You draw the thing, we argue with it, nobody writes a deck.
Day oneThe studio
We pick an idea, put $$ into it, and spend six months building it in the same room as the person who has to live with it afterwards. Then we get out of the way.
How it works
Most of what we sketch dies at step two. That is the point — killing an idea in a fortnight is cheaper than killing it in a year.
about 4 in 5 ideas stop at step two — good
Forty-five minutes in a room. You draw the thing, we argue with it, nobody writes a deck.
Day oneThirty customer conversations in three weeks. We try hard to kill it, and usually we manage.
Weeks 1–3A desk in the Nairobi workspace, $$ in the company, and the studio around you.
Month 1Our engineers and designers, your call on every decision. Real software, in front of real users.
Months 1–4We lend you the network. Customers who actually pay, or we stop and say so out loud.
Months 4–6Residence ends, the company leaves with you. We keep a minority stake and our phone on.
Month 6What we put in
Into the company at incorporation, for a minority stake. Not a loan, not a grant, not a prize.
No fee. No retainer.A desk in the Nairobi workspace and the whole studio within shouting distance of it.
Nairobi, in person.Builders and designers in house, on your problem — brand, product, and the thing that ships.
They ship, not consult.Our operator relationships, lent to you. Your first customers come off our phone, warm.
Warm, not cold.The residence
Residence is in person, in Nairobi, because the useful conversations are the ones you overhear. Four teams share the long table. When something breaks, the person who can fix it is eleven steps away.
Fork Nairobi ’26
Five builders at Makerspace Nairobi, with a stipend, the workshop, and ninety days to ship the thing you have been maintaining on stolen time. Applications open September 2026.
The deal
No option pool games, no advisory shares, no clause you need a lawyer to translate.
We put in
$$
Cash into the company at incorporation, plus six months of studio time.
We take
A minority stake
Enough to matter to us, small enough that the company is unambiguously yours.
You keep
Control
Every product decision, every hire, and the right to ignore us entirely.
It ends
At month six
Residence has a hard stop. We stay on the cap table and the end of the phone.
Rolling intake. Send the drawing and we’ll tell you honestly.