quick answer: what is a 30-day founder lock-in?
a 30-day founder lock-in is a fixed residential build sprint where selected builders live together, protect deep work, talk to users, and ship visible product progress by a shared deadline.
- cohort 1 window: june 16 - july 15, 2026. it shipped.
- cohort 2: winter 2026–27, with the exact 30-day window confirmed with accepted builders.
- location: Bangalore / Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
- best fit: founders and builders who need pace, feedback, and accountability.
why 30 days
one week is a retreat. two weeks is a workshop. 30 days is long enough to hit resistance, fix your rhythm, earn trust, and build something real.
what happens daily
most of the day is unscheduled deep work. the default rhythm is build, talk to users, ship, eat dinner together, and repeat.
- long deep-work blocks for product, engineering, design, research, and sales.
- user conversations and evidence gathering instead of private planning forever.
- peer review from builders who see the work every day.
- mentor sessions only when they help residents make sharper decisions.
how to prepare before you arrive
the best applicants arrive with a project, prototype, research thread, or technical build already in motion. before the lock-in starts, founders should clarify the user, define the highest-risk assumption, prepare a rough demo or plan, and decide what evidence would make the 30 days successful.
- bring proof of work rather than a vague idea.
- write down the bottleneck you want the house to help you break.
- prepare a small user list, demo path, or build scope before arriving.
- decide what you want to show on demo day before the sprint begins.
what the final demo means
the final demo is not investor theatre. it is a forcing function for the house: show what shipped, what broke, what changed, and what you learned.
who the format is not for
the lock-in is not for people looking for a casual bangalore stay, a networking vacation, or a curriculum-heavy bootcamp. the format works only when residents can commit to the full window and are ready to build in public inside the cohort.