Venture Studio Architect - I help you design, launch, and grow your company creation studio.

Most innovation programs fail not because of lack of ideas, but because they lack a system for venture creation.

I help innovation leaders in corporations, universities, and economic development organizations build venture studios that scale and deliver. Backed by data, frameworks, and insights from studying over 500 venture studios globally.

As Senior Director of Research & Data at the Venture Studio Forum, I'm building the empirical backbone of the venture studio asset class. VSF is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing 1,500+ members who have built 650+ companies, 11 unicorns, and $48 billion in enterprise value.

My work establishes venture studios as a formal asset class through:

-Asset Class Analysis in partnership with MIT and Harvard, delivering the first institutionally credible research for LPs and institutional investors
-The Venture Studio Index (VSI) — the first open standard and formal definition for venture studios
-Studio Data Platform (2026) providing structured datasets and benchmarks for researchers and operators
-State of the Studio Report (2026) tracking trends, performance, and sector segmentation
-Policy recommendations for state and federal innovation agencies

Concurrently, as Partner and Head of Insights at 9point8 Collective, I translate this research into practice. We've designed and launched 25+ venture studios. Our approach builds clarity, alignment, and momentum at the intersection of innovation, capital, and impact.

I've spent 20+ years at the intersection of innovation, strategy, and venture building. I launched NCR's first internal accelerator (generating $90M from its first cohort), secured 27+ patents across AI and fintech, and developed investment frameworks that institutional investors now use to allocate capital into the studio model.

Speaking & Workshops: I deliver keynotes and workshops on designing high-performing venture studios, the future of venture creation ecosystems, and turning knowledge engines into commercial engines.

🎤 Book me to speak: VentureStudioForum.org/speaking
 📊 Learn from our research: newsletter.venturestudioforum.org
 🌍 Join the community: venturestudioforum.org
 💼 Work with us: 9point8collective.com

Matthew Burris

Venture Studios have a 100x advantage over accelerators and venture funds.

Studios vs. accelerators vs. VC vs. incubators

One of the simplest ways to compare them? Hands-on support.

Venture capital: maybe 30 minutes per week.

Accelerators: 1–2 hours a week. Mostly group sessions and some limited 1:1.

Incubators: slightly less. Some education, co-working space, network access. But very little operational involvement.

Venture studio: 20 to 100+ hours a week of hands-on execution.
Real operators. Half a person to an entire team building the business with you.

The range of support isn't even close.

P.S. Follow for more venture studio insights

I help innovation leaders build venture studios | Senior Director, Research & Data @ Venture Studio Forum | Partner, Head of Insights @ 9point8 Collective | Keynote Speaker | Trusted by 500+ Studios

Model Comparison.pdf

Venture studios aren’t VC

So why should we try to fit them inside VC frameworks?

The carousel below explains why this is the case (and breaks down an alternative model for venture studios instead).

For more on studio structures, capital efficiency, and the case for new frameworks for venture studios… 

DM/Comment “VSF” to join the venture studio forum (a community for the venture studio ecosystem)

Venture Studios Aren’t  VC Funds.pdf

I've been quiet for about a month. Claude code got me. I had to stop talking and start building.

For the last several weeks, our team at 9point8 has gone deep into Claude Code. Not as a curiosity. Not as an experiment. As a serious exploration of what AI automation can do for venture studio research, operations, and ecosystem development.

I'll be honest. I came into this with a healthy skepticism. I've spent enough time in manufacturing, engineering, and with machine learning to know that most technology hype collapses the moment it meets operational reality. The antidote to hype is always the same: test the claim against what it actually costs, what it actually produces, and whether the economics survive contact with the real world.

So we tested it.

What we found changed how I think about what's possible for this industry. Not in the vague, hand-wavy "AI will change everything" sense. In the specific, measurable, "here is what it produced and here is what it cost" sense.

Over the coming weeks, I'm going to share what we've been building, what worked, what didn't, and what it means for venture studios, for the 9point8 Collective, for the Venture Studio Forum, and for anyone trying to make informed decisions in this space.

The fundamental challenge for venture studios has always been a data problem. The people making decisions about studios, whether they're operators, investors, universities, corporates, or economic development organizations, don't have the evidence base they need. The data is scattered, incomplete, and inconsistent. 

We think we've found a way to start fixing that. At a speed and cost that would have been inconceivable six months ago.

More soon.

What does claude code mean for venture studios?

Corporate Venture Studios are surprisingly common in major corporations. 

Around a third of corporations with Corporate Venture Capital also have a Venture Studio.

Both serve different purposes, and they're distinct operationally, strategically, and financially.

