The Program

A clear path
from idea to real traction.

Three phases. Defined milestones. A roadmap, detailed course library, and an AI-first build team at your side. You move forward when you're ready — not when a cohort decides.

Three phases.
One team next to you.

Click a phase to explore it. Each one has a job to do, a milestone to hit, and a set of deliverables you'll produce alongside the team.

01 · VALIDATE

Prove the problem is worth solving.

Before writing a line of code, we pressure-test the idea with real conversations. By the end of this phase you'll know if the market is real, who's willing to pay, and what "v1" actually needs to do.

Phase milestone
Signed letters of intent from design partners
02 — What you get

The whole studio, on your team.

Not a list of benefits on a slide — the actual people, tools, and capital that show up for you every week.

01

AI-first build team

Engineers and designers who use modern AI tooling to compress months of work into weeks. Embedded with your founding team.

Embedded
02

Go-to-market engine

Positioning, outbound, content, analytics, and early sales — run alongside you, not handed off.

Co-run
03

Operator network

1:1 sessions with operators who've built and scaled software companies, plus phase-matched peer groups solving the same problems you are.

Weekly
04

Wildfire Academy

Lessons, templates, and AI prompts mapped to every phase of the company, plus live cohort sessions with operators, investors, and functional experts.

Self-paced + Live
05

Workspace & community

24/7 secure workspace for your founding team in the heart of Rapid City, plus a founder community built for long-term operators.

Rapid City
06

Founder-friendly capital

When the fit is right, we invest early so you can focus on the company — and help line up the next round when the traction is real.

Selective
03 — Fit

Wildfire is not
for every founder.

We're selective for a reason. The best outcomes happen when the fit is real on both sides.

◆ A great fit if you…

  • Have deep expertise in an industry and see a real problem software can solve
  • Can commit full-time to building once you're in the Build phase
  • Want operators in your corner, not a check and a slack channel
  • Are willing to get into the weeds on sales and customer conversations
  • Are open to moving to — or spending real time in — Rapid City

✕ Probably not a fit if you…

  • Want someone else to build your product for you and hand you a business
  • Are looking for a pure incubator space or a generic accelerator badge
  • Aren't willing to have your assumptions challenged — often
  • Need a full-time team hired before you've talked to customers
  • Are raising a large round without a product or paying users
04 — FAQ

The questions
founders ask.

Still have something unanswered? Email us directly — a real person will reply.

No. We take founders in on a rolling basis and they progress through phases at their own pace. The goal is momentum, not a demo-day deadline.
We build alongside founders — not instead of them. That means an AI-first engineering team, a go-to-market engine, operator mentorship, templates, and capital when the fit is right. You bring the domain expertise; we bring the studio.
No. A lot of our founders come from deep industry backgrounds with no coding experience. Our build team handles the engineering; your job is to know the customer better than anyone else.
We're biased toward in-person. Founders who spend meaningful time at the studio move faster and build deeper relationships. We'll talk about what makes sense for you during the intake process.
We share the specifics during the application process, once we know the fit is right on both sides.
The three phases are structured but the pace is yours. Some founders move through Discovery in a few weeks; others spend longer. Growth is ongoing — we don't "graduate" founders.
05 — Apply

Bring the expertise. We'll bring the studio.

Applications are reviewed as they come in. The sooner you apply, the sooner we can talk.

Start Your Application →