From Idea to First Ten Customers
Co-builders uses Disciplined Entrepreneurship, MIT's practical framework for helping founders understand customers, test ideas and build towards real traction.
Disciplined Entrepreneurship is a practical framework developed at MIT by Bill Aulet to help founders move from an idea towards real customers. Built around 24 steps and six core themes, it provides a structured way to understand customers, test assumptions and build with evidence.
Entrepreneurship doesn't have to be guesswork.
What is Disciplined Entrepreneurship?
Why we use it
24 steps. Six fundamental questions.
One practical journey from idea towards customers.
Who is your customer?
Market segmentation · Beachhead markets · Customer profiles · First ten customers
What can you do for your customer?
Customer experience · Value proposition · Quantified value · Differentiation
How does your customer acquire your product?
Buying decisions · Sales process · Customer acquisition · Routes to market
How do you make money?
Revenue models · Pricing · Lifetime value · Acquisition economics
How do you design and build the product?
Key assumptions · Experiments · MVPs · Customer testing
How do you scale?
Wider markets · Repeatable acquisition · Scalable revenue · Product development
Turn uncertainty into something you can test.
Six themes. Six weeks.
One evening a week.
Each week introduces one of the six Disciplined Entrepreneurship themes and gives you practical ways to apply it to your own idea.
One Disciplined Entrepreneurship theme explored each week.
A manageable weekly rhythm that allows you to learn and then apply what you have learned.
Each session runs for two and a half hours.
Join from wherever you are.
The sessions combine teaching, real examples, practical exercises and discussion.
Between sessions, put what you learn into practice by speaking to customers, testing assumptions and developing your idea.
Ready to put your idea through the process?
Join our next six-week Disciplined Entrepreneurship series and start applying the framework to your own idea.
Upcoming Disciplined Entrepreneurship sessions
See upcoming sessions, events and opportunities to get involved with Co-builders.
More ways to test, build and connect.
The six-week Disciplined Entrepreneurship series is one way to build through Co-builders. We also create regular opportunities to experiment, meet people, test ideas and keep building.
Build something with AI. Fast.
Practical hackathons that bring people together to explore ideas, experiment with emerging AI tools and turn concepts into working prototypes.
No need for months of planning. Pick a problem, build something, test it and see what you learn.
Explore upcoming AI Hackathons →Pitch your idea. Get some feedback. Have a slice of pizza.
A relaxed social evening for early-stage founders and people with ideas.
No polished investor deck required. Come along, talk about what you're building, practise explaining it, get feedback and meet other people building things too.
Pizza and beers included.
Keep building beyond the sessions.
Co-builders can grow with the people using it. Alongside the core methodology, we'll continue to create opportunities to learn, experiment and connect.
Frequently asked questions
No. You can join with a problem you've identified, an opportunity you want to explore or an early-stage idea. You don't need to have a company set up before you start.
No. In fact, Disciplined Entrepreneurship is particularly useful before you've invested heavily in building. It gives you a structured way to test assumptions, speak to customers and gather evidence before committing too much time or money.
No. The methodology provides a practical framework for working through the questions involved in building a venture, so you don't need to already know how to build a startup.
The Disciplined Entrepreneurship series runs for six weeks, with one online session each week from 6:00pm–8:30pm. Each session focuses on one of the six themes. You'll get the most value when you also spend some time between sessions applying what you learn, particularly through customer conversations and practical experimentation.
Yes. You can start with an idea, a problem you've noticed or an opportunity you think is worth exploring. You don't need to have everything figured out. The process is designed to help you test whether the opportunity is worth pursuing and work out what to do next.
Co-builders is for people aged 18 or over who want to explore a problem, test an idea or build evidence around an opportunity. You don't need a registered company, finished product or previous startup experience.
Find the next available Disciplined Entrepreneurship series in the calendar above and register through the relevant event link. Each series runs for six weeks, with one online session each week.
That's part of the process. As you speak to customers and test your assumptions, you may discover that your idea needs to change. Disciplined Entrepreneurship is designed to help you learn from evidence and make informed decisions, rather than simply prove your original idea right.
Co-builders doesn't end when the six-week series finishes. You can continue to access relevant activities, events, expertise and opportunities as you keep developing your idea, including things such as coaching, specialist expertise, AI Hackathons, Pitch n' Pint, customer discovery support and relevant Catalyst opportunities.
Disciplined Entrepreneurship is one part of the wider Co-builders environment. Depending on what you're working on, this can include practical sessions, specialist expertise, founder events, connections, workshops and other opportunities to test, build and develop your idea.