I have some really big news, and I want you to be the first to know about it.

It’s big not just for me, but potentially for you as well.

If you’re interested in radically changing the way:

  • work is done
  • products are created
  • companies are built and funded
  • wealth is created and returns are distributed (democratizing both)
  • and how all of that leads to real problems being solved,

…you’ll want to read on.

This is the boldest bet I’ve ever made, and it represents the culmination of my life’s work.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m constantly challenging you (and myself) on how companies need to change in order to innovate, stay relevant, and even survive in our fast-changing world.

This is the boldest bet I’ve ever made.

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I’ve spent years advising businesses from startups to the Fortune 500 on how to avoid common pitfalls and create better systems, products, and strategies for innovation and growth.

Along the way, I’ve built a business and brand through extraordinary collaborations and meaningful partnership with you all—ones I could scarcely have imagined many years ago.

But in reality, it’s all been my version of starting small in working toward my BIG vision of changing the way business is done in our world.

And now it’s time to change things up and go bigger…

I’ve recently become a cofounder in a new company which represents a true paradigm shift in business creation, and an opportunity to scale my work.

Nobody Studios is a “venture studio” conceived and founded by our Chief Nobody Mark McNally, who has been involved in 14 startups, as a senior executive or CEO.

A venture studio is a vehicle for the rapid creation of new companies, from ideation and acceleration to profitability.

Nobody Studios is comprised of startup artisans—serial entrepreneurs who curate the best ideas, expedite company creation, and craft successful ventures in succession.

Mark has quickly gathered a team of the most talented, diverse, and successful people in the field, and it’s just the beginning.

Why is our venture studio needed?

In many ways, the startup world has been just as dysfunctional as the corporate world.

  • Leading venture capitalists recognize that too much money is going into startups too soon. Wall Street has been deploying excessive capital to get involved in businesses earlier. And the law of large numbers drives the mindset of making many big bets because you only need one to pay off.
  • Founders and teams often get stuck. Overfunded, they feel the pressure and focus on wrong problems at the wrong time—or worse, get constrained by a rigid set of parameters established at the time of funding, with little room for learning and iteration.
  • All the while, the majority of individuals get excluded from these wealth creation opportunities and early stage ownership of the businesses that will create our future.

The result? Crazy valuations for unproven, early-stage companies with little more than the spark of an idea, a bright team, and a dream of what they believe might be possible.

If you dig deeper into this diagnosis, the truth is there’s a set of strategies any venture investor would love to have available. But there hasn’t been a system to support it…until now.

The venture studio model addresses these missing pieces and removes the barriers to better venture investing for all.

Our purpose at Nobody Studios will be to de-risk pre-seed stage business ideas. We’ll do this by minimizing the time, speed, and capital involved in validating truly repeatable, scalable business models before significant venture investment.

If we do our job right, we’ll actually create better quality and deal flow for venture capital funding because we can make moves in company formation that VCs cannot.

Because our studio will be pursuing our own ideas, with our talent and capital, we can;

  • Start, stop, pivot, or kill companies quickly and cheaply
  • Pause ideas that are too early, not ready, or simply need something that’s missing
  • Split one idea into five when we realize the idea is too big
  • Merge five ideas into one when we realize it’s the same company
  • Have studio companies be early customers of one another — multiplying and accelerating learning loops in product development
  • Swap teams and players to get people in their best positions as the true needs of the companies emerge through exploration
  • Offer every person that contributes—from operators to crowdfunders—equity and opportunity to benefit from any resulting upside.

Our belief is that this model benefits all these different parties to streamline and democratize company building, product development, and wealth creation.

My involvement in Nobody Studios

I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know Mark in recent months. Much of our conversation has focused on values and the vision we both have for making positive impact at scale. He has inspired me with what he’s started, and I’m honored to be a founder of this company with him and the outstanding team of Nobodies.

Some of the core values of Nobody Studios include:

  • capital and time efficient: executing on the rapid, frugal, disruptive creation of value
  • people-first: people matter most and come first in our company
  • crowd-first: leveraging the power of the crowd through crowd-funding, crowd co-creation, and guidance to build the businesses of the future
  • putting transparency to the test: communicating openly inside and outside

We have an audacious goal to start and grow 100 compelling businesses in the next five years, and who knows how many beyond that.

I couldn’t be more excited (and nervous) to put all the principles I’ve been talking, teaching, and consulting about to the test.

This healthy balance of fear and excitement typically tells me I’m in the right spot of discomfort for something extraordinary to happen.

So, what does this mean for my work?

A lot of my time is already going into Nobody Studios. I will continue running my own business, communicating with you and sharing insights (with a lot of new ones to add from this experience).

So from the outside, it may not look a whole lot different for people who follow my work or are part of this community.

But the big differences are 1) Nobody will be the focus of my energy, and 2) there’s an exciting opportunity for YOU.

For Nobody Studios to accomplish the goal of 100 companies, we’ll need a tremendous amount of talent, capital, influence, and ideas.

So, what does this mean for YOU?

There’s a whole array of opportunities for you to get involved:

  • Becoming part of the effort in some capacity, whether part-time or freelance, joining Nobody Studios itself, or one of the companies that we create.
  • Investing. We’re actually going to be the first venture company to offer equity to investors through crowdfunding—and the equity will be spread across the whole portfolio of businesses.

Meaning investors wont be betting on just one company—they’ll have a stake in every company we create, forever!

And if you’re an impact-driven person like me, the best part of the opportunity is to solve real problems for the world in a truly unique and innovative way.

We’re taking a big swing to change the way things have been—in work, in finance, and in countless industries.

So if this sounds interesting, take a look at the wonderful trailer featuring Tony award winner Anthony Crivello. And follow Nobody Studios on the web and on LinkedIn.

I’ll also be posting a new podcast episode this week featuring Mark, so be sure to look out for that as well.

If you have questions or you’re interested in getting involved by contributing your talent, influence, or capital, feel free to get in touch.

Let’s do great things that have never been done before!

Best always,
Barry