Building Successful Ventures in a Startup Studio

I've spent the last few months with one foot in each world—heading tech at Stryber and advising Sanabil Studio as CTO. After founding my own startup years ago (with all the chaos that entails), the studio model fascinates me. Here's what I'm seeing in the trenches, not the theory.

Why Studios Actually Work

Strip away the fancy pitch decks, and here's what makes studios different:

• They've made the same mistakes 20 times so you don't have to
• You get to borrow smart people you couldn't afford to hire
• When one venture learns something, everyone benefits
• You can test multiple ideas without betting the farm on one

During my startup times, I watched a founder spend six months building the wrong product. At our studio, we killed a similar idea in three weeks of testing. That's the difference.

How We Build Ventures (The Messy Reality)

1. Tech That Doesn't Suck

When I joined Stryber, every venture was building from scratch with outsourced vendors. Now:

• We build with core AI aided focus
• We set up infrastructure that actually passes carveout audits
• We created dev practices that don't make people transfer easily, we fix a venture CTO
• We learn from each venture's failures (and there are plenty)

2. People Puzzles

Our teams aren't the neat org charts from MBA textbooks:

• We mix studio veterans with venture-specific hires
• We're ruthless about who owns what (no "someone should fix that")
• We document relevantly because context gets lost
• We transfer skills fast or ventures die waiting

3. Testing What Matters

We're religious about this:

• We track actual numbers, not feelings about the product
• We build quick-and-dirty prototypes to test theories
• We tackle the scary, company-killing risks first

The Real Building Process

Phase 1: Figure Out What We're Getting Into

• Pick tech that won't collapse when users show up
• Map out where we could get sued or hacked
• Decide what infrastructure we need
• Identify what could blow up the whole project

Phase 2: Build Something People Might Want

• Figure out what features actually matter
• Plan for growth without rewriting everything

Phase 3: Getting Ready to Leave the Nest

• Set up separate infrastructure (this is always messier than expected)
• Plan for the team to grow beyond the three original devs
• Make sure things don't silently break
• Write down FAQs

Things I've Learned The Hard Way

1. Tech Choices That Matter

• Finding the balance between "everyone does their own thing" and "one size fits none"
• Making architecture decisions early that don't paint you into a corner
• Setting clear boundaries between ventures from day one

2. The Human Element

• Managing the studio-venture relationship without struggles
• Transferring knowledge without creating bottlenecks
• Giving teams freedom while providing guidance
• Building culture that survives when the venture leaves

Real Problems We're Working On

Forget the glamorous challenges from tech blogs. We're dealing with:

• Finding the line between innovation and "we know this works"
• Spreading technical knowledge without creating dependencies
• Building quickly without creating messes

What's Next

Based on what I'm seeing in studios right now:

• AI is changing how we build products, but not how you might think
• Technical sustainability matters more than shiny features
• The relationship between studios and ventures is evolving
• We're finding new ways to share tech resources that actually work

This isn't theory—I'm figuring this out as I go. Some days the studio model feels like magic, other days it's held together with duct tape. The key is being honest about what works and what doesn't, adapting quickly, and keeping your balance between process and entrepreneurial chaos.