OUR STARTUP STUDIO
Technology has changed what a seed round buys, a small senior studio team can now design, build and have a first version live and taking money in a few months for what a founder used to spend on the first two hires. We have found that most founders who come to us with a business idea and have just raised seed funding.
Ronins is a venture studio based in London and Surrey who work with entrepreneurs and founding teams across the UK and internationally. We come in once the seed money has landed, we join as co founders, we bring our own product, design and development team in at cost and we build the first version around product market fit, whether that is a marketplace, a SaaS product or a platform for a specific industry, so the round you have already raised gets you to real customers.
We take equity and reduce our fees so we only do well when the business does.
OUR VENTURE STUDIO MODEL
Co Founders
Someone who sits in the CTO seat with the founding team, makes the build decisions and is on the hook for them. We have done this on our own ventures and on other founders’ ventures and it is the seat most early stage teams are missing.
Product
The first version is usually small, perhaps an MVP and something a customer will pay for, and it goes out as soon as it works. We have found that most of the feature list a founder arrives with gets built later or not at all once the market has shown us what it wants.
The Next Round
When there are paying customers the conversation with investors is about growth not whether it can be built. We have raised ourselves and sat on the other side of the table, we prepare the numbers and make the introductions to angels and venture capital firms once we are in.
Some of our venture studio startups
CATCH
The fishing world hadn’t really gone digital.
CHAINBREAKER TECHNOLOGIES
Helping people live better
AIME
Building an AI companion that listens when people need it most.
WE GIVE YOU PRODUCT MARKET FIT
What Founders Get
A technical co founder: The CTO seat, the architecture, the build decisions and the accountability for them, with a track record of taking products to market that we can show you.
An in house team at cost: Our own designers and developers with a small margin on their time, scaling up and down with what the venture needs that month rather than what a payroll needs. It is the in house team most seed stage companies cannot afford to hire.
Product strategy: What do we build first and what comes later, We have found this is where most of the seed money gets saved.
Advice from people who have done it: We have built, raised, exited and started again and the advice comes from that lived experience. We hold Weekly or bi-weekly conversations about the decisions in front of you, what to build, who to hire, when to say no and you still run the business.
Brand and design: We design the brand, the logo and the product interface in the studio so the venture looks like an established company. Catch, AiME and Conterra all had theirs done this way.
Fundraising: We help prepare the forecast model and the pitch deck for the next round as well as make the introductions once we believe the business is ready.
Our network: We have been doing this for twenty years and the people we have met along the way come with us, angels who have backed our ventures, founders who have exited, the lawyer we use for SEIS and the accountant who does our cap tables. You get introduced to whoever you need when you need them.
OPERATIONAL SUPPORT FOR FOUNDERS
How it Works
The first conversation: This is where we ask questions, lots of questions, about your market, what you have built so far, how much of the round is left and what it needs to get you to. It usually takes a few calls and we have found that most of the time the answer at the end of them is no, but you will know that quickly.
The terms: We take a small amount of equity and reduce our fees, it goes into a shareholders agreement and nothing starts until that is signed. How much equity depends on how much there is to build and how far the round needs to go.
The roadmap: In the first few weeks we work out with you what the next 12 months look like, what has to be true for the next round and what need to get developed in rder to get there. This is the document the whole venture will be against.
The build: Our designers and developers plug into your team and the work is scoped and costed, so you can see what the money is going on and turn it up or down.
The board: We sit on the board or attend as an observer, we are in the monthly management figures and the hiring decisions so when it makes sense to bring in your own CTO we help you find them and hand the seat over.
Most seed stage founders hire a CTO when what they need is a product.
OUR POINT OF VIEW
The first technical hire is usually the biggest cost in a seed round and we have found it is also the most common mistake. A CTO at that stage builds for the company you may become in three years, they pick the technology, they hire at least two developers who spends their first six months on the platform and the founder is paying a senior salary and equity for a product that we dont know has product market fit.
The same money with our senior studio team that has a proven model and track record you get a first version in front of customers inside a few months so we can see what those customers do with it.
