Request for Founder (RFF)

Seeking domain experts ready to leverage tech to bring innovation to their industry.

These eyes are maybe a little creepy here. We have a fun, quirky brand, so let’s roll with it.

🕵️ Know this founder?

• Strong domain expertise (founder/market fit)
• Solving a clear problem
• Fast path to revenue (6 months or less)
• Building a venture-funded startup
• Needs to build a mobile or web app
• Pre-product
• Scrappy (does a lot with a little)

Get in touch if this is you, or let us know if you know someone who could be a good fit!

The RFF

First, there was the Request for Proposal (RFP), a document used by organizations to solicit proposals and pricing quotes for a job or project. Then, Y Combinator popularized the Request for Startup (RFS), a way for VCs to share the type of companies they’d love to invest in. Now, we at Make Studios want to share with you a Request for Founder (RFF), a description of a founder persona we’re looking to invest in and work alongside!

Some startup studios work on their own ideas and then recruit entrepreneurs to manage those companies, keeping a huge chunk of ownership for the studio. We do the opposite. We provide resources to founders working on their own ideas and only take equity based on the amount of capital we invest (not a fixed equity amount like accelerators and incubators often do). That means we need to find amazing founders capable of leading their own high-growth startup and who we’re a good fit to support and accelerate.

Just like we advise our portfolio companies to do, we experiment and iterate toward product/market fit ourselves. One hypothesis we’re testing is that founders with incredible experience in a specific industry with minimal tech experience could become unicorn founders given the right support.

RFF: The Domain Expert

We get excited about building software for industries with outdated processes and workflows. Domain experts in these industries are ideally positioned to have great ideas based on their real life experience and a multi-dimensional understanding of the problem, customers, and market opportunity.

But while our studio’s been building startups since 2014 and our partners have been working with and on startups for decades, we know that not everyone has fluency with things like recruiting a CTO, running agile sprints, or knowing what VCs look for in early-stage companies.

That’s why we’re excited to partner with domain experts to combine forces and unlock innovation.

Actual footage of your team and our team joining forces. 🤝

Here are 7 traits we’re looking for in this founder.

1. Strong Domain Expertise
   People who have spent time deeply working in an industry that go on to start companies in that space have great founder/market fit. Within their own network, they already have access to talent and customers. They also have killer insights not only about key problems, but also the stakeholders involved, existing solutions, and go-to-market strategies.
2. Solving a Problem
   Domain experts know which industry problems are critical and which are trivial. Because we want to go from idea to customer revenue in 6 months, it’s important our portfolio companies are solving real and verifiable problems.
3. Fast Path to Revenue
   We help founders get to revenue in 6 months or less. That’s not possible with every business model, but domain experts will know when it’s possible for their space.
4. Seeking Venture-Funding
   Our fund invests in potential unicorn companies ($1B+ valuation), so we’re not a fit for founders building other kinds of businesses.
5. Software is Core
   Building software-based products is our specialty. Our 15-person team eats web and mobile apps for breakfast. While we do have designers on our team, we’re strongest at development.
6. Pre-Product
   As partners, we’re most valuable and efficient when we can build the MVP or v1 app.
7. Scrappy
   We love founders who do a lot with a little. They don’t have dollar signs in their eyes expecting VCs to give them millions before they’ve gained any traction.

I just took a DNA test, so I keep singing Lizzo. Anyone else?

Get In Touch

If you feel like this RFF sounds like you, we want to meet you.

👉 Apply to work with us!

Know someone who might be a great fit? Have them apply, or let us know about them.

🗣 Refer a founder!

Thank you for checking this out!