Meet Start Lab

The venture capital industry has long been dominated by barriers that prevent talented individuals from launching investment funds. Complex legal structures, expensive formation processes, and lengthy fundraising cycles have traditionally required 12-18 months and significant upfront capital to establish even a small fund. Start Lab dismantles these obstacles with a revolutionary 4-6 week program that enables anyone to launch a professional venture fund, whether they're working full-time or dedicating just 15 hours per week to the process.

Participants work through a structured 5-sprint curriculum designed to build everything from investment thesis development to limited partner commitments, ultimately closing their first fund. The program's success stems from its focus on leveraging existing networks and providing immediate access to institutional-grade tools that typically cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop independently.

Traditional venture capital fund formation is notoriously slow and expensive, requiring 6-18 months of legal work and hundreds of thousands in fees before managers can even begin raising capital. Start Lab revolutionizes this process by compressing the entire journey into five focused sprints that take just 4-6 weeks to complete.

Each sprint builds momentum toward the ultimate goal: securing a minimum of $150,000-$500,000 in LP commitments and officially launching a fully functional venture fund.

The journey begins with Sprint 0, where participants immediately gain access to Decile Hub, the AI-powered operating system that serves as their command center throughout the program. You learn about the PACT process (Preliminary Agreement to Commit Terms), which lets managers secure non-binding commitments before their fund officially exists. Participants must identify contacts who could invest $10,000 to $100,000, and begin thinking strategically about companies they want to invest in immediately upon closing. 

Sprint 1 transforms vague investment ideas into compelling, data-driven investment. Participants will create one-sentence thesis statement and immediately begin validation through conversations with five trusted advisors called "Confidants" who understand the venture or the target sector. These conversations will test whether the thesis resonates and identify early concerns before broader outreach begins.

Sprint 2 emphasizes speed and execution, and the program's theme centers on network-first fundraising. All successful venture fundraising starts with people who already know and trust you. Participants will identify Confidants from their personal networks - friends, family, colleagues, alumni connections, and professional associations - asking for feedback and begin securing PACTs.

Sprint 3 operates on parallel tracks: continuing PACT collection while building a credible deal pipeline to demonstrate investment readiness. Participants source deals through Decile Community Deals and through their personal networks using research, referrals, branding, or industry activity. The sprint requires identifying two priority deals that align perfectly with the investment thesis and preparing full investment memos. By the sprint's end, participants should complete their PACT commitments and have a pipeline of investment opportunities.

The final sprint spans two weeks and focuses entirely on converting PACTs into signed Limited Partner Agreements (LPA). Participants must reach the $150,000 minimum threshold in validated PACTs before proceeding to LPA distribution. Once reached, the Start Fund team will coordinate with participants on LPA distribution and officially close the fund and begin immediately investing. Participants emerge with fully functional, institutional-grade funds that count as a track record with future institutional LPs.

While conventional accelerators focus primarily on classroom-style learning over months, Start Lab participants actively build and launch their funds through a structured 5-sprint methodology that delivers measurable outcomes within weeks. This fundamental shift from education to execution sets Start Lab apart in the venture capital training landscape.

The program's integration with Decile Hub's AI-powered operating system provides participants with institutional-grade tools from day one. The AI Thesis Generator helps refine investment strategies to compelling one-sentence statements, while automated follow-up sequences manage investor communications systematically. These technological advantages eliminate the manual processes that typically slow down new fund managers and ensure professional-quality execution throughout the fundraising process.

Start Lab democratizes venture capital by removing traditional barriers to fund formation and providing a clear pathway for aspiring managers to begin their investment careers. The program's combination of structured curriculum, AI-enabled tools, and instant fund formation technology creates an unprecedented opportunity for talent from all backgrounds to enter venture capital. 

Start Lab offers the fastest and most comprehensive path to launching a real venture capital fund. Aspiring fund managers can begin their journey immediately by applying to Start Lab and accessing the complete ecosystem of tools, training, and support needed to build a successful venture capital practice.