Phase 1 — Weeks 1–2: ICP, Problem & Wedge

What this phase is for: Before you build anything, you lock who you're building for and why they move now. This is the most important work you'll do in the Lab — and the most commonly skipped.

Week 1 — ICP 1.0
Output you'll produce: 1–2 ICP one-pagers — company profile, role, hair-on-fire problem, urgency triggers, and who you will NOT serve right now (anti-ICP). You present a 3–5 minute "who we serve first and why" to the cohort. The room tells you what's sharp and what's still vague.

Week 2 — Problem & Wedge
Output you'll produce: A 1–2 page problem brief — the specific painful problem, the current workaround, what it costs to keep living with it, and why this founder is the right person to solve it. You present your problem narrative. A GTM operator joins to pressure-test whether what you're building actually solves the problem brief you just wrote.

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Phase 2 — Weeks 3–4: Offer, Narrative & v1 Spec

What this phase is for: Turn the ICP and problem into something you can ship and sell. This is where you write your 1-liner, draft your first pitch, and define the smallest possible v1 that real users can touch.

Week 3 — Offer & Narrative
Output you'll produce: Your 1-liner, 30-second intro, and a 3–5 minute founder pitch draft. You present it live to the cohort. They respond as if they're your ICP. You'll know within minutes what's landing and what isn't.

Week 4 — v1 Spec
Output you'll produce: A v1 spec doc — the use cases you're solving, the features that are non-negotiable, the features you're cutting, and the tech stack you'll use to build it. A product/vibe-coding mentor joins to review your scope and catch anything that would turn a 3-week build into a 6-month one.

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Phase 3 — Weeks 5–6: Build v1 Fast

What this phase is for: Ship the v1 — not the perfect version, the real one. You use AI-assisted tools (Cursor, Lovable, Supabase, Stripe) to get something live that real users can touch.

Week 5 — v1 In Progress
Output you'll produce: Core screens or prototype (Figma or live), core user flow documented. You present a live demo of the unfinished v1. The product/UX mentor joins to review what you've built and where you're at risk of over-building.

Week 6 — v1 Shipped
Output you'll produce: A working v1 in the hands of 2–3 design partners or early adopters, plus a list of what's broken and what's must-fix before you run experiments. You present a short demo + first user reactions. The cohort asks the hard questions your users are too polite to ask.

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Phase 4 — Weeks 7–8: First Experiments & First Revenue

Clarity is a CEO’s most valuable asset. Define what winning looks like, communicate it relentlessly, and ensure every leader knows how their work ladders up to company goals.

When clarity slips, so does execution. Use simple, visual scorecards to track progress. Hold leaders accountable for outcomes, not effort. Reset expectations quickly when the plan changes.

Phase 5 — Weeks 9–10: Dashboard, Cadence & v1.5

What this phase is for: Lock the operating system you'll keep running after the Lab ends — a live dashboard, a weekly cadence, and a product iteration plan based on real customer feedback.

Week 9 — Early Control Dashboard
Output you'll produce: A live sheet or simple dashboard with: cash, pipeline, early users, active experiments, and weekly learning velocity. A CFO/capital mentor joins to review your numbers and tell you what investors will look for at your stage.

Week 10 — v1 → v1.5
Output you'll produce: A v1.5 change list — what you're doubling down on, what you're cutting, updated flows and scripts based on what you learned in weeks 7–8. You present "what we're keeping vs. killing" — the cohort keeps you honest.

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Phase 6 — Weeks 11–12: Pre-Seed Story & Demo Day

What this phase is for: Turn 12 weeks of real work into a story investors can underwrite. Not a deck you assembled — a narrative built on proof.

Week 11 — Pre-Seed Story Draft
Output you'll produce: A short deck or memo (5–7 slides/sections): who you serve, what you built, what you've proven, what's next, and what capital buys. You present a 5–7 minute investor-style story. A VC/angel mentor joins to give you the same feedback they'd give in an actual first meeting.

Week 12 — Demo Day
Output you'll produce: Your final 5–7 minute pitch + a 1-pager summary with updated metrics. Week 12 is Demo Day — a real presentation in front of invited Seed-stage VCs, angels, and operators actively looking at pre-seed deals. You present what you built. They respond as investors.