Since 2009, we have helped world-class AI teams solve product and GTM with our Sprint method. Through our seed fund, we invest in technical founders —including those from DeepMind, Google, Microsoft, and more — and then work hand-in-hand to help them build products that really click for customers.
We combined our biggest lessons and best techniques into Character Labs, an AI startup accelerator that’s 100% focused on product-market fit. If you want to stand out from the crowd and build a differentiated product with AI, we think you should apply for Character Labs today.
📁 Applications for Character Labs are closed. You can read the story behind the program or sign up here to get an email when we reopen applications in January.
⚡️ Now pre-accepting founders for Character Labs G4, starting June 2025
In Character Labs, you'll work directly with our team: Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, creators of the Design Sprint, bestselling authors of Sprint, and former design partners at GV; and Eli Blee-Goldman, our co-founder and general partner leading all investments at Character.
As investors and designers, we have worked closely with more than 300 startups, including Flatiron Health, Gusto, YouTube, Miro, and Slack, through pivotal moments in their growth.
We’ll be there the whole time, personally leading you through four weeks of hands-on sprints.
We’ll also be joined by customer research expert Jeanette Mellinger, Character portfolio founders, and AI experts from DeepMind, Google, and more.
In Character Labs, you’ll rapidly test hypotheses and validate your product and go-to-market strategy in a sequence of back-to-back sprints.
1. Foundation Sprint focused on strategy and differentiation.
2. Story Sprint to prototype and test your marketing and sales.
3. Design Sprints to prototype and test your product.
4. Risk Roadmap to plan your next experiments.
5. Pitch Sprint to create a first draft of your pitch.
Through these sprints, you’ll find out whether you’re on the right track in four weeks — not the four months or more it can take to build and ship a proper MVP.
Character Labs combines everything we’ve learned from working with 300+ startups. It expands on the proven method from our book Sprint with dozens of new exercises and techniques that we haven’t shared publicly.
Every startup in Character Labs gets a $150,000 investment from Character in exchange for 5% equity. We make our investment on the day of acceptance. It‘s not contingent on any milestones, and there are no fees to participate.
We’ve carefully designed this offer. Because of the hands-on work we do alongside you and your team, we believe it’s a better value than other accelerators, and it’s small enough to sit alongside capital from other sources with minimal dilution.
We accept a maximum of 15 companies into each Character Labs group. You'll work directly with the founding partners of our firm. This is an elite, hands-on, high-quality experience for exceptional founders — not a startup factory.
Like any good investor, we'll help you with customer introductions, hiring, and fundraising when the time is right. We know how valuable that support can be when you're building something new.
But we also know none of it matters if you don’t get the product and go-to-market right.
That’s why Character Labs is 100% focused on helping you find product-market fit, and why it’s all about doing — not talking.
Character Labs is designed for pre-seed startup founders who have identified an opportunity or market, but have not found product-market fit.
That could mean you have an early product in the market but it’s not quite working, or that you haven’t shipped your v1 yet.
Either way, you know how important it is to build the right product for the right people, and you love the idea of a focused effort to figure it out.
If you’re not sure whether Character Labs is a good fit — apply! (Please note that we only invest in software products and software-enabled services.)
Magical things are possible with artificial intelligence, but it can be difficult to build trust and understanding with customers who don’t get how that magic works. This is especially true when advanced AI reaches beyond the realms of research, startups, and tech optimism and into the real world.
We’ve seen these challenges firsthand, as investors and designers in healthcare, personal finance, manufacturing, and consumer apps, and more — where the amazing power of AI can be overshadowed by questions, doubts, or simple confusion.
We have led Design Sprints for successful AI products since 2009, when Jake designed Gmail’s Priority Inbox. We worked with AI teams from Flatiron Health, Digit, Orbital Insight, Phaidra, and more. Our portfolio includes startups founded by AI engineers from Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and Amazon. And we look forward to adding you to the mix!
We know how important it is to de-risk the product and go-to-market strategy for new AI advances so the technology can have its greatest possible impact on the world. In the words of Phaidra co-founder Katie Hoffman: “It doesn’t matter how good the technology is if our customers don’t understand it or trust it.”
