For Research & Policy Organizations

The Institutional Knowledge
Lives in a Handful
Of People's Heads.

An operating system that captures what your organization knows, so it survives the people who carry it.

▾

Stakeholders

Donors, board members, and partners
tracked across 40 inboxes

A major funder asked about the status of a study three weeks ago. The PI responded, but did the development office follow up?
A board member introduced a potential donor at the annual dinner. The intro is in someone's phone. Not the CRM.
Your top 20 funders each have different reporting preferences, contact cadences, and interest areas. It's all in people's heads.
When a development officer leaves, the relationship history leaves with them

Morrison Foundation -- annual report delivered

Current

Chen Family Trust -- site visit request (Mar 15)

Open

Federal grant officer -- Q1 progress report overdue

4 weeks

Board intro -- potential corporate partner

No owner

What changes

Every stakeholder relationship tracked from first contact to current status
Funder preferences, reporting deadlines, and touchpoints in one system
Development continuity survives staff transitions

Knowledge

When a senior researcher leaves,
a decade of context goes with them

The lead investigator who built the funder relationship retired. The new PI is starting from zero.
A policy brief from 2019 is cited constantly, but nobody knows the methodology decisions behind it
The fellow who ran last year's convening kept all the logistics in a personal spreadsheet. She's gone.
Three teams are working on overlapping questions. None of them know it.

What changes

Research context, methodology notes, and decision history captured as institutional assets
New team members inherit context, not just file access
Cross-team visibility prevents duplicated effort

Confidentiality

Unpublished findings and pre-decisional
work need better walls than email

A draft policy recommendation is circulating for internal review. It's in 12 inboxes and a shared drive with loose permissions.
Pre-publication research data sits in a cloud tool that three former employees still have credentials for
Embargoed findings, funder communications, and board deliberations live in the same tools as everything else
An IRB-approved study has participant data. The PI is confident it's secure. IT is less sure.

What changes

Sensitive research and pre-decisional materials run on private infrastructure
Access is explicit, auditable, and revocable
The system enforces the data handling your protocols already require

Reporting

Grant reports that take a week
to assemble from five departments

The NIH progress report is due in three weeks. The PI has the science. Finance has the budget. HR has the staffing. Nobody has the narrative.
A foundation wants a mid-year update on outcomes. The data exists, but it's in three systems and two people's notebooks.
You're managing 15 active grants with different reporting cycles, formats, and compliance requirements
The time spent assembling reports is time not spent on the actual research

What changes

Grant milestones, deliverables, and reporting deadlines tracked in one system
Report drafts assemble themselves from data already being captured
Researchers research. The system handles the paperwork.

📊

Impact Dashboards

Publications, citations, policy adoptions, media mentions
The story of your organization's impact, always current
Board-ready at any moment

🏟

Event & Convening Ops

Symposia, roundtables, policy briefings, site visits
Speaker coordination, attendee tracking, follow-ups
Post-event notes carry forward to next year's planning

📝

Publication Pipeline

Track working papers from draft to review to publication
Reviewer assignments, revision cycles, embargo dates
"Where is that paper?" answered instantly

👥

Fellow & Staff Onboarding

New researchers inherit institutional context from day one
Prior work, key contacts, and organizational norms in one place
Reduces the 6-month ramp to 6 weeks

🔒

Private infrastructure

Sensitive data runs on hardware you control. Unpublished research, participant data, and funder communications never touch a third party's servers.

📱

No new software to learn

Text it, email it, Slack it. The system works through the tools your team already uses. No app rollout. No training sessions.

🛡

IRB and compliance aligned

When your IRB or compliance office asks how data is handled, the answer is clear. Your infrastructure. Your access controls. Your audit trail.

1

You pick one problem

Whichever would change your week the most. You know your operation.

2

We build it on your real workflow

Not a demo with fake data. 30 days on your actual operation. No long-term contract.

3

If it works, we add the next one

Each capability is modular. Same system. The pace is yours.

Picture Lock Studios

We build AI-powered operational systems for select clients. We started by building one for ourselves, running a creative agency with 50+ AI agents handling the work that used to eat our week.

Why research organizations

Research institutes produce knowledge that shapes policy, health, and society. The operational overhead of running the organization shouldn't compete with the mission. We make the operations invisible so the work stays visible.

The Institutional Knowledge
Lives in a Handful
Of People's Heads.

Four Things That Eat Your Week

Donors, board members, and partners
tracked across 40 inboxes

When a senior researcher leaves,
a decade of context goes with them

Unpublished findings and pre-decisional
work need better walls than email

Grant reports that take a week
to assemble from five departments

Also Built Into the System

Impact Dashboards

Event & Convening Ops

Publication Pipeline

Fellow & Staff Onboarding

Research Data Stays at the Institute

Private infrastructure

No new software to learn

IRB and compliance aligned

How It Works

You pick one problem

We build it on your real workflow

If it works, we add the next one

Picture Lock Studios

Why research organizations

The Institutional KnowledgeLives in a HandfulOf People's Heads.

Four Things That Eat Your Week

Donors, board members, and partnerstracked across 40 inboxes

When a senior researcher leaves,a decade of context goes with them

Unpublished findings and pre-decisionalwork need better walls than email

Grant reports that take a weekto assemble from five departments

Also Built Into the System

Impact Dashboards

Event & Convening Ops

Publication Pipeline

Fellow & Staff Onboarding

Research Data Stays at the Institute

Private infrastructure

No new software to learn

IRB and compliance aligned

How It Works

You pick one problem

We build it on your real workflow

If it works, we add the next one

Picture Lock Studios

Why research organizations

The Institutional Knowledge
Lives in a Handful
Of People's Heads.

Donors, board members, and partners
tracked across 40 inboxes

When a senior researcher leaves,
a decade of context goes with them

Unpublished findings and pre-decisional
work need better walls than email

Grant reports that take a week
to assemble from five departments