The Slingshot: An AI Startup Simulation

Salter, Ammon; Baruffaldi, Stefano; Bignone, Federico

🎓

Welcome!

Guided Play • Quarter 1 of 4

Don't show this tip again

🎓

You've Completed Guided Play!

You've learned the core mechanics

Over the last 4 quarters, you've experienced:

✓ Action Points & decisions

✓ Metrics & capabilities

✓ Cash & runway

✓ Hiring & team

✓ Milestones & strategy

✓ Competition

✓ Funding & ownership

✓ Pivots & adaptation

Ready to build your startup for real? Start fresh and apply what you've learned!

The Slingshot

An AI Startup Simulation

Can you build the next AI unicorn?

It's 2026. AI may be the defining technology of our era.

Economists call it a potential general purpose technology—like steam, electricity, or computing—capable of transforming every sector. But GPTs don't apply themselves. The value lies in identifying and exploiting opportunities: discovering solutions that weren't possible before, disrupting established industries, creating entirely new markets.

Across the UK, a new generation of startups is racing to capture this value. Some spin out from world-leading AI labs, pushing the frontier of what's possible. Others bring deep domain expertise—in healthcare, finance, logistics, creative industries—and see exactly where AI could be transformative. All face the same challenge: turning potential into profit before the window closes.

Now it's your turn. Choose your venture, assemble your team, and chase the ultimate prize: a billion-dollar unicorn.

The potential is enormous. So are the risks.
That's what makes it interesting—and that's how you'll learn.

Video transcript and description

Narration. Hello, my name is Ammon Salter, a professor of technology and innovation management at the Warwick Business School, and I would like to introduce you to a technology venturing simulation called The Slingshot.

The UK is home to over 6,000 AI companies, making it one of the most dynamic AI ecosystems in the world. Billions are flowing into the sector, but building a successful AI venture remains exceptionally difficult. The average UK AI unicorn takes nearly five years to reach billion-pound status, and most never get there.

The Slingshot puts you in the cockpit of an AI startup. Over four years you will be tested on your ability to translate the potential of AI into a viable business. Your decisions determine whether your company survives.

In the simulation, each quarter you allocate attention across competing priorities: product development, hiring, fundraising, research partnerships. You choose the right location for your venture. You negotiate with funders who want a major share of your company. You hire talent who may demand equity of their own. Every funding round dilutes your stake. You are always balancing ambition against control. Three rivals are chasing the same milestones, and they will not wait for you.

Over 450 events introduce the kinds of disruptions real startups face: competitor breakthroughs, regulatory shifts, key staff departures, technology mishaps. You can apply for grant funding and receive realistic assessor feedback. You can pivot your strategy when circumstances change. No two playthroughs are the same, and the trade-offs are never straightforward.

The game requires you to develop and implement an entrepreneurial strategy, allocating resources and managing tensions between scientific rigour and commercial expectations. You will need to respond to funders who offer advice and demand attention. You might need to pivot to richer opportunities before your funding runs out. Most players fail on their first attempt. No one said entrepreneurship would be easy.

Can you build the UK's next AI unicorn? The Slingshot is waiting for you. Give it a go.

What is shown. The video is a sequence of illustrative images with no on-screen text. It opens on the Slingshot logo, a rocket taking off, then four images of technology and its use; an infographic of the game's features, the content of which is set out on this page; a sheet of paper showing a plan over time; London and the Thames; stacks of money; two people shaking hands; four bikes racing; a group meeting and discussing; images of a firm growing and of play; team meetings; a diagram showing a pivot, a shift in approach; people crying; a further scene of people meeting; and it closes on the Slingshot logo.

New to the game? The tutorial takes about 10 minutes.

Average game: 25-40 minutes

Created by Ammon Salter (Warwick Business School), with Stefano Baruffaldi (Politecnico di Milano) and Federico Bignone (Warwick Business School)

Code written by Claude (Anthropic), OpenAI Codex and GPT-5.5 (OpenAI) and Gemini (Google) to Ammon Salter's design

ESRC "Profiting from Science" [ES/X003949/1]

🔒 Privacy: This site uses cookieless analytics.

🔒 Privacy Policy

How we handle your data

✅ Summary

This is free educational software with no ads and no commercial interest. We do not intentionally collect directly identifying personal information (such as names or email addresses). We use privacy-focused analytics that don't use cookies, don't track you across sites, and are designed to avoid identifying individual users. You can use this simulation anonymously.

Who we are

This simulation is developed by researchers at Warwick Business School (University of Warwick) and Politecnico di Milano as part of the ESRC-funded research project "Profiting from Science: the development and valuation of Artificial Intelligence new ventures and engagement with the science base" (Grant Reference: ES/X003949/1).

🎓 Free Educational Software

The Slingshot is free, open-source educational software with no commercial interest. Our purpose is to educate, inform, and stimulate learning about AI entrepreneurship and innovation management. This simulation is designed to be freely shared, adapted, and developed by educators worldwide.

✓ No advertising — we will never show ads or sell your attention
✓ No monetisation — we do not profit from your data in any way
✓ Open source — the code is freely available for inspection and reuse
✓ Education-first — our only goal is improving learning outcomes

What data we collect

We use Umami, a privacy-focused analytics tool, to collect anonymous, aggregate statistics about how the simulation is used. This includes:

Page views (which screens are visited)
Button clicks (which features are used)
General geographic region (country level only)
Device type (desktop/mobile) and browser

What we do NOT collect

❌ No cookies — nothing is stored on your device
❌ No IP addresses stored — your IP is anonymized and never retained
❌ No personal information — no names, emails, or identifiers
❌ No cross-site tracking — we don't follow you elsewhere
❌ No user profiles — our analytics are designed to avoid identifying individuals
❌ No fingerprinting — we don't use device characteristics to track you
❌ No advertising data — we don't collect data for ads (there are no ads)

📝 About the "Founder Name" feature

The simulation asks you to enter a name for your startup founder. This name is never transmitted, stored, or collected by us. It exists only in your browser for the duration of your session and is used purely to personalise your gameplay experience. You can enter any name you like — real, fictional, or completely made up. Once you close or refresh the page, it's gone. We have no way to contact you, identify you, or link this name to any individual.

🛡️ Privacy by design

We deliberately designed this simulation to be anonymous. There is no registration, no login, no account creation, and no requirement to provide any personal information. This was an intentional choice — we wanted to create an educational tool that anyone can use instantly, without barriers, and without the invasive data capture that has become common elsewhere. Your privacy is not an afterthought; it is built into the foundation of how this simulation works.

Why we collect this data

We use anonymous analytics solely to improve this educational resource. As publicly-funded researchers, we want to ensure this simulation effectively serves students, educators, and lifelong learners. Understanding which features work well (and which don't) helps us create better learning experiences. We have no interest in your identity — only in making this tool more useful for education.

Legal basis

We believe our privacy-focused analytics comply with UK and EU data protection requirements. Our analytics provider (Umami) acts as a data processor on our behalf, is configured to use EU data storage, and does not use visitor data for any other purpose.

