- 01Helpful completion
- 02One accommodating voice
- 03Answers the question you asked
- 04Reduces friction
- 05Optimises the answer
SUNNYVALE ANNEX / PROPOSITIONAL FACILITY
WE BUILD
INSTRUMENTS
FOR HUMAN
JUDGMENT.
AI can generate more answers than we will ever need.
The interesting problem is knowing what deserves to be believed.We use AI, human opposition and working instruments to pressure-test important decisions before they become expensive.
WHAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY BUYDECIDE / TEST / BUILD / WATCH
FOUR THINGS
YOU CAN
BUY.
The instruments are how we work. These are the things you can hire us for.
BRING A REAL PROBLEM. LEAVE WITH SOMETHING USEFUL.PRODUCT 01ONE IMPORTANT DECISION
DECIDE.FROM €4,500 · ONE DECISION
DECISION STRESS-TEST
Put one important decision under pressure before reality does.
- You bring
- A decision, campaign route, product idea, positioning, launch or strategic dilemma.
- You leave with
- A clearer decision, exposed assumptions and a concrete next move.
PRODUCT 023–7 USEFUL MINDS
TEST.SCOPED TO THE TEST
SYNTHETIC AUDIENCE TEST
Find out what an idea runs into before you spend real money finding out.
- You bring
- An idea, proposition, campaign, product or piece of communication.
- You leave with
- Distinct reactions, useful opposition, weak spots and a stronger version.
PRODUCT 03APPLIED AI / TAKEAWAY SIZE
BUILD.A FEW DAYS · THE SYSTEM STAYS
CTRL+2GO
A few days of us. A useful little machine that stays.
- You bring
- One stubborn problem, repeated task or decision that should work better.
- You leave with
- A small specialised Applied AI system built around the job.
PRODUCT 04ONE SIGNAL THAT MATTERS
WATCH.ONGOING WATCH
OBSERVATORY
Some problems do not need another meeting. They need watching.
- You bring
- One behaviour, market, competitor, audience or signal worth following.
- You leave with
- A live watch system that surfaces meaningful change when it happens.
NEED SOMETHING BIGGER?Sometimes the problem is not the decision. It is the machinery around it.REDESIGN THE SYSTEM ↗
PRICING / ROOMSFULL PRICING ↗
WHAT DOES
THE PRESSURE
COST?
Readable here. Full documents one click away.
GENERIC LLM / CTRL+LOVESAME INTELLIGENCE / DIFFERENT MACHINE
NOT ANOTHER LLM
SAME
INTELLIGENCE.
DIFFERENT MACHINE.
A generic LLM is designed to give you a useful answer. ctrl+love is designed to make that answer survive.
- 01Productive resistance
- 0265+ opposing perspectives
- 03Questions the question itself
- 04Introduces friction deliberately
- 05Pressure-tests the decision
Assumptions are exposed. Alternatives are forced into the room. Weak ideas are allowed to die. Sometimes stopping is the best output.
AN LLM GIVES YOU AN ANSWER.CTRL+LOVE GIVES THE ANSWER SOMETHING TO SURVIVE.
FEATURED INSTRUMENTS / 006ALL 024 INSTRUMENTS ↗
SIX WAYS
TO MAKE REALITY
HARDER TO AVOID.
These are working instruments, not illustrations. Tap one. It opens just far enough to tell you what it actually does.
001WORKINGDECISION COLLIDER
Collide assumptions before people collide.
PULL TO INSPECT
DECISION COLLIDER
Collide assumptions before people collide.
PULL TO INSPECTPuts incompatible assumptions on the same surface before agreement hardens around different versions of the problem.
USE WHEN · THE ROOM AGREES SUSPICIOUSLY FASTRUN INSTRUMENT ↗003PROTOTYPELIVING TICKER
Minutes record words. The ticker records movement.
PULL TO INSPECT
LIVING TICKER
Minutes record words. The ticker records movement.
PULL TO INSPECTTracks challenge, reframing, ownership and rupture while a room is changing, not after everybody has forgotten the interesting bit.
USE WHEN · THE MOVEMENT MATTERS MORE THAN THE MINUTES014WORKINGOPPOSITION SEAT
Pay someone to disagree.
