Venture builders are very different from venture funds. Unlike venture funds, a venture builder does not invest in existing start-ups.
The venture builder launches new start-ups in-house, self-funding the company until an idea gains traction. When it does, the founding team then looks for an external funding source before hiring an entrepreneurial CEO to scale the business.
So you should see a venture builder as a testbed for ideas, somewhere to de-risk a start-up until it’s ready to grow.
That’s precisely what we do here at Novus Labs.
The Novus Labs model
The typical venture builder will create and launch multiple start-ups a year.
This strategy gives the venture builder a degree of flexibility, enabling them to search and pivot until they find product-market fit.
The process involves a series of gated milestones, where the team tests and iterates, only moving onto the next step when specific criteria are met (as beautifully illustrated by the Harvard Business Review).
One point the graphic highlights is, unlike venture funds, traditional venture studios (as they are commonly known) are more than willing to ‘kill their darlings.’
That is — when an idea doesn’t gain traction, or there isn’t clear evidence that a concept is both scalable and profitable, the studio will shut it down. This contrasts with a VC where, once a start-up takes flight, onwards and (hopefully) upwards is the only path.
This stage-gate process boosts the likelihood of a venture’s success. And that’s why Novus Labs has adopted the model, albeit tweaking it for Web3.
Our venture building process looks like the following:
The Novus Labs venture portfolio
Novus Labs has used this model to create four start-ups so far this year.
The companies span everything from ticketing to community building, and they each share one common aspect.
They all harness blockchain technology. That’s because the Novus Labs team are Web3 specialists, led by three blockchain pioneers and supported by a deeply experienced in-house development studio.
The following companies make up Novus Labs’ current portfolio:
1) MyTicky: Blockchain-enabled Smart Ticketing
MyTicky is a Novus Labs joint venture co-founded with ticketing specialists and titans of the electronic dance music scene.
The company is transforming the dance music industry, using smart NFTs to eliminate fake tickets, prevent overpricing, and enhance the event experience. MyTicky ensures low fees and absolute transparency, with smart tickets doubling as digital collectibles.
The platform also includes a mobile wallet and event financing capabilities, while MyTicky can even provide events with on-site payment and ticket scanning hardware.
MyTicky will ultimately disrupt the entire ticketing industry, benefiting all stakeholders.
2) Sumsy: Trading Signals for Stocks, Crypto, Commodities, and More
Sumsy uses neural algorithmic processing to analyze technical and market data, fundamentals, key events, oscillators, trend, volume, and sentiment indicators to deliver market predictions with over 86% success.
The tool’s unprecedented accuracy has led Sumsy to branch the AI code base and construct a tailored market predictions model named Polaris AI. As a result, Sumsy Signals stands out as one of the most precise AI-driven trading prediction systems on the market today.
3) Full Force: A Next-Gen Approach to Web3 Community Building
Full Force gamifies the social engagement loop, enabling a next-generation approach to building active Web3 communities.
The platform is the first-ever social game in which users engage with Web3 projects through missions to level-up characters and unlock unique perks. Full Force also offers a Community Incubation Launchpad, where users compete for an allocation of a project’s token.
The unique dynamic creates a fun, interactive environment that nurtures project growth, all while the community earns rewards directly from the project's marketing budget.
4) Bonsai3: Simplifying Complexity in Web3
Bonsai3 helps developers get new ideas on-chain via a simple, no-code process. The tool neutralizes the challenges of token creation and deployment, with an intuitive UI negating the need for extensive coding knowledge.
By simplifying the process of creating, customizing, and managing tokens, Bonsai3 enables users to allocate more resources to the product and operational aspects of their projects, unlocking streamlined, more economical growth.
Bonsai3 also recognizes the importance of accessibility and ease of use, positioning itself as more than just a platform; it's a catalyst of innovation. It can ignite a wave of ecosystem experimentation without the need to write a single line of code.
What WordPress did for the worldwide web, Bonsai3 can do for Web3.
Got an idea? Tell us about it.
Novus Labs often builds companies from scratch, but we also work with industry titans to build Web3 components into existing products.
We’ve got joint ventures in the works that follow this model, so whether you have a novel idea or want to add a touch of Web3 to your company, we’d love to talk — and if you’re a potential investor or marketing partner, we’d love to hear from you, too.
Drop us a message at info@novuslabs.io or click here to get in touch.
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