We believe that the CTO position should be filled by someone who has already taken products to market and can be replaced later when the company starts to scale. That is what we do, we take the seat, we build the first version on the round already raised and when there are paying customers and the product is the company, we help you hire your own CTO and hand it over. The founders we work with keep the equity they would have given the first hire and the product is already in the market by the time that conversation happens.
We strongly believe that behind every venture we join is someone’s life’s work and the thing we care most about is that they still own most of it when it works.
FAQS
Questions we are asked before we are hired
What stage do you join?
We only come in after the seed round, thats when the founder joins us with the money and the idea but not the team to build it. We do also take on startups that raised a while ago and the first products stalled or needs a change of direction.
How are you different to an incubator?
The key difference is that we are not a programme. Incubators and accelerators give you a cohort and some mentoring, a founders factory or a corporate studio comes up with its own ideas and hires someone to run them. You already have the idea and the funded round and we build it with you.
How does the equity work?
We take a minority stake against a reduced fee and the percentage depends on how much building is in front of us and how far the round has to stretch. It all goes into the shareholders agreement before any work starts and it is a lot less Investment on your side than a first technical hire would have cost in salary and equity.
Do you replace my team?
God no thats your job, you run the day to day operations and we support founders with the decisions and do the building of the mobile app or web app or chatbot. Where you already have developers ours work alongside them and where you have nobody technical we fill that seat until it makes sense to hire.
Do you invest cash as well?
No, the investment is our time and our team at a reduced rate rather than a cheque. We have found that founders post seed do not need more money, they need the money they have to go further, and a studio team at close to cost does that in a way a further £200k would not. Cash comes from the angels and funds we introduce you to when the business is ready for it.
Who owns the code and the IP?
You do once the bills are paid, this means that all the code and the designs, the brand and the documentation sit in your venture’s own accounts and repositories so if we parted ways you would carry on without us. As we are shareholders so we have no interest in holding you back, the company being worth more is the whole point.
What if it doesn’t work?
Sometimes unfortunately it doesn’t, we find that if the first version goes out quickly we get to see whether customers will pay for it or not, thats our process and it is a lower risk way of spending a seed round than building for a year first. If they will not pay we sit down with you and change direction or call it, we have had our own ventures not work and that conversation is easier while there is still money in the bank.
How many ventures do you take on?
A handful of new ventures at any one time. Every one of them needs the same senior people in the CTO seat and the same design and development resources on the build so we keep the focus on a few, and we only take on the promising ideas where we think there is a high growth company in it if we get to paying customers on the round already raised.
How much of my time does it take?
More than an investor would ask for and certainly less than running a dev team yourself. We have found the founders who get the most out of our venture builder model are in the weekly product conversation, on the customer calls and involved in the product roadmap. If your expertise in the industry that does the most good here and we are here to guide and support you on that journey.
Which sectors do you work in?
Most of them apart from gambling and tobacco although the founder matters more than the sector. we look for a good business opportunity that was not there before, Catch is fishing, AiME is mental health and Conterra is threat intelligence and none of those were sectors we had worked in before we joined them, but we do have the most knowledge in marketplaces, SaaS, digital health and ai led products.
Do you work outside the UK?
Yes even though we work out of London and Guildford Surrey, some of the founders we work with are outside the UK and the way we work does not depend on being in the same room, although we are there for the meetings that matter. The venture ecosystem is different in every country, who the angels are, how the tax relief works, what a venture capital fund at Series A expects to see, and we have found the product side is the same everywhere.
What do you get out of it?
Shares in a business we helped build and one day an exit alongside you. We have had our own and this is the reason the studio exists is to do it again in partnership with founders who know their market better than we do. We measure success the same way you do, paying customers, a next round on good terms and a company that is still yours at the end of it.
It was like watching an elite team guide a group of novices (my team) through difficult terrain. They moved as one, flexed, adjusted and constantly managed the user experience, and made it both fun and personal at the same time.
Adrienne McDunn PERSONALYSISProof in the Partnerships
