Restless Egg is the incubator for artist-founders: creators who treat technology as their canvas.

We incubate and invest in the emerging genre of artist-founders, those who through rigorous creative experimentation have found the limits of existing technology and wish to make an intervention in this system by building their own products.

Stipends for our 6-month program to go from idea to product.

Hands on support from us and our network for product development, strategy and fundraising.

Access to a network of founders, technologists and early-stage investors.

Discretionary follow-on investment after 6 months to further scale projects.

The amount of funding necessary will depend on the project, our offer ranges from $30k - $200k for this initial period.

In return we take a small equity stake in your product. Restless Egg only sees any financial benefit if your product is a commercial success. We only succeed if you do. If your product doesn’t work out, you don’t owe us anything. Our mission is to develop a sustainable network and financial ecosystem for artist-founders.


Technology is more than a tool, it’s a medium for creative and intuitive expression that reshapes how we engage with the world.

Today, new methodologies and visionaries are needed to generate interventions with the most pressing problems of the present.

As startups once reinvented corporations, artist-founders have the opportunity to reshape the startup model. Restless Egg is your partner for creating novel organizational structures and institutional forms that foster creativity, embrace risk, and deliver meaningful change.

We have the components, now we need to bring them together.

Restless Egg is the incubator for Artist-Founders

We identify and invest in creators who treat technology as their canvas

Blue Leaf

Nephila

Fuser

Restless Egg is the incubator for artist-founders: creators who treat technology as their canvas.

Sylvan Interview with Steamul8

Disautomatising Tech @Trust Berlin with David Bates

London Launch Dinner

The Egg and the Chicken - Lispector

On Eggs - Laurel Schwulst

Art Made AI - Mat Dryhurst, Flora Weil, Sarah Drinkwater

14 Theses on Frontier Technologies and Founders

Systems Esthetics - Jack Burnham

The Artist of the Future - Gary Zhexi Zhang

Seeding Infinite Games - Reggie James

Betaworks AI Camp: Native Applications

Inventing on Principle - Bret Victor

Ian Cheng - Art and Obscolesence 

Interplay Book

Interplay: Medialab Matadero

Nephila Private - pwd: restlessegg

Laser Days

Ian Cheng's Opponent: Demo Day

Rif.ke

Relational Aesthetics - Bourriaud

limn.ai

The Age of the Artist Founder

Is Another Technology Possible? Another Technology is Possible.

Designing Uncertain Tools - Hebron

New Types of Research Organizations - Arbesman

Technology entrepreneurship and the disruption of ambition - Matt Clifford

Stop Fetishizing the Power-Law - Indy Johar

FACEMINER

SF Communities for New Founders

Caldo Worldwide

Wise Festival Berlin

HUM by Tania Candiani

Special Projects

Akiya Collective

What Do You Do with an Idea - Kobi Yamada

"Beuys" - Werner Nekes

Artist-Founder | Are.na

Artist-Corporations

Future Art Ecosystem 5: Art x Creative R&D

@cl0udyh3art

Æffective Tech - 9 Jul 25

AI is changing how technology is built. How must our technical instincts change in response?

Restless Egg invites applications for its next cohort of 10 artist-founders

: those who have found a technical and experiential frontier through rigorous creative experimentation.

 (with discretionary follow-on investment up to $200k) for teams to join the cohort and participate in our six-month incubation process where they will scale their ambitions and ideas beyond existing limits by building their own products. In addition, the cohort will receive mentorship from our network which includes 

previous and current Restless Egg artist-founders

, technical and strategic staff at OpenAI and DeepMind, directors of institutions such as 

If your aspirations have reached the limits of existing tools and institutions we’ll partner with you to 

We’re looking for those who combine technical and creative fluency. 

You may come from design, engineering, computer science, art, architecture, game design, fashion, research, self-directed experimentation or something else entirely.

You don’t need an existing product to apply

, rather we are searching for applicants whose creative experimentation seeks to extend what is possible with technology, those who see cracks in existing systems and wish to build productive interventions in response.

Dominant AI narratives and over $1 trillion of investment promise: ‘more time to do what you love,’ prioritizing efficiency enhancement and productivity gains. Restless Egg supports those seeking to build products whose affordances 

Every funding opportunity comes with its own requirements and trajectory, we want to be sure that Restless Egg is aligned with your aspirations.

You are compelled to overcome dissatisfactions with status quo technology by building your own platforms and systems

You’re excited by unconventional ideas and enjoy the work of challenging traditional approaches to technology

You’re willing and able to tackle the real technical, creative, and operational problems of building a product

You have an ambitious vision for what you want to see built and see the necessity of inviting others in

Building something new is hard, but great partnerships offer resilience and generative potential. For this reason, 

we strongly encourage applications from pairs

 and will consider individual applicants only in exceptional circumstances.

$50k stipend per team for initial six month period

Further discretionary investment of up to $200k

Access to our extensive network of artists, engineers, investors, and tech founders

Mentorship in product development, fundraising, and narrative clarity

Participation in our global event series where you’ll meet potential collaborators and funders

In return, we will hold an equity stake of 8.88% in the entity you build during the program. Restless Egg only sees any financial benefit if your product is a  commercial success. We only succeed if you do. If your product doesn’t work out, you don’t owe us anything. Our mission is to develop a sustainable network and financial ecosystem for artist-founders.

