Venture Building Advisory

How I work:

Venture Building is emerging as a key area of interest within the innovation ecosystem. Numerous stakeholder types are attracted to this relatively nascent model because of it's perceived ability to "de-risk" and systemise the process of developing innovations, and successfully bringing them to market. However, this space is not without it's issues.

Believing they have identified a promising and relatively uncrowded opportunity, businesses that have formerly marketed themselves as Accelerators, Incubators and VCs etc. are repositioning themselves as Venture Studios. I believe we are beginning to see a proliferation of Venture Studios much in the same we saw a proliferation of VCs and Accelerators over the last 5 to 10 years. Many new VC and Accelerator businesses were ultimately proven to perform poorly and the same will likely be true of many newly minted Venture Studios.

The truth is, there are very few Studios which have been operational for long enough to have developed meaningful track records. In short, much of what is currently being sold is vapourware. Even some of the most mature Studios are only now just starting to reach a point where they can meaningfully assess whether or not their early portfolio ventures have been a success.

I leverage my experience as a Director at one of the world's leading Venture Studios to help stakeholders who are newly interested in this space learn, in detail, how the best Venture Studios operate and execute based on their years of learning and process iteration.

Areas of expertise:

✓ Venture studio business models

✓ Studio design

✓ Corporate governance

✓ Equity models

✓ Venture building methodology & execution

✓ Venture talent acquisition

✓ Avoiding common mistakes

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Services:

Educational & Training:

Deep dives into one or more of the topics listed above + instructional training content that will enable you and your team to develop capability in these areas.

Customised Action Plans:

I work alongside you and your team to take educational and training content and develop customised action plans that address business challenges that are specific to your business.

Customised Action Plans + Implementation:

After working with you and your team to develop customised action plans that address challenges specific to your business, I remain embedded within your team to assist with project management and the provision of additional coaching as needed.

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Philosophy:

As a former Founder and someone who has sincere desire to see entrepreneurs succeed, I am committed to operating within an ethical code that I feel best serves my customers.

Firstly, I only engage in projects that I am sure will benefit a business. I do not sell services for the sake of selling services. Focussing on the wrong thing at the wrong time is a common error too many people are happy to take payments for delivering services that they know will have minimal benefit to their customer. As a matter of principal I will not engage in this practice and instead will be forthright in communicating whether or not I believe you are pursuing the right solutions for a particular business challenge - even if it means losing the opportunity to add a new client to my portfolio.

Secondly, I am committed to maintaining forthright and honest communication regarding all matters relating to my work - even when what needs to be said is hard to hear. It is essential that business leaders have people around them who can give them an honest assessment of reality so that they are best placed to make any necessary decisions. In the words of Paul Graham: "the most important issue in any organisation is the one that no one is allowed to talk about". As such, anyone who commits to working with me should be aware up front that, in the event difficult conversations are required, they will take place.

If any of the above is disagreeable to you, I urge you to seek support from partners other than myself and I sincerely wish for your every success in doing so.

On the other hand, if this ethical framework appeals to you, I am very much looking forward to exploring how we can work together to take your success to the next level.