How it works

Most products die on execution, not the idea.

One ladder.
Six rungs. Earned one at a time.

Most teams bet everything on one big build. We make the idea earn it instead. You climb a ladder — six rungs, each a fixed-fee step that buys the right to the next. The first three decide: kill weak ideas in minutes, sharpen the real ones in days, before a line of production code is written. The last three build the survivor, take it to fit, and scale it. You climb only as far as the idea earns — and the IP is yours from the first rung.

Book 12 Minutes → Not ready? Send the idea

Free. No pitch. A straight go / no-go in twelve minutes — including an honest "not yet."

How to read the ladder

One number runs the whole ladder — but it grows with the stakes. Twelve minutes to a verdict, twelve hours to a scan, twelve days to a blueprint, twelve weeks to a live MVP, twelve months to product-market fit, then 12× beyond. Each rung is a clean unit of work you can say yes or no to.

Who runs this

Launch12 is the venture studio of COPS Solutions — 20 core experts and decades of mid-market and enterprise delivery behind every venture. The four founders engage you directly; a senior build org ships behind them.

Meet the team →
Phase 0112MinutesFirst FilterFree
Phase 0212HoursOpportunity Scan€1,000
Phase 0312DaysBlueprint & PoC€10,000
Phase 0412WeeksMVP Launchfrom €20,000
Phase 0512MonthsPath to PMFmodular
Phase 0612×ImpactScale & Beyondadvisory
Phases 01–03 · Decide — kill bad ideas cheap
Phases 04–06 · Build & Scale — fixed-fee delivery
Phase 01
12
Minutes
Free
Decision sprint · front door

First Filter

The free front door — one honest call, for everyone

Bring the idea, or just the capability you want to turn into one. In twelve minutes we test three things — the thesis, the founder, and the fit — and put you on the right rung. Including, when it's the truth, telling you that you don't need us yet.

We deliver

  • A straight go / no-go read on the thesis
  • A first take on founder–market fit
  • The likely path ahead, in plain terms
  • Routing to the right entry point — or an honest "not yet"

You bring

  • The idea — or the asset / capability — in one paragraph
  • Your background and unfair advantage
  • What "winning" looks like to you
You walk away with

A no-pitch answer to the only question that matters yet: is there something here worth taking to a paid scan?

Phase 02
12
Hours
€1,000
A signal-level desk scan, delivered within ~1 week. Same price for either stream.
Decision sprint

Opportunity Scan

A go / pivot / kill — or a shortlist worth building

A focused day that ends in a decision, not a 50-page deck. We pull the market signal, map the competitors you'll actually face, sanity-check feasibility and how it could make money, and name the first segment — enough conviction to spend twelve days, or enough honesty to walk away for the price of a rounding error. The same rung doubles as a fast diagnostic for teams who already have a product and need to know where growth is stuck.

Stream A · you have an idea

Idea Validation

You arrive with a specific idea. We stress-test the three things that sink most products — is the problem real, does your solution fit, will anyone pay — against market signal, the competitive field and a fast feasibility read.

Delivered: a go / pivot / kill verdict, the sharpest first segment, and the riskiest assumption to test next
Stream B · you have a capability

Validated Idea Generation

You hold an asset, audience or domain edge but no fixed product idea. We generate opportunities off that edge and screen them down to the few worth pursuing.

Delivered: a ranked shortlist of 1–3 directions, each with a one-line thesis and why it could win

In both streams you also get

  • Market & demand signal at a glance
  • A snapshot of the competitors you'll face
  • A feasibility & monetisation read
  • A clear recommended next step

You bring

  • Access to your domain knowledge
  • One reference customer or expert we can talk to
  • Your constraints — budget, timeline, geography
You walk away with

A defensible decision in a day — instead of three months of opinion, or a year building for a market that was never there.

Add-ons — attach here, or buy standalone · all add-ons for this rung →
Deep Market Validation scoped Spin-out Readiness scoped
Phase 03
12
Days
€10,000
A multi-specialist squad (CTO, engineer, CMO, brand, venture builder), delivered in ~2–3 weeks.
Decision sprint

Blueprint & PoC

Strategy plus a clickable proof — the argument and the artefact

By day ten you have a go-to-market that survives a competitive deal and a proof your first design partners can actually click — strategy and a working artefact, side by side. Need only one side? The GTM Strategy and the Working PoC are each available on their own as add-ons.

