Praxis Studio

A CREATIVE ENGINE FOR REDEMPTIVE QUESTS AIMING AT THE MAJOR ISSUES OF OUR TIME.






The revamped Praxis Studio is home to Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) building their next venture, as well as regular sessions for Praxis community members to think, build, and create together at key inflection venture and vocational points.

At different times in history, creative groups have gathered to build together in ways that shaped the society around them, often advancing countercultural ideas and breakthrough innovations through dynamic relationships. Our vision is for the Studio to be one of these environments, rooted in a physical center in NYC that hosts the Praxis community.

The Studio’s Discovery Sessions are for EIRs to be surrounded by creative thinkers, practical theologians, and strategic funders; Design Sessions are to craft new ventures or new venture innovation and growth strategies; and ORI Forums build a thesis and community for a specific ORI.

We began Praxis because we believed it was vital for Christians to address the major issues of our time—and we believe it more than ever.

Since 2018, Praxis has prototyped programs and content to explore how to do this more directly through ventures. We’ve activated redemptive imagination at the earliest stages of venture formation, led design sprints with Portfolio ventures after their Accelerator program, and supported funders in building redemptive capital allocation frameworks.

In the process, we’ve launched three ventures from scratch in close partnership with their founders, creating innovative startups addressing caregiving, sexual exploitation, and digital discipleship. Collectively, these ventures—two businesses and one nonprofit—have raised over $25M in outside capital, including one we dreamed up with an innovative foundation and recruited a Founder/CEO to lead. Most importantly, they are well underway to shifting the norms and narratives of their respective issues.

In 2022, we published our Opportunities for Redemptive Imagination (ORI) list and held Summit breakouts across every topic, setting a creative agenda for our community across over thirty issue areas. These discoveries, methods, and ORIs caused us to meaningfully revamp our Studio. Here’s what that looks like:

We partner with Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs). This role and experience is for proven entrepreneurial leaders actively exploring what’s next—which may be a new startup, an executive role at an existing startup, or another entrepreneurial project. They participate actively in Studio activities and engage regularly with a small advisory team, including “learning” with Partner for Theology & Culture Andy Crouch and “discerning” with Venture Partner Dave Evans.

We host regular Studio Sessions at Coram Deo, the home of our Praxis headquarters in NYC:

Discovery Sessions are primarily a platform for imagination and exploration for our EIRs, amidst a vibrant group of thinkers, innovators, and funders personally invited by our team. Each 3-day, 2-night agenda is curated around a set of trends and issues to generate multi-disciplinary insight around what Christians should build in the world.

Design Sessions surround 3-5 projects at a time with Praxis Partners and outside experts for multi-day sprints: Studio EIRs craft their new ventures, Fellows develop new offerings or growth strategies for their portfolio ventures, and community members may work on other redemptive projects.

ORI Forums are focused on a single ORI, inviting around twelve leaders to articulate a redemptive thesis, generate new project ideas, and activate a long-term community of collaboration.
Mel Murray
Praxis is an organic, thriving community of radical believers committed to restoring God’s vision for commerce in our present times—and it has been the catalyst for a growing movement of redemptive entrepreneurs throughout rural, marginalized communities in Asia.

Mel Murray

Partner, Global Community, Praxis

2016 Business Accelerator Fellow, 2019 Entrepreneur-In-Residence

Jessica Kim
Being an EIR in the Venture Lab was unlike any other startup formation process I've been through before. This is my third venture from scratch—but here I built the foundations of our venture by exploring the history, culture, and dynamics of caregiving, with a brilliant PhD scholar, a spiritual director, and expert mentors. It also played a significant role in my healing and intent as a founder.

Jessica Kim

Co-Founder , ianacare

2018 Venture Lab EIR

Praxis Labs | Jessica Kim

ianacare

Jessica Kim

2018 Entrepreneur-in-Residence

examples from the STUDIO

IANACARE

ianacare is a virtual care team for caregivers of people enduring prolonged illnesses. While caregivers are undeniably the invisible backbone of the healthcare system, they lack adequate structures of support. Our AI-powered care manager, “iana,” helps caregivers navigate the complexities of caregiving by providing much-needed coordination, on-demand clinical and non-clinical guidance, and community with other caregivers.

tether

Peter Court

2021 Entrepreneur-in-Residence

examples from the STUDIO

TETHER

Tether is a new digital platform leveraging technology to develop spiritually mature and deeply connected Christians. We believe that the regular practice of spiritual disciplines with others leads to flourishing and spiritual maturity over time.