Innovation is one of those much hyped, painfully over-used words. Its right up there with disruptive and visionary. How does the saying go if I had a dollar for every disruptive, visionary innovation I’ve been shown I’d be a rich man. And, if that’s not bad enough, ‘innovation’ is further expanded by stratified terms like incubator and accelerator - words that are bandied about equally, almost without meaning, by poachers and gamekeepers - entrepreneurs and investors. Statistically, venture building is a veritable crap shoot with extremely low success rates. Far too many organisations fail. Perhaps it’s time for a different approach.
Apparently 90% of new startups fail. And 75% of venture-backed startups fail - proving that money is not the answer to everything and that venture capital firms have no magic wand/bullet/rocket - whatever they say. Further, less than half of businesses get to their 5th birthday. The highest failure rate occurs in the information industry proving that they don’t use their own products enough - assuming they’re worth using in the first place. Check Facebook.
There are a few organisations that are trying to move venture building from the small, one-off artisanal workshop, that it is today, to a more ambitious model, based on the creation of a ‘venture factory’. Venture factory pioneers believe they can consistently deliver higher quality, repeat innovation and higher success rates when it comes to venture building.
Before the full blown venture factory came along, we witnessed a virtual proxy called the ‘venture studio’, also known as a startup studio or a startup factory. This business model focused on systematically producing new companies. Unlike traditional incubators or accelerators, venture studios don't just support existing startups; they actively engage in creating new businesses. Some of the key characteristics of a venture studio include:
Venture studios can be efficient mechanisms for launching new companies because they can leverage shared resources, expertise, and processes across multiple startups. This approach should, in theory, increase the speed and reduce the costs of starting new businesses, though it does typically involve a trade-off in terms of equity and control for the entrepreneurs involved.
The venture factory goes beyond a venture studio by operating a full blown factory, tooled and optimised for its own branded ventures first - only subsequently thinking about becoming a contract manufacturer for 3rd party ventures (as well). Like starting up as Google and then ending up as, well, Google Ventures - only with a real factory this time!
The venture factory has a carefully designed virtual space, a manufacturing process and methodology, specialist assembly lines, factory workers, robots, tools, quality control systems, and, most likely, a warehouse and distribution network. All designed around building and shipping ‘ventures’.
For a venture factory to work it will likely need a number of core components:
Mach49, a growth incubator for large corporations (is that an oxymoron?) has a simple 4 step process which includes ideate, incubate, accelerate and scale. It recently published a book about it called ‘The Unicorn Within’, which is a nice read and great if you can get one. A unicorn that is.
LettsGroup takes a more detailed approach with its innovation and venture building methodology aptly named ‘Innov@te’. Their process has 7 key stages and 49 steps that provide the basis for a genuine, repeatable venture manufacturing system. Its 7 stages include:
This 65 page manufacturing style process manual is about as exciting as reading a Boeing flight safety manual. Both crash without them - it's just the stats are worse for venture failure than aeroplane disasters. Oh, wait…
The venture factory team at LettsGroup are working on turning Innov@te into a dynamic and structured manufacturing software system. Think of it like a traditional manufacturing production system for building innovative startups rather than physical products. Move aside Oracle, hello Innov@te VRP.
There are a number of different venture design approaches. Perhaps the best known is the Lean Startup methodology which is about putting a process and a methodology around the development of a product. It’s kind of like teaching your toddler to use an iPhone AND clean up after themselves.
The Lean Startup methodology believes that every startup is a grand experiment that attempts to answer a question. The question is not "Can this product be built?" Instead, the questions are "Should this product be built?" and "Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services?" They believe that this experiment is more than just theoretical inquiry; it is a first product.
It is about starting with a very narrow concept designed around solving a niche and specific customer problem. Entrepreneurs are meant to launch a minimum viable product (MVP) which is an initial straw man that a few somewhat geeky early adopters might help shape into a real live product after a bunch of data driven iterations - assuming that the hard charging, gun toting entrepreneur has the patience for all these iterations and data analysis.