UK: Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR)

We believe our analytics qualify for the "statistical purposes" exception under PECR, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. This exception permits analytics without consent when:

The sole purpose is collecting aggregate statistics about service usage to make improvements
The data cannot identify individuals
Users are given clear information and a simple way to opt out

What ICO explicitly permits (no consent required)

The following table shows ICO guidance on what the statistical purposes exception allows, and how our analytics align:

ICO permits	What we collect	✓
Total visits page-by-page (traffic analysis, user journeys)	Page views, URLs visited	✓
User interactions with pages (scroll depth, section hits)	Custom events (button clicks, feature usage)	✓
How users access your service (device types, browser, OS)	Browser, OS, device type, screen size	✓
How users reached your service (referrer URLs)	Referrer domain/path	✓
Coarse geolocation (city/region, non-identifying)	Country, city (derived from anonymized IP)	✓
Exit pages (to detect browsing issues)	Exit pages tracked	✓

What ICO says requires consent (we don't do these)

Requires consent	Our practice	✗
Tracking ad views/clicks for performance measurement	No advertising whatsoever	✗
Connecting visitor ID to activity for ad partners	No ad partners, no data sharing	✗
Tracking/profiling individuals based on IP or pages visited	IP anonymized immediately, no profiling	✗
Cross-site/cross-app monitoring	Single-site only, no cross-site tracking	✗

Source: ICO Guidance: What are the exceptions?

EU: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Our approach aligns with GDPR principles — we do not process personal data, use cookies, or track individuals across websites. Where any processing occurs, it is limited to anonymous, aggregate statistics that fall outside the scope of "personal data" under GDPR Article 4. Per Recital 26, "the principles of data protection should therefore not apply to anonymous information."

Relevant legislation

• Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, Schedule 12 — creates statistical purposes exception
• Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003
• GDPR Article 4 — definition of personal data
• GDPR Recital 26 — anonymous data outside scope

Note: This represents our good-faith interpretation of applicable law. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice.

📧 Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our data practices, please contact:

Professor Ammon Salter
Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
[email protected]

🚫 Opt out

If you prefer not to be included in our anonymous statistics, you can enable "Do Not Track" in your browser settings. Umami automatically respects this preference and will not collect any data from your visits.

Data location: We have configured Umami Cloud to use EU data storage settings.

Note: Umami's Privacy Policy describes their relationship with us as a customer (e.g. our account details). The analytics data collected about visitors to this simulation is anonymous and contains no personal information.

Last updated: January 2026

ℹ️ About This Simulation

Why we built The Slingshot

🎯 Purpose

The Slingshot is an educational simulation designed to teach students and professionals about the dynamics of building an AI startup. Through experiential learning, players explore the strategic decisions, trade-offs, and uncertainties that founders face—from choosing a venture type and funding model, to building teams, achieving milestones, and competing with rivals.

The simulation builds directly on our research into the UK AI startup ecosystem. The events and decisions in the game are designed to surface the real choices AI startups make about developing research capabilities and working with the science base—reflecting how startups engage with universities, leverage academic knowledge, and balance scientific exploration with commercial pressures.

🔬 The Research Project

This simulation was developed as part of the ESRC-funded research project:

"Profiting from Science: The Development and Valuation of Artificial Intelligence New Ventures and Engagement with the Science Base"

Grant Reference: ES/X003949/1

The project examines how AI startups in the UK develop, create value, and engage with academic research. By studying real AI ventures—their origins, strategies, team compositions, and funding trajectories—we aim to understand what drives success and failure in this rapidly evolving sector.

The simulation also reflects our team's extensive work on research grants and innovation funding, including research on programmes like Innovate UK. The grant funding mechanics in the game draw on real patterns in how startups pursue and benefit from public R&D support.

👥 Credits

The Slingshot was designed by Ammon Salter (Warwick Business School), who built it with AI models, mainly Claude, and maintains it. He set the design, dictated the content and the educator materials and tested every build; the models wrote the code to his instructions. No studio or programmer was involved. Nothing in the game itself is generated while you play: every event, character and line of text was written in advance and checked and approved by him, so players only ever meet material that has been reviewed. Ada and Schumpeter, the two companions, are different. They run on Claude, on the player's own account, and were written to keep them from drifting; Claude was chosen for its stronger safety guardrails. Even so, a language model can make mistakes and say things that are wrong or inappropriate. The game came out of the ESRC-funded project Profiting from Science (ES/X003949/1), on which Stefano Baruffaldi (Politecnico di Milano) is co-investigator and Federico Bignone (Warwick Business School) is research fellow. Federico Bignone shaped the game's mechanics and systems and playtested every version, and his research on AI ventures and Innovate UK funding informed the game's treatment of the science base and grant funding. Cite it as Salter, Baruffaldi and Bignone (2026).

AS

Ammon Salter

Creator and maintainer

Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

Professor of Technology and Innovation Management with research interests in innovation, university-industry collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Designed, directed and maintains the simulation. Member of the Innovation and Research Caucus.

SB

Stefano Baruffaldi

Co-Investigator, ESRC project Profiting from Science

Politecnico di Milano

Associate Professor specialising in the economics of science and technology, with expertise in AI startups, academic entrepreneurship, and the commercialisation of research.

FB

Federico Bignone

Research Fellow, ESRC project Profiting from Science

Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

Research Fellow focused on corporate science and innovation, studying how firms engage with research, build scientific capabilities, and translate knowledge into commercial value. Shaped the game's mechanics and systems and playtested every version.

🤖 Code Written by AI

In keeping with the theme of AI innovation, the game was built in a close interaction between Ammon Salter and AI models; no programmer was involved. Claude (Anthropic) wrote most of the code and drafted most of the content and the educator materials to Ammon Salter's dictation and direction. OpenAI Codex built the mini-games; GPT-5.5 (OpenAI) and Gemini (Google) helped with debugging and some content; an early prototype was made in Gemini Canvas. The entire game is contained in a single HTML file, built in iterative collaboration with:

Claude (Anthropic) OpenAI Codex and GPT-5.5 (OpenAI) Gemini (Google)

✨ Free & Open

🎮 Play Online Now

A ready-to-play version is hosted on GitHub — no download required

Play The Slingshot →

💰

Completely Free

No subscriptions, no paywalls, no hidden costs

🔒

No Data Capture

We don't collect, store, or track your personal information

🔧

Fully Adaptable

Modify and build upon for your own educational needs

♿ Accessibility

The Slingshot is built to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA. Every screen and every control can be worked from the keyboard, and the game has been played through start to finish by keyboard alone and listened to with a screen reader. The exception is the embedded video player, which belongs to a third party and whose code we cannot edit. The video is captioned and carries a full transcript and a description of what it shows, so nothing in it is lost. A full account of what has and has not been tested is in ACCESSIBILITY.md in the repository.

👩‍🏫 For Teachers & Educators

✓ No setup required — runs in any browser, no software installation or accounts needed
✓ Works offline — download and use without internet access
✓ Flexible timing — suitable for 1-hour workshops or multi-week modules
✓ Discussion-ready — generates rich decision scenarios for classroom debate
✓ Research-grounded — content based on real AI startup patterns, not speculation
✓ Fully customisable — modify the HTML to suit your curriculum needs

🎓 For Students & Learners

✓ Learn by doing — experience startup decisions rather than just reading about them
✓ Safe to fail — experiment with risky strategies without real consequences
✓ Immediate feedback — see how decisions affect valuation, runway, and team dynamics
✓ Replay and compare — try different strategies and compare outcomes
✓ Realistic complexity — face trade-offs between growth, equity, and team morale
✓ Self-paced — play at your own speed, pause anytime, no login required

🙏 Contributors & Beta Testers

We thank our beta testers and contributors for their invaluable feedback: Ali Ahmed, Paola Criscuolo, Linus Dahlander, Daniela Defazio, Panos Desyllas, Virgilio Failla, Christos Kolympiris, Hila Lifshitz, Orietta Marsili, Hana Milanov, Rossella Salandra, Giacomo Salter, Suki Salter, Christian Stadler, Manos Vasilakis, and Philipp Lucas Wähler.

