Venture Factory as a Service
Your own venture factory.
Set up under your name. Run by FiftyKnots.
A venture factory is a standing capability, not a program you buy once. Every venture your fund backs goes through one process on one platform, from first idea to a launched product, and FiftyKnots runs it for you.
A conversation about your fund and how you build ventures. Not a contract.
The problem
Capital does not build ventures. A factory does.
Every venture starts from zero
Each founder you back finds their own way through validation, requirements, design and build. Nothing one venture learned reaches the next, and no two of them can be compared.
A studio team takes years to assemble
Building ventures yourself means hiring analysts, architects and engineers before the first product ships, and carrying them between ventures.
Programs end. Ventures do not.
A program closes on its last day. The venture still needs somewhere to be built, launched and run, and that is usually where it is left on its own.
What you are buying
A capability your fund keeps.
One process for every venture
Ideate, Validate, Define, Design, Plan, then the build and the launch. The same stages and the same gates for every venture, so each one is held to the same standard and none drifts into a build it has not earned.
Your name on the door
White label. Today the invitation carries your name and the working pages carry FiftyKnots. Branding them as yours is part of the setup we scope with you.
FiftyKnots runs it
We operate the process end to end: the drafting, the scoring, the gates and the build. You do not hire a studio team to get a studio.
Built, not just planned
The factory does not stop at a document. A venture that earns its build gets a working, deployed product in its own environment, handed over at launch.
A data vault for every venture
Every document a venture produces is filed in that venture's own data vault. The founder owns it outright, and it goes with the venture wherever the venture goes.
The Bridge
One view across every venture in your factory: where each one is, what it has produced, and which have gone quiet.
How it works
Set up once. Every venture runs through it.
We set up your factory
Your name, your thesis, and what a venture must show to pass each of your gates, in writing. Every review is drafted against it.
Your founders come in
A venture enters when you back it, not when an intake opens. Each one starts with a scored brief and its own data vault.
We run the process
Stage by stage, each one ending in documents the founder owns and a gate where they are accepted. Then the build, and the launch.
You decide at every gate
The Bridge shows what each venture has proved. Whether it goes on is decided by a named person at your fund, against your own criteria.
What comes out
From first idea to a launched product.
What every stage leaves behind
- IdeateBrief, scorecard and a kill sheet: the criteria that would stop the venture.
- ValidateBusiness model, value proposition, customer personas and a market assessment.
- DefineBusiness, functional and technical requirements.
- DesignFunctional, technical and solution design, with acceptance criteria.
- PlanThe venture is ready to build. A build is quoted separately, at Plan.
- BuildA working, deployed product in its own environment, handed over at launch.
Every document is filed in the venture's own data vault. The founder owns it outright. After launch, running the system is quoted per system.
What it costs
Quoted for your fund.
A factory is priced to the fund that owns it. Here is how you are charged; the commit is quoted in writing after one conversation.
- An annual programme commit
- Sized to how many ventures you back at once. It covers The Bridge, FiftyKnots running the process, setting up your criteria and reporting to your fund. Quoted.
- Each venture you back
- R55,000 for the whole ladder, Ideate to Plan, invoiced when its founder accepts your invite. The same published price per venture on every FiftyKnots funder offer.
- Each build
- Quoted for that venture at Plan.
- Running a launched venture
- Quoted per venture, by the month.
- We invoice your fund only. Any contribution you ask of your founders is between you and them, and never appears on our invoice.
- No success fee, and no fee that depends on a raise.
- FiftyKnots is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added to a quote.
Two funder offers
Buying the factory, or buying a cohort?
They are two different things to buy. One is a capability your fund keeps. The other is a single cohort and the decisions that come with it.
This page
Venture Factory as a Service
What you buy
A standing capability: your own venture factory, under your name.
Which ventures
Every venture you back, whenever you back it.
What it is for
Building your ventures and supporting them.
How far it goes
From first idea to a launched product, and the running of it.
What The Bridge is
One view of every venture in your factory.
How long it runs
Ongoing, for as long as you build ventures.
How it is priced
An annual commit sized to your factory, quoted, plus the same published price per venture.
The other offer
Tournament for Capital
What you buy
One cohort of up to 8 ventures.
Which ventures
The founders you invite into that cohort.
What it is for
Deciding which ventures earn your next round.
How far it goes
From idea to ready-to-build, then your Second Round.
What The Bridge is
A leaderboard that ranks the cohort.
How long it runs
Until the cohort has been through its rounds.
How it is priced
A published price per venture, plus The Bridge by the month.
Proof
Two founders. A marketplace holding client money.
Khaya Crew reached us because an investor forwarded an email instead of filing it. Two non-technical founders now run a live marketplace that holds client money against milestones. That is one venture through the factory you would be putting your name on, and every figure in the case study is pinned to primary evidence.
Read the Khaya Crew case studyFor corporates
Building ventures inside a corporate?
IPnition is the corporate edition: portfolio governance for corporate innovation, so every initiative is visible and every allocation is defensible.
Visit IPnitionThe questions funds actually ask
Fair questions. Straight answers.
What exactly are we buying?
A capability, not an event. Your own venture factory, set up under your name and run by FiftyKnots, that every venture you back goes through. It is there for the next venture as much as for the first.
Whose name is on it?
Yours, once your factory is set up. Today the invitation carries your name and the working pages carry FiftyKnots. Branding them as yours is part of the setup we scope with you.
Who owns the work?
The founder. Every document a venture produces is filed in its own data vault, and the founder owns it outright. Your fund owns its criteria, its reviews and its decisions.
Who do you invoice?
Your fund, and only your fund. If you want founders to contribute, that is between you and them, and it never appears on our invoice.
What does our fund see, and when?
From the day a founder accepts your invite, you see the venture's score and how it breaks down, its rung, whether it has stalled, and how much evidence stands behind each part of the score. You do not see document names or contents. When a founder consents, with one tick they can take back, you also see the names of the documents in that venture's vault and whether each has been accepted. Contents stay with the founder: a document opens only if the founder shares it with you.
Do founders see our reviews?
No. Reviews are yours: drafted against your written criteria, decided by a named person at your fund, and never shown to founders. A founder may be told that a review is coming and what evidence counts.
Do you tell us which ventures to back?
No. We do not recommend ventures. The Bridge shows the evidence against your criteria. The decision, and the person who makes it, are yours.
Is there a success fee?
No. There is no success fee and no fee that depends on a raise closing.
How long does it run?
For as long as you build ventures. Each venture moves at its founder's pace, and the factory is there for the next one when you back it.
What happens after Plan?
The venture is ready to build, and the build is quoted for that venture. Whether it builds, and with whom, is the founder's choice: the work up to Plan is theirs and goes with them.
Your reviews stay yours. Founders see their own work and their own progress. They never see what your fund decided about them.
Put your name on a venture factory.
Tell us about your fund and how you build ventures, and we will set up a call.
Book a call