Lean believes that “Startups exist not to make stuff, make money, or serve customers. They exist to learn how to build a sustainable business.”
Over at LettsGroup they designed their own ‘Size Zero Philosophy’ which seems to be a broader, more structured approach to thinking about a highly efficient and automated enterprise. Their manual helps to design a focused, sustainable and more cost controlled, scaled enterprise from a small startup. Or, embeds a lean, more agile design into a larger corporation. Their Size Zero philosophy runs in parallel with Innov@te, their venture manufacturing process. Combined they could prove to be a new Kanban or a ‘Just in Time’, flexible method for venture manufacturing. Try getting your head around that one!
Apparently a true venture factory operates an advanced software system from their venture building process or methodology. It sounds a bit like fashioning ‘the Theory of Constraints’ manufacturing optimisation system from a simple book ‘The Goal’ - which actually happened and was first written by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in 1984. Today it is in its 3rd edition.
In the same vein it looks like advanced venture factories will develop their unique process and methodology into a complex manufacturing system and a set of defined, standardised software tools that are used not just to build the venture but to operate and manage it sustainably over time. AI and automation will accelerate these systems and, as a result, the very concept of repeatable, sustainable innovation.
Venture factories will likely think beyond the venture’s initial product launch and devise extended processes and systems for the longer term development of the venture and universal, scaled distribution systems for the scaling of their ventures.
For example, LettsGroup has developed their own proprietary Web3 content management system providing highly scalable content based verification, micro-monetisation (which is micro-payments on steroids, fully embedded in the content!!) and syndication. This looks like it could become a veritable warehousing and distribution platform for information industry ventures. Meaning we don’t just build it but we can sell it as well!
It might end up that the advanced venture factory of tomorrow will initially get built and operated to manufacture branded ventures that are owned and created by the venture factory owner - as Ford developed the car assembly line for their own branded cars. But, once these venture factories mature and scale it is likely that contract factories will emerge to create, build and scale ventures for 3rd party customers like venture capital investors, funds and global corporations.
Like today the iPhone is manufactured for Apple by Foxconn in places like China, the Czech Republic and South Korea. Tomorrow venture factories from the likes of LettsGroup and others could manufacture new contract ventures for Amazon, Apple or Blackstone with the simple premise that ventures built by them will last longer and experience a success rate greater than 1 in 10. Perhaps successful, repeat innovation is not as far away as it seems.
This article first appeared at The Letts Journal.
LettsGroup is revolutionising the venture model with advanced technology. Today, technology leadership is a huge determiner of economic and global dominance. LettsGroup is at the forefront, investing in deep tech and pioneering innovative solutions that will shape the future of society and economies.
Led by Philip Letts, the 7th generation of the Letts family and Executive Chair of LettsGroup, the company is equipped with a long-standing family legacy of innovation, and is now combining it with cutting-edge technology to create a systematic approach to venture production. They have two guiding principles and methods to achieve impact in venture building.
First, the Innov@te™ methodology uses a customer-centric approach. It places the customer at the heart of the innovation process. Through tight-loop systems of curation that involve data collection and behavioural analysis, LettsGroup ensures that its ventures are built to meet the needs and behaviours of the target audience, resulting in a higher chance of successful adoption of their products in the global market.
Second, their Size Zero methodology addresses the traditional notion that getting "too big" kills innovation. Instead, it focuses on efficiency and control in scaling ventures, providing a solid foundational structure for sustainable operations. The unique combination of methodologies allows LettsGroup to achieve repeat innovation and sustainable venture building, setting a new standard in the industry.
"LettsGroup is committed to pushing the boundaries of the venture model by leveraging advanced technology and deep tech investments," said Philip Letts, Chair of LettsGroup.
"In today's dynamic global landscape, technology leadership is a key determinant of economic and societal success. We are dedicated to investing in innovative solutions that will shape the future and drive ventures to the top of the global power rankings."
