ten ventures

Software should work for you, but most of it doesn't.

ten is a venture studio of engineers who embed with your community to build what's been missing, software that closes the gap between where someone is and what they are trying to achieve. Our mission is to build what you want to exist, so you don't have to.

— Why now

For years, the economics of consumer software rewarded engagement-driven products that maximized attention. High development, distribution, and maintenance costs justified this model, and also biased software companies towards mass-market adoption. Building hyper-specialized product experiences for niche communities was unprofitable, because the business model couldn't scale.

AI changed the cost structure. Software for tens or hundreds of users is now viable. This doesn't mean software is "dead", rather it creates the potential for consumer software that is tailored to specific communities and tied to outcome rather than engagement. We are building towards this opportunity, but we need your help.

— Help us build for your community

We're asking for thirty minutes of your time. We want to share what we're building, learn what outcomes matter to you, and build towards those. We think of it as forward deployed engineering, except built around you and your community.

Talk to us here

— Why ten

ten is inspired by the colloquial "10,000-Hour Rule". In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argued that mastery in any skill takes ten thousand hours, drawing on psychologist Anders Ericsson's research on expert performance. What often gets overlooked, and what Ericsson was careful about, is that these hours have to be deliberate, focused, and demanding hours outside of your comfort zone.

In a world where people are constantly competing for your attention, this kind of unwavering focus is extremely difficult to achieve on your own.

Those hours are what close the gap between where you are and the excellence you're chasing. We recognize this. Since you've committed to putting the time in, ten is committed to providing the support.