1. Our Evaluation Process
Every month we are pitched dozens of startup ideas.
Market Research
The best ideas progress to the “Problem Space Exploration” stage where a member of our team conducts market research to validate the opportunity.
- Validating the pain point
- Researching customer needs
- Competitive mapping
- Product market viability analysis
50
PASS THIS PHASE
Concept Testing
Only about 10% of ideas will make it through the Market Research phase and progress to the “MVP Hypothesis” stage. At this stage, our team helps the founder develop and test a detailed business plan and product vision.
- Identify the Ideal Customer Persona (ICP)
- Outline product value proposition
- Develop pricing strategy
- Identify defensible competitive advantages
- Interview 10-15 customers to test product concept
10
PASS THIS PHASE
Prototyping
The top 3% of ideas will eventually progress to the final stage of our concept evaluation process, prototyping. Our experienced Product Managers and Designers will work with a founder to turn their idea into a clickable prototype that can be tested with customers.
- Clickable prototypes developed
- In-depth customer demos and reviews
- Product strategy refined
- Pre-sales of product begin (Target 15 commitments)
- Product scope finalized
- Studio partner business strategy sessions
- Founding team composition finalized
3
PASS THIS PHASE
Estimated time to complete all phases
= 90 days
PASS RATES:
50
PASS THIS PHASE
10
PASS THIS PHASE
3
PASS THIS PHASE
2. Company Formation to Seed Round Spin Out
For those concepts that make it through our evaluation process, we will partner with the founder(s) to launch a new company. At this stage, we become an official co-founder in the startup and are involved with all key aspects of launching and growing the business.
Operations & Recruiting
- Founding team recruited
- Founder equity allocated
- Key strategic partners identified
- Company formation and regulatory filings
- Financial model and use of proceeds finalized
- Legal & compliance work complete
- Read this blog post on founding team composition and how we approach dividing equity among co-founders
MVP Development & Launch
- Product roadmap laid out through seed stage
- Technical planning and architecture
- Founders work with studio to build an initial proof of concept or MVP
- Initial customers acquired and revenue activation
- Target $100K+ in ARR before formal seed round
GTM Strategy Development
- Go-to-market (GTM) strategies developed with studio CRO
- Distribution and strategic partners identified
- Sales & marketing implementation support
- Customer success strategies implemented
Fundraising
Strategy
- Capital strategy and fundraising plan
- Pitch deck development
- Strategy alignment to bootstrap MVP or raise pre-product
- Fundraising plan implemented
- Intros to leading VCs and strategic investors
- Read this blog post on how we think about fundraising readiness
Once key milestones are achieved, we will spin your startup out of the studio with a Seed round led by a leading VC and help you scale your team with top startup talent.
We have relationships with leading VCs…
