Let’s not sugar-coat it – the world of startups is risky for both founders and investors. Everyone knows it, but the stats still sting: 75% of venture-backed startups never return capital.
And even when founders secure funding, the odds are still stacked against them. The journey is slow, lonely, and often filled with dead ends.
On average, it takes a traditional startup nearly 56 months – that’s five years in old money – just to reach Series A. That’s a long time to survive without the right people, the right support, and the right market signals. Let’s not even talk about runway. It’s no wonder so many don’t make it.
Venture studios, like SIDEKICK, are designed to flip that script.
They don’t just fund founders and hope for the best. They co-build alongside them, shoulder to shoulder, accelerating the path to scale.
The numbers speak for themselves
- 25 months vs 56 months: Startups built in studios hit Series A more than twice as fast as those outside them.
- 72% vs 42%: Nearly three-quarters of studio-born companies reach Series A, compared to less than half of traditional startups.
- 60% vs 21%: Studio portfolios deliver internal rates of return almost three times higher than standard VC funds.
That’s not down to luck or hedging bets. That’s down to a repeatable process – a structure that changes the odds by taking the riskiest part of the startup journey, the messy early stages, and making them navigable. This includes:
- Validating before building Bad ideas are killed quickly through strict filtering. It’s not about chasing trends or spreading bets at scale and crossing fingers.
- De-risking the early stages Founders get capital, a team, process, expertise, and playbooks from day one.
- Capitalising on repeatable success Lessons learned from one venture feed into the next, compounding results in real time. This isn’t advice steeped in what worked 20 years ago – it’s current lived experience applied at speed.
In a venture studio like SIDEKICK, founders don’t have to guess what to do next. The path is well trodden, making the journey clearer, faster, and more resilient. Instead of spending months searching for co-founders, chasing investors, or hiring piecemeal talent, they gain a ready-made support system.
World-class product development, IP, legal, branding & marketing, go-to-market sales expertise and more is all in house. Add in capital, sector expertise, and the right doors opening at the right time, and founders can focus on what matters most – building products that work.
At SIDEKICK, we believe this model is especially powerful in cyber, defence, and national security – industries where failure isn’t just expensive, it’s consequential.
By working directly with founders, we help them navigate not only the demands of growth but also the governance, compliance, and resilience challenges unique to these sectors.
Systemised success
Venture studios outperform traditional startup models because they don’t leave success to chance.
For founders, that means faster progress and stronger businesses. For investors, it means better returns and de-risked opportunities. And for ecosystems like Gloucestershire, it means turning untapped potential into ventures that scale – creating jobs, investment, and ambition.
The numbers prove it: venture studios don’t just back startups. They build them better.
