Idea: Create the Dreamville Ventures (or Roc-A-Fella Records) for startups.
- Utopic is my personal label and parent company for my startups.
- Utopic Studio is my atelier where I develop my own startup ideas.
- Utopic Ventures will be my fund to invest in other founders’ studios.
Types of Deals:
- Invest: Some founders just need money.
- Advise: Some founders just need advice.
- Partner: Some founders need a Shadow Co-Founder.
- 360 Deal: Some founders want it all.
This work in the Studio would come before any seed funding, accelerators, or even co-founders.
- Studio → Co-Founders → Pre-Seed → Accelerators → Seed → Series A, etc.
- We’ll help you skip one or more steps and potentially avoid outside funding entirely.
Problem: Most founders own less than 50% of their company by their seed round.
- 1 co-founder + 1 pre-seed round = 50%+ dilution.
Solution: Utopic will be your co-founder + first investor for 20%.
- Minimizing early dilution maximizes founder control over the vision and direction of their startup.
Mission: Be the first investor and Shadow Co-Founder to the most promising founders.
- Goal: Be the world’s earliest angel investor.
Expansion: Back my founders’ entire portfolios, not just specific startups.
- Giving my founders the freedom to take many shots on goal and winning whenever they win.
Opportunity: Encourage the best founders to create their own startup studios.
- This solves the fundamental misalignment between founders and investors:
- Founders shouldn’t have to go all-in on each idea.
- Investors should back founders long-term, not just for one startup.
Vision: Organize a community of ambitious optimists to take on the World’s Biggest Problems.
My DMs are open @neilthanedar if you’re interested in this idea as a founder, investor, and/or partner!