Insights on venture building, founder development, and innovation ecosystems.
Essays, research, reports, case studies, frameworks, toolkits, and commentary.
Five threads of work.
- C-01Venture Building
Lessons and insights on the company-building process.
- C-02Talent
Insights on the development, assessment, and support of startup talent.
- C-03Validation
Insights on what early validation looks like, how to conduct it, and why things go wrong.
- C-04Venture Studios
Insights on the operation of venture studios.
- C-05Ecosystems
Insights on the development, growth, and support of innovation ecosystems.
Pick the path that fits you.
- For Founders
Essays, frameworks, and diagnostic tools for people building early-stage companies — what product-market fit actually is, how to test assumptions before they get expensive, and the product issues that most often get in the way.
Explore this path → - For Investors
Educational reading for people evaluating venture studios and early-stage companies — how evidence-based company building works, how validation is assessed, and how stage-gate decisions are made. Nothing here is an offer or solicitation of any kind.
Explore this path → - For Venture Studios
Notes on the operation of venture studios — validation practice, stage-gate discipline, and the recurring product issues that determine whether a new company gets off the ground.
Explore this path → - For Ecosystem Operator or Funders
Research and commentary for people who build, fund, or study innovation ecosystems — what makes founder-development programs work, and where well-intentioned support goes wrong.
Explore this path →
Editor's picks.
Why We Focus on Product
Product is the foundation every startup sits on. When it is flawed, everything built on top of it is flawed too.
Understanding Falsifiable Tests
A working definition of falsifiable tests, the components that make them rigorous, a template for structuring them, and a real-world example.
What Is Product-Market Fit
A working definition of product-market fit, the history behind it, and the six conditions every venture-scale company must satisfy.
- Article · Venture Studios·2026-10-03·6 min read
Zero Vector AI Use Policy
Our operating policy for AI: where it strengthens our work, the approvals and human judgment that always govern it, and how we handle disclosure, mistakes, and information protection.
- Article · Venture Building·2026-08-06·22 min read
Common Product Issues That Prevent Product-Market Fit (Part 1)
A catalog of the recurring product issues that keep pre-seed and seed startups from reaching product-market fit, starting with the first six.
- Article · Venture Studios·2026-07-27·8 min read
What Is Stage 0?
Why we run a hackathon where no one builds, how the two competition rounds work, and what the first two Manila cohorts produced.
- Commentary · Ecosystems·2026-07-27·11 min read
Acceleration Saturation
Accelerator-like programs have outgrown founder supply in many ecosystems, producing motion without progress and visibility without resilience.
- Article · Venture Building·2026-07-03·9 min read
Why We Focus on Product
A working definition of product, why it sits upstream of GTM, sales, and engineering, and why Zero Vector treats it as the core driver of startup success.
- Article · Validation·2026-06-30·10 min read
Understanding Falsifiable Tests
A working definition of falsifiable tests, the components that make them rigorous, a template for structuring them, and a real-world example.
- Article · Validation·2026-06-20·14 min read
What Is Product-Market Fit
A working definition of product-market fit, the history behind it, and the six conditions every venture-scale company must satisfy.
- Article · Venture Building·2026-06-07·22 min read
The Insurgent's Playbook for Startup Founders
Insurgency research is one of the clearest playbooks ever developed for how the weak beat the strong. Founders should pay attention.
- Article · Venture Building·2026-06-07·18 min read
The Nature and Character of War
Why founders and investors repeatedly prepare for an environment that no longer exists.