Nova Spivack, a technology visionary, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor, was among the early engineers who pioneered the venture production studio concept. He wrote about the concept in 2011, while most of its components were still under development. Nova coined the phrase “Venture Production Studio,” describing it as a “new way to generate enterprises.” This new strategy paid out handsomely, as his own venture production firm had several exits three years later.

Entrepreneurs are always putting their ideas and goods to the test. The cost of conducting experiments to validate theories and developing new products is much reduced thanks to the team’s own experience and the partners’ cross-funding.

A typical venture builder has a centralized staff that is well-versed in several fields, has access to sufficient resources to work on numerous initiatives at once, and is equipped with methods to test and refine viable concepts. Studios give a strong platform in the form of tools, contacts, and expertise to a select number of projects (often 3-5 each year).

Some production companies even generate their own marketable concepts. While some prefer to work on their ideas internally, others would rather have outside founders involved from the start. Depending on the conditions, studio assistance might endure for years or even forever.

Venture builders are hands-on, unlike typical VCs. The Venture Builder offers first seed or growth finance and continuous assistance for product-market fit and consumer traction. Venture Builders will aid the startup from the original idea through product launch and beyond.

Due to the resources needed for each new business, they are picky about which digital concepts to invest in and only launch a handful every year.

Tech and startup sectors are embracing venture-building philosophy. Obvious Corp spun off Twitter and Medium; Mark Levin’s HVF developed Affirm.com and Glow.com; Betaworks’ portfolio includes Instapaper and Blend; and Germany’s Rocket Internet (PayMill, Jumia, FoodPanda, etc.). Although their business approaches are different, these successful firms have many traits. They pool resources (money, teams, networks) to develop solutions that become businesses.

The startup ecosystem and venture-building universe are interconnected. The venture-building firm is like a fast-paced tech startup, where the product is the venture, the prototype is the business model, and ‘shipping code’ denotes faultless and timely execution. The venture builder fundamentally develops startups.