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§ 7Stories - true ones, mostly

What happens behind the door.

Stories, podcasts and perspectives from the people who came through the door - in their own words.

- the artist in residence
Mysteries of Strastnoy
Painted at the door by Yulia Tretyakova - ladders, doormen, wisemen in black suits & the good bottles. The house collection hangs in these tiles.
the series ↓
Mysteries of Strastnoy · acrylic
TGIF, sketchbook
- alumni story
“The main thing is - don’t give up.”
Tatiana Lyubimova, Particle.One - from the Intensive to global data science. One of 200+ startups through the program.
more alumni →
Finance workshop, live - WACC & a heart
- the legend
Chekhov’s “people of the future” trained here.
Fencers, gymnasts, the Durov brothers - & one satisfied playwright. Same rooms. Same door.
the history →
The Wisemen series
- the numbers
200+ startups. 27 cohorts. $270M+ raised.
Graduates accepted to YC, 500, Alchemist, StartX, SkyDeck, Techstars - & selected into our own fund.
the intensive →
Secret · mysteries · fairytales
The café window, evening
- watch & listen
On air from behind the door.
Podcasts, Demo Days & talks - recorded in the hall, argued about at the bar.
podcasts →
Men in black suits, coffee
- who’s walked through
Walked in with an idea. Left with a company.
The vault of the legendary space - a century of tenants and troublemakers.
the vault →
Yellow Door, sketchbook spread
Coffee & a butterfly
- the portfolio
Our companies.
40+ portfolio companies, pre-seed to Series A - many first met at a Thursday coffee.
the fund →
Donetskaya, night
- letters
Letters from the door.
Occasional writing: what we saw, whom we met, what we’d do again. Ask the doorman to be added.
subscribe →
Mysteries, ladder & a yellow card
- the people
90+ mentors & ambassadors.
From Palo Alto to Novosibirsk - the ones who take the late calls.
people →
Cessate omai - calling cards
The essay · on going global

Going global is not a program you enrol in. It is a passage you survive - and return from, changed.

An essay, four dispatches from the crossing, and one open invitation - for founders who already own their home market and have decided the world is next.

The essay - I. The border in the mind

Every founder who has tried to leave their home market has met the same invisible wall. It is not tariffs, or visas, or capital - though those are real. It is the quiet moment when a pitch that worked flawlessly at home lands, abroad, as a polite blankness. The words are the same. The meaning did not travel. 1

We built the Intensive around that moment. Not to celebrate ambition - ambition is the entry fee - but to do the unglamorous work of making a company legible to strangers: to investors who have never heard of your city, to customers who do not share your assumptions, to a table of people who have said no a thousand times and are waiting to say it again.

What follows is not a brochure. It is a set of field notes from the crossing itself - the same notes we hand, in person, to the small cohort we take each cycle. 2 The four dispatches are on the record, with the podcasts.

A letter - received after the crossing

“An uncanny read on which founders are actually ready for the world stage. They told us the truth before anyone else would - and then they helped us fix it.”

- Kat Manalac · Y Combinator
your turn

Have a story from behind the door?

A batch, a bottle, a term sheet, a broken chair - the doorman collects them all.

Tell the doorman →

Let's stay in touch.

The dispatch
A letter, occasionally.

Cohort openings, party invitations, the odd confession. Once a fortnight at most, and never boring - we'd be too embarrassed.

The channels
Hear it first.

The Telegram channel gets everything first - dates, photos, the odd rumour. Everyone else is fashionably late.

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The envelope
Show us what you've got.
Founders - send your pitch deck Investors - share your thesis Corporates - scope a sprint Book a free consultation 30 min ↗
One family · The Yellow DoorLabsAdvisoryVentureF&JSStories We help build, support & invest in startups going global.