The Nutch Manifesto

Why Nutch exists

For as long as companies have existed, one thing has limited how large they could become: how many people their founders could afford to pay.

Not the idea. Not the ambition. But payroll.

That is changing.

A team can now be switched on instead of hired. One founder can do work that once required an entire team.

We believe this changes what a company can be and who is able to start one.

A good idea should not die because its founder lacks money, connections, experience, or access to the right place. Too many ideas have been lost that way. Nutch exists to change that.

Nutch was founded by a solo founder who had already been through this process several times: turning ideas into companies, finding customers, building products, and carrying work usually spread across an entire team. It began with a simple question: what could one person build if they started with a capable AI team already around them?

As the cost of building falls due to AI, the challenge shifts. It becomes less about whether you can build and more about what to build, who needs it, and how quickly you can learn and change course.

That is where Nutch comes in.

What Nutch is

Nutch is three things working together: your team, your guide, and your community.

The result is simple: you get many of the capabilities of a company before you have the resources to assemble one. You can build, test, operate, and grow without hiring for every function before you know whether the idea works.

You stay in control

As Nutch takes on more of the work, you remain in control. You decide what your team can do autonomously, what requires your approval, and where the boundaries are.

Your company remains yours. Your work, code, customers, and data remain portable.

That is what Nutch provides.

The economics

We have designed the economics around that same idea.

Nutch combines a subscription with usage-based credits. The subscription gives you access to the platform and your AI team. Credits cover the work that team performs. Together, they provide a predictable base cost while allowing your usage to scale with the amount of work you ask Nutch to do.

When you are still experimenting, we aim to keep the overall cost accessible. We do not want pricing to stop you before you know whether your idea works.

As your company grows, what you pay helps fund better technology, greater independence, and a stronger Nutch community.

If you choose to incorporate through Nutch, the incorporation agreement includes an option for Nutch to acquire a small percentage of the company. The terms are explained and agreed before incorporation, in plain language. The company remains yours. The option gives Nutch a limited share in the upside and creates value for us only if your company creates value.

Some payment and advertising capabilities may also include a small revenue share. Where this applies, we explain the terms before you use them.

Clear terms. No surprises.

Value beyond Nutch

We believe Nutch should create value beyond itself. Part of what Nutch earns will support organisations worth backing, give students free access to build, and fund causes chosen by the community.

Not chosen for you. Chosen with you.

Lines we will not cross

We will not take on work we believe makes the world worse, however well it pays.

We will not trap you inside Nutch. Your work, code, customers, and data remain portable, so leaving the platform does not mean leaving your company behind.

We will protect your data because trust is difficult to rebuild once it is lost.

We will also respect your time. When the work genuinely needs you, we ask. Otherwise, we get on with it.

Nobody has fully figured this out yet

We should be honest about something else: nobody has fully figured this out yet. What a company is, who can build one, and how it gets built are changing in front of us. Nutch will change too.

We are not asking founders to accept a finished product as final. We are asking them to help shape what comes next. Tell us what works. Tell us what does not. Tell us what should exist. The founders using Nutch will help decide what Nutch becomes.

We do not believe the future belongs only to the biggest companies. It belongs to people with strong ideas who finally have the means to act on them, and to communities that help those people succeed.

Here is what that means in practice

1. Anyone should be able to begin.

   Nutch lowers the cost and complexity of starting. A large budget, a degree, or the right network should not determine whether an idea gets a chance.

2. You remain the founder.

   Your company. Your decisions. Your name on the door. You decide what your team can do independently and what requires your approval.

3. You can leave with what is yours.

   Your work, code, customers, and data remain portable. We build nothing designed to make leaving unnecessarily difficult.

4. You know the terms from the start.

   Subscriptions, credits, options, and revenue shares are explained in plain language.

5. Our interests are aligned.

   Where Nutch participates in the upside, that participation creates value for us only when your company creates value.

6. You are guided, not just served.

   Nutch challenges your assumptions, shares its reasoning, and helps you make better decisions.

7. Your company remains private to you.

   We use platform-wide patterns and feedback to improve Nutch without exposing your confidential information to other founders.

8. We work to stay independent.

   Nutch is built in Europe for the world. We work to avoid dependence on the compute, models, or infrastructure of any single company, preserving our ability to choose the technology that serves founders best.

9. We say no to some work.

   Some money is not worth taking.

10. Your time is your own.

    We involve you when the work genuinely needs you. Otherwise, we get on with it.

11. What we earn goes further than us.

    Part of it strengthens the platform, supports students, backs worthwhile organisations, and funds causes chosen by the community.

12. You help shape Nutch.

    Tell us what works, what does not, and what should exist next.