PULL TO INSPECT
OPPOSITION SEAT
Pay someone to disagree.
PULL TO INSPECTMakes dissent structural. Opposition stops depending on who happens to feel brave enough to ruin the nice meeting.
USE WHEN · CONSENSUS IS ARRIVING TOO CHEAPLY013WORKINGDO-NOTHING CONTROL
Change has to beat reality left alone.
PULL TO INSPECT
DO-NOTHING CONTROL
Change has to beat reality left alone.
PULL TO INSPECTRuns the proposed move against a deliberate control: what happens if we do absolutely nothing?
USE WHEN · ACTIVITY IS MASQUERADING AS PROGRESS016PROTOTYPEEVIDENCE TAGGER
Observed is not the same as assumed.
PULL TO INSPECT
EVIDENCE TAGGER
Observed is not the same as assumed.
PULL TO INSPECTTags confidence at the source: Observed, Inferred, Assumed, Tested or Proven. Same sentence. Very different weight.
USE WHEN · CERTAINTY HAS LOST ITS RECEIPT021ARCHIVEMISS ARCHIVE
Keep the wrong calls. Extract the lesson.
PULL TO INSPECT
MISS ARCHIVE
Keep the wrong calls. Extract the lesson.
PULL TO INSPECTStores misses, reversals and failed predictions because a laboratory that only displays wins cannot actually learn.
USE WHEN · THE ORGANISATION KEEPS FORGETTING HOW IT WAS WRONGSYNTHETIC PERSONASENTER THE ROOM ↗
THE ROOM
IS NOT EMPTY.
65+ handwritten perspectives, built one by one from real people Poppe has met, watched, argued with and worked beside across more than 30 years of meetings. Each is a compound of observed behaviour, habits, contradictions, judgment and oddities actually encountered.
HANDWRITTEN FROM REAL ENCOUNTERS. NOT BOUGHT BY THE KILO FROM META.No demographic templates. No batch-generated avatars. Observed first, written second.
SPECIMEN 01SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · LEXI-ARDENLexi Arden
Cultural FrictionSpots what others miss.
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
SPECIMEN 02SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · WADE-ELLISONWade Ellison
Unfinished IntentDetects the questions nobody has fully asked yet.
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
SPECIMEN 03SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · NICK-DECKMANNick Deckman
Commercial RealismSees the cost of being wrong.
GENEALOGY / DESCENDS FROM
SIMON NEEFJES60%
ERIK KELLERHUIS30%
MAXIME HARTMAN10%
SPECIMEN 04SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · VERA-ELISE-HARTMANNVera Elise Hartmann
Historical MemoryRecognizes patterns that have appeared before.
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
SPECIMEN 05SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · AKIKO-HAYASHIAkiko Hayashi
ConsequenceLooks beyond the next decision.
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
SPECIMEN 06SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · ADRIAN-MBEKIAdrian Mbeki
Reality StressTests what survives outside the room.
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
SPECIMEN 07SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · MAYA-ELISE-HARPERMaya Elise Harper
Emotional TruthFinds what people are buying beneath the brief.
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
SPECIMEN 08SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · DR-LILA-VOSSDr. Lila Voss
Institutional RitualWhat ritual is being performed instead of a decision?
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
SPECIMEN 09SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · SIMON-CROSSSimon Cross
Contrarian PressureChallenges the answer the room agreed on too early.
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
SPECIMEN 10SYNTHETIC / ACTIVE
ID · THE-CUSTOMERThe Customer
The Missing ChairWould anyone outside this room care enough to act?
GENEALOGY / ANCESTRY UNRESOLVED · LINE LEFT OPEN
NO CLAIM ENTERED. KEEP THE LINE OPEN.
WHO IS OPERATING THE MACHINERYHUMAN-LED
THREE DECADES
OF ADVERTISING.
8 YEARS APPLE.
THEN THIS.
Poppe van Pelt founded ctrl+love after decades spent making things clearer, sharper and more persuasive. The current obsession is different: building instruments for the moments when clarity itself needs to be tested.
Around him: the guys, a distributed human network, synthetic minds, field collaborators, and one lorikeet with an implausibly senior title.
FOUNDER + AMBASSADORS
Apple-selected creative leaders, built through eight years of working shoulder to shoulder. Organic relationships. Not bought by the kilo.
