Venture Builder Playbook:
Systematically building startups
1
Andries De Vos, 5 May 2021

Hi. I’m Andries.
Andries is a serial entrepreneur
(co-founded 8 startups, including
3 as CEO, raised US$52M, and
sold a payment startup to a
global MNC) and is the CEO of
Slash (www.slash.co).
He is a digital transformation and
venture advisor to C-level
executives & boards. Clients
include Fortune 500, Govt & UN,
and Startups.
Based in Singapore & Bali.

Slash — Two Studios, One Team
Founded in 2016, Slash is software studio solving tough
problems with technology and ventures.
We run a Venture Studio and a Build Studio.
We blend business strategy, serial startup development, and
operational specialists across design research, product and
engineering to help innovators build in an exponential world.
We spin off our own startup projects, take co-founder
(10-20% equity) positions and consult external clients.
www.slash.co
15
Co-Founded
Startups
4
Offices (SG, KH,
ID, AM)
10+
Industries, sector
agnostic
50+
products & ventures
built globally as
fee-based consultants
60
In-house
Specialists
US$9M+
Seed raised for our equity
startup portfolio since 2018

Our Venture Building Podcast
www.slash.co/hak/tag/podcast

Venture Builders and why it matters
1. Why Venture Building?
2. Flavors of Venture Building
3. The Venture Building Playbook
And some Q&A!

Why Venture Building?

In my case … it’s personal!

Late 2015

Lost $45m deal

The next
big thing?

New Models to build
a scalable business?

Startup Studio
Startup Factory
Venture Builder
Company Builder

A Startup Studio is
a Company of Startups
“We develop ideas into products and
products into companies”

17
Hollywood Studio

Famous grads

300+ VBs on our Venture Builder Map
(alpha: https://www.slash.co/vb-map)

Many different types of
venture builders

Operator led Consulting led Corporate led VC led
4 Types of Venture Builders
Goal:
“Find next big startup,
kill the rest”
Source of Funds:
From Operator
Goal:
“Build portfolio of
startups”
Source of Funds:
Consulting cashflow
Goal:
“De-risk a portfolio of startups by providing
hands-on support from specialists”
Source of Funds:
Limited Partners in Fund
Goal:
“New products &
services for Group”
Source of Funds:
Corporate mothership

#1 Operator-led
Goal:
“Find next big startup, kill the rest”
Source of Funds:
From Operator

23
STARTUP
STUDIO
Startups

Goal: find the ‘real startup’ faster

The origins of Twitter in 2006

#2 Consulting-led
Goal:
“Build portfolio of startups”
Source of Funds:
Consulting cashflow

27
STARTUP
STUDIO
Clients Startups

Goal: launch portfolio of scalable businesses

Example: www.Rainmaking.io

Example: www.mach49.com

Commercialize?
Joint Ventures?
In-house team?

#3 Corporate-led
Goal:
“New products & services for Group”
Source of Funds:
Corporate mothership

20th Century Playbook
Market Leader for Decades

SKUNK WORKS
R&D Labs
M&A

Innovate by
Exception
36

But Skunk Works
No control over
commercialization

21st
Century Playbook
Constant change
39

Continuous
Innovation
Innovate by
Design
40

Control of R&D and
Commercialization
Sounds like a Startup?

The birth of “corporate ventures”

Example: https://x.company/

#4 VC-led
Goal:
“De-risk a portfolio of startups by providing
hands-on support from specialists”
Source of Funds:
Limited Partners in Fund

Example: https://www.rocket-internet.com/

Example: www.jumaji.studio

Operator led Consulting led Corporate led VC led
Recap: 4 Types of Venture Builders
Goal:
“Find next big startup,
kill the rest”
Source of Funds:
From Operator
Goal:
“Build portfolio of
startups”
Source of Funds:
Consulting cashflow
Goal:
“Build portfolio of
startups”
Source of Funds:
Limited Partners in Fund
Goal:
“New products &
services for Group”
Source of Funds:
Corporate mothership

Each type can bring value-add to the founders or
to the venture.
Through our research, we have identified 14 areas
of value-add.

Capital
Advisory
Access
Ops Support
Idea & Founders
Funding
Distribution Investors Proprietary Data
Idea Discovery (Co) Founders
Strategic Advisory Specialist Mentors
Product & Design Software/Build
Growth &
Testing
Business Support
14 areas of value-add services as Venture Builder
Market Validation
Exit Planning

The Venture Building Playbook?

Disclaimer:
Playbook is complex. In this talk
we will only scratch the surface!

Our
Focus for
the rest of
the talk

3 Phases to building a Startup
(from the point of view of a Venture Builder)

1
Concept
Validation
2
Product Market Fit
3
Scale Up

1
Concept
Validation

Concept validation flow
Problem Research
(Design Research)
Concept
Design
Concept
Validation

Problem research:

Problem research:

Simplify?

Two speeds of problem research:

Key choice for problem research:

4 ways to research problems and
validate concepts:

Which approach is
right for you?

WARNING!!!!
OVER-SIMPLIFICATION
IT’S ALL
ABOUT CULTURE

… COMPLEX!

1
Concept Validation
Problem Research User Motivations &
Behaviors
Proto-Personas
of Users
Customer Journeys
Prototype Concepts
with low-fi
User Testing
Concept Validation
Design Brief
Venture Planning
MVP Definition

2
Product Market Fit

Lean Startup 101

2
Product Market Fit
Product Design
(UX/UI) MVP Development
Go to Market
Strategy
Validate your
Value Proposition
First “100”
Customers
Validate
Business Model
Launch Venture
Fundraise
Build Team
… and many more

3
Scale Up

3
Scale Up
A lot more
fundraising …
Scale Team
Scale Product
Development
Incentive Scheme
Build a Sales &
Marketing Machine
… and many more

Venture Builders and why it matters
• Why Venture Building?
• Flavors of Venture Building
• The Venture Building Playbook
• Q&A

Q&A

Our Venture Building Podcast
www.slash.co/hak/tag/podcast

87