Character Labs — The only startup accelerator that’s 100% focused on product-market fit

Guides

Design Sprint

Foundation Sprint

Name Sprint

Note and Vote

Our Books

Sprint

Click

Since 2011, we have helped the world’s most successful startups build and launch products with our Design Sprint and Foundation Sprint methods. Now, we’ve taken all our biggest lessons and best techniques and packaged them into Character Labs. It’s the ultimate “start here” for startup founders — designed to build momentum, clarity, and success from the very beginning of any new company.
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Work directly with our team

In Character Labs, you’ll work directly with our team: Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, creators of the Design Sprint and Foundation Sprint, bestselling authors of Sprint and Click, and former partners at Google Ventures; and Eli Blee-Goldman, our co-founder and general partner leading all investments at Character Capital.

As investors and designers, we have worked closely with more than 300 startups, including Flatiron Health, Gusto, YouTube, Phaidra, Fathom, Miro, and Slack, through pivotal moments in their growth.

We’ll be there the whole time, personally leading you through hands-on sprints.

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The missing manual for founders

Through a sequence of back-to-back sprints, you’ll make rapid progress toward product-market fit:

First, a Foundation Sprint — identify and capture the opinionated hypothesis behind your product or company. What needs to be true for this to work?
Next, a Message Sprint to crystalize your positioning and a Leads Sprint to make contact with real customers in your target market.
Then, a Demo Sprint and Design Sprint to focus and differentiate what you’re selling — and how you’re selling it.
Throughout Character Labs, you’ll run Customer Sprints to test your actual offer and product with real customers.
Finally, the Pitch Sprint — our simple method for creating a fundraising pitch that works.

Character Labs combines everything we’ve learned from working with 300+ startups. It expands on the proven method from our books Sprint and Click with new techniques that we haven’t shared publicly.

For a behind-the-scenes look, check out our interview on Lenny’s podcast — and hear why he calls Character Labs “the missing manual for founders."

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Get $200k for 5% equity

Every startup in Character Labs gets a $200,000 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.

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Small, selective groups

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.

FAQs

Who should apply?

Character Labs is designed for 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.)

Why is Character Labs a good fit for AI startups?

In the age of AI, anyone can build anything — fast. But founders today face two important challenges: Cutting through the noise and reaching customers in a competitive landscape that’s more crowded than ever, and creating products that actually deliver on the promised value for customers.

We’ve seen these challenges firsthand, as investors and designers in healthcare, personal finance, manufacturing, and consumer apps, and more.

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 Materials, Phaidra, and more. Our portfolio includes startups founded by AI engineers from Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and Amazon.

To meet customer expectations that are growing by the minute, successful founders obsess over quality. And to capture customer attention in ever-more-crowded markets, they dig deep for differentiation — reframing the value proposition in ways that really click for customers.

Again and again, we’ve seen how effective Foundation Sprints and Design Sprints can be for meeting both of these challenges. And 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.

Do I need a team to apply?

Technically no, but ideally yes.

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 preference for teams for 2–3.

Character Labs is also a great opportunity to build your team. You can use the program to test out working with potential co-founders or teammates.

I’m outside the USA. Should I apply?

Maybe! Character Labs starts and ends in San Francisco, but the rest of the program is online.

However, please keep in mind that all synchronous sessions take place on USA time, roughly 9am to 2pm Pacific Daylight Time (that's UTC–7) 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.

What is the application timeline?

Applications are due at 11:59pm Pacific Time on September 23, 2026.

We review applications in the order they are received and give priority to earlier applications.

If you're selected to interview for Character Labs G7, we’ll be in touch by September 30.

If you’re selected to join the program, you will find out by October 9.

Character Labs begins on Monday, October 26. (See below for more details.)

Where does Character Labs meet?

Character Labs is a hybrid program that meets online and in San Francisco.

What is the program schedule?

Character Labs is a five-week program:

October 26–30 • San Francisco • Kickoff

November 2–6 • REMOTE • Sales Week

November 9–13 • REMOTE • Product Week

November 16–20 • REMOTE • Marketing Week

November 23–25 • REMOTE • Pitch Sprint and Closing

Following the Pitch Sprint, you get ongoing 1:1 support from the Character team.

Is there a demo day?

Yes!

A few months after Labs, the group gathers in San Francisco for demo day with our favorite investors. We provide significant support in the weeks before demo day — putting you in the best possible light for investors and boosting your success rate.

Does this replace other accelerators or financing?

No.

We designed the program to complement other sources of capital. At only 5% equity, your dilution is minimal relative to the value you‘ll receive in Character Labs. 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.

Will you invest in my next round?