🔊 Sound Effects

Milestone celebration sounds and office atmosphere courtesy of the BBC, used for educational purposes under the BBC RemArc Licence: GPO telephone, AEC Routemaster bus, Concorde (passenger cabin and exterior), jet aircraft take-off, City dealing room (1987), International Petroleum Market (1985) and a glass crash.

🎨 Artwork

Milestone celebration illustrations — the red telephone box, AEC Routemaster bus, and Concorde — were created with Google Gemini, based on reference photographs of these iconic British designs.

Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

Free to share and adapt for non-commercial purposes with attribution

A community project.

The Slingshot is free to use for students and educators, for non-profit education and research, under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence: no adverts, no account, no charge. When you play it, you are part of that community.

Commercial use, including paid consulting, corporate training and client workshops, requires explicit permission. Anything built from the game, in whole or in part, must be shared under the same licence, freely and with credit.

Licence and terms: slingshotsim.org/about.html

I understand and will use the game within its licence.

Two ways to start

Take on a venture

Pick one of twelve AI ventures, from healthcare to robotics to the creative industries, and race your rivals to milestones before money or time runs out.

Build your own

Work with Ada, who is The Slingshot’s resident venture builder, to develop a new AI startup. You then load the file she gives you and play it here.

Meet Ada

📚

How Would You Like to Learn?

Choose the tutorial that fits your experience level

Learn the Game

Click any topic to learn more. Topics turn green once read.

0 of 10 topics read

You can revisit this guide anytime from the menu

🎯

Topic Title

Brief description

Tutorial Progress 1 of 14

Choose Your Venture

Each AI startup faces unique market, technical, and competitive challenges. Which will you tackle?

📍 Where Will You Build?

Location shapes your startup ecosystem for your company.

Each city offers different trade-offs: talent pools, salary costs, investor networks, and domain expertise. Click "Learn more" to understand each location's advantages and challenges.

👤 Who Are You?

Your background shapes your strengths, challenges, and how investors perceive you.

Your Name

🎯 Best For

💪 Strengths

⚠️ Challenges

🎮 Gameplay Tips

🏛️ Grants

💰 Fundraising

👥 Hiring

⚡ Risk Profile

✨ Famous Examples

💷 Salary Costs

📍 Geography Insights

✓ Advantages

✗ Challenges

What you're building

Who buys this

How you make money

Why this could work

What makes this hard

Competition

🎓 Education

💼 Experience

✓ Strengths

⚠ Watch out for

💰 Compensation Package

per quarter

equity

vesting

Choose Your Funding Path

How will you fund your startup? Each path offers different resources and constraints.

Choose Your Investor

Select your investor carefully.

📚 Understanding Funding Terms

Key concepts for your fundraising decisions

📄 Term Sheet

A term sheet outlines the key terms of an investment deal. It covers how much money, what equity percentage, company valuation, and any special conditions. It's not legally binding, but it's the starting point for negotiation.

In this game: Each investor offers you a term sheet. Compare them carefully—the differences in equity, valuation, and protection terms will shape your cap table for years to come.

📊 Equity

The percentage of your company you give to investors in exchange for their money. More equity given away means less ownership for you at exit.

Example: If you give 20% equity for £500k, the deal values your company at £2.5M post-money, £2.0M pre-money. You'll own 80% after the round.

💰 Valuation

What your company is "worth" for the purpose of this investment. Higher valuations mean less dilution for the same cash.

Pre-money vs Post-money: Pre-money is your valuation before investment; post-money includes the new cash. A £1M pre at £250k investment = £1.25M post.

🛡️ Anti-Dilution Protection

Some investors negotiate protection against dilution in future funding rounds. This shifts more dilution burden onto founders and unprotected shareholders.

✓

No Protection (Founder-Friendly)

Investor is diluted proportionally like everyone else. Best for founders.

🔰

Partial Protection

Investor takes only half the normal dilution. Common for experienced angels.

🛡️

Full Protection

Investor maintains their percentage. All dilution falls on founders & others. Aggressive terms.

⚠️ Warning: Full protection seems fine at seed stage, but compounds painfully across multiple rounds. A 20% protected investor at seed could still own 20% at Series B while you've been diluted from 80% to 40%.

🌉 Bridge Round

A smaller funding round designed to "bridge" your company to the next major milestone or funding round. Usually comes from existing investors who want to help you reach a stronger position.

In this game: Your existing investors and network can offer bridge rounds between major funding events.

📉 Down Round

A funding round where the company is valued lower than in the previous round. This signals challenges and can affect team morale and future fundraising.

Warning: Down rounds trigger extra dilution for founders and may spook customers and hires. Sometimes necessary, but best avoided.

📋 Due Diligence

The investigation process investors conduct before finalizing an investment. They examine your financials, team, technology, customers, and legal situation after signing a term sheet.

What they check: Revenue accuracy, customer references, technical architecture, IP ownership, and legal issues.

💡 Strategic Considerations

• More cash often comes with worse terms (higher equity, more protection)
• Founder-friendly investors may offer less cash but better long-term alignment
• Plan for multiple rounds - early protection clauses compound over time
• Employee equity pool also gets diluted, affecting your ability to hire talent

🚀 Understanding Funding Pathways

Three ways to fund a startup—each shapes your journey differently

The Fundamental Trade-off

Every startup faces the same question: how much control are you willing to trade for resources? More money usually means more help—but also more people with opinions about how to run your company.

🏠 Independent Funding

What it means: You fund the company yourself—from savings, credit cards, friends & family, or crowdfunding. No professional investors.

✓ Advantages

• No professional investors to manage
• More control over decisions
• No board seats or voting rights given
• Pivot without investor approval

✗ Challenges

• Limited runway to reach profitability
• No expert guidance or network
• F&F/crowdfunding still take equity
• Harder to hire without VC credibility

Best for: Founders who can reach revenue quickly, want to maintain control, or are building a lifestyle business rather than chasing unicorn scale.

👼 Angel Investment

What it means: Wealthy individuals invest their own money—typically £25k-£250k. They're often successful entrepreneurs or executives who can also offer advice and connections.

✓ Advantages

• More capital than self-funding
• Expertise and industry connections
• Usually founder-friendly terms
• Flexible, patient capital

✗ Challenges

• Give up 10-30% ownership
• Some expect regular updates
• Quality varies wildly
• May have strong opinions

Best for: Founders who need more runway than they can self-fund, want mentorship, and are comfortable giving up some equity for expertise.

🏦 Venture Capital

What it means: Professional investors who manage funds from institutions and wealthy individuals. They invest larger amounts (£500k-£5M+) but expect high growth and eventual exits.

🏛️ Independent VCs

Traditional venture funds investing purely for financial returns.

✓ No strategic strings attached
✓ Flexible exit options
✓ Pure financial alignment

✗ Less industry expertise
✗ No built-in customers
✗ Hypergrowth pressure

🏢 Corporate VCs (CVCs)

Investment arms of large corporations seeking strategic value alongside returns.