LettsGroup has already made significant strides with its initial ventures. LettsArt, the first NFT-enabled, fully accessible, website platform designed purely for the art world, has quickly gained traction, providing a new way for artists, art dealers and collectors to engage with and better monetize online audiences. LettsSafari, a subscription-based digital climate venture, has also gained momentum in addressing the biodiversity crisis through rewilding initiatives that are defining subscription economy eco-services. Additionally, LettsGroup is developing LettsNews, a fully automated, AI powered news network, and LettsCore, a groundbreaking Media-as-a-Service platform that is creating the first content blockchain.
As LettsGroup marks the 3rd iteration of Letts family incubators in 2023, it continues to redefine the venture model with its innovative approach, looking to drive ventures to develop industry-first practices. The company remains committed to its corporate values of innovation, sustainability, quality, integrity, and family, and aims to make a lasting impact in the world of venture building.
Subscription-based services are changing the game for ecommerce, media, and streaming industries. LettsGroup is paving the way, adopting subscription services for an array of its own ventures.
The evolution of technology has affected human behaviour and shifted business operations and competition accordingly.
Subscription models have seen consistent growth and pickup by businesses as large as Unilever and Walmart as well as many startups and small businesses.
Over the last decade, the subscription ecommerce market has experienced meteoric growth. According to Forbes, there’s been 890% expansion since 2014. Currently, there are 18.5 million subscription box shoppers in the U.S. and 35% of these active shoppers subscribe to three or more services, with a median number of subscriptions per active subscriber being two.
According to Hitwise, the average demographic of this consumer is a younger millennial with a college degree that lives in a college town with an income above $100,000 (£75,000). They are also often an Amazon shopper, a regular reader of online news and more likely to buy online than in-store.
There are three broad types of ecommerce subscriptions:
Replenishment subscriptions (32% of subscriptions) - which allow consumers to automate the purchase of commodity items, such as razors or diapers.
Curation subscriptions (55% of subscriptions) - that attempt to surprise and delight by providing new items or highly personalised experiences in categories such as apparel, beauty, and food.
Access subscriptions (13% of subscriptions) - pay a monthly fee to obtain lower prices or members-only perks, primarily in the apparel and food categories.
The future looks bright for the recurring revenue leaders.
More relevantly, subscription-based media is a major game-changer. With news media diving head-first into the digital world, ad revenues and circulation have been in decline, and an endless series of cost cutting and transformation plans has led to the industry stabilising around paid subscriptions. LettsGroup’s own The Letts Journal has been at the forefront of subscription-based systems, solely reliant on digital circulation with paywalled systems for revenue as an ad-free service. And, based on demographics alone, the internet paywall is becoming a key part of the future of profitable digital content circulation.
While newspaper staff numbers keep falling and print circulation declines, digital media is growing. Based on publicly traded companies, in 2020, ad revenue for digital newspapers stood at 39%. Digital newspapers share of ad revenue has been steadily climbing, as in 2011 it had accounted for just 17% of ad dollars. The trends are similar across the western world. Digital, subscription-based media is here to stay.
The increasingly dominant subscription economy will get tested as we have headed into its first major economic downturn. The effects could be hard to predict, but while the upward trajectory is bound to continue, the likelihood is that short term pressures will dampen new sign ups. Ultimately the sector will probably consolidate around 2-3 leading players in each category. While this could be bad for consumers and content producers, there is an emerging category that could point to the future.
It seems that creators are taking the subscription economy into their own hands. A number of paywall based newsletter platforms have emerged for independent writers and media startups enabling them to charge subscriptions to niche audiences. Some, such as Bankless, have developed subscription audiences in the hundreds of thousands. LettsGroup’s website system for the art world, LettsArt, provides a subscription-based platform for the art world and is free for artists. Artists can easily buy and sell their pieces, in a way that fully enables them to take complete control of the process.