1-minute video introducing yourself and what led you to this application

Links to your most representative projects

150-word reflection on what you see to be the most important AI product and cultural reference 

Selected applications will be invited to an online interview.

 a calligraphy student’s quest for elegant computing.


 a designer’s fix for creative professional’s visibility.


 an animation intern’s desire for media-rich blogging.


 an artist’s experiment in crowdfunding.


 as filters to improve amateur photography.


 a designer’s quest for a quiet beautiful place to think.


 a musician’s fix for creator paywalls.


 an artist’s deep play AI agent for kids.

You can find us on instagram and can reach out to us via email 

Join us and a community of artist-founders to build technologies that are creative, relevant and ambitious.

Four key factors led to the formation of Restless Egg

1. When we met, we had spent over a decade in engineering, tech policy, philosophy, and startup spaces. During that time, each of us realized that legacy institutions were not grappling with the creative and social aspirations of emerging technology.

2. During fellowships at Antikythera and ToftH, we saw how these spaces cultivated a heterodox style of thinking with recognizable intellectual and commercial value. The studios attracted visits from artists and thinkers such as Pierre Huyghe, Katherine Hayles and Simon Denny as well as executives from Meta and Google, who consulted us about how they should react to the uncertainty generated by AI.

3. However, there remained an infrastructural need for the emerging talent within these fellowships to be able to scale their ambitions and prototypes beyond their value as consultants.

4. We raised early funding to run a pilot cohort of artist-founders, composed of collaborators from these fellowships to test whether this genre of person really wanted this opportunity. The incubation process opened the product form as a new artistic medium for them and refined how we support artist-founders.

Yes, this program will give you the infrastructure to learn the necessary skills of product development and raising capital. However, we expect that applicants recognize lessons from their own experience that apply to the creative and technical requirements of building products.

We encourage the continuation of some projects (creative or commercial) but the program will require at least 50% of your time in month 1 which we anticipate will rise to a full time commitment by the end of the program.

Our hubs are London, LA and New York. For these cities we will:

arrange in person working with the team and mentors

put on events for you to demo product and grow your network

We will also organise in person retreats for founders during the incubation period

We won’t provide predefined physical work spaces but our funding is intended for you to choose your own space to focus.

Yes, but you must be fluent in English and able to travel.

In most cases we will prioritise teams of two but in exceptional circumstances we will make introductions during the application phase if we see complimentary skillsets and overlapping projects.

We want to see how your aspirations and previous projects have led you to building technical systems and how you wish to intervene in current technological development.

Yes, we will give you many opportunities to hone these skills during the program.

No but they must respond to the AI moment. In other words, AI is a floor not a ceiling. We expect that tech products today must engage with AI in some capacity. What that engagement looks like is up to you.

Weekly check in meeting with Restless Egg team

Self-directed work towards milestones (feature development/deployment, deck refinement, user acquisition, network expansion, research, prototyping, event planning etc.)

Mentor sessions for technical or operational questions

Meetings with users, funders and potential collaborators

Evening event to demonstrate your prototype


 - You'll refine the project plan and narrative to define what you will work on for the remainder of the program. We'll ideate with you and bring in outside voices to advise on your specialty.


 - You'll build basic versions and demonstrations of your project.


 - Meeting with users and investors to gather feedback on how they respond to your product and inform your future development.


Month 6: Exit Stealth, Raise Required Capital

 - We'll work with you to finding the right audiences, hone your narrative and present your work to ensure your project continues to get sufficient usage and funding.


You will have a functioning prototype, clear and legible narrative and early users that demonstrate your product’s initial traction.
You will have the skills, confidence and connections to raise the capital required to continue building your product.


Tech accelerators that give hands-on support and a cash injection typically ask for 7-15%. 8.88% lands comfortably at the low end, enough skin in the game to align financial incentives between founders and Restless Egg. It is also low enough to maintain founders’ equity, allowing them to enter into strong equity based relationships with future investors and employees.
Triple 8 is a lucky number and we want to do everything we can to give the best chances to artist-founders.
From a bird's eye view, 8.88 looks like a half-dozen carton of eggs.


SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)

After the programmatic support of the six month incubation period Restless Egg will remain invested and respond to your needs. The intention of the program is for us to support you to develop your own support network that will be suitable for the subsequent stages of developing your product. We will continue to offer giving you access to our network, events, and make introductions for you but expect that you will be ready to fly the nest.

Invitation to Apply

Our selection process assesses key traits of an artist-founder:

Our offer gives you the resources and network to test and validate your product

The application is a short opportunity to show where your obsessions are taking you

Application Process

Join a long list of artist-founders defining technology through creative experimentation

Where did Restless Egg come from?

I’ve never built a product before, can I still apply?

Do I have to quit my job? What is the time commitment?

Will there be an in-person component?

Can I apply from anywhere?

I don’t have a cofounder but want to work with someone else on this, will you help?

How in depth should I go in my proposal?

I have never pitched to an investor before, nor acquired users for a product. Can I still apply?

Are you only looking for AI products?

What would a standard week look like during the program?

What is the high-level process of the program?

What is Restless Egg’s expectation for where the product will be at the end of the program?

Why do you take 8.88% in products?

What happens after the 6 months are over?