01 / THE BLUEPRINT
Design
Business modelIntelligenceGo-to-marketVenture DNA
We design the business model, intelligence and go-to-market as one system.
A Swiss AI venture studio · The AI-native talent investor
We build living companies.
We design AI-native ventures, test their assumptions and invest in the leaders who take them forward. The offer combines an agentic operating core, a company learning record and meaningful CEO ownership on venture-specific terms.
Human-led. Agentic by design. Built to learn.
Explore SELF-MADE · 31-second film
01 / DIRECTIONHuman leaderDirection, risk and irreversible decisions.
02 / OPERATIONAgentic coreDefined work within scope and permissions.
03 / LEARNINGCompany recordActions and outcomes inform the next decision.
Venture-studio research—not LSU results
53%
IRR, STUDIO-BORN
VS 21.3% CONVENTIONAL
VS 21.3% CONVENTIONAL
72%
REACH SERIES A
VS 42% OF STARTUPS
VS 42% OF STARTUPS
25 mo
TO SERIES A
VS 56 MONTHS
VS 56 MONTHS
84%
REACH SEED FUNDING
INDUSTRY-REPORTED BENCHMARK
INDUSTRY-REPORTED BENCHMARK
Source: Global Startup Studio Network / Enhance Ventures, "Disrupting the Venture Landscape" — a sample of fourteen studios, self-reported and never independently replicated. Publication-date provenance remains unresolved (2020/2022); no single year is asserted. Industry-reported, not audited, and not Living Scale Up results or expected investment returns. Counter-evidence we also publish: the Big Venture Studio Research (2024, 3,452 PitchBook deals) reports a venture-studio exit rate of 24% against 38% for traditional VC. Sources and limitations.
The thesis
Companies used to be built — assembled from headcount, software and hope. The next generation won't be assembled. They'll be born.
The launch film
Watch the thesis.
LAUNCH FILM · SELF-MADE00:31
FOR A CENTURY IT DESCRIBED A FOUNDER. NOW IT DESCRIBES THE COMPANY.
TEXT ALTERNATIVE — EVERY WORD ON SCREEN
The film carries a score and no speech. All of its language is on-screen titles, in this order:
“SELF-MADE.” — “For a century, it described a founder.” — “Now it describes the company.” — “Spikes fade. Roots compound.” — “BORN, NOT BUILT.” — “The first venture studio for Artificial Business Life.” — “Engineered in Switzerland — livingscaleup.com”
Visually: a black stone disc on a pale timber wall fractures; a white blossom opens through the crack; root filaments spread across the wall and out through a window onto the Lavaux terraces above Lake Geneva.
Our approach
Design. Prove.
Launch. Scale.
A venture takes shape through decisions.
Not every idea moves forward.
02 / THE DECISION GATE
Prove
HypothesisTest + challengeProceed / rework / stop
We test assumptions, challenge the concept and decide whether to proceed, rework or stop. Simulation informs the decision; real customer demand still needs real-market evidence.
03 / THE COMPANY
Launch
Human leaderPurpose + permissionsAgentic core
We pair the venture with a human leader and prepare its operating core, responsibilities and permissions for launch.
04 / THE LEARNING LOOP
Scale
OperateObserveLearnInform the next decision
We use operating evidence and the company's learning record to improve the next decision and support growth.
Rework is part of the method.
Simulation informs a decision; it does not replace real-market validation.
Illustrative venture journey · all four stages remain readable.
Born, not built
Every venture arrives alive.
Tested before launch
Concepts are challenged before launch. Simulation tests assumptions; customer demand requires real-market evidence.
Agentic by design
A defined operating core is part of the venture design, with scoped roles, permissions and human accountability.
Built to learn
Actions, outcomes and corrections build the company's learning record and inform its next decisions.
Our first venture
BuddyLeader
The AI quoting copilot for Swiss trade-business owners. Describe the job, review a draft based on your catalogue and pricing rules, and decide what goes to your customer.
Brand artwork: BuddyLeader.
VENTURE 01 · CONCEPT FILM00:10
A focused customer problem. Defined pricing rules. Human approval. Explore the product and its published evidence.
The studio
Human command.