LettsGroup has also launched one of the first online eco-services platforms for the subscription economy called LettsSafari. Environmentally conscious subscribers pay so that trees get planted, wild animals released and new rewilding safari parks are created and supported.
Just as new platforms will drive the emerging creator economy, we can expect Web3, including crypto, NFT’s and the metaverse, to shape big media over the next decade alongside other key technology developments like AI - all of which are factors LettsGroup will account for in the development of incoming ventures. The drive to digital is likely to become pervasive and, if so, micro payments should finally take off. A few cents for a media snippet supported by ads could prove to be an attractive alternative to the limited number of subscriptions we might be willing to sustain.
This article was first published in the Letts Journal.
LettsGroup is a branded incubator group, which is active through @LettsGroup on twitter.
LettsGroup unlocks repeat innovation methodologies out of a historical family
business model - the first of its kind.
LettsGroup, the family-run branded venture group, has become the first to crack the code to repeat innovation, following the release of the 3rd edition of the company's methodological framework, Innov@teTM. The tried-and-tested approach is a pivotal breakthrough in the world of innovation, thus allowing a model that codifies and ensures consistent venture production.
“Using our proven incubator methodology, and advanced technology, we solve some of
society’s most pressing problems,” Philip Letts, Chairman.
In 1796, John Letts built the world’s first corporate incubator. John Letts’s incubator developed a series of successful innovations including the first commercial diary, the Letts Diary. Further innovations included interest tables, specialist clerical and medical diaries, calendars, parliamentary registers, ledgers, and logbooks.
Now, in 2023, LettsGroup marks the 3rd iteration of Letts Family incubators, with its Executive Chair, Philip Letts, the 7th generation of the eponymous diary family. The world’s oldest corporate incubator has cashed out their invention of the diary, and cashed in on providing sustainable, repetitive innovation and venture building.
“It seems we are all becoming entrepreneurs. And yet no one has cracked repetitive
innovation,” Philip Letts, Chairman.
A series of corporate and innovative expertise has thus led to the establishment of LettsGroup. From LettsGroup’s tried and tested methodological approach, innovation can be a codified, patterned stream of service. Heavyweight international technology leaders have unified to support the growth of the branded venture group, including previous senior leaders of O2, Oracle UK and Ireland, EDS International, UBS, Broadview International, and Silverpeak. The team is littered with expertise in the cutting-edge world of innovation and tech.
LettsGroup is breaking through the market with a number of initial ventures, with the aim to establish a ‘Unicorn’ venture by 2030 - with the help of renowned tech investors. To highlight, these ventures include LettsArt, the first NFT-enabled, fully accessible, Web3 platform for the art world; and LettsSafari, the subscription based digital greentech platform that tackles the biodiversity crisis by expanding rewilding initiatives.
“Behind the scenes we are building a fully automated news network called LettsNews and
LettsCore, a groundbreaking Media-as-a-Service platform,” Philip Letts, Chairman
The methodology at the core of LettsGroup is Innov@teTM. Innov@teTM is the modern and extended approach of John Letts’ original incubator. Additionally, LettsGroup is in the business of repeated, technologically advanced, and sustainably conscious innovation. The methodological approach behind LettsGroup is the code to unfolding further new ideas to become projects, products, and ventures. Ford cracked the code for mass production. LettsGroup is cracking the code for innovation. More precisely, cracking a new innovation and venture every two and a half years.
But LettsGroup is not in the business of just throwing money and huge sums at problems or innovation. Its Size Zero methodology, accompanying Innov@teTM, presses Letts' theory that getting ‘too big’ kills innovation.
Both philosophies set out a necessary foundational structure to the successful operations of an ‘organisation’ for innovation, LettsGroup.