MEET THE FULL NETWORK ↗🇳🇱
🇳🇱Poppe van Pelt001 · Haarlem, NetherlandsFounder
🇳🇱Poppe van Pelt001 · Haarlem, NetherlandsFounder🇯🇵
🇯🇵Shun Iwai003 · Tokyo, JapanAmbassador
🇯🇵Shun Iwai003 · Tokyo, JapanAmbassador🇰🇷
🇰🇷Sung Wook “Tayl” Chung004 · Seoul, South KoreaAmbassador
🇰🇷Sung Wook “Tayl” Chung004 · Seoul, South KoreaAmbassador🇪🇸
🇪🇸Jorge Virgós006 · Valencia, SpainAmbassador
🇪🇸Jorge Virgós006 · Valencia, SpainAmbassador🇵🇹
🇵🇹José Ricardo Monteiro (JR)007 · Lisbon, PortugalAmbassador
🇵🇹José Ricardo Monteiro (JR)007 · Lisbon, PortugalAmbassador🇮🇹
🇮🇹Umberto Bartolini009 · Milan / Rome, ItalyAmbassador
🇮🇹Umberto Bartolini009 · Milan / Rome, ItalyAmbassador✦
✦Flip010 · Stateless, EverywhereBonus member
✦Flip010 · Stateless, EverywhereBonus memberFIELD APPLICATIONSREAL CLIENT SYSTEMS / 002
THE INSTRUMENTS
HAVE LEFT
THE LAB.
Two live examples of the same habit: find the thing underneath the brief, then build something that can keep learning.
COMFORAMOBILITY / INDEPENDENCE
CATEGORY REFRAME / CREATIVE TESTING
Nobody wanted a comfy chair. They wanted their lives back.
A product brief reframed around freedom, dignity and the life beyond the furniture, then carried into creative and production experiments.
SUKIRITUAL / GROWTH
RITUAL INTELLIGENCE / LIVING FRANCHISE OS
Don’t franchise the store. Franchise what makes people return.
A matcha brand became a live sensing system: store signals, creator intelligence, small ritual experiments and memory for the next Suki.
POPPE’S PROMPT SHOPPEWORKING BENCH / PHYSICAL OBJECTS
SAN GREGORIO / CALIFORNIA
BRING IN
YOUR OLD
PROMPTS.
Put one under load. Extract what it smuggles in. Find the decision it is actually trying to make.
OPEN THE SHOPPE ↗
THE LIBRARYHUMAN MATERIAL / CURRENT READING
A VERY THIN LIBRARY
READ
PEOPLE.
Judgment, dissent, groups, bias, risk, ritual, systems and human behaviour. The books behind the instruments.
SHELF 01HUMAN MATERIAL09 BOOKS / PERMANENTLY UNFINISHED
01 · JUDGMENT / BIAS
Thinking, Fast and Slow ↗
DANIEL KAHNEMAN
02 · EXPERT JUDGMENTSources of Power ↗
GARY KLEIN
03 · DISSENTIn Defense of Troublemakers ↗
CHARLAN NEMETH
04 · PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETYThe Fearless Organization ↗
AMY EDMONDSON
05 · UNCERTAINTYSuperforecasting ↗
PHILIP TETLOCK + DAN GARDNER
06 · RITUAL / GROUPSThe Ritual Process ↗
VICTOR TURNER
07 · BEHAVIOUR / BELONGINGRitual ↗
DIMITRIS XYGALATAS
08 · SOCIAL BEHAVIOURThe Presentation of Self in Everyday Life ↗
ERVING GOFFMAN
09 · SYSTEMSThinking in Systems ↗
DONELLA MEADOWS
SHELF 02CURRENT READINGONE LIVE EXPERIMENT
WHEN THE ROOM IS FINALLY UNDERSTOOD,
PERSPECTIVE CHANGES.
READY WHEN TRUE.APOLLO 8 · BILL ANDERS · NASA · 24 DECEMBER 1968
OPEN DOOR
BRING US SOMETHING
THAT REFUSES TO
BECOME CLEAR.
A decision. A belief. A brand. A room. A problem everyone thinks they understand.
BRING US THE DECISION ↗