Capital Formation
We work with founders as advisers and consultants to build the plans behind a durable, investable company.
- Business plan and financial model
- Go-to-market strategy
- Product roadmap
- Business development
For founders
Side by side from idea to company
The Next Wave Venture Studio builds alongside technical founders. Together we turn an idea into a company with a real product and a real market, aim to reach that market sooner and finance the build with the Safer, so control stays with you and revenue buys back the equity you sold.
What we kept running into
Three ways standard venture strains deep tech
The clock is wrong
Funds need exits on a fixed schedule. Autonomy companies wait on regulators, pilots and physics, which pushes founders to commercialize early and raise constantly.
Ownership erodes
Each priced round takes another slice and stacks another preference. Founders who build for a decade can end up owning a small part of it.
Research comes too late
Many teams discover a year or two in that their assumptions about timing, regulation or go-to-market were off from day one.
Company building
What we build together
The studio exists to build companies that last. Every partnership works toward the same five things.
Build lean, keep control
Shared research, embedded operators and studio infrastructure let a small team do more with less capital. No board seats and no transferred votes, so control stays with the founders.
Aim for market sooner
We work the critical path with you from the first weeks, from customer discovery to pilots, with the aim of shortening the road to a first market.
From idea to company
A real product or service, real customers and a real market, built in the right order on top of research that tests the opportunity first.
An IP portfolio
We help you identify, protect and build intellectual property as the technology matures, so the company owns what makes it valuable.
Durable fundamentals
Revenue, unit economics, governance and reporting that hold up to diligence, so the company is investable for a growth round, a sale or staying independent.
The studio partnership
We build the company with you, with our own capital at stake
Thesis research tests the opportunity before we commit. Then we build the product, the market and the company with you and fund the work with the Safer without board control or an exit date.
We back technical founders from the earliest stages in AI and automation, data infrastructure, next-generation power and intelligent infrastructure.
Financing
Revenue buys back your equity
You receive the investment up front. After a honeymoon period, a share of top-line revenue funds quarterly repurchases until the agreed target is met. No board seats, no transferred votes and no forced exit. Sell, raise growth equity or stay independent.
Approvals take years, pilots rewrite roadmaps and science pivots on its own schedule. Our structure has no year-seven deadline. We exit when the market and the company are both ready.
How we build
Operators embedded in the build
Experienced operators work inside the company on the problems that move it forward, from architecture to first customers, and stay as long as the foundation needs them.
CTO
Architecture and engineering
System design, engineering process, technical hiring and safety-critical development. Early on this person writes code with your team.
CFO
Finance that scales
Financial infrastructure, unit economics, investor relations and preparation for later rounds.
CSO
Where to compete
Positioning, market entry sequence, partnerships and where scarce resources go.
CMO
Market presence
Messaging, technical content, demand generation and analyst relationships, sized for deep tech.
COO
Operations before headcount
Operating systems, supply chain, compliance and manufacturing partners before a full operations team.
VP BD
Doors and pilots
Enterprise sales, pilot structure, channel development and customer introductions.
How a partnership starts
From first note to build plan
- 1
Write to us
What you are building, where it sits in the autonomy stack and what is blocking you.
- 2
Thesis review
We test the opportunity against our research and ask what a customer or regulator would ask.
- 3
Structure talk
If there is a fit, we discuss operators, capital and Safer terms in plain numbers.
- 4
Build together
The build plan starts, operators embed and we meet on a regular cadence.
Other ways to work with us
Advisory and consulting
Scoped to one problem
Support without a full partnership
Fractional executives
For funded companies with a specific capability gap. We match an operator who has solved that exact problem before in finance, operations, technical leadership, commercial strategy or partnerships.
- Engagements scoped to the gap blocking progress
- Matched to your company and sector
- Works alongside your existing team
Building a new venture from inside an established company? See Corporate Venture
Reading for founders
Our model at book length
Two books from our general partners explain the studio model and the Safer from the founder’s side of the table.
Venture Capital 2.0
Venture Capital Without UnicornsBuilding autonomous technology?
Send a short note about the company and the problem in front of you. A partner reads every one.