Users by
the dozens
Dozens builds small, durable software companies for Western North Carolina, and cultivates the people and teams who run them.
Small is the point
Asheville runs on visitors. That is a great thing to be good at, but hard if it is the only thing you're good at. A region needs more than one way to make a living, and a technology economy does not have to start with a highrise downtown. It can start with a few people, a real problem, and a piece of software built for the dozens of people who need it.
The name "Dozens" comes from a classic essay about situated software: tools made for one specific group of people rather than for everyone, which work precisely because they are not trying to scale. What was once a side project is now, with AI in the build, a sustainable, repeatable kind of company. Small enough to be profitable at a few hundred customers with one or two operators. Durable enough to employ people here for a long time.
Dozens exists to build those companies, one after another, and to grow the local talent pool who can run them, so that the next big thing built here has a stronger foundation. No Home Run style VC bets, we just focus on sustainably getting runners on base.
Three ways a company starts
We find the problem
The studio notices something a local business, nonprofit, neighborhood, etc. needs help with; builds the tool; and finds the dozens more who need it. When it works, a local operator takes the keys.
We find you
A local person with deep expertise in a field brings us the idea. Dozens brings the education, the build, the structure and the patience. The company is theirs, with us beside them.
Someone finds us
A local business or institution has an unsolved problem worth paying to solve. We check to see if there's a market for it, build a product that solves the problem, and spin it out into a company of its own.
Serves dozens to a few hundred customers, and knows most of them by name.
Is profitable at that size, and stays that size on purpose. VC is a non-goal.
Is run by people who live here, and uses AI as a force multiplier for human expertise.
Is one of many. The studio's product is the pattern, not any single company.
Dozens School
A startup school for Western North Carolina. Self-paced, free, and open to anyone here. We meet occasionally in person to talk through topics with the people building beside you.
No cohorts. No applications.
Work through the curriculum at your own pace: finding a problem, building the thing with modern tools, finding your first dozen customers, running a small company well. Then come to a meetup where we hold each other accountable and work through the course material in person.
- Format
- Self-paced, online
- Meetups
- Every two weeks, in Asheville
- Cost
- Free
- Start
- Any time
This takes a region
Local organizations
Businesses, nonprofits and institutions with a problem that software should have solved by now. Bring it to us.
Funders and foundations
People and institutions who want a more diverse economy here and are willing to back a patient, repeatable way of getting one.
Ecosystem partners
Universities, chambers, incubators and the people already doing this work in the region. We would rather build beside you than near you.
Operators and builders
People in Western North Carolina who want to run or build a small company, and would rather do it here than leave.
Start with a letter
Tell us who you are and what you are trying to build or fix. A person reads every one.
hello@dozens.studioA small team in Asheville. Building by the dozen.