Venture Builder

In Venture Builder, we provide an environment to support entrepreneurs who have a regular job to be able to pursue entrepreneurship on the side. We control the risks and failure factors that tend to occur in the early stages of the entrepreneurial process, and in so doing provide an environment to enable entrepreneurs to focus on taking on new challenges.

Management ownership
We encourage the entrepreneur to take the lead in launching and growing their business, and the entrepreneur takes a majority share when the business is spun out. Our system ensures a good financial return for the entrepreneur.
Minimizing business startup risks
We do a variety of testing to minimize unnecessary risks that often occur in the early stages of starting a business. The entrepreneur also faces less risk of reduced income, as in the initial stages they can continue their regular job, and in the later stages they can still earn a salary while pursuing their vision.
Dynamic support system & assets
We provide considerable support, including our know-how gained from our experience supporting a variety of startups to date, advice from our entrepreneurial experts, and insights from developing an incredible array of products. Entrepreneurs will also have the chance to leverage the collective knowledge of the other entrepreneurial candidates.

Characteristics

All sorts of risks and difficulties are inevitable during the initial phase of startups. Through the Venture Builder Service, entrepreneurs can take on the challenge of building a new business from within a corporate environment while still receiving financial returns when the startup business succeeds.

Issues when starting a new business
Solutions provided by Venture Builder

Quitting the current job and starting a business presents risks to financial livelihood
Entrepreneurs continue to be employed at the regular job while doing planning and testing in off hours and then are employed by Delight Ventures during the development and operations phase
I want to start prep work for a new business, but I do not have time to make progress
Delight Ventures provides a limited-time business launch program where candidates can work with others in the same phase to develop their businesses
Business idea is still up in the air
Delight Ventures provides a framework for discovering issues and a list of potential business ideas
Risk of the business failing, e.g. lack of consumer need
Business startup specialists will evaluate business plans and provide support for business testing
Cannot put together a product development team
MVP development structure including engineers with abundant startup experience
Unable to take ownership, and no financial return if successful
Upon spinout, the entrepreneur will take the majority shareholding (82% to the entrepreneur, 18% to Delight Ventures)

Venture Builder Process

Through each phase – from issue research to spin-out (external financing) – the professionals at Delight Ventures team up with entrepreneurs to work on new businesses together. At each process stage, we do budget approval (make investment decisions).

1
Approx. 2 months
Issue research & planning
Evaluation budget: 100,000 JPY
- Support details:
- Issue target and subject discovery
- Idea statement
- Make testing plan
2
Approx. 3 months
Pre-development evaluation
Evaluation budget: 1 million JPY
- Detailed ascertainment of issue & calculation of scale
- Confirmation of product feasibility
- Customer reach testing
- Value testing using product prototype
- Prepare development structure
  (When targeting immediate independence) Recruitment and fundraising
3
Approx. 6 months
Initial development and testing
Development operational budget: 12 million JPY
- Form team
- Initial development
- Establish company
- Get initial customer traction and testing
4
Approx. 3 - 6 months
Operations & financing
Development operational budget: 12 million JPY
- Continue development
- Get customer traction and testing
- Recruiting
- Fundraising
5
Spin-out

Involvement of Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) / Employment status:

① Issue research & planning
② Pre-development evaluation
- Activities during off hours from regular job
- Estimated workload: 20% to 30%
- NDA signed
③ Initial development and testing
④ Operations & financing
- Fixed-term employment at Delight Ventures
  (employees of DeNA will be transferred)
- Workload: 100% commitment

Activities during off hours from regular job
Estimated workload: 20% to 30%
NDA signed

Fixed-term employment at Delight Ventures
(employees of DeNA will be transferred)
Workload: 100% commitment

Investment decision factors

Business idea
- Existence of potential issue and deep understanding of it
- Size of the potential issue (economic conversion of 100 billion JPY or more)
- Solution feasibility
- Solution superiority
- Participation timing
Entrepreneur (management team)
- Business skills:
  Critical thinking, self-starter, ability to involve others, persistence, communication skills, problem solving
- Experience & success:
  New business launch lead, areas of expertise, creativity, management
- Personality:
  Charisma, integrity, mental strength, passion, will to take on new challenges

Portfolio

We support startups that are trying to create
great value for society

Invested companies:

*As of July 2023

See All

Recruitment

Start your own business in the Venture Builder Challenge program, where many entrepreneur candidates gather for a limited time to explore business possibilities.

Currently, the Venture Builder Challenge program is unavailable. Applications for the next program are scheduled to be opened in autumn 2023. More information will be distributed through our newsletter, so please register to receive the newsletter.

Receive an email when entry becomes available