✓ Industry expertise & credibility
✓ Potential customer access
✓ Technical resources & APIs

✗ May limit exit options
✗ Strategic strings attached
✗ Could scare off competitors as customers

Best for: Founders building for massive scale in large markets. Independent VCs suit those wanting flexibility; CVCs suit those wanting strategic partnerships. (Unlocks after your first milestone in the game.)

💡 Why This Choice Matters

Your funding path shapes everything that follows:

• Runway: How long you can operate before needing more money
• Ownership: How much of the company you control at exit
• Growth expectations: The pace and scale investors expect
• Decision-making: Who has a say in major company choices

There's no "right" answer—only what's right for your goals, market, and risk tolerance.

Their Investment

Equity

Valuation

✓ Benefits

⚠ Challenges

🤝 Negotiate with Angel

with Investor Name

Their opening offer:

£0k

Their Investment

0%

Equity

£0k

Valuation

💰 Investment Amount

£150k

Their cheque size — more cash means they'll want more equity

📊 Equity Offered

15%

What ownership stake you're offering them

🛡️ Dilution Protection

Protection shields them from dilution in future rounds (costs you more later)

Implied Valuation: £0k

Your Equity After: 0%

Total Starting Cash: £0k (your £350k + their investment)

🤔

Considering...

Adjust the terms to see their reaction.

"Let's find terms that work for both of us."

🤝

Deal Agreed!

They accepted your terms

💰 Negotiate Terms

with Friends & Family

Standard arrangement:

£0k

Their Contribution

0%

Equity

£0k

Total Cash

💰 Their Contribution

£80k

How much you're asking them to contribute

📊 Equity Offered

12%

What ownership stake you're offering

Total Starting Cash: £0k

Your Equity: 0%

🤔

Considering...

Adjust the terms to see how they'll react.

🤝

Success!

Your terms were accepted

📈 Revenue & Projections

Choose Your First Milestone

Each path has different requirements and rewards. Choose wisely.

💬

Team & Advisor Input

🔍 Competitive Intel

Focus areas: Research & Product

Build Your Leadership Team

Hire 3 department heads to start. 💼 Head of HR unlocks after Milestone 1.

🔬

Head of Research

- Drives scientific breakthroughs

FOUNDER & CEO

📍 Location

📅 Founded

👥 Team Size

💰 Funding

📊 Development Progress

👔 Leadership Team

💵 Investors

🔮 Strategic Intelligence

🎯 Milestone Progress

✅ Strengths

⚠️ Weaknesses

👥

Hire a Head of HR

After your first milestone, the board insists you formalise HR.

Choose carefully-your Head of HR will shape company culture and help retain your team.

🎉

Milestone Achieved!

👥 Hire Staff

Current Staff: 0

Current AP Bonus: +0

Cash Available: £0k

Current Burn: £0k/q

Hiring Costs:

💰 Recruitment fee £50k one-time

🔥 Increased burn rate +£25k/quarter

⏳ Integration period -1 AP this quarter

😓 Team stretched -0.5 mood all depts

After Hiring:

New Staff Count: 0

AP Bonus (next Q): +0

New Burn Rate: £0k/q

Cash After: £0k

📝 Post a Job

Create a job listing to attract candidates

Role *

🔬

Research

Science & Innovation

💻

Product

Engineering & Design

📣

Marketing

Growth & Brand

🤝

People

Culture & Talent

Seniority Level *

Jr

Junior

1-3 years · Learning curve

£40-60k

0.25-1%

Sr

Senior

4-8 years · Hit ground running

£65-100k

0.5-2%

Ld

Lead / Director

8+ years · Strategic leadership

£100-150k

1-3%

⏱ Completing a hire costs 1 AP. Browse candidates for free, then negotiate with your chosen candidate.

📬 Candidates

Review applications and make offers

📉 Lay Off Staff

Select who to lay off:

Current Staff: 0

Current AP Bonus: +0

Cash Available: £0k

Current Burn: £0k/q

Layoff Costs:

💰 Severance package £40k one-time

😢 Morale impact -1 mood all depts

⏳ Reorganization disruption -1 AP this quarter

⚡ Capacity reduction May lose AP tier

📉 Reduced burn rate -£25k/quarter

After Layoff:

New Staff Count: 0

New AP Bonus: +0

New Burn Rate: £0k/q

Cash After: £0k

💔

Milestone Missed

💔

The End of the Road

But every ending is a new beginning

📄 Your Entrepreneurial Journey (PDF)

A personalised case study of your startup journey — download and keep it.

Entrepreneurial reflection Schumpeter is available to discuss your journey This is an opportunity to learn and reflect on your experience with the founding father of the study of entrepreneurship and innovation. Opens in a new tab on your own Claude account · bring the Entrepreneurial Journey PDF you just downloaded

📊 Your Entrepreneurial Journey

✅ What Went Well

💡 Lessons for Next Time

Created by Ammon Salter (Warwick Business School), with Stefano Baruffaldi (Politecnico di Milano) and Federico Bignone (Warwick Business School)

·

Part of the ESRC-funded project "Profiting from Science" [ES/X003949/1]

🦄

UNICORN!

Against all odds, lightning has struck!

Your breakthrough technology caught the attention of a major tech conglomerate. After a bidding war between three global giants, your valuation has exploded.

This is the stuff of startup legend - years of hard work, smart decisions, and relentless execution have paid off in spectacular fashion.

Previous Valuation

£0k

→

New Valuation

£1,000,000k

£1 BILLION

(100x multiplier!)

🏛 Enter the Billionaire Founders Hall of Fame

Your name will appear alongside legendary founders

🏛

Billionaire Founders Hall of Fame

The elite few who built billion-pound empires

0

Total Legends

#1

Your Rank

£0T

Combined Wealth

🏆

Victory!

All three milestones complete

📊 Your Entrepreneurial Journey

16

Quarters

£0k

Valuation

0%

Your Equity

£0k

Cash

Your stake is worth

£0k

What's Next?

Your board wants to know your plans...

📄 Your Entrepreneurial Journey (PDF)

A personalised case study of your startup journey — download and keep it.

Entrepreneurial reflection Schumpeter is available to discuss your journey This is an opportunity to learn and reflect on your experience with the founding father of the study of entrepreneurship and innovation. Opens in a new tab on your own Claude account · bring the Entrepreneurial Journey PDF you just downloaded

Created by Ammon Salter (Warwick Business School), with Stefano Baruffaldi (Politecnico di Milano) and Federico Bignone (Warwick Business School)

·

Part of the ESRC-funded project "Profiting from Science" [ES/X003949/1]

📄 Your Entrepreneurial Journey (PDF)

A personalised case study of your startup journey — download and keep it.

Created by Ammon Salter (Warwick Business School), with Stefano Baruffaldi (Politecnico di Milano) and Federico Bignone (Warwick Business School)

·

Part of the ESRC-funded project "Profiting from Science" [ES/X003949/1]

Contributors

Credits

The Slingshot was designed by Ammon Salter (Warwick Business School), who built it with AI models, mainly Claude, and maintains it. He set the design, dictated the content and the educator materials and tested every build; the models wrote the code to his instructions. No studio or programmer was involved. Nothing in the game itself is generated while you play: every event, character and line of text was written in advance and checked and approved by him, so players only ever meet material that has been reviewed. Ada and Schumpeter, the two companions, are different. They run on Claude, on the player's own account, and were written to keep them from drifting; Claude was chosen for its stronger safety guardrails. Even so, a language model can make mistakes and say things that are wrong or inappropriate. The game came out of the ESRC-funded project Profiting from Science (ES/X003949/1), on which Stefano Baruffaldi (Politecnico di Milano) is co-investigator and Federico Bignone (Warwick Business School) is research fellow. Federico Bignone shaped the game's mechanics and systems and playtested every version, and his research on AI ventures and Innovate UK funding informed the game's treatment of the science base and grant funding. Cite it as Salter, Baruffaldi and Bignone (2026).

