BUILD · For foundations, family offices and mission-led funders

Turn a mission and capital into a venture portfolio you can back.

We design the mandate, recruit and select the ventures, and agree their starting points. At Month 3 you decide whether to proceed with the fellowship. We then support execution and report what changed.

Map a mission with us →

12 monthsScoping assumption

Up to 20Ventures · scoping assumption

Month 3Your proceed / pause decision

€500KSponsor-held capital · working case

The gap

A mandate is not a venture portfolio.

Capital and a mission alone do not source, select, support and assess ventures. Building that capability in-house means hiring, setup and a permanent cost.

Capital stays with the sponsor and decisions on capital stay independent. That is a governance safeguard built into the model.

Design first

Decide before the fellowship.

Month 0Set the mandate

Agree who to back and what progress should look like.

Months 0–3 · Phase 1 · paidDesign & select

The first purchasable step. Set the criteria, recruit and select the ventures. Record their starting points.

Month 3Proceed / pause

The sponsor decides whether the fellowship begins.

Months 3–12 · Phase 2Fellowship

Focused sprints, coaching, AI support and evidence reviews.

Month 12Year-end

Check outside proof. Back further, adapt or pause.

Try the Month 3 decision

Proceed: you deploy capital and the fellowship begins.

Phase 1 is the first step you buy. Phase scopes and amounts are agreed in the proposal.

Three gates · every venture

First commitment
Repeat demand
Lasting viability

What the sponsor receives

A Month 3 decision pack before any fellowship capital moves.

Month 3 decision pack · sample formatIllustrative · not a BUILD result

Your mission

The contents are fixed; example entries are illustrative and show no outcome.

Mission & selection criteria: Target group, public benefit and how ventures were scored
Venture baselines: Each selected venture’s stage, goal, traction and constraints
Proposed sprint routes: Example: first buyer for one venture, repeat demand for another
Outside evidence: What each venture must show, dated and checkable
Your decision: Proceed with the fellowship or pause

Who delivers

Programme design, venture coaching and AI systems in one team.

Our team brings prior experience designing fellowships and learning spaces, working with nonprofits and foundations, coaching early-stage ventures, and building AI products and workflows.

Programme design

Patrick
Iris
Nihal Ahmed
Akshay Cherian

Fellowships and learning spaces, with nonprofits and foundations.

Venture coaching

Abhijit Sinha
Akshay Cherian
Nihal Ahmed
Norm Trainor

Coaching early-stage founders towards their next result.

AI systems

Varun Perumal
Akshay Cherian

AI products and workflows, built for human approval.

Selected prior work belongs to individual contributors and their organisations. It is not a BUILD or LIFT result. The integrated BUILD cohort has not yet run. The team →

Start with the mandate

Select for outside demand and a result worth funding.

Who fits

A working offer, early traction or outside support, and a founder ready to work towards a clear next result.

Who doesn’t

Idea-only projects, ventures already sustainable, or no credible way to check progress.

Agree the missionMission, target group and public benefit.
Select for potential to progressFounder commitment, outside demand and a useful next result.
One next result eachA customer commits. Income repeats. An institution renews. One venture needs a first buyer; another needs repeat demand or lasting institutional support.

The pathway

Different ventures. Different work.

The evidence standard stays consistent. The support changes with the bottleneck: focused sprints, coaching, AI and specialists.

Route	Next result	The work	Proof
Market	First external commitment	Offer, pricing and buyer outreach	Payment or signed pilot
Repeatability	Repeatable demand	Repeat sales and delivery costs	Viable repeat orders
Institutions	Institutional adoption	Buyer, pilot, purchasing and renewal	Adoption and commitment
Marketplace	A market people use	Transactions and repeat use	Repeat use, viable fees
Industrial / impact	Proof that fits the model	Testing, orders or funded delivery	Repeat production or support

Commercial terms

Your capital stays under your control.

Operator fee · across both phases€125K–€165KDesign and recruitment. Selection and delivery. Evidence review and reporting. Phase scopes and amounts are agreed in the proposal.

Programme support~€25KFounder tools and AI access. Specialist reserve. Access support.

Venture capital · working case€500KSponsor-held. Released to ventures on agreed decisions. Separate from our fee.

Price drivers: cohort size, geography, duration, coaching needs, selection and specialist support. Final scope, cohort size and included follow-up checks are agreed before launch. Follow-on capital and separately commissioned work are additional.

Partner questions

What sponsors ask before Month 3.

Your roleAgree the mission and criteria. Confirm the venture pool at Month 3. Disburse capital on panel decisions.
Who verifies evidence?Threshold checks dated, attributable evidence. The independent panel reviews capital requests and decides.
What if progress stalls?Not an automatic exit. Review the bottleneck. Extend, adapt or pause. Further funding follows evidence.
What has been proven?The integrated BUILD cohort has not yet run. The team brings prior programme experience; that work belongs to individual contributors and their organisations.
Follow-upRecord the starting point at entry. Check outside evidence at Month 12. Then 3, 6 and 12 months later: did the result hold, what happened next, and who backed it?

Read the standard →

Begin

Bring one mission. In 60 minutes, map the target ventures and what the first three months should test. If there is a fit, we scope the paid design phase.

Map a mission with us →