Early stage means that you’re still at an embryonic level of an idea, a concept, a prototype or you’re just about to launch or have just launched your idea and (maybe) signed the first customers.

It all depends on the kind of venture and what already has been done by the founder(s). In our opinion, the founder or founding team should have the largest stake in the company. Copilr should be regarded as an extra co-founder. As the company grows and new capital rounds are finalized, Copilr will be diluted by the new investors. Below a visualization about equity progress.

Humans have visual brains so....we visualized it.

We’re looking for Belgian based B2B SaaS ventures in an early stage (idea to prototype) with the ambition of going internationally. We partner with founders who share our core values and with whom we feel the connection and the ambition to build something extraordinary.

A startup studio, also known as a startup factory or a venture studio, is a team of experienced people (that have built startups before), aimed at building companies in a repeatable way. There are several types of startup studios: those focussing on the development and product side, those behaving more as a Venture Capitalist aiming at raising money and those focussing on building the whole company (product, funding, sales, marketing, operations, organization). Copilr Studio belongs to the latter category, we turn early-stage ideas into successful companies. In return for an equity stake, Copilr comes on board and helps the founder(s) in building up the company. We aim to get the venture up and running as quickly and as smoothly as possible and to help the founder(s) to build the team that they afterwards need to further scale.

Yes, we’re an integrated studio which means that we apply a dual business model (advisory and/or venturing) which allows us the necessary flexibility to find the right balance for you. We use the same people, the same motivation and the same tools. Our advisory and entrepreneur-in-residence approach ensures you the best support you need. We will at all times watch and disclose possible conflicts of interest between advisory clients and ventures.

Research has shown that startups that were launched within an eco-system of a studio not only have a bigger success rate, but they also go faster and pivot also quicker when necessary. Reasons: Team on day one: startup studios have a team on staff with early-stage startup experience that are familiar with the processes and toolsets of the studio. Studio staff is of a higher caliber than what an early-stage startup can directly hire and cost significantly less than hiring experienced talent as contractors. This removes the need to source, hire, guide and manage a team to deliver for the needs of an early-stage startup. Bottom Line? As a founder you can move up to twice as fast and with less stress on your shoulders and potentially a better work-life balance. Higher success rates when raising money: 60% of startups from studios raise a Series A round compared to 38% of the startups that participate in an accelerator program. Process & infrastructure in place to move faster: with a studio, common processes, infrastructure needs, and relationships are already in place. Everything from forming the corporate entity, setting up accounting, having the right legal contracts in place, and all of the other little details that fall on the founders' shoulders that distract and take up valuable time are already set up and ready to go with the support of a studio. Bottom Line? You can move faster with confidence of avoiding many early mistakes. In short, a studio tackles all of the shortcomings of accelerators, incubators, and venture capital at once to create an organization whose sole focus is to build successful companies from the earliest stages.

We focus on 5 verticals: PropTech LogTech HealthTech SportsTech EnergyTech In certain verticals we can go quicker because of a deep expertise or network we have in that specific vertical . This allows us also to connect within the eco-system of clients and ventures.

The biggest difference lies in the selection and the approach. A studio will work only with ventures that are based on real market needs. An accelerator or an incubator will make a choice out of a pool of participating startup candidates. While a studio is also more hands-on, an accelerator or an incubator will focus more on the mentoring and guiding side. Bottom line? A studio will offer an experienced team of staff members that are dedicated and focused on your startup. As common processes, infrastructure needs, and relationships are already in place, you move faster with confidence of avoiding many early mistakes. Aimed at building companies in a repeatable way, a studio will nearly double your odds of success when raising money afterwards. A startup studio is there to stay till exit, initially as a co-founder, after a year and a half as a board member supporting the founders.

Every idea we’re looking at sounds good at first. But nine out of ten aren’t. We’re looking for quality ventures. Ideas, founders that match our core values and investment profile. We prefer one project less if that means we can dedicate more time to better launching another venture. We aim to build 1-2 ventures each year.

Yes, we’re not in this to claim the idea or the venture. In fact, our goal is not only to increase the rate of success but also to have the founder and the founding team stand on their two feet as quickly as possible. At a certain moment, Copilr will retreat to a board function and the founding team will be in the driver's seat Below a visualization of our involvement.