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Clarity

Attila Szigeti

Budapest

"Attila is one of the most well-prepared experts I've had the chance to work with. He is a key player of the international startup studio scene, and the knowledge he brought to the table was essential when developing the investment structure of Studio One, the first private fund that exclusively invests in startup studio ventures..." Gergely Freész, CEO at Studio One

Attila has 5+ years and 10000+ hours experience of researching, building and operating startup studios, venture builders. He was Chief Operating Officer & EIR @ Drukka, he authored the Startup Studio Playbook and is an Advisor to Startup Studios:
+ Transformed a 12-people agency into a 50+ strong studio with 20+ startups
+ Nurtured 12+ startups and founders, from zero to spinoff
+ Organized the Studio One Pre-Seed Fund (EUR 300k)
+ Participated in the Intellitext Seed Fund (EUR 1,5M)
+ Negotiated Seed and Series A rounds for 4 portfolio companies
+ Co-created AHA Brain Store corporate studio initiative
+ Organized the Progress Bar meetup series (local ecosystem outreach)

As Advisor he worked with studios, government innovation agencies and corporations from Europe, North and South America, MENA and Asia.

Areas of cooperation:
+ Strategy creation and review
+ Venture production process build
+ Fundraising and investor management
+ EIR and Founder programs
+ Leadership support
+ Ecosystem outreach initiatives

Advantages in working with Attila:
+ Saves research and leadership time
+ Better overview of alternatives leading to better decisions
+ Reducing risks and increasing success in designing and running a studio

$16.67/min

32 Calls

14 Reviews

36 minutes
Avg. call

Entrepreneurship Startups Business Strategy Startup Strategy Early-stage Startups Business Model Innovation Start-up Ventures

Call me to talk about

Are Startup Studios, Venture Builders Right for Me? I Will Help You to Decide

You can learn a lot about the potential and benefits of startup studios, venture builders. But how to know and decide with certainty that it's right for you?

An organization that has all the in-house resources to produce ventures, speeds up the go-to-market process, reduces failure ratio, takes out the team risk from investments... Almost a dream come true for entrepreneurs, idea owners, investors and corporate innovators. If only this would be so simple...

Let me share with you the biggest pros and challenges. You will need to overcome these when you choose to build, invest in or work with a startup studio:

Idea owners, founders who want to build a startup:
+ The upside: You will get a pro builder team, funding and safety net. So you can focus on your market and creating a valuable new product or service.
- Not for you if: You want to stick to the traditional startup founder fantasy. "I have a great idea, tomorrow I'll find my best cofounder, then we raise money, then we build, then we skyrocket..."
! The challenge: Flexibility and coachability. Selecting the right opportunity together with the studio. Taking on the hands-on involvement of the studio leader. Who is usually a much more experienced entrepreneur.
> You will succeed if: Your preferences, strengths and focus area are a good match to the studio's niche.

Top-tier entrepreneurs who want to make a significant impact:
+ The upside: You will multiply your entrepreneurial power. You will have the leadership challenge of your lifetime and grow a lot! Managing your core team, the investors, the entrepreneurs, the portfolio...
- Not for you if: You want to stick to building one single venture at a time. Or if you want to be in the spotlight (hint: that's the place for your startups and startup CEO-s).
! The challenge: Switching gears and mindset. Go from building and scaling up one company to build and manage a multi-venture empire. One is like driving a race car the other is like running the stable that produces the race cars and drivers.
> You will succeed if: You have a well established studio strategy. You pick the right studio partners and entrepreneurs. And you commit for the long game.

Investors looking for a new and hot asst class to invest in:
+ The upside: One-to-many investment opportunity. Reduced team risk. Potentially higher equity for the same investment amount, a sustainable deal flow source.
- Not for you if: You are only interested in the well known and long-established investment methods.
! The challenges: Learn and approach studios as a new asset class.
> You will succeed if: You find the right studio with the right leader to invest in. Not all are prepared to live up to the expectations.