We think it’s the perfect time for a program that helps AI founders bring their work closer to the humans they are building it for.
Plus, we’re nerds at heart, and just love being part of what’s next in technology 🤓
Technically no, but ideally yes.
Character Labs is not an incubator. Our goal is to support and empower you and your team to accelerate progress toward product-market fit — not replace or stand in for your team.
We may accept solo founders but have a strong preference for teams.
Character Labs is also a great opportunity to build your team. You can use the four weeks to test out working with potential co-founders or teammates.
We recommend teams of 2–4, including people who can rapidly build scrappy prototypes and are comfortable talking to customers.
Maybe! Character Labs begins with a 3-day kickoff in San Francisco, but the rest of the program is fully remote.
However, please keep in mind that all synchronous sessions will take place on USA time, roughly 10am to 4pm Central Daylight Time (that's UTC–5) on most days of the program. (See below for details.)
Also, at this time we are only able to invest in companies incorporated in the USA.
Applications are due at 11:59pm Central Time on April 27, 2025.
We review applications in the order they are received. We'll get in touch within two weeks to schedule an interview.
We pre-accept founders into Character Labs until the next group is full.
If you’re selected for Character Labs G4, the absolute latest you will find out is May 12.
The program begins on Wednesday, June 4 and runs for approximately four weeks. (See below for more details.)
Character Labs begins with a 3-day kickoff in San Francisco.
The rest of the program is fully remote. We meet on Zoom, Miro, and Slack.
During Character Labs, the Character team (Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Eli Blee-Goldman) will lead you through a sequence of sprints that we designed specifically for early-stage startups.
June 4–6 • IRL in San Francisco
Foundation Sprint. By identifying your strategy and differentiation upfront, you'll be more likely to design a product and marketing that "clicks" with customers
June 9–13 • REMOTE
Story Sprint. Since most customers see your "story" before they see your product, you'll start there — if you don't get the marketing and sales right, the product doesn't matter.
June 16–20 • REMOTE
Design Sprint. Waiting until you have an MVP to test your ideas is too long; do it now by building a realistic prototype and testing it with real customers.
June 23–26 • REMOTE
Design Sprint. Iterate on your prototype from the first sprint, or start over, and test again with a fresh batch of target customers.
June 27 • REMOTE
Risk Roadmap. Building something new is all about navigating the unknown. Make a Risk Roadmap so you know exactly what you need to validate in order to keep moving forward.
June 30 – July 1 • REMOTE
Pitch Sprint. Synthesize your work in Character Labs and pitch it to other founders in the program. Decide what to do next and celebrate all that you've accomplished!
We recommend four more weeks of weekly 1:1 office hours with our team. This provides a venue for detailed, high-frequency coaching on additional sprints or fundraising, product feedback, and advice on any important decisions you're making.
Of course, this isn't the end of our work together. You’ll be a full member of the Character portfolio and have access to our network of founders, advisors, and coinvestors. We’ll continue to support you on product, GTM, strategy, hiring, fundraising, and whatever else you need.
Not necessarily.
We designed the program to complement other sources of capital or startup support. At only 5% equity, your dilution is minimal relative to the value you‘ll receive in the 4-week sprint program. We're confident we'll increase your odds of success by way more than 5%!
Previous Character Labs founders have raised a pre-seed round before joining the program. Others incorporated for Character Labs, and we were their first investors. Many have gone on to raise pre-seed or seed rounds within the months following the program or participated in other elite accelerators.
Yes!
We commit to investing at least our pro rata share in your next round of financing after Character Labs. In many cases, we invest more than our pro rata — although we recognize this additional allocation must be earned, and we don't take it for granted.
Now, some fine print: Our follow-on investment is triggered by a proper round of VC financing, with a price or cap set by an outside lead investor.
We’d love to hear from you anyway! We invest flexibly across the spectrum of seed stage, with a maximum check size of $2 million. Please get in touch via our website.
📁 Applications for Character Labs are closed. You can read the story behind the program or sign up here to get an email when we reopen applications in January.
