Hey everyone! Last week was a blast at the Venture Studio Online Conference, hosted by Max Pog (yep, the same Max Pog who teamed up with Uniborn for the Foundation cartel, fueling venture builders).

So how was it?

We, along with six hundred investors and founders, thoroughly relished the event! It was one of the most densely packed Zoom meetups in our memory, to say the least. And yes, Max's unexpected move to show off his nunchucks skills has surely set a laid-back tone 😄.

The event featured Max himself, our founder Dmitry Samoylovskikh, and five other rockstar speakers:

• Alper Celen from Enhance Ventures (a venture builder with a €27M+ fund) gave us the lowdown on the current studio scene.

• Quentin Nickmans from Hexa (an entrepreneurial ecosystem rocking a €4.5B+ portfolio valuation) shared his wisdom on scaling a studio after proving its worth.

• Renan Devillieres from OSS Ventures (a studio hitting €22M+ ARR in 4 years) dished out insights into the day-to-day life of a verticalized SaaS startup studio.

• Elliott Parker of High Alpha Innovation (a builder with €450M+ raised across its funds and portfolios) led a conversation on an increased startups partnership with big players such as corporations and universities.

• Rasmus Rothe from Merantix (a builder and fund with €40M+ raised) discussed the vital ecosystem approach for studios.

• Max Pog introduced the P2P community for venture studios.

Dmitry walked through the Foundation's plans. Speaking of which, you can join now  —  we're gearing up to invest over €10M in top builders and their spinouts by 2025. Got questions? Stay tuned; we're dropping a detailed guide on this cartel and others growing on Uniborn 😉.

For especially curious minds, check out the conference recording. And no joke, there were actual nunchucks involved.

For the time-crunched of you, here's the scoop

After the speeches, we dove into the P2P Studio Hacks Contribution session. Topics ranged from fundraising during VC winter to attracting founders with exit experience or running a studio without compromising your sanity. 

Here are our top takeaways:

• On launching. Find a couple of high-performing yet not perfectly organized teams and get them working with corporate partners eager to innovate. Shout that story from the rooftops: this narrative is an underpinning to attracting sizable investors and founders. 

• On sourcing ideas. Dive into verticals that genuinely interest you and seek out points of their contact. Market pain points with inadequate supply are usually at the intersection of industries.

• On validating ideas. Before even reaching the MVP stage, craft landing pages that vividly showcase your idea. Add an enticing "I want access to beta testing" button at the end. Track how many people drop their contacts and conduct interviews with them to refine your product concept.

• On management. From the start, clarify roles and responsibilities in key business areas (product, finance, market research, etc.). If possible, bring in founders with successful exits as consultants. It would be golden if they are founders who have gone through your builder: such a strategy helps create a robust network based on years of trust.

• On funding. If you're working with a modest initial amount, use it to attract co-investors rather than going solo. Co-investing amplifies your impact, making your money stretch further. In turn, it will extend your track record and pave the way for future fundraising efforts.

• On promotion. Swap out press releases and demo days for something more impactful. Host a conference tailored to your studio/fund's vertical. Bring together talented founders and seasoned investors to maximize the number of potential partners in the same room.

For those craving more tips (we're talking over 80 hacks!), check out Max Pog's site — he's crafted them with care.

Cool, what's next?

We at Uniborn rode the WebSummit wave and, together with Max Pog, have just hosted an exclusive hangout in Lisbon, all about our newfound obsession — venture studios. Don't miss the upcoming recap of this meetup. 

Then, in December, we're hosting a Private Banking Summit (register here) on the insights and opportunities of private markets in 2024!

And that's not all! We'll be organizing more in-person events to bring together the most dedicated investors and venture studio founders, so stay tuned!