Corporate innovators who are looking for more than just "theatre":
+ The upside: Your corporate venture builder will produce real startups. One day these might be good investment targets for your CVC and/or M&A targets for your mothership.
- Not for you if: Your funding comes from marketing budget. Or you are pushed and pressured for quarterly/monthly results. (hint: a studio is more like a 5-10 year long initiative, from inception to fully realizing the ROI)
! The challenges: How you convince your stakeholders to do real venture building? How you blend your corporate talent with the startup ecosystem?
> You will succeed if: You can navigate the complexities of your organization. For example securing support from all the executives who have a say in this. And you pitch the right game plan at the right time. Plus if you, as a leader can bridge the gap between corporate - startup mindset.

If you still have questions and need guidance to decide whether studios are right for you, get in touch. And I’ll help you figure it out.

Fundraising for Startup Studios and Venture Builders

Startup studios are efficient in producing many startups in parallel. You can achieve higher success rate than with any other startup building approach. That comes with a high capital need, especially when starting a new studio from zero.

The fundraising process is also more challenging. Because a venture builder needs to excel in more areas than a single startup. You build your fundraising success on strong foundations. You have to show and prove:
+ Financial-organizational structure that matches your goals;
+ A timely and coherent vision and investment thesis;
+ Viability of your approach;
+ Capable leadership;
+ Portfolio traction.

With the right preparation and fundraising approach, you can do all this. You need to make sure to have a solid strategy and prepare to answer the tough questions including:
- Do you want to raise the capital into your studio or establish a separate fund? Why this way?
- Will the studio act as the GP or who will? Will this be an official fund or a holding company?
- How to cover the studios operational costs? For a management fee and carry or charge the startups? Or do you have another solution?
- How will you manage conflicts of interest between the Studio the Fund and the Startups?
- How will you ensure successful exits of your portfolio and thus ensuring a high fund ROI?
- If you are converting your agency into a studio: How to value your current assets? How will you restructure your organization to fit the new strategy?
- Are you raising a fixed-life fund or evergreen fund? How will you handle raising new capital when needed?
- How will your studio preserve it's equity part in the startups and solve the "dead equity" concern?
- Will you create ventures from internal process or join existing teams? What is your financial modeling backing up your approach?

And the list of expected questions goes on and on. The due diligence is also tough. You better prepare even before your first meeting with the investor.

I was COO of our studio for 3 years, I participated in organizing our first studio pre-seed fund, where I'm now CEO. And preparing to raise our second fund. I also worked together with dozens of studios world-wide. So the studio fundraising is a topic very close to my heart and expertise.

My mission is to help startup studios grow, and I can help you:
+ Structuring your venture builder and fundraising strategy;
+ Assess your current material and identify gaps and risks;
+ Preparing for a successful investor meeting.

So when it's time to start raising your studio funds, give me a call.

How to Plan & Build a Startup Studio? How to Decide on Key Strategic Questions?

"Attila was my trusted COO and advisor for three years. During this time he was instrumental in transforming Drukka from a web development and online marketing agency into the fastest growing venture builder of the CEE region..." - Thomas Bohner, Founder and CEO of Drukka Startup Studio

Attila works on startup studios, venture builders since 2015. He's author of the first and so far only book on startup studios.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NVNYM4C

Reach out to get insight on the following startup studio questions:
+ What are the characteristics of a good studio leader?
+ Guidelines for creating a studio investment thesis
+ How to plan the studio funnel
+ Managing Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and CEOs
+ Building a Core Team
+ Financial modeling
+ Fundraising and investor relations
+ Corporate venture builders

You will get insight and heuristics about the global startup studio landscape, so you can make the best decision for your studio.

Decide on Best Market & Focus Areas » for Startup Studios and Venture Builders

"Attila is definitely the #1 authority in the startup studio world." -- Mester Tamás @ data36.com

For a startup studio or venture builder, the first strategic question is which market or technology to choose as focus area. This will determine the "startup template" the studio will focus, including the resource needs, the landscape... thus it is a decisive factor on the studio's entire portfolio.

Especially if the Leader of the studio has many ideas and opportunities, how to select the best one? How to make a decision that will ensure the long-term viability and success of the studio?

Attila's experience in building and advising startup studios helps you to make the best decision. Calls above 30 minutes for this topic include access to a spreadsheet with detailed guidelines and scoring: The result is a clear overview of possible directions and an objective system to decide.

I Will Teach You How to Build & Grow a Corporate Startup Studio, Venture Builder

For those who are working in corporate innovation or who want to build a startup studio that services corporations and co-builds startups with them.

