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Staffing a venture studio isn’t copy-and-paste; headcount and roles hinge on the studio’s vertical focus, validation depth, charge-back model, and annual venture output. By clarifying seven design criteria—studio type, pre-incorporation work, post-incorporation services, investment size, charge-backs, venture cadence, and founder profile—you can right-size salaries (the largest expense) and avoid bloated teams that drain runway before the first startup spins out.
We’ve learned that team design follows the venture studio blueprint, not the other way around. Assuming you’ve done the work to design your studio’s business model, we then recommend starting with a vertical / domain expert to partner with. This ensures deep knowledge, relationships you can access and credibility in your chosen market.
Then, build a team that covers the main skill areas (technology, product, design and sales and marketing), that are willing to work on several things at any one time and have the skill to do so well.
That last part isn’t for everyone, nor can everyone do a good job of spinning all the plates, but it is important to get right. You may also need to look at someone to manage your Operations, to keep all the trains on the trackers, or a Recruiter, because founder hiring is hard. Beyond that it’s likely best you build out a solid contractor network to plug in the gaps for skills or capacity.
How exactly you execute this varies largely based on preference but for us, the leaner the team, the better. A smaller team keeps costs low and increases the odds your venture studio is sustainable.
Q: When should we bring founders into the process?
A: If you run three months of validation, recruit founders just before incorporation so they inherit clear data and immediate equity stakes.
Q: Do we need full-time designers and marketers?
A: Not always. Early design and growth tasks can be handled by contractors if a product-focused partner or founder can brief and manage them.
Q: How many startups can one shared team handle?
A: A lean core (partners, CTO, ops, juniors) comfortably supports three to four parallel builds; above that, add specialists or risk delays.
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