Sprint

What Sprint does

Character Capital LLC, operating under the brand Sprint/Character, is a US-registered boutique venture capital firm founded in 2019 by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (with Eli Blee-Goldman as third co-founder/GP). The firm is anchored on proprietary 'sprint' methodologies — most notably the Design Sprint (a five-day customer-testing process created by Jake Knapp at Google in 2010 and codified in the 2016 New York Times bestseller 'Sprint') and the Foundation Sprint (a two-day project-starting process introduced in the 2024 NYT bestseller 'Click'). Related methodologies include the Name Sprint (one-day naming process), Note and Vote decision-making, and Magic Lenses framing.

The firm makes money through three mechanisms: (1) management fees and carried interest on a $52 million venture fund that leads pre-seed and seed rounds of up to $2 million for 6-10% ownership, with an explicit thematic focus on AI for science, medicine, industry, business, and commerce; (2) book royalties on the Sprint and Click titles distributed through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible, Apple Books, and Bookshop.org, plus free step-by-step guides and official Miro templates that serve as top-of-funnel content; (3) accelerator and masterclass programs — Character Labs (a five-week accelerator for up to 15 teams per cohort, twice yearly, investing $200k for 5% equity) and Character Foundations (a free, equity-free one-day masterclass in San Francisco that feeds Labs and Core Investments pipelines). The free masterclass generates no direct revenue, indicating the ecosystem is structured to convert content reach into deal flow rather than monetize at the top of the funnel.

The customer base is bifurcated. On the investment side, the firm has backed 60+ portfolio companies (including Slack, Uber, Flatiron Health, One Medical, Blue Bottle Coffee, RetailMeNot, Digit, Gusto, Foundation Medicine, Phaidra, Orbital Materials, Inductive Bio, Fathom, Reclaim, House Rx, Weave, Bindwell, Extend, Workshop Labs, HeadsUp, ThirdPartyTrust, Hologram). On the content side, methodology adopters span Google, YouTube, Amazon, Airbnb, LEGO, MIT, Harvard Business School, University of Oxford, and Mercedes-Benz, with books translated into more than 20 languages and methodology cited as adopted by 'thousands of teams.' The core team is four named individuals (three GPs and a Head of Programs and Community) operating from a San Francisco headquarters, with stated total headcount of 17.

Name

Sprint

Legal name

Character Capital LLC

Website

https://thesprintbook.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Character Capital (Sprint) is a San Francisco-based boutique venture fund that pairs early-stage capital with proprietary Design Sprint and Foundation Sprint methodologies to help AI-focused technical founders find product-market fit. The firm operates a $52M fund, a paid book line, and an accelerator and masterclass ecosystem.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Venture capital funding
• Design sprint methodology
• Startup accelerator program
• Product-market fit consulting
• Innovation methodology books

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Sprint book published 2016, Click book published 2024. Sold through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible, Apple Books, Bookshop. Sprint available in more than 20 languages.
2. Core Investments: Lead pre-seed and seed rounds investing up to $2 million for 6-10% ownership. Stage from inception through Seed. Actively investing from $52 million fund.
3. Character Labs Accelerator: Five-week accelerator program. Invest $200k for 5% equity in each company. Accept up to 15 teams per cohort twice a year. No fees to participate.
4. Character Foundations: One-day masterclass for founders. Free and equity-free for founders - no fees to attend, take 0% of company. Generates pipeline for Labs and Core Investments.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels9 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sprint (operated as Character Capital LLC) is a boutique venture capital fund that invests in pre-seed and seed-stage startups with checks up to $2 million from a $52 million fund, while teaching founders proprietary sprint methodologies such as the Design Sprint and Foundation Sprint. It monetizes through book sales (Sprint published 2016 and Click published 2024, both New York Times bestsellers), the Character Labs accelerator ($200k for 5% equity), and the free Character Foundations one-day masterclass. The firm's differentiated offering combines capital with hands-on sprint facilitation to help technical founders find product-market fit quickly.

