In july 2025, PocketLawyers, a Nigerian legal technology startup, announced that it had received funding from Nubia Capital to drive its growth across Africa. Teh two-year-old startup had started out connecting users to lawyers,aiming to provide affordable legal services. 

But it has as pivoted and now provides connectivity tools for lawyers, enabling them to considerably reduce the time spent on tasks such as drafting legal agreements and managing client interaction. 

PocketLawyers is one of ten startups seeded at FirstFounders, a venture studio based in Nigeria and founded by David Lanre Messan. 

“I believe strongly that the venture studio model is the solution to drive entrepreneurship in Africa because a lot of founders do not have the experience to manage capital and operations successfully,” Messan shares with Techpoint Africa.

Democratising entrepreneurship

Venture studios – organisations that create startups rather than simply invest in them – trace their origins to the 1990s with Bill Gross’s founding of Idealab. 

True to its name, Idealab functioned as a laboratory for experimenting with business ideas, developing the most promising concepts into standalone companies. over nearly three decades, it has launched more than 100 startups, with roughly a third eventually going public.

Today, the concept has spread, with many organisations putting a unique spin on the model and more than 700 studios globally. 

The venture studio model is favoured over individual startup experiments for its ability to turn the often haphazard nature of building disruptive businesses into a replicable system. But that’s not the only reason.that replicable system means organisations can develop playbooks that work for building businesses.

FirstFounders: Building Sustainable Businesses, Not Just Unicorns

That experience, he says, planted the earliest seeds of what would later become his interest in venture studios.

“I realised something while I was working with a lot of these entrepreneurs.It goes beyond empowering them with skills that can’t especially translate into sustainable businesses. I saw that at the core of their problem was the gap of proper ideation and understanding the market.”

In trying to help these new entrepreneurs run their businesses more effectively, he established an agency that offers business and marketing strategies.

But his first real exposure to venture building came in 2010, when he began working with a handful of founders to refine their ideas. Much of the work centred on ideation,but he soon found himself facing a familiar pattern: many of the startups folded within a few years.

so he made another attempt,this time by setting up a venture studio called Troggeurban.Even though he admits he didn’t fully understand the model then, the studio launched three businesses, including a last-mile logistics startup that shut down two years later.

the FirstFounders playbook

FirstFounders is slightly unique in its approach to building a venture studio. Recognizing the constraints of the market it operates in, the studio is not particularly concerned about building unicorns.

Instead,its focus is on building sustainable businesses across four major sectors – fintech,logistics,e-commerce,and SaaS.

A Different Approach to Venture Building

Many venture studios aim to create the next billion-dollar company. FirstFounders takes a more pragmatic approach. They prioritize building businesses that can generate consistent revenue and achieve profitability, even if they don’t reach unicorn status.

This strategy is particularly relevant in emerging markets, where access to capital can be limited and the business environment can be unpredictable. FirstFounders believes that focusing on sustainability increases the chances of long-term success.

Key Sectors of Focus

FirstFounders concentrates its efforts on four key sectors:

• Fintech: Addressing financial inclusion and providing innovative financial solutions.
• Logistics: Optimizing supply chains and improving delivery services.
• E-commerce: Enabling businesses to reach wider markets and enhance the online shopping experience.
• SaaS: Developing software solutions that streamline business processes and improve efficiency.

the Importance of Market Understanding

A core tenet of the FirstFounders methodology is a deep understanding of the target market. The studio invests heavily in market research and customer discovery before launching any new venture.

This ensures that the businesses they build are solving real problems for real customers, increasing their chances of achieving product-market fit and long-term sustainability.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is a venture studio?

A venture studio is a company that builds multiple startups in-house, rather than simply investing in external founders. They provide resources, expertise, and infrastructure to help these ventures succeed.

What makes FirstFounders different from other venture studios?

FirstFounders prioritizes building sustainable, profitable businesses over chasing unicorn valuations. They focus on specific sectors and emphasize deep market understanding.

where does FirstFounders operate?

FirstFounders primarily operates in emerging markets, recognizing the unique opportunities and challenges these regions present.

Key Takeaways

• FirstFounders focuses on building sustainable businesses, not just high-growth startups.
• The studio concentrates on four key sectors: fintech, logistics, e-commerce, and SaaS.
• Deep market understanding and customer discovery are central to their methodology.
• FirstFounders operates primarily in emerging markets.

Looking Ahead: FirstFounders’ approach represents a growing trend in the venture building world – a shift towards pragmatism and sustainability.as emerging markets continue to develop, studios like FirstFounders will play a crucial role in fostering innovation and creating lasting economic value.