Contributors and Betatesters

Ali Ahmed (Warwick Business School, University of Warwick), Paola Criscuolo (Imperial College London), Linus Dahlander (ESMT Berlin), Daniela Defazio (University of Bath), Panos Desyllas (University of Bath), Virgilio Failla (University of Bath), Christos Kolympiris (Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick), Hila Lifshitz (Warwick Business School, University of Warwick), Orietta Marsili (University of Bristol), Hana Milanov (IMD Business School), Rossella Salandra (University of Bath), Giacomo Salter, Suki Salter, Christian Stadler (Warwick Business School, University of Warwick), Manos Vasilakis, Philipp Lucas Wähler (Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick)

AI models

Claude (Anthropic), OpenAI Codex and GPT-5.5 (OpenAI), Gemini (Google)

Part of the ESRC-funded project "Profiting from Science" [ES/X003949/1]

🛠️ Contribute to Development

The Slingshot is open source and we welcome contributions from the community!

🐛 Report Bugs

Found something that doesn't work right? Open an issue on GitHub with steps to reproduce.

💡 Suggest Features

Have ideas for new events, mechanics, or improvements? We'd love to hear them. Open an issue describing your suggestion.

🔧 Submit Pull Requests

Want to contribute code directly? Fork the repository, make your changes, and submit a pull request.

View on GitHub

📚

Learn More

Research on AI startups & the economics of AI

If you want to learn more about AI startups and the economics of AI, please see these papers:

Agrawal, A., Gans, J., & Goldfarb, A. (2019). The Economics of Artificial Intelligence. University of Chicago Press.

Ahmed, N., Wahed, M., & Thompson, N. C. (2023). The growing influence of industry in AI research. Science, 379(6635), 884-886. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade2420

Artificial Intelligence sector study 2024. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/artificial-intelligence-sector-study-2024

Bahoo-Torodi, A., Fontana, R., & Malerba, F. (2026). Pre-entry experience and the heterogeneity in startup performance: Evidence from the nascent artificial intelligence industry. Research Policy, 55(1), 105367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2025.105367

Baruffaldi, S., van Beuzekom, B., Dernis, H., Harhoff, D., Rao, N., Rosenfeld, D., & Squicciarini, M. (2020). Identifying and measuring developments in artificial intelligence: Making the impossible possible. OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers. https://doi.org/10.1787/5f65ff7e-en

Bessen, J., Impink, S. M., Reichensperger, L., & Seamans, R. (2022). The role of data for AI startup growth. Research Policy, 51(5), 104513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2022.104513

Bianchini, S., Müller, M., & Pelletier, P. (2022). Artificial intelligence in science: An emerging general method of invention. Research Policy, 51(10), 104604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2022.104604

Chalmers, D., MacKenzie, N. G., & Carter, S. (2021). Artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship: Implications for venture creation in the fourth industrial revolution. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 45(5), 1028-1053. https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258720934581

Chattopadhyay, S., Honoré, F., & Won, S. (2025). Free range startups? Market scope, academic founders, and the role of general knowledge in AI. Strategic Management Journal, 46(4), 1027-1079. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3685

Feng, L., Hu, J., Huang, M., Irfan, M., & Hu, M. (2025). From algorithms to invention: AI's impact on corporate innovation output and efficiency. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 102042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qref.2025.102042

Hartmann, P., & Henkel, J. (2020). The Rise of Corporate Science in AI: Data as a Strategic Resource. Academy of Management Discoveries. https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2019.0043

Jacobides, M. G., Brusoni, S., & Candelon, F. (2021). The evolutionary dynamics of the artificial intelligence ecosystem. Strategy Science, 6(4), 412-435. https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2021.0148

Wang, H., Fu, T., Du, Y., Gao, W., Huang, K., Liu, Z., ... & Zitnik, M. (2023). Scientific discovery in the age of artificial intelligence. Nature, 620(7972), 47-60. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06221-2

⚡ Breaking News

🎲 Life Happens

🏠

💷 Revenue Surplus

📈

We're in the black

🎯

Market Opportunities

Where to play — weigh your markets and choose your focus

💡 Tip: Market knowledge unlocks competitor intelligence and prepares you for pivots

🎯

About Market Opportunities

Weigh your markets and decide where to play

Your venture could serve more than one market. This is where you weigh those options and decide where to put your effort. It follows the Market Opportunity Navigator (Gruber and Tal).

1 · Your opportunity set

The market you serve today, plus others you could move into. Each is a kind of customer and the product they would buy. Click any card to read what it involves.

2 · The attractiveness map

Each market is weighed two ways — potential (how big and winnable the prize is for you) and challenge (how hard it would be to win). Together they place it on the map: a gold mine, a moon shot, a quick win, or questionable.

Understanding a market takes real work

You do not start out knowing any of this. Understanding a market is the work founders actually do — talking to customers, sizing the opportunity, learning the rules, and studying the rivals already there. That work costs attention. A first pass gives a rough idea of the prize; deeper work reveals how hard the market is to win. You can take a market one level further each quarter, so understanding builds over time. Nothing is guaranteed: your reading is a best estimate, and rivals can shift a market as they push into it.

3 · The agile focus dartboard

Here you decide how far to back each market by dragging it toward the centre: Storage (set aside) → Keep open (hold as a backup) → Develop (actively get it ready) → Pursue (your main market). Drag a market inward to back it more — one level per quarter.

How to play it

Open Explore Opportunities.
Click a market to read what it involves.
Spend attention to assess it — one market, one level per quarter.
Drag it inward: Storage → Keep open → Develop → Pursue.
Plan your moves for the quarter, then confirm.

Why it matters: pivots

Switching your main market — a pivot — is the big strategic move in the game, whether you choose it or a rival forces your hand. A market you have kept open and developed pivots in smoothly and cheaply; pivoting into one you ignored is slow and expensive. The work you do here is your insurance for the day you need to change direction.

To learn more, see Gruber and Tal (2017), Where to Play: 3 Steps for Discovering Your Most Valuable Market Opportunities (Pearson Financial Times), and the authors’ site at wheretoplay.co (CC BY-NC-SA).

🔄

Strategic Review

Should you change direction? Choose a pivot type.

⚠️

Competition is intensifying. Review your strategic options before it's too late.

⚠️

Market Shift

A competitor has changed your position. How do you respond?

💡

Stakeholder Recommendations

Your team and investors weigh in on this strategy

🏷️

Company Identity

A new direction may need a new name. Choose wisely—every choice has trade-offs.

👥 Team Perspectives

Team Member

Role

🏢 Competitor Intelligence

📊 Cap Table

Equity ownership breakdown

Ownership at a Glance

100%

Founder: 100%

👤 Founder

100%

💰 Valuation Context

Current Valuation

£0k

Your Stake Value

£0k

📊 Understanding Your Cap Table

📄 From Term Sheet to Cap Table

Your cap table is the record of who owns what. Every time you accept a term sheet, it updates your cap table—adding new investors and diluting existing shareholders.

