Hackhouse Residency · Cohort 4 open
You've been “working on it” for months. It's time to ship.
You don't need another workshop. You need 12 weeks of pressure, paying customers, and a room full of founders who won't let you make excuses. Hackhouse Residency is where ideas become revenue and traction becomes growth.
20 hrs/week · Wed 3–9pm · 12 weeks · No equity taken
This is not an academy.
There is no syllabus, no modules, no graduation. There is a whiteboard with your name on it, a deliverable due every week, and a mentor who has built before asking you one question: what did you ship this week? Over 12 one-week sprints, Spark founders go from idea to paying customers, and Scale founders rebuild the numbers that were quietly killing their business. Everything is demoed. Everything is measured. Nothing is theoretical.
Spark founders leave with
A business, not a plan
50+ documented customer interviews, a live product, and 5 paying (or contractually committed) customers - plus an investor-ready pitch backed by their own tracker data.
Scale founders leave with
Numbers that moved
At least 2 core metrics measurably improved - CAC −20%, ARPU +10–15%, week-4 retention +10% class of moves - and a growth model built on tested inputs, not spreadsheet fiction.
Every founder leaves with
Momentum
A rehearsed 3-minute Demo Day pitch judged on numbers, 3+ warm investor or partner intros past the fundability bar, and a 90-day roadmap with weekly targets.
- 2
- Cohorts completed
- 23
- Startups built
- 8+
- Active pilots / revenue
- KES 25–35K
- Program fee
Two tracks · 12 one-week sprints
Choose your track.
Spark
From idea to paying customers
You've had the idea for months. Nobody has paid you yet. Spark is 12 one-week sprints from problem to revenue: 50 customer interviews, a live landing page, real payment asks - and 5 paying (or signed) customers by Demo Day. Every Wednesday, you demo what you shipped.
- Duration
- 12 one-week sprints
- Stage
- Idea / Pre-revenue
- Schedule
- Wed 3–9pm · 15–25 hrs/wk
- Fee
- KES 25,000
Outcome · 5 paying customers · 50 documented interviews · an investor-ready pitch built on your own tracker data
How it works · Apply, pay, and you're in - instantly. No interview.
Scale
From flat growth to a model that works
You have customers and revenue, but growth feels random - and the numbers quietly killing the business (pricing, funnel, retention, CAC) are guesses. Scale is 12 one-week experiments on the live business: reprice, fix the leak, cut CAC, sign a partner. Every change measured against a pre-committed threshold.
- Duration
- 12 one-week sprints
- Stage
- Revenue / Growth
- Schedule
- Wed 3–9pm · 15–25 hrs/wk
- Fee
- KES 35,000
Outcome · ≥2 core metrics measurably moved (CAC −20%, ARPU +10–15%, retention +10%) · a growth model built on tested inputs
How it works · Apply → interview → invitation. You only pay if offered a place.
Both tracks run on
Lead mentor, 1:3
The same operator all 12 weeks. A 60-minute call every week - and they sign off your sprint commit.
Guest operator hot-seats
One builder who's done it, every Wednesday, working founders' live material. Never a lecture.
Specialist bench
2×30-minute bookable slots a week: growth, tech, design, finance, legal.
#stuck triage, <24h
Stuck past 30 minutes? Post it. Pair founders respond first; staff unblock when it threatens the ship.
Founder pairs + cohort
Paired Week 1, re-matched Week 6. Peer review every Build Night; first escalation when stuck.
Workspace + Demo Day
Build from 124 Manyani East Road, Nairobi. Both tracks pitch investors at a combined Demo Day.
Rule of the house
Show up shipped.
Every Wednesday you demo the real thing - a live page, a dashboard, a payment screenshot - against what you committed the week before. It's scored in the room and posted to your cohort the same night. Drift for long enough, and the seat goes to someone who'll use it.
From our founders
They shipped. So can you.
“MediBora joined Hackhouse with a vision for transforming maternal healthcare through AI-powered continuous monitoring, but we were still validating our assumptions and finding our footing in the market. Hackhouse pushed us to engage directly with mothers and healthcare providers, helping us sharpen our solution and move faster through disciplined execution. Today, we have a working MVP, growing interest from healthcare providers, and a clear path toward pilot implementation. The program gave us the structure and accountability we needed at exactly the right stage of our journey.”
“Imagine this: a young person with a big idea, a big vision, and a deep passion for starting a space startup. The problem? They have absolutely no clue where to start or even what to do. That was me before Hackhouse. That is not me now, thanks to Hackhouse. I now know what I need to do and how to do it to move my startup forward. Thank you, Hackhouse.”
23 startups · 2 cohorts
Built at Hackhouse.
Founders who shipped real products to real customers through the Hackhouse Residency.
View all startups →Mentors · guest operators
Operators, not lecturers.
People who have built and scaled real companies, in the room every Wednesday to work your live material, pressure-test your numbers, and open doors. New mentors announced each cohort.
Apply now
Join Cohort 4.
Applications are open. Limited spots per track. Four steps, about two minutes. We auto-assign your track from your answers - and you can switch.
- No equity - keep 100% of your company
- Pay in full, or 50% on join and the balance at the midpoint
- Every Wednesday 3–9pm in person at 124 Manyani East Road - attendance is non-negotiable
- Ends with a combined Demo Day judged on numbers
FAQ
Common questions.
No. There's no syllabus, no lectures, no certificate. The unit of the program is a one-week sprint: you commit a deliverable and a metric on Wednesday, build all week, and demo the real thing - live page, real dashboard, payment screenshot - the next Wednesday. Guests are operators who work founders' live material in a hot-seat, never from a slide deck.
Stop planning. Start shipping.
12 weeks. Real customers. No excuses. Join the next cohort.
Apply now →