↓ why
↓ how
↓ who
↓ 2AFF
↓ build

venture creation for the experienced

next step ventures

A co-building venture studio for founders with meaningful real-world experience.

fmr» partners with second-act founders drawn from mid- to late-career professionals who have spent years inside complex organizations and industries. They bring judgment shaped by firsthand experience, enabling them to identify inefficiencies and where change can create durable value.

That perspective informs the earliest decisions in company building. Working together, those decisions are shaped into startups built to withstand actual operating conditions and grow on their own terms.

why

experience compounds. the data proves it.

Founders in their 40s are ~2× more likely to build high-growth firms than founders in their 20s. Survival and growth rates rise with age into the late 50s. —NBER

Founders in their 40s and 50s consistently outperform younger peers on growth and longevity. Despite this, startup success is still widely framed as a young person’s game.

In practice, mid- to late-career professionals bring advantages that matter early. They have deep domain knowledge, experience-informed decision-making, established networks, and a clearer sense of which problems are worth solving.

The early-stage ecosystem, however, is not designed around them. Most early-stage funds, accelerators, and incubators are oriented toward early-career founders, venture-scale outcomes, or narrow technology cycles. That leaves experienced professionals without a path aligned with their reality.

how

fmr venture studio

A different path for early-stage company building.

Most experienced founders encounter a false choice early on: bootstrap alone or align quickly with venture capital expectations. Neither option fits particularly well for people building companies grounded in deep industry experience and real operating constraints.

fmr» is structured to sit between those paths. We partner early and work alongside founders as part of the company during its formative phase, when direction, structure, and economics are still taking shape.

This approach allows founders to move from insight to company with operating capacity in place, without forcing premature scale or leaving critical early decisions unsupported. Partnerships are structured to align incentives early, allowing models to reflect the reality of the business being built.

who

operators building with operators

fmr» is being built by people who have spent decades leading growth, transformation, and brand initiatives across global enterprises, investment platforms, and emerging ventures.

we understand complex systems, investor dynamics, and what it takes to turn strategy into execution.

jae hwang

co-founder, strategist & operator

25 years leading strategy, brand, and growth initiatives for Fortune 500 companies, investment firms, and emerging ventures.

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diego kolsky

co-founder, design & experience architect

Designer and educator with three decades building global brands, products, and experiences that connect strategy to execution.

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