I have invested 5+ years and 10000+ hours into building and scaling startup studios and researched international best practices. As part of this I created the strategy to build and operate a corporate venture builder.

I will teach you how to build and grow a Corporate Startup Studio, Venture Builder:
+ how to align the venture builder with the corporate innovation strategy and build a strong foundation for success
+ how to manage stakeholders and get their buy-in and support
+ how to effectively bridge the corporate and the startup mindset and build bridges to the startup ecosystem
+ how to select and assemble the best Team who can create startups that satisfy the corporation's needs
+ how to organize a venture builder: deal flow, selection, resource allocation, fundraising, exit planning...

Give me a call to discover the startup studio approach as a way to expand your innovation toolbox and create value for your company. Get inspiration from international case studies. Widen your business potential and make your corporate startup studio work. I can help you to build your strategy, refine your plans, identify and reduce risks involved, craft your pitch deck.

Answers 7
Reviews 14

Answers

Attila Szigeti answered

How can I build the team of a startup studio?

Team is the most critical component for a venture builder organization. You need to hire people who have the right "studio mindset", who accept your vision and operating procedures and who can work on multiple startup initiatives in parallel.

Also here you can find some more hints about CEO selection for the portfolio companies:

https://medium.com/@aszig/startup-studio-advice-1-how-to-build-the-founding-team-of-a-studio-938efd0caffe#.4hb3n7jy8

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Startup Consulting

Entrepreneurship

Founding

Attila Szigeti answered

How can I raise funds for a new startup studio?

As someone who is deeply involved with startup studios, here are a few hints.
1. First, calculate your optimal scale of operations. In our startup studio this was about 12-15 people core team + dedicated ceo-s for each startup experiment
2. Raise funds for the studio, for at least 12-18 months. Your options:
- use your own money
- do agency work
- get direct VC investment (hardest one, you will need traction)
- get corporate financing
3. Raise funds for your startups that are ready for it.

More on the topic here:
https://medium.com/@aszig/startup-studio-advice-2-how-to-raise-funds-for-a-newly-created-venture-builder-cfff0602d14#.4it9foo5h

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Start-ups

Raising Venture Capital

Founding

Attila Szigeti answered

I want to develop a mobile application that is cross platform with good performance and design. Which technology should I use ?

Assuming that this is not a "fun only" project and you have some broader professional and financial goals that you want to achieve with this app...

For the best answer, let's clarify and map out the circumstances of your question:
1. Who will be your client (who pays for your solution), and what kind of technological requirements they have?
2. Will you develop and also maintain/update the app? How frequently do you plan to roll out fixes, updates?
3. Who will be the users of your app? And how large will be your user base? What will be their preferences in using the app? Are there any specific
...

From all my venture building experience I learned, that even questions that seem purely technology-related, it' best to start with such high-level questions. Once you know all your preferences and requirements, it will be much easier to decide which technology stack will serve you best.

And if you did not yet decide on these high-level questions, then apply the startup studio framework. Because that will help you to discover a lot more hidden opportunities and potentials.

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Mobile applications

Attila Szigeti answered

What would be the promising business model for 2021?

To find unicorn-worthy ideas and models, apply the startup studio framework. Because that will help you to explore all angles and you will discover a lot of potential opportunities. Better to have lots of ideas upfront, so you can properly rate them and find the top 1-3 that suits you best.

Go through these questions, steps:
1. What is the most desired, biggest vision you want to achieve? What is your most desired "final feeling", that drives you?
2. Gather all the markets, technologies, trends and topics that interest you. Explore these shortly.
3. Assess where you are: what is the market or topic where you achieved past successes? where is your network? what unique skills you have access to? what is the capital you can mobilize to build a new venture?
4. Identify your most important values, circumstances, constraints, that you are not willing or able to change.
5. Which are the top 3-5 businesses that impressed you in the last few years? Why?

At the intersection of these, there will be still multiple markets, trends, ideas. You can judge and sort them by:
- gut feeling / alignment to your personality
- size of the market, the opportunity
- barriers to entry, e.g. capital needed
- timeliness
- feasibility
...

I love to do these brainstorm sessions. We used this approach when launching our startup studio in 2015 and creating our batch of first 12 startups. Give me a call if you want me to drive forward the discussion.

Let's rock 2021 and beyond!