Product overview

Sprint refers to the collection of books and methodologies created by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky at Character Capital. The core product is the 'Sprint' book (2016) which introduced the Design Sprint, a five-day methodology for testing ideas with real customers. This is complemented by the 'Click' book (2024) introducing the Foundation Sprint. Together with Character Labs (accelerator) and Character Foundations (masterclass), these products form a comprehensive system for startup product development and validation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Design Sprint: Five-day process for testing ideas by rapidly prototyping and testing with real customers
• Foundation Sprint
• Name Sprint
• Sales Sprint
• Marketing Sprint
• Pitch Sprint
• Character Labs
• Character Foundations

Products and services

• Sprint (book) The original bestselling book published in 2016 that introduced the Design Sprint methodology - a five-day process for solving big problems and testing new ideas with real customers. Sold through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible, Apple Books, and Bookshop.
• Click (book) The latest book from Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky introducing the Foundation Sprint - a two-day methodology for starting big projects the smart way. A New York Times bestseller.
• Character Labs Accelerator A five-week startup accelerator program 100% focused on product-market fit. Combines Foundation Sprint, Sales Sprint, Marketing Sprint, Design Sprints, and Pitch Sprint methodologies with $200k investment for 5% equity. Accepts up to 15 companies per cohort twice a year with rolling applications, interviews, and acceptance process, concluding with a demo day.
• Character Foundations Masterclass A one-day in-person masterclass for founders in San Francisco teaching the Design Sprint and Foundation Sprint approaches, with hands-on sprint activities, coaching, and free copies of Sprint and Click books. Free and equity-free for founders with no fees to attend and 0% of company taken.

Quantifiable outcome

• 300+ teams helped design and launch new products
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AJ&Smart (Design Sprint Masterclass)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAJ&Smart offers a Design Sprint Masterclass. Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky recommend it with coupon code SPRINT500 to save €500.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• IDEO: IDEO is the established design and innovation consultancy whose human-centered design and prototyping playbook predates and overlaps with the Design Sprint. Comparable as the incumbent for the 'design-led product innovation' category Sprint sits within.
• Y Combinator (YC): YC is the dominant seed-stage accelerator and an indirect peer for Character Labs as a competing accelerator funnel for technical founders, plus a co-investor in Bindwell.

Direct peers

• Baseline Ventures: Baseline is an early-stage venture firm backing technical founders with design and product expertise, closely matching Character's positioning as a designer-led, methodology-driven seed investor.
• Google Ventures (GV): GV is the venture arm where founders Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky spent 2011-2017 working with 100+ portfolio companies using the Design Sprint methodology. Directly comparable as an early-stage investor that pioneered operational support for founders beyond capital.
• Boost VC: Boost VC is a boutique seed-stage venture fund / accelerator with a strong brand-led founder community, offering a directly comparable light-on-fees, equity-for-support model to Character Labs.
• Precursor Ventures: Precursor is a boutique pre-seed and seed fund focused on very early technical founders, closely aligned with Character Capital's $52M fund size, pre-seed/seed stage focus, and conviction-driven small-check approach.
• Forerunner Ventures: Forerunner is a boutique venture firm that pairs concentrated early-stage capital with operational support and strong brand, paralleling Character's hybrid capital-plus-methodology approach.
• First Round Capital: First Round is a boutique seed-stage venture fund with a strong content/brand engine (Review, State of Startups), comparable model of using IP and community to drive deal flow at pre-seed/seed.
• AJ&Smart: AJ&Smart operates the Design Sprint Masterclass that Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky explicitly recommend via a coupon code, making it the closest direct comp on monetising the Design Sprint methodology for practitioners and team training.

Emerging players

• Designer Fund: Designer Fund invests in startups founded by designers and supports them with a creative community. Comparable mission of uplifting design-led founders, though smaller and earlier stage than Character Capital.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/charactercapital
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thesprintbook

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sprint