Agentic operations.
The living-company model combines human direction, bounded agent roles, verification and a learning record. People retain accountability for purpose, risk and irreversible decisions. Exceptions return to the human leader.
THE LIVING COMPANYOPERATING ANATOMY
01 / HUMAN COMMAND
A person owns the consequence.
Purpose · risk appetite · irreversible decisions
THE DELEGATION BOUNDARY
03 / CHECKVerification
Review, correct, escalate.
04 / RECORDLearning record
Actions, outcomes, refusals.
Exceptions return to the human leader.
Direction → execution → verification → record.
The epicenter
Engineered in Switzerland.
Released on the world.
Born in the Lavaux terraces above Lake Geneva, minutes from EPFL — where patient craft meets frontier science. AI-native, human-led, Swiss-made — built for global scale.
LAVAUX
OUR ORIGIN
VAUD, SWITZERLAND
OUR ORIGIN
VAUD, SWITZERLAND
HUMAN-LED
DIRECTION, RISK
AND ACCOUNTABILITY
DIRECTION, RISK
AND ACCOUNTABILITY
AGENTIC
DEFINED WORK
SCOPED PERMISSIONS
DEFINED WORK
SCOPED PERMISSIONS
GLOBAL
AMBITION
FROM A SWISS BASE
AMBITION
FROM A SWISS BASE
Four doors
Choose how you enter.
01 · CEOS
Lead a venture
Explore the founding-CEO role, decision rights and venture-specific ownership terms.
Explore the CEO opportunity →02 · INVESTORS
Invest in a venture
Explore invitation-based, venture-level co-investment. Living Scale Up is a venture studio, not a pooled investment fund.
Read the investor approach →03 · CORPORATES
Co-create a venture
Discuss the opportunity, operating scope, human responsibilities and infrastructure requirements for your industry.
Explore a partnership →04 · BUILDERS
Join the bench
Bring your technical craft to human-led, agentic ventures. Explore how to contribute.
Explore builder opportunities →The essentials
Questions, answered
Q·01
What is Living Scale Up?
Living Scale Up Sàrl is a Swiss AI venture studio based in Lavaux, Vaud, Switzerland. It designs AI-native ventures, tests their assumptions and pairs them with human leaders. Its living-company model combines an agentic operating core, a learning record and human accountability. Simulation helps test assumptions; it does not establish real customer demand. BuddyLeader is its first venture.
Q·02
What is a living venture studio?
A living venture studio builds AI-native companies designed around governed agentic operations, a data flywheel that learns from operating experience, and a human CEO who sets direction. Living Scale Up uses Living Venture Studio for this model. It creates ventures rather than only hosting or accelerating existing startups.
Q·03
Does simulation prove customer demand?
No. Simulated cohorts help challenge assumptions and decide whether to proceed, rework or stop. Demand requires evidence from real customers. Pilot status and measured outcomes should be stated separately.
Q·04
What is the relationship between Living Scale Up and BuddyLeader?
Living Scale Up is the studio; BuddyLeader is its first venture. Fabien Lopez leads Living Scale Up, and Jonas Cosendai leads BuddyLeader. The studio's published IP model distinguishes incubation ownership, assignment of venture-specific IP at incorporation, and licensing of the reusable operating core. Current venture status and applicable terms are described in Facts and the relevant venture documents.
Q·05
How do investors participate?
Living Scale Up is a venture studio, not a fund. Its published model invites qualified investors to co-invest directly into an individual venture, with terms disclosed before commitment. Eligibility and the participation process are explained on the Invest page.
Q·06
Is BuddyLeader affiliated with buddy.works or other Buddy tools?
No. BuddyLeader, the AI quoting copilot for Swiss owner-craftsmen built by Living Scale Up, is not the same as, and is unaffiliated with, buddy.works (the CI/CD and DevOps platform) or any other software using the names Buddy, Buddy Leader or Leader.
Q·07
Where is Living Scale Up based?
Living Scale Up is based in Lavaux, in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, minutes from EPFL and inside the Alpine deep-tech cluster anchored by ETH Zurich and EPFL.
Facts, sources and definitions · Investor approach · CEO opportunity