Real answers. No corporate speak. If we missed something, hit us up on X.
No catch. Seriously. We don't take equity, we don't charge tuition, and we don't sell your data. The program is funded by sponsors who believe in the Moroccan tech ecosystem. If you hit $10K MRR someday, we'll invite you to contribute 1% for 12 months — but that's completely voluntary. Most programs want your equity. We want your success story.
Because they remember being where you are. Every mentor in MAKENESS has shipped products and earned revenue. They're not consultants selling advice — they're founders who want to give back. Plus, helping you keeps them sharp. It's a win-win.
We get it. Here's our transparency pledge: we publish our dropout rates (expect ~70%), our funding sources, and our real outcomes. No vanity metrics. No "10x your revenue" BS. Just honest numbers. If we suck, you'll know.
Yes! The first week (DISCOVER phase) is specifically designed to help you find and validate a problem worth solving. Many successful founders came in with zero ideas and left with paying customers. What matters is your willingness to talk to real people and iterate fast.
You'll learn them here. MAKENESS is built for technical founders who can code but struggle with the "non-technical" stuff: talking to customers, pricing, marketing, getting that first sale. We'll teach you just enough to be dangerous.
Absolutely. With AI tools like Cursor, v0, and Claude, you can ship MVPs without being a senior developer. We'll show you how. What matters more is your hustle and willingness to learn. Some of our best founders started with zero code.
You probably will — at least once. And that's fine. 70% of participants don't make it to the end. The difference is: you'll fail fast, learn why, and have a community to help you try again. Failing in 6 weeks beats failing in 2 years. The skills you learn are yours forever.
It's hard, but possible. We ask for 15+ hours per week. That's evenings and weekends for most people. Be honest with yourself: if you can't commit, you're taking a spot from someone who can. We'd rather you wait for the right cohort than burn out in week 3.
15-20 hours per week for 6 weeks. That includes: weekly group sessions (2-3 hrs), mentor calls (1 hr), building your product (10+ hrs), and customer interviews (2-3 hrs). It's intense by design. Deadlines create focus.
Life happens. Miss one week? Catch up with your cohort. Miss two consecutive weeks without communication? You're out. Sounds harsh, but it's fair to the founders who show up every week. We're building habits, not collecting participants.
It's enough to validate, ship, and earn. Antler does it in 6 weeks. altMBA hits 96% completion in 4. In the AI era, building an MVP takes days, not months. We're not here to build unicorns — we're here to help you ship a real product and get your first $100. Most founders waste years building things nobody wants. We compress that learning into 6 weeks.
Traditional accelerators want you to raise money and give them equity. We want you to make money and keep it. No pitch decks, no investor intros, no Demo Day theater. Just shipping and earning. Revenue over valuation.
Weekly group sessions with your cohort. 1-on-1 mentor access. The MKNS-BLAN curriculum (open source). A Slack community of founders. Accountability partners who won't let you quit. And hopefully: your first $100+ in revenue from a real customer.
You choose your path. CHILL: stay solo, enjoy the freedom. INDIE: grow to a small team. SCALE: raise funding if it makes sense. Alumni stay in the community, many become mentors themselves. The network compounds.
Because local context matters. Payment infrastructure, legal structures, customer behavior — they're all different here. Generic Silicon Valley advice doesn't always apply. We teach what works in Morocco first, then MENA, then global. Start local, think global.
We look for commitment, not credentials. No fancy degrees required. We want founders who: show up consistently, accept feedback without ego, help their peers, and actually do the work. Your background matters less than your hunger.
We accept 6-12 founders per cohort. Acceptance rate varies, but we're selective. Not because we're elitist — because small cohorts work better. If you don't get in, you'll get feedback and can reapply for the next cohort.
The opposite. Failure means you've tried. We'd rather take someone who shipped and failed than someone who's been "planning" for 3 years. Show us what you learned. That's founder DNA.