Why it's an interesting model:
• Because you have experienced people, you:
a) Build a company faster (studio companies scale and exit in half the times vs a traditional startup)
b) Make fewer mistakes, increasing your success chances (60% of companies raise Series A).
• You retain more equity & generate more returns (53% IRR compared to VC-funded startups at 21%).
• You'll have a repeatable winning formula to launch, build, and exit companies.
Why this model won't work:
• Lack of focus
• Not working? It's easy to move on to another idea. Startups win when they iterate and push hard enough
• No pressure to show immediate results as any other startup that might die any day now
OK, here are most successful ones:
1/
@betaworks Founder:
@Borthwick Focus: web3, ML, and media industries.
Portfolio companies: GIPHY, Instapaper, Bitly, Tweetdeck, and others.
Success rate: 60% (60% of its companies either IPOs, get acquired, or become unicorns).
2/
@Idealab Founder:
@Bill_Gross Focus: AI, commerce, & clean energy industries.
They have created/participated in 150+ companies, with 50+ IPOs and acquisitions.
Portfolio companies: Overture, Heliogen, etc.
Success rate: 65%
3/
@ScienceInc Co-founder:
@peterpham Focus: mobile & eCommerce verticals.
They have spun out 60+ companies, 8 of which have been acquired for $1.3B+.
Portfolio companies: Dollar Shave Club, Liquid Death, & more.
Success rate: 43%
4/
@finleap Founder: Michael Hock and
@ramin_niroumand Focus: fintech.
They have built 15 independent companies, of which 10 are active and worth $3.2B+.
Portfolio companies: Solaris, Element, and more.
Success rate: 17.5%
5/
@expa Founder:
@gc Focus: commercial services and software verticals.
They build their own companies and partner with other founders to launch them.
• Portfolio companies: Drip, Gitalytics, and more.
• Success rate: 15%
6/
@Norselab Founder: Yngve Tvedt
Focus: sustainable (clean energy & transport and mobility) and software industries.
Portfolio companies: Antec, Wanda, and more.
Success rate: 14.3%
7/
@efounders Founder:
@tiboel Focus: product-led SaaS industry.
They have created 30+ companies with a combined portfolio valuation of $2B+.
Portfolio companies: Spendesk, Front, and more.
Success rate: 13%
8/
@JoinAtomic Founder:
@jackabraham Focus: software, consumer services, & healthcare.
They have tested 100s of ideas & recently launched 14 startups in 1 year.
Portfolio companies: Hims (IPO'ed at $1.6B), OpenStore, etc.
Success rate: 13%
9/
@TandemLaunch Founder: Helge Seetzen
Focus: software and commercial service sectors (AI, audio, & video).
They have created 30+ companies, which are valued at $675M+.
Portfolio companies: Deeplite, Wrnch, and more.
Success rate: 11.5%
10/
@highalpha Founder:
@ScottDorsey Focus: the B2B SaaS industry.
Launched 30 companies, out of 8 that have been acquired by Shutterstock, Seismic, and more.
Portfolio companies: Stitch, Filo, and more.
Success rate: 6.5%
That's the wrap.
Let me know if you are building something. I have talented engineers for you in Europe and Latam.
I run a marketplace of vetted engineers. Hire them directly to your team for temp or long-term projects.
Happy to give a discount for the first 4 weeks of work.
If not:
1. Follow me
@volodarik. I share everything on the way to growing to $100m/y. People say it's fun to watch.
2. RT the tweet below to share this thread with your audience.
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