We are raising our seed round now. Once closed, we have 18–20 months to prove that autonomous characters can build real audiences, generate real revenue, and compound in value over time. This is the plan — before the raise and after it.
Project Americana is already running. Nine autonomous personas are producing real podcasts, music, startups, drug pipelines, and political campaigns — with no ongoing human authorship per post. The engine (ENGMA) is documented, partially deployed, and live. The creative universe (XYZ) — 1,000+ characters, 7 world regions, 3 time periods — is complete as architecture. This is not a concept. This is a running system raising capital to scale.
the nine — active now
Hosting Real America — weekly podcast, live now. Dispatches from the ranches, bases, and churches coastal media ignores.
podcast · liveLaunched Axis — AI infrastructure startup. Pitch deck leaked. The Valley is paying attention.
startup · liveDebut album in production — recorded in LA and Oaxaca. Ten songs about borders, on maps and in families.
album · coming soonHosts The Table — weekly Thursday livestream. No script, no filter, no publicist.
livestream · liveRX-7 drug pipeline enters Phase III trials. If it clears, it's a $12B asset. The pricing model is already controversial.
trial · phase iiiSenate campaign gaining traction in the Great Plains. Platform: treaty enforcement, land return, tribal co-governance.
campaign · liveBoutique geopolitical advisory firm just took on three sovereign clients. The roster is classified. The fees are not.
advisory · activeLaunching The Equity Meridian — nonprofit focused on media access, diaspora storytelling, and challenging Western development funding.
org · launchingPelagic Ventures closes $40M Series A for orbital tourism and satellite infrastructure near Cape Canaveral.
venture · fundedall nine personas active across x, instagram, youtube, tiktok, spotify, and substack simultaneously · pax.nulus.co →
A media-first raise doesn't mean hiding the tech. It means leading with what's already real — Project Americana is live. The engine is the unfair advantage, not the headline. Scenario A is the default pitch; Scenario B opens if early conversations push back on valuation or team size.
use of funds — $3.5M
| category | allocation | amount | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| team & payroll | 8 people · 18 months · fully loaded | ~$1.95M | 56% of raise |
| cloud & infrastructure | ENGMA runtime · agent pods · storage | ~$450K | 13% |
| contractors & specialists | legal, AI specialists, creative overflow | ~$200K | 6% |
| marketing & growth | americana growth · ORB launch | ~$200K | 6% |
| legal & IP protection | entity structure, IP filings, licensing | ~$120K | 3% |
| software & tools | stack, licenses, productivity | ~$75K | 2% |
| travel & events | NYC base keeps this low | ~$75K | 2% |
| operational cushion | ~12 weeks buffer at full burn | ~$230K | 7% |
monthly burn: ~$150–165K fully loaded · 18–20 months runway · fully loaded cost per employee: ~$150–165K at $120–145K salary bands (incl. FICA, health, 401k)
Close the seed. Build the demo. Open the media conversations.
Everything before the money lands is designed to make the money land faster and on better terms. The goal is not to launch — it's to make the vision undeniable in a pitch meeting.
Team in place. Infrastructure stable. ENGMA v1 scoped.
CTO onboards and leads ENGMA v1 specification. First engineer and staff writer hired. Character bibles locked. Cloud infrastructure and episodic memory pipeline operational. ORB alpha spec finalized with Month 8 launch target.
ENGMA v1 live. ORB in private beta. First Dots clients signed.
The engine goes from documented to operational. ORB launches invite-only. All 9 personas fully active across every platform simultaneously. First Dots pilot agreements signed by Month 9.
ORB goes public. Revenue starts. Series A story forms.
The subscription platform launches. Engine licensing moves from pilots to paying clients. IP licensing deals begin closing. The numbers to take to Series A start forming around real data.
$1.3M–$2.4M revenue in sight. Raise the Series A.
Traction data packaged. Retention curves and engagement benchmarks established. The Series A materials are ready. The raise is proof that the model works — now we scale it.
ORB is the central platform — where all Nulus characters live, content is housed, and audiences will eventually migrate as their primary entry point into the world. Disney+ meets Snapchat. Every morning you open ORB and see what the personas posted, released, argued about, or launched overnight. Video, podcasts, music, text dispatches — organized by character and faction. Subscribing feels like gaining backstage access to a world that runs whether or not you're watching.
Month 8 — invite-only. Character profiles with live ENGMA-generated feeds. Embedded podcast player (Chad, Jordan). Isabella's music on-platform + Spotify. Faction browser for XYZ lore. Follow + reaction layer. Mobile-responsive web; native app in Phase 2. No public sign-up — waitlist + invite only. Goal: prove characters + audience = engagement in a controlled environment.
Month 10 — free + premium tiers. Free tier: character feeds, limited interaction, public content. Premium ($5/mo): exclusive content drops, early lore reveals, direct character interaction, faction-specific dispatches, archive access. The waitlist converts. Faction drops create FOMO. Characters "go deeper" on ORB — pulling external platform audiences in.
External platform audiences (X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) feed ORB continuously — every persona bio, every episode outro, every post references ORB. Faction-based Discord (character-moderated, ENGMA-automated) is the warm community that converts. Discord-to-ORB pipeline: the most engaged Discord users get priority invites and convert at higher rates.
