July 18, 2024
Andrew Amann, CEO, NineTwoThree Studio
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A serial entrepreneur and go-to-market pro, Andrew Amann has developed a bunch of patents and startups, with some successful exits along the way. A Nuclear Submarine Engineer turned CEO, he runs one of the fastest growing product design and engineering studios, building dozens of companies and hundreds of products, used by millions of people that have created over$ 1B in revenue.
Listen in as we unpack how startups can better de-risk themselves and get help. From partnering with hubs like 1871 and developing a supportive ecosystem to coming up with a breakthrough product/platform ideas that can scale with a real market fit—there are lots of challenges, mountains and potholesuu for entrepreneurs to deal with along the way to success.
Incubators, Accelerators, and Venture Studios
Before we get into how to de-risk start-ups, we wanted to discuss the differences between accelerators, incubators, and venture studios. All three of them aid start-ups in some way but have subtle differences that are important to understand. Andrew described each very well; Accelerators are “exactly what it says it is, it’s just pushing a product from kind of the .5 stage to the one stage.” Incubators “inject a resource when it’s needed” when a startup needs some extra support. Then finally Venture Studios, which is what NineTwoThree was from, “is building [everything] from zero to one.”
De-risking Failure by Understanding It
In Andrews’s career, he has built 14 ventures. Of those 14, 2 have been acquired, one is currently being acquired, and 11 have failed. A piece of advice Andrew has to potentially avoid that failure is “Sales and marketing is 90% of the effort that should not only [be] invested in, but put towards the founder’s mind in how the product will be built.” Before you make a product and go show it off to the Incubators, Accelerators, and Venture Studios, make sure people will buy the product and are looking forward to buying it when it releases.
What To Focus On
Another lesson that Andrew has learned over the years is that to become very successful, you don’t need a brand-new shiny innovation that has never been done before, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Andrew advises his clients to think about their products in two ways; Are you peeling away from a larger market where you have a good market size? Or are you trying to combine multiple products for ease of use on the consumer size? For example, Andrew talks about how Airbnb leveraged Craigslist accelerate it’s journey toward a multibillion-dollar company.