Where the family ventures, their simple philosophy follows, placing the customer at the heart of innovation. LettsGroup extends and optimises this philosophy, ensuring the customer is centre much earlier than in typical innovation processes, where many assume the centre to lie solely with entrepreneurs and inventors. This process is upheld further through tight-loop systems of curation, for which customer data collection and behavioural analysis is at the foundation.
Even more central to the corporate incubator is its seasoned founder, Philip Letts. The Chairman has over thirty years of experience in innovation, launching his first private incubator, Prophete, in 1997. From Prophete came Beenz - the earliest iteration of a crypto currency, boasting more than 6 million customers before its sale to Carlson Group companies.
Prophete was the first test of the Innov@teTM methodology. From Philip Letts’ second private incubator in 2006, The Visual Studio, came Maistro Ltd. Once again, the innovation was a breakthrough in the creative services marketplace, taken public in 2012. Furthermore, from The Visual Studio came Size Zero, a methodology handbook published in 2015 to guide young ventures to scale with
greater efficiency and control.
The company boasts the corporate values of innovation, sustainability, quality, integrity, and family. Led by the Letts family and managed by established industry leaders, LettsGroup is combining innovation with tackling the issues of society today, placing environmental consciousness at the forefront of these values. Its integrity is derived in its stance that no innovation supported by the incubator will be without deep considerations of sustainability, a pledge the Group has and will continue to uphold.
While just at its infancy, the branded incubator has produced its first, emerging ventures. Also a number of tech-centric ventures are being developed within the incubator, with LettsGroup producing a factory of new ideas, and a code to repetitive innovation.
Letts Journal, created to deliver business media with a soul, is celebrating its first anniversary.
LettsGroup is excited to announce the anniversary of its business media venture, Letts Journal. A year ago today, Letts Journal was launched as a new style weekly publication that talks straight about business, climate, and life for progressive thinkers and innovative leaders. It is proud of its commitment to free media that is ad-free, clickbait free, and free to read.
Letts Journal has grown exponentially in the past twelve months, having developed a strong, supportive foundation of readers who have provided the venture with invaluable feedback and data. Some of the most well-loved features of Letts Journal include weekly updates straight to readers’ inboxes, along with the refreshing, insightful and humorous take on business news that makes the subject all-the-more engaging and accessible.
The media site’s three extra channels cover future trends, political satire, and photo-cartoons - putting the soul back into digital news. A year on, with the launch of its new website layout, the Letts Journal has stayed fresh and exciting. The new layout makes available handy digital tools - a hallmark of each LettsGroup venture.
True to the Letts Journal belief that information media should be accessible and attainable to all, the team have decided to keep all content free at all times - curbing the common monetary issues of paid digital subscription requirements that have been a well-cited downfall of multiple digital news and media sites. It's become especially relevant in the face of today's cost of living crisis.(Dare we say 'recession' …. Er, banana)
At Letts Journal, any paid subscriptions are voluntary to fulfill the LettsGroup values of access and sustainability. Voluntary subscriptions allow devoted readers to support Letts Journal’s expansion, but access to content remains untouched regardless of a paid or unpaid subscription. That is the Letts Journal promise.
This July, Letts Journal implemented other subscription options. Their standard free subscription is now supplemented with a voluntary monthly or annual subscription at just £3.50/pcm or £35 annually - completely at the subscriber’s discretion. Alternatively, one can gift or donate a subscription. But the standard is set and will remain that all content is free and accessible to paying and non-paying subscribers.
The Letts Journal further offers a Platinum membership for people or businesses that want more from the platform. Those supporters can get featured as a sponsor, and receive invitations to exclusive LettsGroup events.
Growth at Letts Journal is completely determined by its growth in subscribers - whether they are paying or non-paying, meaning that reading and sharing Letts Journal commentaries is encouraged and indeed vital to this independent platform and its writers’ evolution.
Subscribe to Letts Journal to experience the platform’s news commentary today, along with weekly updates straight to your inbox. Letts Journal is a publication of the branded incubator group, LettsGroup, which is active through @LettsGroup on twitter.
