My AI Startup

Founders-Sim

A multiplayer startup race on a 3D planet that is new every round: new continents, new countries, and 80,000 personas whose wealth and willingness are drawn at random. Hire them, pitch them, grow. Only pick a fight when you think you are stronger, because nobody can see anyone else's head count or funding.

Personas who share your focus join and invest more often. Every planet draws new countries with their own income, internet use, age mix, youth unemployment and credit, and those numbers set each persona's price, willingness to join and investment size. You choose the kind of place to start; the planet decides where it is.

W A S DMove anywhere on the planet: it is a sphere 500 units around, with polar ice you cannot cross. Arrow keys, mouse drag and touch also work.
JJoin: ask nearby personas to join your team. Each has a price and a chance of saying yes.
IInvest: pitch nearby people for money. Funding raises your team limit. ◆ marks a VC.
50Fog: you see 50 units around you. Rivals show up as ?, and their size is never shown.
10Contest: closer than 10 units, the stronger startup acquires the other. Strength is people plus funding: every $100K raised counts as one person.
VAuto: your startup plays by itself. It moves, hires, raises and picks its fights. Press V again or move to take over.

How to play

You are a founder. Every round is played on a new planet with its own continents and countries. 80,000 personas live in its cities; each stands for 100,000 people, so the planet holds 8 billion. Each country draws its own income, internet use, age mix, youth unemployment and credit, and those set its personas' prices, odds and wealth. A round lasts 1,000 steps (about four minutes). The strongest startup at the end wins (strength = people + funding raised ÷ $100K).

  1. Move with W A S D or the arrow keys. You can also hold the mouse button, or drag on a touch screen. The planet is a sphere 500 units around the equator, and the camera keeps north up. Beyond 72° north and south is polar ice that nobody can cross. Zoom with the mouse wheel or + and − to see the whole planet.
  2. J · Join. Up to 8 free personas within 5 units hear your offer. Each says yes at its own chance, and you pay its price. A persona who says no ignores you for 30 seconds.
  3. Team limit. Your funding stage caps your team: Bootstrapped 12, Pre-seed 30, Seed 60, Series A 120, Series B 240, Series C 480, Unicorn 1,000.
  4. I · Invest. Pitch the 8 most promising people within 5 units for money. The fee is $500 per person pitched. Business people and the ◆ VCs in tech hubs invest the most. Investors give more to bigger teams.
  5. Focus. Personas who share your focus are 1.4× as likely to join and 1.5× as likely to invest. They are lightly highlighted.
  6. Fog of war. You see 50 units around you, measured along the planet's surface. You can see a rival's name and where it is heading, but never its head count or funding.
  7. Contest. When two startups come within 10 units, they must contest, and the stronger one wins. Strength = people + funding raised ÷ $100K: 103 people with $20M raised (strength 303) beat 168 people with $8M (strength 248). The winner takes the loser's team (up to its own limit), half its cash and half its funding. Equal strength bounces both apart with a 5-second truce. New startups are shielded for 8 seconds.
  8. V · Auto mode. Press V (or tap Auto) and your startup plays by itself: it moves, hires, raises money and decides when to fight or run, using the same rules and the same limited view as the bots. You can still press J and I. Moving by hand, or pressing V again, gives you back the controls. Auto mode stays on for the next round.
  9. News is public. Funding rounds, launches and acquisitions are announced with a rough location. Arrows at the edge of your view point the shortest way there over the planet.
  10. Acquired means out. An acquired startup is out for the rest of the round, and bots too. Both sides see a card with the numbers that decided the contest; it closes by itself after 3 seconds. If you are out, you can keep watching while others play. The round ends 5 seconds after the last human player is out, when only one startup is left, or at step 1,000. Survivors rank by strength; startups that are out rank by how long they lasted.

All numbers are game settings, not market data. Planets, places, people and statistics are generated for each round and are fictional.