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Business Development

Business planning

Business Strategy

Attila Szigeti answered

I want to start selling on Amazon and need mentor / training/ coaching. Please advise

Just get started, with your first product, build up momentum and continuously refine your offerings and the way you manage the business.

I'm telling you this, because it's easy to get lost in overanalyzing and overtraining - and forgetting about the actual execution.

When I put my book on Amazon, I quickly searched for the top 10 similar and competing books, as a benchmark. Then I just created my profile, and the product page - based on what I saw in the examples. And every now and then I do simple growth experiments, like:
- change in product description
- exploring Amazon ads
- sharing the product page embedded in some content
...

The basic principle is similar to how we built each startup in our venture builder: select a market where we see multiple opportunities -> come up with potential ideas/products -> quickly and effortlessly create prototype or MVP -> sell it as soon as possible, get market validation. Actually, when we are not talking just about Amazon, we like to sell first and build later. There are of almost zero-cost validation methods to make sure that we come up with a service or product that the market wants, that is worth building.

Happy to discuss further.

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Online Marketing

Attila Szigeti answered

What company type is suitable for my online business needs and related issues?

First, clarify your goals that you want to achieve with your business, because these will help you to decide on the best company type. Here are some of the questions and parameters we usually assess when creating a venture:
1. How big the business will grow in terms of revenue, nr of employees, locations etc?
2. Now or in the future do we plan to raise capital or involve additional shareholders?
3. Do we plan to create an Employee Stock Option Plan?
4. Are there any legal, regulatory requirements that influence the company type we can chose? (e.g. for medical practice)
5. From an accounting, tax perspective, specific to our business model and projections, which company type would allow us to minimize taxes?

Some company types are just easier to handle. Also, if raising venture capital, then there are pretty good best practices already, so no need to reinvent the wheel.

Either way, apart from doing this self-assessment, I'd recommend finding a good and affordable lawyer and accountant before incorporation - ones who have a good track record in the state/country where the company will be registered. And definitely get their input too.

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E-commerce

Small Business Development

Small Business Consulting

Attila Szigeti answered

How do you structure a small business with one partner as investor and another in charge of operations?

First things first, you should do your assessment, due diligence of the person offering you this opportunity and the assessment of the offer and underlying business model.

Do you know this person, do you have an established trusting relationship?
Does this person have successful and verifiable business traction in the same field?
Are there any references you can check?

Also, assess what you could do alternatively with the capital that you would invest here? A comparison of the opportunities' type, risk profile, ROI etc will make it easier to decide if this is even a relevant opportunity for you or not.

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Investments

Private Equity

New Business Development

Reviews

Excellent session with Attila, thank you for the great insights!

Alexi Jones Source: Clarity

Excellent call as usual. Very detailed oriented with the right advice with care.

Ahmad Abutaleb Source: Clarity

Attila was incredibly helpful and well prepared. Appreciate his time!

Catalin Matei Source: Clarity

Attila's experience in the startup space shown through on this call, where he gave me an outstanding perspective on how to work with our users & clients to get a concrete idea of our next steps. I really appreciate his perspectives and action-orientation, and look forward to continuing our conversation. Highly recommended.

Ian Nagy Source: Clarity

Excellent call. Attila has been extremely helpful and shared with me some very valuable resources. Strongly recommend

Rafik Abasov Source: Clarity

It was a wonderful call with a well-prepared expert. I learned a lot.

Ahmad Abutaleb Source: Clarity

Very knowledgeable although it was very short call, I will definitely have a second one :)

Ahmad Abutaleb Source: Clarity

"Transforming a successful product agency into a thriving startup studio, venture builder is a big challenge. After our call with Attila, I trust that he has all the relevant experience and insight that we need to make this happen. "

Roni F Source: Clarity

It has been a pleasure connecting with Attila! His background, passion & insights were of great value to our design sprint!

Gamal Sadek Source: Clarity

Excellent Call. Will be speaking again for further advise. Many thanks

Hammad Akbar Source: Clarity

Attila is amazing. He is super willing to share his knowledge about startup studios and company building. He also sent on loads of great resources after our call. I'd highly recommend chatting with Attila for anyone building a startup studio or just interested in the best way to test/launch startups quickly.

Brandon Evans Source: Clarity

Member since March 2015