👤 Founder Equity

Your ownership stake in the company. This decreases with each funding round and employee equity grant. At exit, this determines your personal payout.

💼 Investor Stakes

Each investor's current ownership percentage. These may show protection status:

✓ No Protection Diluted equally with you

🔰 Partial Takes half normal dilution

🛡️ Full Maintains their % - you absorb their share

👥 Employee Equity Pool

Equity granted to executives and key hires. Typically vests over 4 years with a 1-year cliff.

Vesting: Employees earn their equity over time. If they leave before vesting completes, unvested shares return to the pool.

📉 Dilution History

Shows each funding round and how much equity was issued. Remember: today's small dilution compounds across multiple rounds.

💡 Why This Matters

At a £100M exit, the difference between owning 30% vs 50% is £20M in your pocket. Every funding decision shapes your final outcome.

📊 Company Status

🎯 Current Milestone

Pivot Details

🚀

Pivot Complete

New Direction Set

📋

Situation Brief

Q1 of 16

Ch.1

Year 1

💰 Runway 8 quarters

🎯 Current Milestone M1

Core Algorithm Validation

40%

⏰ 4 quarters remaining

💡

Suggested Focus

Product & Research

Your milestone requires strong science scores

⚠️

Before You Commit

Review Your Choices

💡

Consider adjusting your choices before committing.

📖

Chapter 1

Finding product–market fit

⏳

Three quarters remain

Two milestones still to complete

Investor Concerned

Investor Name

Title

"I'm starting to wonder if you know what you're doing."

Relationship Status

Hostile

⚠ Consequences

• They will stop providing strategic advice
• Their support bonuses are withdrawn

🎪

Mini-Game Time!

Get ready for an interactive challenge!

💡 Quick Tips

• Tip 1
• Tip 2

Potential Rewards

💰 Cash • 📈 Stats • 🌟 Prestige

You're attending

TechSummit Disrupt London

0:45

remaining

Budget £2,000 Leads 0 Quality 0

Your buzz 0 Rivals 0

Click delegates to engage them — use actions to build buzz.

🏆

Great Show!

Leads won

💡 Debrief Insights

Investor Pitch

Series A Pitch Meeting

Time Left

0:30

Pitch Points

18

"Thank you for having me today..."

Dr. Chen

Lead Partner

Listening

Sarah Webb

GP, Tech Fund

Listening

Marcus Cole

Angel Investor

Listening

Priya Patel

Venture Partner

Listening

Live Investor Interest

Time: 0:30 50%

EXCITED

INTERESTED

BORED

0s10s20s30s

Ready to pitch...

Room mood: Neutral

🎉

Pitch Complete!

💡 Debrief Insights

💰 Raise Follow-On Funding

Valuation: £0k Your Equity: 0%

Note: You can raise once per milestone. Complete milestones to unlock new funding rounds. Your competitive position affects investor terms.

📄 Term Sheet

Investor Name

Key Terms

Investment

Equity

New Valuation

🤝 Negotiate Terms

with Investor Name

Their opening offer:

£0k

Investment

0%

Equity

£0k

Valuation

💰 Investment Amount

£200k

More cash = investor expects more equity

📊 Equity Offered

15%

Less equity = harder to accept

🛡️ Dilution Protection

Protection shields investor from dilution in future rounds (costs you more later)

Implied Valuation: £0k

Your Equity After: 0%

🤔 Assessing likelihood...

Adjust terms to see acceptance chance.

💰 Finances

Your financial health

CASH IN BANK

£420k

RUNWAY

8 quarters

🔥 BURN RATE / QUARTER

£50k

REVENUE / QUARTER

£0k

Runway Progress Healthy

Each bar = 1 quarter

📊 Break-even Projection

Forecasting...

Revenue

Burn

Break-even

CASH

£420k

BURN

£50k

REVENUE

£0k

BREAK-EVEN

-

🎛️ What-If Scenarios

🔥 Burn @ Q16 £50k

£10k £250k £500k

📈 Revenue @ Q16 £0k

£0k £250k £500k

💡

Financial Tip

Your runway looks healthy. Focus on growth!

📚 How Finances Work

🔑 Key Concept: Cash ≠ Revenue

Cash = Money sitting in your bank account right now

Revenue = Money you earn from customers each quarter

Early startups often have lots of cash (from investors) but little or no revenue. That's normal! But cash runs out if you don't eventually earn revenue or raise more funding.

💵 Cash & Runway

Cash is your money in the bank. It decreases each quarter by your costs (burn rate) and increases from revenue and funding rounds.

Runway = Cash ÷ Net Burn. This tells you how many quarters until you run out of money.

Net Burn = Costs − Revenue
Runway = Cash ÷ Net Burn

⚠️ If runway hits 0, the game ends!

💸 Costs (Burn Rate)

Your quarterly costs are driven primarily by staff:

Each team member costs approximately £15-25k/quarter
Senior hires and specialists cost more
Office space, equipment, and overheads add to burn

Growing your team increases capability but also increases burn. Balance carefully!

📈 Revenue

Revenue grows as your company matures. Key drivers include:

📊 Marketing Score

Higher = more customers finding you

💻 Product Score

Higher = better conversion & retention

🎯 Milestones

Completing milestones unlocks revenue

⏱️ Time

Revenue compounds as you grow

⚖️ Break-even

Break-even is when your revenue equals your costs. After this point:

You no longer burn cash each quarter
You become self-sustaining (infinite runway!)
You have more leverage in funding negotiations

The projection chart shows when you might reach break-even based on current growth rates.

🏦 Raising Funding

When runway gets low, you'll need to raise funding:

Follow-on investors from your existing backers
New VCs unlocked after milestones
Strategic CVCs with industry expertise

💡 Raising mid-milestone is harder and more dilutive. Try to raise from a position of strength!

💡 Strategic Tips

1. Watch your runway - Below 4 quarters is danger zone

2. Balance growth vs burn - Hiring boosts stats but increases costs

3. Invest in marketing - Revenue follows customer acquisition

4. Complete milestones - They unlock revenue AND better funding terms

5. Use the What-If sliders - Model different scenarios to plan ahead

📊 Company Health Dashboard

🏁 How Competition Works

You're not alone in this market. Rival startups are competing for the same customers, investors, and talent. Here's how competition works:

🎯 Your Rivals

Each venture has 3 AI competitors with different strategies:

Well-funded incumbent: Big backing, aggressive growth
Scrappy upstart: Less cash, more hustle
Technical specialist: Deep expertise in one area

Rivals progress each quarter based on their own strategies and random events.

🔍 Unlocking Competitor Intelligence

You don't start with full visibility into your competitors. Invest in market knowledge (via the Market Opportunities card) to unlock deeper insights:

Low market knowledge: Basic info only — names, general positioning
Growing knowledge: Strategies, strengths, and weaknesses revealed
High market knowledge: Deep intelligence — likely moves, vulnerabilities, opportunities

💡 Pivot preparation also reveals competitors in alternative markets — so you know what you'd face if you change direction.

🏆 Market Ranking

Your rank is determined by your combined stats (Research + Product + Marketing).

Rankings affect:

How investors perceive you
Your ability to attract talent
Stakeholder willingness to work with you
Final valuation at exit

📰 Rival News

Watch for news about your competitors:

Funding announcements: They got more runway
Product launches: They're shipping faster
Key hires: They're building their team
Setbacks: Layoffs, pivots, or stumbles

💡 Rival news appears below the leaderboard when significant events happen.

