What is a design partner?
A design partner is an early adopter who works with Viable Systems to shape one or more applied AI product workstreams.
We're building the infrastructure that makes organisations readable and therefore augmentable, by AI and humans. Today, the knowledge that makes a company run lives in people's heads, scattered docs, third party SaaS systems, and implicit processes. AI cannot work with what it cannot see. We are fixing that, by exploring what the architecture of the organisation should be in this new hybrid human and AI world.
We work with a small number of companies to build and validate this infrastructure against real operational problems. Through a close working partnership, we define the problem, build the right system, and iterate quickly towards production.
To learn more about Viable Systems and our thesis, read our announcement here.
Workstreams
Each design partner engagement is organised into one or more workstreams.
A workstream is a defined body of work with a specific scope, set of goals, owners, and cadence. Workstreams may run one after another or in parallel depending on the problem area and your team's capacity.
Our current research and product focus spans two areas:
- Kiln — capture the reasoning behind decisions, not just the outcomes. Kiln instruments agent workflows with decision traces, evaluation, and context systems that let AI learn from how your organisation actually works
- Atlas — a living graph of your entire organisation. People, documents, policies, code, and assets — connected in one place instead of scattered across dozens of tools. When knowledge flows freely, both humans and AI can actually use it
New workstreams emerge as we go deeper with partners and uncover new problem surfaces.
What you get
- Access to frontier applied AI research translated into usable product
- Knowledge transfer between your team and the Viable Systems research team
- Direct access to the founding team, both async and sync
- Dedicated implementation support to help move from concept to working system
- Early access to tooling, systems, and product surfaces during the design partner period
- A close feedback loop with our team and real influence over roadmap and product direction
- Discounted commercial terms when the relevant system moves into a broader production rollout
What we ask
- Urgency. The problem we tackle together should be a pressing business need, not a side project
- Active work. The problem area should already have internal momentum and committed resources behind it
- Access to the decision maker. We need a direct line to whoever can approve scope, provide context, and unblock progress
- A clear owner for each workstream. Every workstream should have someone internally responsible for progress, context, and coordination
- A willingness to iterate. This is a working partnership, not a static handoff. The best results come from tight feedback loops and rapid learning
How it works
Each workstream runs through a shared operating cycle. Depending on scope, some workstreams may move faster, while others may require deeper integration and iteration.
For partners working across multiple workstreams, these cycles may happen sequentially or partially in parallel.
Who this is for
We are looking for companies that:
- Are actively trying to integrate AI into their operations and finding it harder than expected
- Have decision-dense workflows where institutional knowledge matters
- Have a technical team comfortable working with early-stage tooling
- Want to shape the systems they will eventually rely on rather than waiting for finished off-the-shelf solutions
- Are excited to work closely with a research-led product team on real operational problems
How to get started
dennis@viablesystems.ai
Viable Systems