Builders

Our advantagePartnering with us gives founders a definitive edge over other companies in the same space by jumping over common pitfalls. Together we’ll make sure; the opportunity is validated, the timing is right, recruitment is a plus, and the funding is on point.

From day one, for the long runWe provide operational support, resources, and investment capital from the start, which allow our co-founders to excel on execution and growth. This enables us to keep moving fast, provide value to customers early-on, and develop a strong product-market foundation for continuous growth.

Builders and founders

Business founderIn the early days, our CEOs research, prototype, build-measure-learn, and pivot their way to a repeatable business model. Up next, they focus on sales, marketing, product, and everything else required to build and grow the business. During this process, our venture typically spins-out out the studio with fresh funds including their own team and culture.

Technical founderInvolved in everything related to product and technology, our CTOs are experts in their field and have loads of experience with building user-centred software products. Together with our studio engineers, our CTO’s make complex decisions in hours, not weeks. From day one until exit, the real passion goes into building a top-notch product team.

Why partner with us?

Be surrounded with founders who know their way around startups and scale-ups.
Gain flexibility to focus on things that matter instead of wasting time on things that we already figured out.
Secure funding for the early stage of venture development.
Collaborate with a team of smart and passionate people.
Earn solid compensation and meaningful equity.
Get hands-on operational support from our studio team.
Receive honest advice from a global network of tech leaders.
Get daily support with recruitment, accounting, and finance-related tasks.

Join the club

We host an invite-only, inspiring and diverse community of tech leaders looking to collaborate, share knowledge and drive new venture creation.

More info

Build better. Launch early. Grow faster.
Michael van Lier - Managing Director

Partner with us

We are spinning out new ideas regularly and love to connect with inspiring founders. By applying to our Future Founder process, we’ll meet-up early to assess if we could be a match. If you have what it takes to become one of our future founders, let’s talk!

Apply now Explore opportunities

FAQ

How do you evaluate future founders?

We evaluate founder applications based on our studio thesis and founder requirements. Our evaluation process aims to establish a tentative match between our co-founders, opportunity, and studio.

Our most important evaluation criteria:

Track-record as a founder or c-level leader in startups or scaleups.
Operating experience in B2B markets.
Skills and knowledge in the field of tech and software.
Leadership experience with medium-large teams.
Based in Europe and willingness to relocate to the Netherlands.
Operating or building experience in SaaS products.
Long-term vision and commitment.

How invested is Builders in their ventures?

The commitment to our ventures is related to the stages in our venture building framework. In the early days, our studio team is hands-on involved in building and launching the company. Later on, we gradually start adding people to the founding team, and the involvement of our studio team changes to a more strategic role.

How is the equity between Builders and co-founders divided?

We know equity is a precious and emotional subject. In the end, the numbers and added value all have to make sense. To ensure interests are aligned, and we become partners; we believe equity should be equally divided amongst founders. The outcome of this division results in an equal split between our studio and co-founders. We believe it is essential that our co-founders hold a majority stake in our company for follow-on investments in the future.

How do ideas get sourced and validated?

All-year-round we are sourcing and validating inspiring ideas for market potential, customer demand, technical feasibility, and more. When sparks inside our ideation database (also known as our Spark Cellar) look promising, we take our ideas for a data-driven test drive to find the real challenges behind the solutions we aim to deliver. We do so by gradually validating the opportunity through desk and field research.

The essence of our validation process is to laser beam assumptions early, move forward with each success and keep iterating fast. Our approach to validation is data-driven, meaning that the more promising data we find, the more efforts we will invest. We believe in validating through real, non-biased insights by conducting lean experiments, whether via landing pages, MVPs or other proven methods.

Finally, when all our validation efforts prove to be right, we get an Entrepreneur-in-Residence involved in retesting our findings and strengthening the business case with even more data.

How is Builders financed?

Builders is independently financed through our studio fund, which is backed by our studio partners and visionary investors from around the globe.

Does Builders participate in existing companies?

Unfortunately, we do not participate in already established companies. Because we focus on building companies from scratch; our approach, resources, and support won't provide the same value to later-stage companies. Still, we are happy to hear from you and provide you with any advice that helps you along the journey.

I have an amazing idea for a new venture.

Great! While we are focused on early-stage venture building, our approach to ideation is studio-led. This means that we only source and validate ideas internally. We believe by keeping our ideation process in-house, we can sustain a non-biased mindset amongst our founding team and stay true to our studio thesis. Your idea may align with one of our future opportunities, but keep in mind that we always start from scratch.