What is a Digital Venture? - NineTwoThree

A digital venture is when an entrepreneur or team of entrepreneurs undergo a risky journey of bringing an idea into existence through a digital artifact usually made by top venture studios or startup studios.

Digital ventures are an important phenomenon in the global economy. Four of the world’s five most valuable brands—Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook—started as digital ventures. They paved the way for more modern ventures like The Dollar Shave Club and other early-stage startups that have taken off. In fact, these ventures have spawned a long list of venture studios around the world.

These companies, along with many other startups change lives - not just for the founders - but all of the users of the product that have increased their productivity, knowledge, communication, or socialization.

But what if the venture fails? Sure, the four brands above have proven massive returns to shareholders with copious amounts of daily users - but for every Startup success, there are 9 that fail.

Understanding The Startup Risk Factors

Most people who build companies will fail, and building startups adds an additional challenge. Interestingly enough, lack of cash was the reason for closing up shop only about 16% of the time - meaning the startups had the human power to succeed - but not the extramental resources to obtain product market fit.

Simultaneously, 20 stories up in the same building, a giant corporation is deciding how it might achieve its quarterly numbers by cutting costs and recognizing revenue. Their “innovation strategy” is an afterthought because the return on investment seems too risky.

With all of the capital and resources available the ability of the corporation to produce a competitor to the latest startup chomping at its market share seems impossible. Plus, 9 out of 10 fail- why should the corporation worry? Or should they…

Why Venture Studios?

Both startups and Corporations face the same problems but from opposite ends of the spectrum. Corporations want to move faster and take calculated risks while startups need additional resources to scale smarter. A Digital Venture Partner sits in the middle to bridge the gap between disruption and insights while leveraging the speed of startups with the resources of corporations.

The best venture studios are specializing in the latest technology trends, from wearable devices in virtual reality to mobile applications that utilize artificial intelligence - they always focus on building for markets that are in high demand and have easily proven Product Market Fits.

Working backward from identifying pain points and motivations, a Digital Venture Partner explores the competitive landscape and maps out the business opportunities. When the scope of the venture is defined the partner will wear many hats thinking about the user experience, marketing, pricing, and operational structures needed to commercialize new products and services such as capitalizing on the latest mobile app development trends.

The right partner will take ownership and manage ventures from beginning to end, and sometimes actively operate these new businesses in the market. The top venture studios of 2023 typically follow this model, from NineTwoThree Venture Studio to Pioneer Square Labs and more.

How Does An Agency Differ From A Venture Studio?

The difference between an Agency and a Digital Venture Partner is simple - ownership. An Agency exists to produce a predicted end result as defined by the requirements while the digital venture will see business opportunities and build solutions around them.

This success can only come from practiced failures and finding a partner that has many failed Digital Ventures of their own will de-risk the endeavor due to understanding what does not work.

Effectively, they've already tried and tested the business model for you, and so working with them through parallel entrepreneurship will introduce a fresh look at your business ideas.

After all, a digital venture starts with an idea. An idea that could change the world or bankrupt a team. Ideas are frightening to corporations because they threaten what is known and are an opportunity for a startup to challenge the way things are.

Under the proper care of a Digital Venture Firm, an idea can be a delightful experience that hides all the complexity and produces a strong positive emotional connection to the brand - ultimately delivering value to the customers and shareholders - just like Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and Apple did for all of us.

There's more to the studio model than just venture capital or being a startup factory. The top startup studios working out there today invest in more than startups and apps, they invest in concepts and founders that they know will succeed based on their own playbook of digital ventures. Work with our Boston venture studio NineTwoThree to build your next project!