New York · Est. 2014
We build the
futures that are
worth building.
XKI bootstraps ideas into reality. We connect capital with ideas and ideas with capital, run experiments and studies at any scale, advise governments, and bring emerging thinkers into the room with the people who set policy. Most of all, we design and build across the physical and digital worlds — including the digital twins that keep the two in step. We work on one condition: the future has to come out better.
Selected work
- Public health Nicotine cessation
- Infrastructure Broadband in metro tunnels
- Public sector E-Rate data management
Amazing ideas are hidden in plain sight
Move the lens · chase the spark
§ 01 · What we do
How we earn our keep.
We connect capital with ideas and ideas with capital, run experiments and studies at any scale, advise governments and bring emerging thinkers into the room with them, and — most of all — design and build across the physical and digital worlds.
- CAP 01/06
Capital ↔︎ Ideas
We connect capital with ideas — and ideas with capital.
CapitalMatchmakingDeal designEXPLORE → - EXP 02/06
Experiments
We run experiments — no matter how big or small.
PrototypingPilotsEvidenceEXPLORE → - STU 03/06
Studies
We conduct studies — research and analysis that inform a real decision.
ResearchAnalysisScopingEXPLORE → - GOV 04/06
Government & Policy
We advise governments — and connect them to the people building the future.
AdvisoryPolicyPublic sectorEXPLORE → - DES 05/06
Design & Engineering
Design and engineering — in the physical world and the technology world.
DesignEngineeringPhysical + digitalEXPLORE → - DTW 06/06
Digital Twins
Living virtual models of real systems — something we care a lot about.
Digital twinsSimulationModelingEXPLORE →
§ 02 · Method
How we
actually work.
We keep our process simple, because clarity beats ceremony. Find what's worth doing, test it as cheaply as the question allows, and help it find capital, a home, or a next step.
The charter clause
“If it can't be shown to leave the world better off, we don't take it on.”
- 01
Find it
We pay attention to where pressure is building, and keep a running list of the ideas — and the people — worth connecting. Often the value is just knowing who should meet whom.
- 02
Test it small
Before anyone spends real money, we run the smallest honest experiment that answers the question. Most ideas get clearer, and a few stop here — which is the point.
- 03
Build what's real
When something earns it, we design and build the next version — physical, digital, or both — and put it in front of the people it's meant for.
- 04
Connect it
Then we connect it to what it needs: a backer, a public body, a partner, a team. We measure ourselves by whether it keeps going without us.
§ 03 · The work
Most of what we do, we don't talk about.
We're not a fund, and we don't keep a portfolio. The work is the point, not the press release — and the bulk of it is confidential, held that way at the client's request.
Now and then an idea is meant to belong to everyone. When that happens, we build it in the open and write about it. Everything else stays between us and the people we work for.
READ WHAT WE CAN SHARE →- 01
By referral
We don't pitch. Work comes to us through people we've worked with before.
- 02
Held in confidence
Most engagements are private — at the client's request, and often for years.
- 03
Years, not quarters
We commit on the timescale the problem actually runs on.
§ 04 · Dispatches
Notes from the edge of the present.
§ 05 · Get in touch
Have a future
in mind?
We take on a focused set of engagements at a time. Tell us what you're trying to make true, and we'll tell you honestly whether it belongs in the pipeline.
- 01 Commission a study
For institutions and funds with a question about the next 25 years.
- 02 Bring us an idea
Founders and researchers with something that wants incubating.
- 03 Advise a government
Public bodies planning past the next election cycle.