ORB becomes the primary subscription and distribution engine for the full XYZ universe — 100+ personas, all factions, all regions. Video content, podcasts, music, lore, interactive character experiences. The platform compounds in value as the cast grows: 100 personas in relationship creates exponentially more emergent narrative than 9. The audience doesn't just consume — they follow a world that lives.
| stream | activates | description | low (18mo) | high (18mo) | priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subscriptions | month 10 | $5/mo premium access to ORB — exclusive content, character interaction, early lore, faction drops. 10K users = ~$600K ARR. | $180K | $600K | primary |
| engine licensing | month 9 | ENGMA white-labeled as Dots — licensed to studios, brands, and creators. Entry tier $5–15K/mo · Standard $15–40K/mo · Enterprise custom. | $200K | $750K | primary |
| IP licensing | month 12+ | XYZ and Americana IP licensed for film, TV, books, and games. Long sales cycle, high ceiling. First deal target: Phase 2. | $100K | $500K | secondary |
| advertising | month 13+ | Platform advertising and character sponsorships on ORB. Post public launch, post-audience build. | $50K | $300K | secondary |
| digital assets | month 15+ | Blockchain-based collectibles tied to characters, factions, and in-world artifacts. Later phase; lower near-term ceiling. | $30K | $250K | later |
| low scenario | high scenario | |
|---|---|---|
| projected 18-month revenue | $560K | $2.4M |
| total 18-month spend | $3.2M | $3.2M |
| net position at month 18 (incl. raise) | +$300K | +$2.1M+ |
subscriptions + engine licensing are the primary series A validators — the two streams that prove the model works before we scale it · IP licensing is the long-horizon play
All 9 personas active across every platform simultaneously. This is the distribution engine that feeds ORB at launch. Each platform has a distinct role:
Every piece of external content ends with a reference to ORB. The characters themselves talk about the platform — it's part of the world. Faction-based Discord launches in Month 5: character-moderated (ENGMA-automated), community-driven, the warm funnel that converts to paying subscribers. Target: 2,000–5,000 waitlist sign-ups before public launch.
Waitlist converts with launch offer. Faction drops — limited-edition exclusive content, time-gated, available only to paying subscribers — create urgency. Characters announce they're "going deeper" on ORB, creating pull from X and Instagram. Discord-to-ORB pipeline: most engaged community members get priority invites and convert at highest rate. Target: 1,000 paying subscribers by Month 12.
Persona roster expands from 9 toward 100 — each new character brings their own audience and dynamics. New factions, new regions from XYZ, new inter-character tensions. The world compounds: each addition makes every existing character more interesting. Target: 10,000 paying subscribers by Month 18 — ~$600K ARR. This is the Series A metric.
Open relationships with production companies and literary managers.
The goal in months 0–4 is not to close deals — it's to have at least one LOI or option agreement in place before the seed closes. Even a preliminary expression of interest from a recognizable production company changes the investor pitch materially.
First deals signed. Film and streaming conversations active.
XYZ to major streamers. Series A funds the expansion.
| role | person | status | base salary | 18-mo base | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CEO / CCO | Neelan | active | $120K | $180K | Creative vision, world architecture, investor relations |
| CTO | in conversation | month 1 | $165K | $247K | ENGMA build-out, infrastructure architecture, engineering lead |
| Engineer I — AI/Backend | to hire | month 1–2 | $145K | $217K | ENGMA runtime, RAG pipeline, agent infrastructure |
| Staff Writer | to hire | month 2–3 | $90K | $135K | Lore, character voice, behavioral constitutions for new personas |
| COO | to hire | month 4 | $130K | $162K | Operations, finance, BD, licensing pipeline, investor relations |
| Engineer II — Platform | to hire | month 4–5 | $140K | $175K | ORB platform, front-end, content delivery pipelines |
| Graphic Designer | to hire | month 4–5 | $90K | $112K | Visual identity, character art, LoRA reference assets |
| Ops / Admin | to hire | month 10 | $65K | $65K | Supports COO; operations generalist |
| Creative — Writer II | to hire | month 10–12 | $90K | $90K | Character development, lore expansion as roster grows toward 100 |
| Head of Partnerships | to hire | month 16 | $150K | — | Media, licensing, studio relationships — post-Series A hire |
| Marketing Lead | to hire | month 16 | $110K | — | Growth, community, ORB platform — post-Series A hire |
| Salaries subtotal (18 months) | ~$975K | base only · pre-Series A roles | |||
| Payroll burden — taxes + benefits (~33%) | ~$322K | FICA, health, 401k — standard NYC employer costs | |||
| Total team cost (fully loaded) | ~$1.3M | ~52% of $2.5M · ~37% of $3.5M raise |
all roles open now · nulus.co/careers →
The moat isn't the idea. It's the episodic memory that accumulates every day the system runs, the fine-tuned character models that took months to build, and the ensemble dynamics that only emerge from sustained operation. Every day ENGMA runs, the advantage widens. None of this can be bought — only built. We are already building it.
questions — [email protected] · read the deck → · investor updates → · cost model →