Mansa Colabs·Start Now

Not sure what to build? Start anyway.

This tool helps illuminate what to build and where to begin. The most important thing is to start now.

Start now

How it works

  1. 1

    Start with what you already have

    A ten-minute intake about your skills, your network, and what you can afford to risk. No business plan required.

  2. 2

    Get your prompt

    We turn your answers into a prompt you paste into any AI tool — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini — to generate your own 90-day plan.

  3. 3

    Start moving

    Follow-up emails over the next six weeks keep you honest. Free sessions are available when you want a thinking partner.

A founder smiling while working on her laptop in a sunlit space

Founders like you

  • A mid-career professional starting over

  • A recent retiree starting fresh

  • An early-career builder serving her community

  • An immigrant entrepreneur applying past lessons

And many more.

The method behind this

The logic experienced entrepreneurs actually use.

Most early advice tells founders to forecast a market, write a plan, and chase a goal. Effectuation flips that. It starts with what you already have — your identity, your knowledge, your network — and grows the venture through real commitments from people who self-select in. Instead of trying to predict an uncertain future, it focuses on what you can shape.

We use this framework because it fits real life. It's tested, it's teachable, and it respects the fact that most ventures are built one conversation at a time.

The five principles you'll work through

  • 01

    Bird in hand

    Start with what you have

  • 02

    Affordable loss

    Cap the downside

  • 03

    Crazy quilt

    Build with self-selecting partners

  • 04

    Lemonade

    Turn surprises into material

  • 05

    Pilot in the plane

    Shape, don't predict

Effectuation was developed by Dr. Saras D. Sarasvathy (Darden School of Business, University of Virginia) through a cognitive-science study of expert entrepreneurs, first published as "Causation and Effectuation" in the Academy of Management Review (2001). It has since been validated across dozens of peer-reviewed studies. Learn more at effectuation.org.

How this applies to real people

Real founders, real starting points.

The framework is the same. The starting point is yours.

  • “I have 12 years of experience and I just got laid off. I'm not starting from zero — I'm starting from here.”

    A mid-career professional building something on her own terms

  • “Twenty-eight years in. I don't want a job. I want flexibility. And I'm not sure if I want this to grow or stay small.”

    A recently-retired professional starting a consulting practice

  • “I grew up watching my mom run her business. I want to do it the right way — with structure.”

    An early-career builder serving her community

  • “I had a business before I came here. I learned everything the hard way. I'm not doing that again.”

    An immigrant entrepreneur applying hard-won lessons to a new venture

And many more starting points. Yours is welcome here.

What this costs

Nothing.

The intake, the personalized overview, the AI prompt, and six weeks of follow-up emails are all free. A limited number of 30-minute sessions are also available at no cost for founders who want to think something through with a person. There is no paid tier and nothing to upgrade to.

Start now

The form takes about 10 minutes. Free, no payment required.