💪 Staying Competitive

You can't directly attack rivals, but you can outcompete them:

Build better products (higher Product score)
Invest in R&D (higher Research score)
Build reputation and connections (higher Sales & Marketing score)
Invest in market knowledge to understand rival strategies
Complete milestones faster
Secure strategic investors with industry expertise

🚀 Exit & Endgame

Your competitive position significantly affects your exit:

#1 rank: Premium valuation, best acquisition offers
#2-3 rank: Solid exit, but less leverage
#4 rank: Struggling position, limited options

The goal isn't just to survive—it's to win your market.

🎯 Milestones & Strategy

Milestones are your path to victory. Complete all three to win the game and build a successful AI startup.

🎯 What Are Milestones?

Milestones represent the key stages of building your startup:

Milestone 1: Proving your concept works
Milestone 2: Finding product-market fit
Milestone 3: Scaling to profitability

Each milestone has specific requirements based on your venture type and chosen strategy.

⏰ Progress & Deadlines

The progress bar shows how close you are to completing your current milestone.

Each milestone has a deadline — the quarter by which you must complete it:

Missing a deadline ends the game
Deadlines get tighter as you progress
Focus your Attention Points on what matters most

💡 The hint below the progress bar suggests which team capabilities to prioritise.

🔄 Pivot (Strategic Review)

Sometimes your initial strategy isn't working. When this happens, you can request a Pivot to change direction.

When to consider pivoting:

You're falling behind competitors
Your current approach isn't gaining traction
Market conditions have changed
A rival just raised major funding

🧭 Types of Strategic Change

When you call a strategic review, your board may offer options like:

Market pivot: Target different customers
Product pivot: Change what you're building
Technology pivot: Rebuild with new approach

Each pivot has trade-offs — you may lose progress but gain a more viable path forward.

⚠️ The Cost of Change

Pivoting isn't free. Changing direction typically means:

Some work needs to be redone
Team morale may take a hit
Investors may lose confidence
You'll use Attention Points on the transition

Pivot early if you need to — waiting too long makes the cost higher.

🏆 Winning the Game

Complete all 3 milestones before:

Running out of cash
Missing a deadline
Falling too far behind competitors

When you complete your final milestone, you'll have the option to exit — through acquisition, IPO, or continuing to grow.

👥 Team & Staffing

Your team size directly affects how much you can accomplish each quarter. More staff means more Attention Points.

📈 Staff → Attention Points

Staff hired above your founding team increase your capacity.

0

+0 AP

1-2

+1 AP

3-4

+2 AP

5+

+3 AP

Hiring costs attention now; the extra capacity arrives the following quarter. Your first hire gives +1 AP from next quarter.

➕ Hiring

• 1 AP to post a job
• Review 4-6 candidates
• Negotiate salary & equity
• Integration takes 1 quarter

Find the right person for your team

➖ Layoffs

• £40k severance cost
• −£25k/quarter burn saved
• −1 AP this quarter (disruption)
• −1 morale across all departments

Painful but extends runway

💡 Strategic Tips

• Hire before a big push — More AP means more actions per quarter
• Layoff when cash is tight — Extends runway but hurts short-term
• Both cause disruption — Plan around the 1-quarter integration/recovery period
• Equity can reduce salary — Offer ownership to attract talent on a budget

📊 Business Model Canvas

MedMind AI • Q4 2026

🤝 Key Partners

• NHS Digital

⚙️ Key Activities

• Model training

💎 Value Propositions

• AI-powered diagnosis

💬 Customer Relationships

• Dedicated support

👥 Customer Segments

• NHS Trusts

🏗️ Key Resources

• ML models

📢 Channels

• Direct sales

💸 Cost Structure

• R&D salaries

💰 Revenue Streams

• SaaS licensing

Showing current state

📊 About the Business Model Canvas

📖 Origins & Purpose

The Business Model Canvas was created by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, first published in their 2010 book "Business Model Generation". It has become one of the most widely-used strategic tools for entrepreneurs and established companies alike.

The canvas provides a single-page visual framework that captures how a company creates, delivers, and captures value. Instead of lengthy business plans, it lets you see your entire business model at a glance.

🧱 The 9 Building Blocks

👥

Customer Segments

Who are you creating value for? Your most important customers.

💎

Value Propositions

What value do you deliver? Why do customers choose you over competitors?

🚚

Channels

How do you reach and communicate with your customers?

💬

Customer Relationships

What type of relationship does each segment expect? Personal? Automated?

💰

Revenue Streams

How does each customer segment pay? Subscriptions? Licensing? Usage fees?

🏗️

Key Resources

What assets are essential? Technology, IP, talent, capital?

⚙️

Key Activities

What must you do well? R&D, production, marketing, platform management?

🤝

Key Partners

Who are your essential suppliers and partners? What do they provide?

📉

Cost Structure

What are your biggest costs? Fixed vs variable? Cost-driven or value-driven?

🎮 How It Evolves In This Game

Your Business Model Canvas is dynamic — it changes based on your decisions throughout the game:

• Early game: Your canvas starts sparse. You have a vision but few validated elements.
• Product decisions add to Key Activities, Resources, and Value Propositions.
• Sales & marketing decisions define Channels, Relationships, and Customer Segments.
• Hiring & partnerships build out Key Resources and Partners.
• Revenue model choices determine your Revenue Streams.
• By endgame: Your canvas should be rich and coherent — a complete business model.

💡 Why It Matters

In real startups, the Business Model Canvas helps founders and investors quickly understand how all the pieces fit together. A strong canvas shows coherence — your segments match your channels, your value prop justifies your pricing, and your activities support your promises. Watch how your decisions build (or fragment) your business model!

📚 How to Play

🎯 Goal: Build a Successful AI Startup

Complete 3 milestones before running out of cash to win!

✅ You Win If:

• Complete all 3 milestones
• Choose your exit (sell, scale, etc.)

💀 You Lose If:

• Cash hits zero (bankruptcy)
• Miss a milestone deadline

Each Quarter You:

1. Review decisions from your 3 department heads
2. Select choices (each costs Attention Points)
3. Commit to end the quarter
4. Pay your burn rate and see results

💡 Pro Tips:

• Focus on metrics that match your current milestone
• Keep runway above 3 quarters when possible
• Happy executives give better advice

💰 Cash, Burn & Runway

🔑 Key Concept: Cash ≠ Revenue

Cash = Money in your bank account right now (from investors, grants, etc.)

Revenue = Money you earn from customers each quarter

Early startups often have cash but zero revenue. That's normal! Cash runs out if you don't eventually earn revenue or raise more funding.

💵 Cash (Money in the Bank)

Your available money. This is NOT income—it's what you have saved. Some choices cost cash. Hiring costs £50k. If this hits zero, you're bankrupt!

🔥 Burn Rate

How much cash you spend per quarter automatically. Each staff member adds £25k/quarter to burn.

⏱ Runway

Quarters until bankruptcy (Cash ÷ Burn). Red = danger! Raise funding or cut costs.

📈 Valuation

Your company's worth. Higher valuation = give up less equity when raising. Grows with milestones and strong metrics.

📊 Revenue Terms:

ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)

Your yearly subscription income from customers. The key metric investors use to value SaaS companies. Calculated as quarterly revenue × 4.

