This is a blog devoted to problems of managing innovation generally, and open innovation in particular.  Before I define that term, let me introduce myself.  I’m a professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School, and a former manager in the computer disk drive industry in Silicon Valley.  When I worked in the Valley, I distinctly recall feeling frustrated that there weren’t more useful ideas and advice from academia.   It seemed like the concerns of professors and the concerns of managers like me were far, far apart. Later, I decided to enter into a PhD program to become a professor, and do what I could to reduce this gap between the academy and industry.  I taught at Harvard Business School from 1997 to 2003, and have been at Berkeley ever since.

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Startups are superhard. Luckily, there are plenty of ‘startup institutions’ helping founders to not screw everything up.

For example, you may have heard of ‘incubators’, ‘accelerators’, or ‘co-working spaces’? But when I say, ‘startup studio’, most people haven’t heard of this newer model.

A startup studio (also known as a startup ‘factory’ or ‘foundry’) takes bits and pieces from other models and adds an agency-style approach.

Before getting involved in the startup space I worked in agencies. This gave me a lot of exposure to this idea of a centralised team of talent, who are all working with each other to pump out high quality work for lots of brands at once.

When I started launching tech startups, I found it weird that there weren’t any available options with this same centralised team model.

How does a startup studio work?

The model is simple.

You hire a bunch of incredibly talented people: designers, coders, copywriters, marketers, and so on. Startup studio teams usually begin by working on their own in-house projects to get the hang of working well together.

Then, just like an agency, you open up your doors to the public to allow other people to hire your team for their startup.

The biggest difference between startup studios and incubators or accelerators is how hands-on they are. An incubator or accelerator will generally have small teams who focus on strategy and mentorship, whereas studios do the same PLUS deliver essential services like designing, coding, marketing, and more.

NOTE: There is nothing at all wrong with incubators or accelerators, we are partnered with some awesome ones. The only downside is that they only work with A-grade fully fledged teams, so any founder without this team won’t be accepted into their programs.

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