Then Now
The ratio flipped. We saw it. We built.
AI-native isn't a claim.
It's the actual stack.
Anthropic
Code, brand systems, operations, agent deployment. Daily driver across the team. Customer model preference honored.
OpenAI
Real-time consumer voice + image flows
Perplexity
Signal mining, competitive intelligence
Gemini
Image / PDF / video → structured data extraction
THE MODEL
Build with us.
Build for you.
Build the idea. We write the check.
We co-build with early founders who have a great idea and the drive to ship it. We bring AI infrastructure, design system, and 12-week build velocity. You bring the idea and the conviction. Equity-aligned + pre-seed check — we win when you win.
Brand and product, shipped together. For businesses with product to build.
Businesses with a product to build hire us to ship brand and product as one engagement. Site, brand system, MVP, signal stack — all built by the same team in 12 weeks. The combination is the differentiator: no agency seams between brand and build.
Both tracks run the same 12-week clock. No exceptions. No extensions.
→ See the process- BUILDAI infrastructure / full-stack / design system / brand voice
- BACKFirst check / follow-on capital / spin-out structure
- SHIPWeek-12 launch / real revenue or close / public scoreboard
On the record
We back what we build. We don't pitch what we don't own.
Ian HuttonFounderSan Francisco · Austin
Fifteen years in regulated industries. A decade scaling startups for PE and VC firms. I led emerging markets and partnerships at enterprise scale. Then AI changed the math. I ship what used to take a whole department.
I built IML to operate on the new math. We ship our own bets. I codified the process for builders at zero — great ideas don't wait for a cap table. I co-build with founders. I back what earns it.
IML is the studio I needed at zero.
The work.
Landing page → Product
In stealth.
Our operator proof.
Brand system
Identity, voice, and narrative — built once and deployed everywhere you touch a customer.
Agent infrastructure
AI agents we build, deploy, and run inside your business as digital employees.
CURRENTLY
- First bet spinning out · WK 24
- Raising the asymmetric bet
- Vertical SaaS in build · WK 09
- One consumer bet closed · WK 02
LAST EDIT: 06.12.2026
AN AI-NATIVE CONSUMER STUDIO
The process
Four gates. Twelve weeks.
Every bet runs the same clock. Clear all four — it gets capital and a team.
No exceptions.
Does the pain bite?
Will they line up?
Do they come back?
Real money. Or it ends.
Build with us.
Send your week-1 plan. It reaches Ian directly.
Build with us
You're early — you want a partner to build it with you, and the first check.
StartBuild for you
Brand and product shipped together by one team — no agency seams.
StartInvestors + operators
Into the raise, early access to the pipeline, or to talk shop.
Reach out