Explore
Two funded months to find what's worth building.
Explore is a two month program with $25K to find your idea, to pressure-test a thesis, and find the one worth your next ten years. Customer development, prototypes, and real signal. You leave with evidence, not just enthusiasm.
What it is
Everyone funds the idea. Nobody funds finding it.
Most founders have more ideas than they have time to test. Explore is funded time and space to develop a strong conviction and momentum to pursue or abandon your best ideas.
The work
Find the signal. Sharpen the thesis. Gain conviction.
Explore is structured around the questions that matter most at this stage. Who is the customer. What pain are they actually feeling. What would they pay for. What does the solution need to look like. You'll talk to customers, build prototypes, run tests, and gather signal. Some weeks you'll build on the idea you came in with. Other weeks you'll pivot to something better. By month two, you have clarity and conviction in the path forward.
What you get
Capital, a team, and the time to do this right.
Capital to focus
Funding clears the distractions so you can put your full attention on testing the thesis. It covers your time and the experiments themselves, so you're not stretching a personal runway to run the tests that matter.
Inception-stage experts in your corner
Weekly working sessions with operators, designers, and engineers who live in −1 to 0. Codified playbooks. Real input on customers, product direction, and what to test next. They'll push you to sharpen what's working as fast as they'll help you spot what isn't.
A cohort of founders alongside you
You're not figuring this out alone. Explore runs as a cohort of founders working through the same questions in parallel. Creative collisions, sparring partners, and the kind of peer accountability that comes from doing hard work together.
Clarity and conviction at the end
Two months in, you've stress-tested both the idea and your fit with Philo. Some founders move into Build. Others keep building independently with Philo as an investor. Either way, you leave with clarity in the path forward and capital you've earned.
What comes next
Two paths forward.
Into Build
10 MONTHS · FULL SQUAD · MORE CAPITAL
If the idea is real and your partnership with Philo is right, Explore rolls into a ten-month Build engagement with the full squad, the support layer, and additional capital. Most founders who reach the end take this path.
Into the work, on your own
PHILO HOLDS 1% · DOOR STAYS OPEN
If you prefer building independently, you leave with the work, the customer signal, and the capital you raised. Philo holds 1% and our door stays open for the moments we can help move the work forward.
In their words
“I've felt nothing but support to go after big ideas. Being here helps you feel like it's possible, and that the defining factor to achieving your goals is simply your desire, motivation, and belief. That's how great things are done.”
Nicholas Lewis
Ready to test it
Two months to find out.
Explore is for founders ready to test, sharpen, and find the idea worth their next ten years.