Startup Founder: Batch 1 (Rotterdam, September 2026)

Co-found an Enterprise AI company with Builders

Anyone can build a company now. The founders who win are the ones who prove someone needs it, and that is exactly what this batch is built to do.

Builders is a venture studio out of Rotterdam. We co-found enterprise AI companies for the future of work. We put capital in, we validate alongside you, and we incorporate the company when the evidence earns it. This isn't an accelerator. It isn't advisory. It's a co-founding path.

The shape of the path

Ten weeks, one room, every stage a real cut. Batch 1 starts Monday 7 September 2026, in person, in Rotterdam, from day one.

1. Before day one. Selected a month early. We sharpen your scope together, onboard you, and pin down your first plan before you land.

2. Weeks 1-3, prove. Race to at least 3-5 signed design partners in your actual target, a venture builder beside you daily.

3. End of week 3, selection. Founders with real signal advance. A genuine cut.

4. Week 5, build week. Prototype with the studio in the room: daily standups, design partners testing mid-build, a Friday demo day where go or no-go is decided in the room.

5. Weeks 6-9, build. Convert partners toward paying, push toward funding, backed individually when ready.

6. Week 10, pre-incorporation sprint. Real pitch-and-diligence sessions with outside investors. Clear the bar and we incorporate together.

What's in it for you

Ten weeks, one room, every stage a real cut. Batch 1 starts Monday 7 September 2026, in person, in Rotterdam, from day one.

1. Before day one. Selected a month early. We sharpen your scope together, onboard you, and pin down your first plan before you land.

2. Weeks 1-3, prove. Race to at least 3-5 signed design partners in your actual target, a venture builder beside you daily.

3. End of week 3, selection. Founders with real signal advance. A genuine cut.

4. Week 5, build week. Prototype with the studio in the room: daily standups, design partners testing mid-build, a Friday demo day where go or no-go is decided in the room.

5. Weeks 6-9, build. Convert partners toward paying, push toward funding, backed individually when ready.

6. Week 10, pre-incorporation sprint. Real pitch-and-diligence sessions with outside investors. Clear the bar and we incorporate together.

What is VSI

VSI (Venture Studio Intelligence) is the operating layer for AI-first founders, and the batch runs on it from before day one. It turns every conversation into decision-grade intelligence: it scores the evidence behind every claim, shows you what's real and what's drifting, and guides your next move, from first call to customer. You sell and build; your Company Memory compounds. Selection and investment decisions run on that proof, not on pitch quality. And it doesn't stop after the ten weeks: VSI is permanent infrastructure for your venture, not a program you graduate from. Learn more at builders.studio/vsi.

Founders ready to commit like founders

One route in, own idea or one of ours. Lead with one of three profiles:

🟦 Commercial

🟩 Technical

🟧 Domain expert

Check all five: domain sharpness (name the five people you'd call this week), product understanding, validation drive (days not quarters), distribution, AI fluency (Claude, Cursor, agentic workflows: how you work, not a demo).

Practicalities

• Location: Rotterdam, in office, from day one. ~10 weeks until incorporation.

• Entry: for most nationalities a Schengen stay covers the batch (under 90 days), no residence visa needed. Invitation letter on request.

• Costs: you arrange and fund your own stay and travel; we provide the workspace, the studio, a proper welcome.

• Language: English.

• Capital and equity: free for selected founders, no compensation and no equity during the batch. Equity and pre-seed at incorporation only.

How applying works

Hit apply and the Baseline Builder opens: ~30 minutes, a ~12-question conversation plus ~20 situational questions, a short webcam intro (retained 30 days). You hear back from us within 7 days. If it's a fit, a 30-45 minute studio conversation, then terms, then Rotterdam.

Apply now →