Venture Studio Company Building

A venture studio run as a system: a written thesis and economics model, idea gates, shared services, founder recruitment, fair studio equity terms and clean spinouts, reviewed on a steady monthly and quarterly rhythm.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Venture Studio Company Building, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

200

Starter tasks

🚀 Founding & Startups

Venture Studio Company Building

Creating companies inside a venture studio, from idea selection and shared resources to recruiting founders and spinning companies out.

  1. Studio thesis and three focus areas
  2. Choosing the studio operating model
  3. Studio economics model per company
  4. Studio capital structure with legal and tax advisers
  5. Core studio team and shared roles map
  6. Studio and founder equity framework
  7. Idea intake and scoring rubric
  8. Stage gates from idea to spinout
  9. Studio legal templates kit with counsel
  10. Weekly idea pipeline review
  11. Monthly portfolio company review
  12. Shared services capacity planning
  13. Quarterly kill or continue gate meetings
  14. Founder and EIR talent pipeline
  15. Studio cost allocation and recharge
  16. Quarterly studio investor reporting
  17. Studio playbook library
  18. Annual thesis and model refresh
  19. Running two-week problem sprints
  20. Assessing founders for studio companies
  21. Benchmarking five established venture studios
  22. Writing a company formation memo
  23. Sitting on studio company boards
  24. Studio post-mortem pattern library
  25. Explaining the studio deal to founders
  26. Shared technical starter kit for new companies
  27. Bringing outside co-investors into studio companies
  28. Equity or cash fee for studio services
  29. Founder package revision after the first cohort
  30. Which services to centralise in the studio
  31. Cutting time from idea to first paying customer
  32. Studio proposition for founders and backers
  33. First company spinout day
  34. Studio demo day for investors
  35. First outside seed round for a studio company
  36. Annual studio founder summit
  37. Shared services handover after spinout
  38. Joining a studio as an entrepreneur in residence
  39. Corporate venture studio inside a larger company
  40. Solo operator studio of small products
  41. Turning an agency into a venture studio
  42. Running a studio in a smaller or emerging market
  43. Studio-backed founder after spinout
  44. Raising a dedicated studio fund
  45. Studio performance scorecard
  46. Liquidity options for studio stakes
  47. Conflicts of interest policy across the portfolio
  48. Reusing assets and people from killed companies
  49. Long-term governance of studio minority stakes
  50. Scaling the studio to more companies a year

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Studio thesis and three focus areas

Studios without a thesis drift into building whatever the last dinner conversation suggested, and then cannot explain to founders or backers why their companies belong together. Writing a one-page thesis with three focus areas, the unfair advantage the studio brings to each and the ideas it will refuse, gives every later gate a reference point.

First tasks

  • List the ten ideas the studio has discussed most in the last year
  • Group them and pick the three focus areas where the studio has a real edge
  • Write the five idea types the studio will turn down and why
  • Send the draft thesis to two outside operators for blunt feedback

Choosing the studio operating model

An independent studio, a corporate studio, a studio attached to a venture fund and a services agency spinning out products all make different promises to founders and need different money behind them. Choosing the model on purpose, rather than inheriting it from how the first company happened, settles who owns what, who pays for the shared team and what founders are offered.

First tasks

  • Sketch how independent, corporate, fund-attached and agency studios are funded
  • Note which constraints of your situation rule out each model
  • Write the chosen model and the trade-offs you are accepting
  • Get each partner's written agreement to the chosen model

Studio economics model per company

A studio is a bet that a shared team can create companies more cheaply and with a higher hit rate than founders working alone, and that bet only holds if the numbers do. A simple model of cost per company created, companies started per year, expected share that reach a seed round and the equity retained shows how long the studio can run and what it must prove.

First tasks

  • Total the yearly cost of the core studio team and shared overheads
  • Write assumptions for ideas tested, companies formed and companies funded
  • Calculate cost per formed company and cost per funded company
  • Flag the three assumptions the model is most sensitive to

Make it yours.

Install Venture Studio Company Building, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

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