GTM Strategy

  • Validated personas + ICP
  • Positioning & value proposition
  • Go-to-market plan — channels, motion, sequence
  • Pricing direction

PoC & technical

  • Technical architecture v1
  • Working PoC — clickable prototype or API stub, built for reactions, not production
  • Investment thesis (if relevant)

You bring

  • Your deeper IP & methodology
  • Intros to ~5–8 customers — we run the interviews
  • Founder time — three working sessions
You walk away with

The conviction to build, or the evidence to raise — and the freedom to take just the side you need.

Add-ons — attach here, or buy standalone · all add-ons for this rung →
GTM Strategy — deep scoped Working PoC — deep scoped Pricing & Packaging scoped Regulatory & Compliance Scan scoped

Phases 01–03 cost less than one wrong hire.

That's the point of the ladder: by here you've either killed the idea cheap or earned the right to build. Phase 04 only starts once an idea has survived the first three rungs — so the build is the safe part, not the gamble.

Start with the free 12 minutes →
Phase 04
12
Weeks
from €20,000
~10–14 weeks. The lower end buys a deliberately lean first scope; AI depth, integrations and regulatory weight move it up.

MVP Launch

A working product with real users — not a prototype, not a video

The build. By week ten you're live and learning, with the instrumentation to tell what's actually working. And it doesn't end up in a freelancer's drawer — after launch you're maintained by a core COPS tech team for as long as the venture needs one. You never inherit an orphaned codebase.

We deliver

  • A launchable MVP — real product, real users
  • Brand identity + landing page
  • Onboarding for your first users
  • Analytics + a working feedback loop
  • Production deployment + a clean handover

You bring

  • The domain decisions only you can make
  • 5–10 first users or design partners
  • A weekly steering session
You walk away with

A product in the market, the data to steer it, and a team that keeps building behind you.

Add-ons — attach here, or buy standalone · all add-ons for this rung →
AI Capability Build scoped Integrations & Data scoped Design Sprint & UX scoped Brand & Naming scoped Legal & Contracts Setup scoped
Phase 05
12
Months
modular
~6–12 months. A light base retainer + the add-ons you switch on — fixed-fee, or hybrid/equity if we co-build. Build your own path.

Path to PMF

A growth retainer plus the add-ons you switch on — through scale, fundraising and exit

The structured pursuit of product-market fit — emphasis on path. We don't promise PMF in twelve months; we promise the cleanest twelve months of pursuit you can run: monthly KPI reviews, hypothesis-driven iteration, and a scaling plan for the moment the signal is strong enough to lean in. The base is a light retainer; everything beyond it — growth, market expansion, fundraising, even exit prep — is an add-on from the separate Add-ons page.

Base retainer includes

  • Monthly KPI review against the plan
  • An iteration roadmap that moves with the evidence
  • Upkeep of the channel + sales playbook
  • Scaling-architecture guidance

You bring

  • Founder bandwidth for the monthly review
  • The distribution channels you already own
  • Decisions on which add-ons to run, and when
You walk away with

Each month, sharper signal and one fewer unknown between you and fit — and, when the time comes, the add-ons to raise, expand or exit.

Phase 06
12×
Impact
advisory
The destination, not a separate build — delivered through the Path-to-PMF add-ons.

Scale & Beyond

The outcome you're aiming at — your 12×, on fixed-fee terms

The top of the ladder is a destination, not a new engagement: a venture that compounds, raises, or exits on its own terms. By now the early rungs are paid and behind you — so from here we can keep going fixed-fee, or, for ventures we co-build, structure hybrid or equity. The work runs as add-ons inside the Path to PMF, switched on at the right moment rather than bought as a separate phase.

Reached through these add-ons

  • Fundraising Readiness — thesis, data room, deck, warm intros
  • Exit & Options Advisory — option mapping + deal prep
  • Market Expansion — the next market, and the one after

You bring

  • Conviction in the long arc
  • Founder leadership in the room
  • Operating discipline
You walk away with

Optionality you can act on — capital, an exit path, or a new market — and the materials to move on it.

Modular by design

The six rungs are the spine. The rest bolts on.

Whatever a startup or spinoff needs beyond the ladder — deeper validation, the standalone GTM Strategy or Working PoC, the build add-ons, growth, market entry, fundraising, exit — lives in a catalog of its own, sorted across the four stages of the journey. Take any add-on alone, or fold it into a phase; it's scoped the same either way.

See the add-on catalog →

Ready to start?

The first rung is 12 minutes.

Bring the idea — or the capability. We'll bring the honest answer.

Book 12 Minutes →

Free. No pitch. A straight go / no-go — including an honest "not yet," and you keep the IP either way.
Not ready to talk? Send the idea in writing →