Corporate VC is about gaining strategic access to an external startup, one that the corporation might one day acquire, partner with, or monitor closely.

A Venture Studio works differently, Instead of buying in, you’re building from the ground up.

Usually in a category where the corporation already has deep industry knowledge.

Two powerful tools, but useful for very different parts of the corporate growth strategy.

For more in depth comparison, check the carousel below

P.S. Follow for more venture studio insights

CVS vs. CVC.pdf

6 Common venture studio design mistakes

1. Incorporating Fund Too Soon
2. Picking the Wrong Follow-on Capital
3. Picking the Wrong Founder Archetype
4. Raising Capital Too Early
5. Designing Something Too Fancy
6. Pitching the Model Instead of Yourself

For more in depth breakdown, check the carousel below

The more focused you are early, the better your odds.

P.S. Follow for more venture studio insights

6 Common Mistakes Venture Studios Make Too Early.pdf

I'll be moderating at the Virtual VC Conf on March 31. Topic: “The Cap Table Problem: Do Venture Studios Make Startups Uninvestable for VCs?”  Join me and register free here:  https://vcconf.com?32

9Point8 Collective's Matt Burris moderates a venture studio panel on the cap table problem

We're hosting a live Venture Studio 101 with open AMA.

If you've ever confused a studio with an accelerator, incubator, or VC fund — this is the session that fixes that.

I'm sitting down with JT Benton for the kickoff of the Venture Studio Forum's University Speaker Series to break down:

→ The formal definition of a venture studio and the three roles every studio must play 
→ How studios actually differ from accelerators, incubators, and funds 
→ Why definitional clarity is make-or-break for institutions evaluating or building studios 
→ What organizations get wrong when they try to adopt the model

45 minutes. Interview, open Q&A, real discussion. Come with questions.
📅 Thursday, March 19 · 12:00 PM ET 📍 Circle - Link in comments

Session 1 of 5, running monthly March through July.

Jeff McDermott

Venture Builder

Strategy, Advisory and Venture Building services for Entrepreneurs, Ecosystem Builders, Startup Studios and Emerging Fund Managers.

I am available Mon-Fri (8-11 am PST) to deep dive into: ✅ Pitch Deck Architecture & Narrative ✅ Venture Capital & Fund Strategy ✅ Real Estate Investing & Syndication ✅ Idea Validation & Market Fit

This is not a casual chat. 

Come prepared with your hard questions, and you will leave with actionable answers.

Secure a 30-minute sprint ($100) here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/gsnvq3Jk

Ialso offer unlimited monthly office hours for just $350 bucks. Hit me up if you'd like to take us up on this offer.

For Venture Building projects, pitch me your scenario and what you're looking for in a Venture Builder/Co-Founder/Partner and we can discuss options.

Co-Founder, Chairman & Managing General Partner

The Fund School is an emerging managers selection program where we provide an online and remote training program for those thinking about a career as a fund General Partner.

You may think it's a shortcut, but you may end up breaking the law...

When you're raising capital you'll typically come upon "finders" or "super connectors" who are well connected with high level investors, so you approach them to see if anyone in their network would be interested in your offering.

Here's where most get in trouble with stuff like this. They use the 506b exemption which means no general solicitation and all of the investors that they pitch or sell to need to be existing relationships.

Even if you know the "finder" and have qualified them, they cannot go pitch your deal to their investors because that is basically general solicitation which with the 506b is a no no.

You may think that because you know the "finder" and that "finder" knows the investors very well, that this gets around the rules, it does not. 

You need to know and qualify each one of those investors personally, and I don't know anyone who is going to hand over their database or relationships and let you run wild with it! The "finder" would have to make intros before they showed their investors the deal and again, I don't know many who would do this as they now have no control of the process.

The other fact to consider is that unless the "finder" is licensed, they cannot earn a success fee or referral fee for any capital placed. So, unless they are working on a flat fee only for making intros no matter the outcome, this too is illegal.

I'm just saying to be careful out there when it comes to raising capital via private securities as there are rules and laws to abide to and most don't even know what those rules and laws are so they just wing it, which typically doesn't end well.

Know the rules before you go play the game!

Sports industry investment professional @ Champion Capital. | Strategy, Advisory and Venture Building services for Entrepreneurs, Ecosystem Builders, Startup Studios and Emerging Fund Managers.

taplio

The Battle

Matthew Burris

Jeff McDermott

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreMatthew Burris's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJeff McDermott's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Matthew Burris

Jeff McDermott

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Matthew Burris's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJeff McDermott's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMatthew Burris's LinkedIn Performance