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AI Startup Program · Cambridge, MA
Three weeks of total focus — building your AI startup alongside your co-founders in the most concentrated startup environment in Cambridge. Software or hardware, but AI at the core. You'll walk in with an idea and walk out with a real product, a committed team, and the clarity to keep going.
● Rolling acceptances · 10-12 teams · 2-4 founders each
01 / The Thesis
Zero to one in three weeks, surrounded by people who've done it.
The intensity is the point. This is the most pivotal sprint of your entrepreneurial life.
02 / What You Get
We remove every obstacle so you can build. The conditions are concrete — space, compute, capital, people — because serious builders shouldn't waste energy on logistics.
01
So January is a build month, not a side project. Cash to the team on day one.
02
Desks, monitors, whiteboards, and proximity to other ambitious teams in Cambridge.
03
Full AI compute stack — Claude Enterprise seats, API credits, and your IDE of choice (Cursor, Windsurf, whatever you build with). Frictionless. No token limits to worry about. Set up before you arrive.
04
Operators, founders, investors, and technical experts, plugged in where useful.
05
Meals through the program and Launchpad gear. The practical pieces handled.
06
Demo Days happen at the end — but the real value is the momentum. Teams that build something worth continuing get direct conversations about investment, studio support, and what comes next.
03 / Daily Rhythm
The same beats every weekday. Workshops land about twice a week. The rest of the time, the studio is yours. Open 24/7 on weekends.
9:00 AM
Daily coffee, snacks, and informal chat in the Link Studio lounge.
11:30 AM
Workshop or talk (~2x/week). Build time continues on other days.
12:30 PM
Lunch at the studio every weekday. On us.
1:30 PM
The longest uninterrupted block of the day. Heads down.
3:30 PM
Twenty-minute 1:1 slots with advisors.
All day
Available in the Link Studio cafe whenever you need fuel.
04 / Timeline
One cohort. 10-12 teams. Three weeks of focused work. Demo Days on January 21 & 22.
Week 01
Jan 4-10
Set the foundation. Define the problem. Start talking to users. Kickoff dinner Monday, first internal demos Friday.
Week 02
Jan 11-17
Move from concept to working demo. Bring real users into the studio.
Week 03
Jan 18-22
Rehearse the pitch. Refine it. Deliver it on Demo Days.
05 / Speakers & Topics
Five workshop slots and one investor fireside across three weeks. Operators, founders, and investors from the Link network.
06 / Who Should Apply
07 / What We Expect
Most days are flexible, but kickoff dinner, the founders dinner, dress rehearsal, and Demo Days are mandatory.
We measure progress in shipped artifacts: a problem doc by end of Week 1, a working demo by end of Week 2, a real pitch by end of Week 3.
Friday internal demos and User Test Day work because everyone shows up for each other.
In the room
Launchpad runs out of Link Studio's floor at One Kendall Square. It plugs into the same network of founders, operators, and investors we work with every day. The room you walk into is the room we already build in.
08 / Who's Behind This
Link Studio builds companies with founders in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We share One Kendall Square, and a thesis, with our sister firm Link Ventures. Launchpad is the program we run when school's out and the right people are free to actually build.
A
Link Studio creates and operates new companies from a dedicated build floor in Cambridge. We invest first-money, hold long, and stay close to the work: engineering, design, recruiting, fundraising. Every week, not just at board meetings.
B
Link Ventures is our sister early-stage venture firm in the same building. The studio creates the company; Link Ventures writes follow-on checks and connects teams into the broader firm's portfolio and network. One ecosystem, two seats at the same table.
C
Kendall Square is the densest square mile of technical talent in the country. The point of running Launchpad here, in the studio, in January, is that the people, the labs, and the building all line up at once.
09 / Apply
Rolling acceptances. Round up your co-founders, tell us what you want to build, and we'll be in touch fast.
