FOR COMPANIES
Your Business Today Will Not Be Your Core Business In 10 Years.
It costs much less than you think to be developing what’s next on the side.
How SideStarter Works
Build and operate a new business for less than the cost of a full-time employee.
SideStarter gives your company an experienced entrepreneurial team to uncover, build, launch, and operate new businesses alongside your core business — without distracting your existing team.
1. We Look Inside Your Business
We analyze your markets, customers, products, capabilities, data, relationships, and other assets.
We can also interview anyone you choose across the organization — including customer support and frontline employees, where some of the best clues about unmet customer needs, requested products, and new opportunities are often hiding.
We can also interview anyone you choose across the organization — including customer support and frontline employees, where some of the best clues about unmet customer needs, requested products, and new opportunities are often hiding.
2. We Identify the Opportunities
Our team of entrepreneurs combines what we uncover with our proprietary models and methods to identify businesses your company may be uniquely positioned to build.
Software. AI. Data. Marketplaces. Services. