The Gallery

We met Cory Janssen a few months ago and immediately knew that we needed to have him on The Gallery. He Co-Founded Investopedia in 1999 and sold it to Forbes in 2007. It felt like a good time to share a more 'human' story on our typically-technical podcast about startup studios. We had Cory in the hot seat to dive into his behind-the-scenes experience as an exited founder who eventually launched AltaML, a startup studio based in Canada. Spoiler alert: this is one of the most raw founder stories we've ever heard. We hear it all the time; “I’m an exited founder. Now I’m going to launch a startup studio.” But, the real question is, should you? Here is a quick TLDR of Cory's takeaways that he revealed in the episode: 1. Expect an "emotional crash" after selling your company. Without a clear purpose or goals, post-exit depression is common even with money. Define your next chapter before exiting to ease the transition. 2. Being an operator versus passive investor requires different mindsets. Understand if you want a break first or have the energy to build a hands-on studio. Don't romanticize the operating role. 3. Partner with ex-VCs if possible when fundraising a first-time studio fund. The LP bias against emerging managers is very real. Complement founder experience with investing record. 4. Specialize your studio's edge and thesis early through personal experience. Generalist models face more LP skepticism. Deep industry expertise aids pitching and progress. 5. Balance coaching founders with letting them fail. Fighting the urge to jump in can better equip them long-term. Define partnership expectations upfront. The full episode is now live on our website. Head over to our channel to check it out, and in the meantime, enjoy this little video clip from the episode.

The startup studio community has quite a few silent killers. Cory Janssen is one of them. He founded and sold Investopedia earlier in his career, and is now building AltaML. He joined us on the podcast this week to discuss his take on why exited founders should consider launching a startup studio. His take? The math just works. Studios will drastically outperform the rest of venture, and you're missing out on a tremendous opportunity if you don't have studios as a part of your venture portfolio. Full episode coming this week. Subscribe at our website if you want to receive it in your inbox!

Big day for the venture studio community. Our founder, Jake Hurwitz will be moderating perhaps the largest conference to date alongside Dianna Lesage. If you’re getting into the space, this is a must-attend event.

Michael Jones is the CEO of Science, the studio behind companies like Liquid Death, Dollar Shave Club, Rover, and many others. Today, we’re very excited to do a deep dive with Mike on a myriad of topics. The full episode is a lengthy conversation where we dug into: —Mike’s backstory —The rationale behind Science’s structure and model —His approach to attracting top marketing talent —Some BTS stories from Liquid Death and Dollar Shave Club and much more. Full episode and Q+A article is linked in the comments. We hope you enjoy! #startupstudio #venturestudio #venturecapital #venturebuilder

Excited to share a meaty episode this week with Michael Jones, CEO of Science, the studio behind LiquidDeath, Dollar Shave Club, and Rover. Here are a few of the questions we asked Mike: 1. What elements from Idealab and Betaworks did you adopt or modify for Science? 2. Can you share behind-the-scenes insights from the success of Dollar Shave Club and other ventures? 3. How did Fund I progress and lead to the creation of Fund II? 4. Did you face challenges with the studio's structure that led to adopting a fund structure? 5. How did you secure your first investor meetings? 6. Can you outline Science's current model and the rationale behind it? 7. Is there a formula you use to create viral campaigns? 8. How do you identify and find top marketers for your ventures? 9. What trends are you excited about in 2024? 10. What are the top three books you recommend for founders and studio leaders?" 11. If starting a new studio today, how would you structure it? If you're interested in the full episode and deep dive, be sure to subscribe at the link in the comments. Full episode comes this Wednesday. #startupstudio #venturestudio #venturecapital #venturebuilder

Here's a harsh reality; maybe you shouldn't launch a startup studio. Here's why: If you can't raise $3-5M in 90 days, or secure a meeting with a Fortune 500 CEO in 2 weeks, then how are the founders of your portfolio companies going to trust that you can do it for them? ___ A hot take this week from our host, Jake Hurwitz. Catch the latest episode and white-paper where he sat down with Thomas Knoll (link in comments) where they dissected the corporate view of working with startup studios. #startupstudio #venturestudio #venturebuilder #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

🚨WHITE PAPER (link in comments): The corporate innovation model has become a vibrant conversation amongst the startup studio community in recent years. However, we haven’t seen much from the corporate perspective. So, it got us thinking… “what if we crafted a deep-dive and brief white paper with a corporate innovation expert to dig into how studios can best work with corporates?” (Also, FWIW, we're not sure this is really a 'white-paper’. It’s a bit shorter, so maybe we should call it a ‘gray-paper’? Either way, it felt more fitting than calling it an article!) This 'gray-paper' summarizes key insights from our recent discussion with Thomas Knoll, an expert on corporate innovation who leads an exclusive network of Fortune 500 Chief Innovation Officers known as Innov8rs.co This deep-dive shares real-world perspectives from Tommy, who has over 14 years of experience advising senior innovation executives at major enterprises, on how startups studios can successfully partner with corporate giants. Here is a brief TLDR of what is covered in the 'gray-paper': 1. Massive Innovation Gap in Large Companies: Less than 30% of major enterprises have properly structured innovation functions, which presents a huge unmet need and partnership opportunity for startup studios. 2. High Failure Rates Without Governance: 80-90% of innovation efforts lacking board/CEO support fail in 2-3 years. Top-down ownership, resources and incentives are vital for innovation success. 3. Network Access Enables Partnerships: Getting direct meetings with decision-makers requires leveraging long-standing relationships. Advisors with corporate experience can open doors lacking connections. 4. Start Small, Grow Trust Over Time: Begin with short, narrow-scope agreements focused on pilots. Early wins build confidence on both sides for more ambitious partnerships down the line. 5. Tie Innovation to Growth Metrics and Compensation: Successful programs have CEO/board level KPIs with compensation impacts. Direct linkage to the business value metrics are essential for securing resources in a large enterprise. 6. Economic Changes Reshape Priorities: Downturns shift capital away from "nice-to-have" innovations. Investment moves towards innovations driving adaptation and resilience. 7. Overlooked Mid-Market Potential: Mid-size growth stage companies are ideal for partnerships, yet often overlooked by studios. “Mid-cap” companies often lack innovation expertise and are nimble enough for experiments. 8. Bridge Culture and Language Barriers: Big differences in corporate vs startup styles must be mutually understood. ___ See the link in comments for the full paper. #startupstudio #venturestudio #venturebuilder #corporateinnovation

Most startup studios fixate on mammoth Fortune 500 partners, but Thomas Knoll suggests this myopia misses a lucrative segment ideally suited for studio partnerships - mid-market companies. These growth stage organizations typically lack mature innovation initiatives, yet urgently need them to hit ambitious business targets. Reasons why mid-market companies offer such strong potential: - Leadership is more accessible and involved, enabling greater experimentation - Still small enough for agility in adopting new ideas - Closely held private ownership limits quarterly performance pressures - Hungry to evolve capabilities to reach unicorn potential Mid-market leaders also tend to fixate less on immediate returns and more on long game transformations. With a stable base business already profitable, investment debates revolve more around strategic value rather than purely financial impacts. ___ We recently published a brief white-paper on the corporate perspective of working with startup studios, which included this segment on mid-market companies, as well as many others. Check out the full piece at the link in comments. #startupstudio #venturestudio #venturebuilder #corporateinnovation

Thomas Knoll runs the largest network of Fortune 500 Chief Innovation Officers. We sat down with him this week to talk about how studios can successfully work with massive corporate innovation teams, looking at it from the corporate perspective. First up is Tommy's thoughts on how to get the meeting in the first place. His advice? If it's a cold reach-out, don't even bother. These relationships are serious and often take years to develop before they go anywhere. Connect wisely. __ Full episode comes this Wednesday. Comment "CORPORATE" below if you're interested in hearing the full deep-dive and we'll DM it you when it's live! #startupstudio #venturestudio #corporateinnovation #corporateventurecapital #venturebuilder

We’ve always looked up to Human Ventures as one of the best positioned and well-branded studios in the world. Plus, their portfolio speaks for itself. Then, we had the pleasure of meeting Joe Marchese, their first LP, a few years ago. Joe has an impressive and inspiring story. He sold a company to 20th Century Fox and invested a large chunk of his proceeds into the first iteration of Human Ventures. He later become a GP and is now working closely with Heather Hartnett and the rest of the team on a handful of their portfolio companies. Joe is world-class in branding, storytelling, and earning real estate in what he calls “the attention economy”. Candidly, when we reached out to him to ask him to come on show, we didn’t know what we would talk about. There were simply too many topics to pick from. We're very excited to share this week’s special episode of The Gallery where we dove deep on a handful topics, ranging from Human’s origin stories, to how he and Heather raised their first fund, to the importance of branding for building a studio and new ventures. In today’s Q+A, we asked Joe: 1. What was the original vision for Human Ventures and how did you initially fund and structure the studio? 2. As someone with an AdTech background focused on grabbing consumer attention, how do you apply lessons around attention and storytelling to your work with founders and raising capital? 3. Where do you see the biggest market inefficiencies in advertising? How did COVID impact your thesis? 4. Heather was able to raise a $25 million fund early on - how did she pull that off and what was the strategy? 5. What is Human's current pace and focus when it comes to building new ventures vs. purely investing in them? 6. Studios represent a contrarian model in VC - what's it like evangelizing something so different? 7. Major tech giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon have advertising-driven business models - what needs to shift there and why? 8. Why is building an enduring brand so important for Human Ventures and your portfolio companies despite inevitable market shifts? 9. What is coming up next for Human Ventures? 10. What wisdom would you share given the breakneck pace of change we're experiencing in tech and business models nowadays? Full episode at the link in comments! #startupstudio #venturestudio #venturecapital #newyorkcitytech #nyctech #humanventures