Utopic Studio

Idea: An indie startup studio to research, develop, and commercialize my ideas.

• Indie = 100% Ownership
  • I’m prioritizing independence in this phase of my career.
  • Individual startups in my portfolio can and will raise outside capital when they’re ready to be independent.
    • But Utopic LLC, the original parent company, will always stay 100% mine.
• Startup = Anything I Want to Create
  • Any funding: Bootstrapped → VC/PE
  • Any entity: For-profit or nonprofit; C-Corp, LLC, or DAO
  • Any offering: Services → Products
  • Any sector: Science, Software, Media, Manufacturing, Healthcare, etc.
• Studio = Parallel Entrepreneurship
  • The Lab: Decentralized research, strategy, and operations.
  • The Factory: Centralized development, marketing, legal, finance.

Focus: Science + technology products and services sold online.

• Rapidly launch new products and services that I know need to exist.
• Use Micro M&A to buy and turnaround struggling startups with great products.

Utopic Master Plan:

1. Acquire and relaunch a proven product: Pro Benches
2. Use that cashflow to launch new products.
3. Create a pipeline for rapid product development.
4. Inspire and invest in other founders’ studios through Utopic Ventures.

Funding: Studio funds all R&D until Series A:

• All startups begin as part of Utopic LLC, the parent company.
  • Utopic LLC will remain 100% owned by me.
• Spin out winning startups as independent companies.
  • Recruit CEO and leadership team for each startup.
  • Grant and sell equity in specific startups to key contributors.
• Split startups into different funds.
  • Recruit LPs into Utopic Ventures fund that invests in every Utopic graduate.
  • Raise Opportunity Fund to lead growth rounds in Utopic startups.
    • Limit Opportunity Fund to Utopic Ventures LPs only.

Pipeline: Research (Lab) → Development (Factory) → Commercialization (Store)

• I’m most energized when I’m working in the Lab.
• I will recruit leaders for the Factory and Store.

Key: Recruiting CEOs

• Target #1: Entrepreneurs with 1 small win or 1 big miss on their record.
• Target #2: Collaborations with successful creators in other fields.

Key: Build a Founder Tree.

• Recruit future CEOs into key roles inside startups.
• Each project has one CEO, and that CEO recruits their own team.

Inspiration: The best features from my favorite creators and studios of all-time.

• Use science and technology to invent the future like Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park Lab:
  • “Menlo Park became the first institution set up with the specific purpose of producing constant technological innovation and improvement.”
• Become a hub for creatives like Warhol’s Factory.
  • “It wasn’t called the Factory for nothing. It was where the assembly line for the silkscreens happened. While one person was making a silkscreen, somebody else would be filming a screen test. Every day something new.” – John Cale
• Create a winning culture that expects excellence every time like Pixar.
  • “The first two years of a movie’s development should be a time of solidifying the story beats by relentlessly testing them—much like you temper steel.” – Ed Catmull
• Inspire and invest in the next generation of creators like J. Cole’s Dreamville.
  • Utopic Studio : Dreamville Studio :: Utopic Ventures : Dreamville Ventures
    • My studio’s success will attract the best founders to my fund.

Vision: Create a factory of solutions to the World’s Biggest Problems.

• Start by creating, buying, and growing my own startups and products.
• Expand by investing in other founders’ studios through Utopic Ventures.

This idea is a work-in-progress. If you’d like to riff on it, hit me up @neilthanedar on Twitter.