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)

Monthly subscription income. ARR ÷ 12. Some investors prefer this for tracking growth month-to-month.

Net Contribution

Revenue minus customer support costs. What actually improves your cash position each quarter.

Raising Funding:

• Trade equity for cash injection
• Better metrics = higher valuation = less dilution
• Can only raise once every 4 quarters
• New investors may have conflicting preferences

🏛️ Innovate UK Grants:

Non-dilutive funding—keep 100% of your equity. But winning is competitive and commits you to deliver.

• Assessors score applications 1-10 on innovation, team, plan, market
• Success rates: ~10-25% (highly competitive!)
• Winning signals credibility to investors and partners
• Must deliver on project milestones after winning
• One active application per milestone period

🎯 Market Opportunities

This is where you decide where to play. Following the Market Opportunity Navigator (Gruber and Tal), you weigh the markets open to you — the one you serve today and the others you could move into — and choose how far to back each. Understanding a market takes real work, and that work is your insurance for the day you need to pivot.

Why It Matters:

📊 Market Knowledge

Understanding competitors, pricing, and market dynamics helps you win more deals and make better product decisions. As your market knowledge grows, you'll unlock deeper insights about rivals in the Competition panel — their strategies, strengths, and likely moves.

💬 Customer Understanding

Deep insight into customer problems, workflows, and decision processes helps you keep customers longer and grow accounts over time. You'll spot churn risks early and find expansion opportunities.

🔀 Pivot Preparation

Exploring alternative markets before you need to change direction is like buying insurance. You'll also learn about competitors in those potential markets, giving you intelligence that helps you decide whether to pivot and a head start if you do.

How It Helps:

📈 Revenue: Better close rates on pipeline deals, lower customer churn, organic growth from existing accounts
🛠️ Product: Development decisions are better targeted to real market needs
🏁 Competition: Unlocks deeper competitor intelligence — see their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses
💰 Funding: Investors reward founders who truly understand their market with better terms
🔄 Pivots: When you pivot, you retain more customers and already know the new competitors

How It Works:

• Spend attention to understand a market — its size, buyers, regulations and rivals. A first pass gives a rough idea of the prize; deeper work reveals how hard it is to win and places it on the attractiveness map.
• On the agile focus dartboard, back each market by moving it inward — Storage → Keep open → Develop → Pursue. You can raise a market one level per quarter, so plan ahead.
• Develop an alternative and a future pivot into it is smoother and cheaper; ignore it and a pivot is slow and costly.
• Developing markets on the dartboard also deepens your understanding of your current market — lifting customer acquisition, retention, expansion and competitor visibility.
• Effects apply the following quarter; a pivot keeps half your market knowledge and insight.
• Nothing is certain: your reading is a best estimate, and rivals chasing the same markets can shrink the prize.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

My progress disappeared!

The game saves in your browser at the end of each quarter, on the same device. Use Continue Saved Game on the start screen to pick your run back up. Nothing is stored in the cloud, so a different device or a cleared browser starts fresh.

I keep failing—is the game broken?

No! Most players fail their first attempt. Most real startups fail too. Each failure teaches you something. Try a different strategy.

What's the "right" strategy to win?

There isn't one. Every choice involves trade-offs. Learning to navigate uncertainty is the point—not finding an optimal solution.

Competitors keep winning—is that fair?

Yes. Rivals have strong strategies and some luck. If they get ahead, consider pivoting rather than racing harder.

How do I get more cash?

Three ways: (1) Raise funding from investors, (2) Complete milestones (each pays £150k), (3) Reduce burn rate by hiring fewer people.

Why does luck matter so much?

Because it does in real entrepreneurship! Good decisions improve your odds but don't guarantee success. The skill is making good choices despite uncertainty.

How long does a playthrough take?

Typically 25-40 minutes depending on how carefully you read events and consider decisions.

How do I restart?

Refresh the page (F5 or Cmd+R). You'll start fresh with new choices available.

💡 Pro Tips:

• Read the aside text on events—it hints at trade-offs you might miss
• You can pass on actions to save AP for later
• Click competitor names to see detailed intelligence about rivals

🏛️ Grant Funding

Apply to UK & EU innovation grants (automated application & assessor feedback)

🏛️ Grant Funding

Non-dilutive funding for R&D

💰 Why Apply for Grants?

Non-dilutive — Keep 100% of your equity
Credibility signal — Impresses investors
Partner access — Academic and industry networks

📍 Three Grant Pathways

📍 Regional

Easier to win, faster decisions, good stepping stone

🇬🇧 UK-Wide

Innovate UK — balanced difficulty, strong investor signal

🇪🇺 EU

Larger awards, European networks, longer process

🎯 What You Choose

Programme — Different calls suit different strengths
Bid size — Larger requests are harder to win
Effort level — More AP = better application quality
Partner — Optional for most (adds £10k + grant split). Your founder background affects who'll collaborate

📊 Outcomes

✅ Funded

Cash + credibility

📋 Reserve

Close — can reapply

❌ Not Funded

Try different programme

Reserve status: 🔵 Blue Zone (UK) • 📋 Reserve List (Regional) • 🏅 Seal of Excellence (EU)

💡 Quick Tips

Start with regional grants — build experience, then progress
Academic founders have an edge with university partners
Max 2 applications per quarter, one funded grant per milestone
Local partners 🏠 are easier to access and give scoring bonuses

Load your startup

Choose the file Ada saved, or paste it in, then start.

Welcome!

You've Completed Guided Play!

Attention Points

👥 Additional Team Members

The Slingshot

🇬🇧 UK AI Sector at a Glance (DCMS 2024, Tech Nation 2025)

🔬 Research & Major Players

🦄 Notable UK AI Unicorns

🔒 Privacy Policy

✅ Summary

Who we are

🎓 Free Educational Software

What data we collect

What we do NOT collect

📝 About the "Founder Name" feature

🛡️ Privacy by design

Why we collect this data

Legal basis

UK: Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR)

What ICO explicitly permits (no consent required)

What ICO says requires consent (we don't do these)

EU: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Relevant legislation

📧 Contact

🚫 Opt out

ℹ️ About This Simulation

🎯 Purpose

🔬 The Research Project

👥 Credits

🤖 Code Written by AI

✨ Free & Open

♿ Accessibility

👩‍🏫 For Teachers & Educators

🎓 For Students & Learners

🙏 Contributors & Beta Testers

🔊 Sound Effects

🎨 Artwork

Two ways to start

Take on a venture

Build your own

How Would You Like to Learn?

Full Tutorial

Quick Start

Learn the Game

Topic Title

Choose Your Venture

📍 Where Will You Build?

👤 Who Are You?

What you're building

Who buys this

How you make money

Why this could work

What makes this hard

Competition

🎓 Education

💼 Experience

💰 Compensation Package

Choose Your Funding Path

Choose Your Investor

📚 Understanding Funding Terms

📄 Term Sheet

📊 Equity

💰 Valuation

🛡️ Anti-Dilution Protection

🌉 Bridge Round

📉 Down Round

📋 Due Diligence

💡 Strategic Considerations

🚀 Understanding Funding Pathways

The Fundamental Trade-off

🏠 Independent Funding

👼 Angel Investment

🏦 Venture Capital

💡 Why This Choice Matters

🤝 Negotiate with Angel

Deal Agreed!

💰 Negotiate Terms

Success!

📈 Revenue & Projections

Choose Your First Milestone