Seb Cox: the Lowdown on Venture Studios

In this week’s issue, Seb unpacks for us what it’s like working with a venture studio, his rules of thumb for deciding if an idea is worth pursuing, and some insider thoughts on creativity, team building, and capital raising.
The theme throughout Seb’s experiences is the line entrepreneurs must tread between pragmatic preparation and bold experimentation. For those who have deep expertise in a specific vertical but don’t identify as a founder, there are people in the world like Seb who can help bring your vision to life. Success is a matter of doing your homework, examining opportunities with many different lenses, gritting your teeth, and going for it. Oh, and don’t forget to have fun along the way.

Seb covers a lot of ground. For current and aspiring founders, you will want to commit his lessons to your toolbox:‍

On ventures studios - They’re a home for non-technical founders and a career springboard for talented folks seeking cutting edge experiences. “When [founders] first come to us, if they have capital, we can start building something straight away. If they don't, we help them structure the company, write a pitch deck, advise them as to how they might go out to VCs or investors and get that company capitalised. And at the same time, we're figuring out what the first slice is that we're going to take to market.”

On ideation and execution - There’s no such thing as a bad idea, but ideas must be handled diligently. Seb credits thinking from innovators like Rowan Simpson, whose essay on nurturing ideas has influenced how he takes ideas to execution.

On creativity - Make every play an impact play. “With early stage startups, like every decision that you make, is potentially existential. The squeeze has to be worth the juice."

On team building - Embrace hard work. Make it fun and go further together.

On building a company - Know your reason for being, game plan your capital raising, the #1 rule is timing.