BUILDER
CLASS: WIZARD
LV 1
Ships the product: a live website AI customers can click through. Speaks fluent prompt.
SKILLS
- SHIP ITIdea to live demo, fast.
- VIBE CODESummons software from prompts.
- HOTFIXRevives a dead demo mid-pitch.
OLD FOUNDER
So. You think you have what it takes to be a founder?
Every founder starts the same way: $100,000 in the bank, a laptop, and a clock that never stops.
Your cash is your health bar. It burns every minute. Hit zero and it's game over.
Nobody wins alone. You'll need a party of three: one who builds, one who sells, one who raises.
Close customers. Survive the curveballs. Charm the investors. Do well enough, and you will face the Whale.
The gate opens Friday, October 9. Will you answer the call?
STEP 1
Every party is three founders. A balanced party survives. Three wizards and no tank? Wiped in the first dungeon.
CLASS: WIZARD
LV 1
Ships the product: a live website AI customers can click through. Speaks fluent prompt.
SKILLS
CLASS: KNIGHT
LV 1
Charges into customer conversations and comes back holding signed LOIs.
SKILLS
CLASS: HEALER
LV 1
Keeps the party alive the only way founders can: with fresh cash.
SKILLS
Pick a class to see who you'll need. Coming solo? Good. At the tavern you'll trade character cards and scan to form a party of three.
BUILDER joined the party! Now find a Seller and a Fundraiser at the kickoff.
SELLER joined the party! Now find a Builder and a Fundraiser at the kickoff.
FUNDRAISER joined the party! Now find a Builder and a Seller at the kickoff.
STEP 2
Every player gets a character card: a pixel-art portrait, your stats, your superpowers and a recommended class. It lives on your phone, and it's how you find your party.
Approved players get a link before the day, or scan the QR code at check-in. Add a photo and your LinkedIn, answer a few questions, and the game draws you in pixels.
At the tavern, show your card and ask to see theirs. Look for the stats your party is missing.
Scan each other's cards to form a party of three. Parties lock at noon, and anyone still solo gets placed in one.
STEP 3
Part AI simulation, part real room. The rules are simple. Surviving them is not.
HP = RUNWAY
It drains every minute you're in the game. Hit zero and your company dies. Revenue and fundraising are the only potions.
STARTING GOLD
The same size as Inception's real first check, handed over on paper. It won't be enough. That's the point.
QUESTS = CUSTOMERS
Pick a market and win over AI customers with real problems, budgets and objections. They click through your live product before they sign. Close them for LOIs and revenue.
BOSSES = INVESTORS
Investor personas inspired by legendary VCs (lightly spoofed) will hear your pitch. Real investors in the room carry checkbooks too.
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
A new model drops. A regulation lands. The choices you make at the start come back to find you.
EQUITY
Every raise costs equity. Give away too much of your company and investors stop taking your calls.
LEADERBOARD + NEWSFEED
Standings update live, and the newsfeed tells the whole room when you close a deal, land a check, or run out of cash. When the clock runs out, the top of the board advances to the boss battle.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9
Check in, forge your character card and start trading cards. Party-hunting opens at the door, so the earlier you arrive, the more adventurers you meet. Solo players welcome.
The rules of the realm, the stakes, the boss battle, and how not to die.
Last call to scan in your party of three and name it. Parties lock at noon; anyone still solo gets placed in one.
Cash your $100K check and start the clock. About 90 minutes to build, sell and raise.
The top of the leaderboard pitches the Whale. Everyone else becomes an angel investor.
Awards, the final leaderboard, and bragging rights. Game over at 3pm.
Times are approximate. It's the first run, so the referee may add stoppage time.
BOSS BATTLE / 2:00 PM
When the clock runs out, the top of the leaderboard earns a shot at the Whale: a Level 99 investor with $100M to deploy, true identity revealed only at the finals.
Pitch your whole company in 90 seconds: the product you built, the customers you closed, the revenue you booked, and the team that did it. Land the Whale's term sheet and you're a unicorn.
Didn't make the cut? You're not out. Every other player becomes an angel with $50K in Inception Bucks to back a finalist. Back the party the Whale funds and your check could 100x. Back the wrong one and it goes to zero.
FAQ
No. Come solo. Forge your character card, then trade cards at the tavern and scan to form a party of three. Parties lock at noon, and anyone still solo gets placed in one. Bringing friends is fine, but the strongest parties mix skills.
No. Every party needs a Builder, a Seller and a Fundraiser. If you don't code, you're the class a team of engineers is missing. And if you can vibe code a website, you can play Wizard.
A real product, shipped as a live website. AI customers visit it, click through it and check that it works before they sign. Bring your own AI tools and accounts. In the finals, that product is part of your pitch.
No, it's play money, and so is the Whale's $100M, sadly. The $100K seed check does match Inception's real first check size, though. Just saying.
An alternate reality game: the game spills into the real world. Real teammates, real paper checks, real investors in the room, and a clock that doesn't care about your feelings.
Apply on Partiful with your name, email, LinkedIn, company and title (GitHub optional). Approved players get the exact location and a link to forge their character card.
Please don't. Your party is counting on you from kickoff to the finals, 11am to 3pm.
This one is players only. Every spot in the room goes to someone in the game, and the finals are part of the game, not a separate show. Apply to play and you get a front-row seat, plus $50K to invest.
Inception Studio, a non-profit that helps exceptional founders turn AI ideas into companies. The Founder Game is part of #SFTechWeek.