Case Study | From Personal AI Accounts to One Shared Workspace
Launchpad runs a startup incubator, an accelerator, and a pre-seed fund with a small operating team, because the money that would pay for more staff is money the fund needs to invest. When the program doubled in size, hiring wasn't the answer. Here's how a move from personal AI accounts to a shared Claude Teams workspace let the same team take on twice the companies.
The Challenge
Launchpad runs a startup incubator and an accelerator program called Ignite. The incubator puts cohorts of up to 20 founders through twelve weeks of operator-led curriculum, three times a year, in multiple markets. After 2 years Launchpad has produced over 130 graduates and is home to over 200 members. On top of an active footprint in the Southeast, they have expanded to New York City and Los Angeles.
Revenue for the program relies on the fund and return on investments of the member companies. Since these investments are decided over the course of 12-weeks, they take months to initiate and decide. From there, they may not see returns for years. This puts pressure on the operating team to run and support the program on a constrained budget.
This team had no trouble embracing AI to make efficiency gains, but it was being done through personal accounts. Several people were using ChatGPT or other LLMs of their own, so the useful prompts and context stayed with whoever wrote them. Launchpad publishes a steady stream of communication, including email, social posts, brochures, and program documents, and holding voice and brand consistent across all of it is difficult when every person works from a separate account.
The Solution
Worthwhile helped Launchpad evaluate the AI tools on the table and migrate to Claude, consolidating the individual accounts people had signed up for on their own into one shared workspace. That opened up collaborative creation and distribution of skills and assets, so individual efficiencies started compounding into better practices for the team. More than anything, it fit the way Launchpad was already doing business.
Claude integrated with the platforms the team used regularly:
- Webflow, for updates to launchpadtv.com, which Launchpad maintains itself
- Canva, for program and marketing design work
- HubSpot, the CRM holding founder, mentor, applicant, and investor relationships
The Results
Launchpad is now ramping up to run seven simultaneous cohorts with the team it had when Ignite had 15 members. Ignite now has 35. The number of companies in the programs went from roughly 80 to roughly 140 in about six months. None of that growth came with a new hire.