They rent mansions for founders to build startups—some have even raised S$500K+

Run by two students, Project6 hosts 48-hour mansion hacker houses in S’pore & beyond

Singapore’s startup scene has a problem.

It’s organised, well-funded, and growing, but it’s missing something essential: a “scrappy culture,” a sense of urgency, and spaces where builders can just… build, at least according to Canaan Poh, 23, and Xander Minzenmay, 21, the founders behind Project6.

So they did something unconventional: they rented a mansion and filled it with founders.

For 48 hours, participants are expected to do one thing—build. Sleep is optional. Shipping (turning an idea into a working product, for those not in the startup world) is not.

They’ve not only hosted their mansion hacker houses in the region, but also in Montreal, with plans to expand to more international locations, drawing hundreds of founders from across the globe. And it all started because Canaan and Xander got frustrated with how Singapore’s startup ecosystem actually worked.

Bringing the Silicon Valley spirit to Singapore

Canaan and Xander are currently both students, but deeply interested in the startup system.

Canaan studies at NTU and also runs lythe, an AI infrastructure startup. Meanwhile, Xander studies at the University of Queensland in Australia and has directed one of the largest university-focused startup conferences in the country.

The two met at a student networking event hosted by Canaan’s startup in Singapore while Xander was on exchange at SMU—and that’s where things began to take shape.

After the event, Xander left with the sense that the conversations weren’t going far enough. Much of the room was focused on introductions, LinkedIn exchanges, and conversations around fundraising and investor updates. While connections were being made, it felt like there was less emphasis on what people were actually building day to day.

He vented to Canaan afterwards. And Canaan got it immediately—he’d been feeling the same thing.

Compared to Silicon Valley in San Francisco, the culture felt different. There, high school dropouts raise millions and college students build billion-dollar companies. Credentials mattered less, and execution mattered more.

The question was obvious: Why couldn’t Singapore be like that?

They started by hosting founder dinners

The duo started small.

They began by hosting dinners at Canaan’s apartment, inviting founders they knew from hackathons and their network.

Each gathering brought together around 10 people, with no pitches or structured networking—just a deliberate effort to get the right people in a room and let conversations develop naturally.

They later expanded beyond Canaan’s home, holding dinners at cafés and restaurants. As interest grew, larger organisers began to take notice. Organisations such as SCAPE, along with other community spaces, eventually came on board to co-host these gatherings.

But dinners only went so far. They created space for conversation, but not necessarily for building. Ideas were discussed, connections were made, but most people still left and returned to their day-to-day work unchanged.

If the goal was to shift founders from talking to building, the format itself needed to change. So they started thinking bigger.

Inspired by hacker houses in Silicon Valley, they began experimenting with a new model: bringing founders together under one roof for short, high-intensity residencies.

In Jan 2026, they tested the idea for the first time. The pair rented a mansion in Johor Bahru and invited 10 founders from Singapore’s ecosystem for a 48-hour sprint.

Once the founders arrived, the structure was simple. After a short introduction phase, they quickly moved into building. Teams formed based on shared ideas and complementary skills, then spent the weekend developing products, coding, and iterating.

By the end of the 48 hours, each group presented what they had managed to build, ranging from early prototypes to functional demos.

Operating the hacker houses have not been straightforward

That first mansion went viral on LinkedIn. VCs and tech giants wanted in. More founders were keen on attending.

By Apr 2026, they had run a total of four 48-hour residencies. Applications for each cohort numbered in the hundreds.

But operating these hacker houses has not been straightforward, particularly in Singapore.

“The main challenge has been designing something that is sustainable and properly aligned with the local housing environment,” said Canaan.

As a result, their first founders’ meet-up took place in Johor Bahru, where short-term rentals were more feasible, followed by a second in Kuala Lumpur.

They eventually managed to organise a third residency in Singapore, in collaboration with AI.SEA, a builder-first initiative focused on Southeast Asia, with support from engineers at OpenAI.

Even so, the duo said they are still working closely with government stakeholders to explore how such residencies can be run more effectively within local constraints. They are currently planning to launch a dedicated house in Singapore, though details remain under wraps.

The mansion hacker house in Singapore ran concurrently with the Montreal edition. While founders were based in Singapore for the local residency, the Montreal house was operated in partnership with two individuals embedded in Canada’s startup scene.

15 projects shipped & over S$500K raised

Outcomes from Project6’s 48-hour residencies have been tangible.

“We have had multiple startups launched, with some already raising angel rounds of over S$500,000,” said Xander.

According to its website, 15 projects have been shipped across all houses.

This includes automotion, a tool that takes a static design, like a screenshot of an app or a UI layout, and automatically turns it into animation instructions and developer-ready code. Another one is TACK,

Another project is TACK, a real-time AI meeting moderator designed to keep discussions on track. It helps teams stay focused, captures key points as they emerge, and ensures conversations move forward productively rather than drifting off-topic.

For Canaan and Xander, the shipped products and capital raised serve as validation for their approach, evidence that short, intensive residencies can consistently translate into real startup outcomes.

They describe the initiative as a “third space for founders”—a setting outside of home and traditional offices where builders can live, work, and collaborate in a more immersive, high-intensity environment.

Looking ahead, Project6 is focused on scaling that model.

“Over the next one to two years, we see Project6 evolving to be active in more than 50 countries,” said Canaan, adding that cities such as Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and California are among the potential locations under consideration.

The long-term goal, he explained, is to establish flagship hacker houses in Singapore and San Francisco, effectively creating a bridge between the two ecosystems—giving Singapore-based founders greater access to global capital and networks, while also providing a landing point for international founders looking to build in Singapore.

We are bullish that hacker houses will become the new sourcing layer instead of the traditional accelerator model for the next wave of talent founders and builders, and ultimately, we will grow to support these founders on their journey.

• Find out more about Project6 here.
• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Also Read: Before S’pore’s tech & startup scene took off, there was HackerspaceSG

Featured Image Credit: Canaan Poh/ Xander Minzenmay