Building a Metaverse Startup Studio
We’ve heard this enough — startups are risky. When you found a startup, you see the names of so many initiatives that have failed. On the other hand, if an idea works out for you, there is nothing like it. You possess an unlimited potential to grow. At the end of it all, the risk is worth it if done right. But the question pondered over always remains the same. How do I do this right?
Eliminating the risk requires experience, knowledge of the field, and a number of experiments, some failure, and some success. This is where startup studios come in.
The future of the Internet
The internet has had its own evolution. Think of the mobile internet era. When did it begin? Do you think the advent of 2G, the first wireless network was it? Or the introduction of Wireless Application Protocol standards that let us access primitive websites on our phones. Or maybe it was the Blackberry 85x series, the first mainstream mobile devices designed for on-the-go data. One could even argue that it’s the iPhone that truly defined the design principles, economics, and business practices.
If you pay attention, we can chalk out when a specific technology was created, tested, or deployed but never really when an era happened. It is an evolution that consists of a number of changes for it to come together.
Let’s take the case of Metaverse now. Metaverse is currently understood as virtual reality, it’s like saying the mobile internet is the iPhone. Sometimes, Metaverse is described as a user-generated content platform. This is like saying the internet is Yahoo! or Facebook.
The Metaverse is virtual reality, augmented reality, virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space and the internet put together. We at Cope are hoping to build and create these elements.
Polishing an uncut gem
You’ve found the idea that you believe would work and the world needs. Now, you have two options -
1. Explore the value of it on your own, you make mistakes, you come across roadblocks or you might even succeed.
2. Get experts to polish your idea, experiment with a process that has worked several times in the case of several other startups.
The process of molding
Every startup studio has one goal — to create amazing businesses. Putting a process in place helps in churning bigger and workable ideas. Ideally, a studio’s process looks something like this -
- Find an idea. Got something you think would work? Did one of us have a Eureka moment? We bring that idea to the table.
- Shape the idea. An idea in itself is not enough to build a product. The idea is researched on and a product concept is created. This is further vetted by design prototyping and user testing. This gives us an experiment in hand to test.
- Experiment. Now we launch the experiment and derive data to analyze the workability of the product. The experiment could be anything ranging from a landing page to a launch of one sample product.
- Building. Once the experiment is over and it is proven to be a successful one, we get to building the product. We take all the lessons and observations from the experiment and implement them here to build a better product. Now we create an MVP that can test out the distribution.
- The home run. The idea conceived has now turned into something bigger and better, a startup on its own. Now, this becomes a new company and operates independently as a startup.
Zoom in and focus
Studios have a very fast-paced work culture. They have to keep moving from one idea to another, create one product, launch it and start on the next. This gives an assured growth in the chart of expertise. You learn from one product, take the learnings, and apply them in the next product.
In the meantime, it becomes vital for the studios to focus on certain categories and decide what they bring to the table. A proven way to win in the studio model is to find a focus area and build around it. For example, we at Cope.Studio pick ideas on the Metaverse and make them companies.
Why is now the right time for startup studios for the Metaverse?
Experimentation does not require days and months together anymore. Developer tools are now more powerful than ever and no-code tools are a gift to non-developers. Making a website or an app has never been easier. Running experiments is not a costly business anymore.
The time for startup studios is now. Not just because it is now easy to build but also because now more startups need a helping hand more than ever.
Metaverse, here comes Cope.
We can see how the Metaverse will revolutionize a number of industries. Consumer products, entertainment, healthcare, payments, you name it. To support this, new resources, marketplaces, and industries will be created to enable this future, as well as novel types of skills, professions, and certifications. The collective value of these changes will be massive, and Cope is the first startup studio built around this thesis. What a time to be alive.
