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.

Mais de 18 anos de experiência em venture capital, inovação aberta e empreendedorismo de alto impacto, conectando startups, clientes e investidores. 
Atualmente é investidor anjo e consultor de venture capital na FIEMG (Federação das Indústrias de Minas Gerais), onde lidera a construção do maior hub de inovação industrial da América Latina.
Foi fundador da Endeavor em Minas Gerais, atuou como Head de Corporates no Cubo Itaú, maior hub de inovação da América Latina, e analista do Fundo Novavrvm, primeiro fundo exclusivo de seed capital do Brasil. 
É fundador da Genesis Startups, venture studio que lançou startups como a Me Escuta, Ctrl Saúde e A Ponte. 
Sua trajetória inclui ainda experiências em private equity (Imeri Capital), M&A (Araujo Fontes) e a liderança do Hub Minas Digital, primeiro programa de open innovation feito pelo setor público no Brasil.

Rodolfo Zhouri

Inovar em grandes empresas é, sem dúvida, de longe, a coisa mais difícil que já tentei fazer na minha carreira. Digo tentei porque a verdade é essa: eu tentei. Infelizmente, assumo que fracassei em 100% das vezes.
Seja intraempreendedorismo, open innovation, venture building ou corporate venture capital, todas essas maneiras de “tentar” inovar em grandes empresas nas quais me envolvi fracassaram.
Não digo isso de forma alguma contra qualquer uma dessas iniciativas; pelo contrário, fui, sou e sempre serei um entusiasta delas. 
Mas confesso: as grandes empresas poderiam ajudar, né?
Acabei de ler um estudo da Spectra Investments sobre o cenário de corporate venture capital no Brasil (link nos comentários).
Fiquei triste. O resultado é: péssimo!
“A taxa interna de retorno média dos fundos é de -10%, com mediana de -12% e um top quartil com retorno de 2%. Como resultado, 70% dos programas registram TIR negativa.”
Venture capital já é algo difícil — muito difícil. Agora, corporate venture capital é outro nível de dificuldade. É algo literalmente sofrível, desgastante, complexo, polêmico e, muitas vezes, completamente irracional.
Sou apaixonado por venture capital desde que ouvi falar do termo “capital de risco” pela primeira vez, em 2005, quando trabalhava na UFMG Consultoria Jr., que, à época, era parceira da Jardim Botânico Investimentos.
Se grandes empresas continuarem a tratar #CVC (ou qualquer outra iniciativa de inovação) como um “nice to have” e, diante de qualquer crise, susto ou espirro, decidirem (de forma irracional e sem embasamento) desplugar, desligar ou encerrar essa unidade, com certeza vão amargar prejuízos.
E os culpados NÃO SÃO os profissionais de inovação!
Investir em inovação não é modinha. CVC não é modinha. Você não toma a decisão de fazer CVC em uma grande empresa porque está com excesso de caixa, alta liquidez e taxas de juros baixas. CVC não é estratégia de diversificação de capital. Nunca foi e nunca será. CVC é um comprometimento máximo com o futuro de um negócio.  Você decide fazer CVC se está comprometido(a) a inovar. Inovar de verdade,  que gera resultado. E isso demanda TEMPO!
A todos os amigos e amigas que trabalham com inovação em grandes empresas : vocês têm meu mais profundo RESPEITO e ADMIRAÇÃO. O trabalho de vocês é muito difícil, é ingrato e demanda muito mais do que competência: demanda coragem, perseverança, extrema paciência e muito jogo de cintura.
Meus sinceros e profundos votos de sucesso!

Muito feliz em anunciar o podcast do FIEMG Anjos : Linha de Produção. Vamos entrevistar líderes de áreas de corporate venture capital em indústrias e founders de indtechs para desvendar como se dá o product market fit neste setor.

Vem aí o Linha de Produção, o novo podcast do FIEMG Anjos! 🚀 

No comando, Rodolfo Zhouri recebe quem está na linha de frente da transformação da indústria brasileira: fundadores de indtechs que estão revolucionando processos e líderes de Corporate Venture Capital de 
grandes indústrias.

Um conteúdo feito para quem quer entender de perto como tecnologia, indústria e investimento se conectam para gerar impacto de verdade.

Acompanhe o lançamento e embarque com a gente nessa jornada!

O futuro da indústria está sendo produzido agora e você merece participar dessa evolução.

#Podcast #LinhaDeProdução #FIEMGAnjos #InovaçãoIndustrial #Indtech

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