delight ventures

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.

Venture Builder
  • 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

    Check

    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

    Check

    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

    Check

    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

    Check

    Business startup specialists will evaluate business plans and provide support for business testing

  • Cannot put together a product development team

    Check

    MVP development structure including engineers with abundant startup experience

  • Unable to take ownership, and no financial return if successful

    Check

    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 ideas
    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
  • 起業家
    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
Newsletter

Delight Ventures provides useful information for startups, aspiring entrepreneurs, investors, and others through our newsletter, including our most up-to-date venture capital information, upcoming events, employment opportunities, blog information, and more. Please subscribe to our newsletter for this useful information. (Newsletter available in Japanese language)

Contact

For inquiries about financing, press and presentation requests, or product and service proposals, please contact us here.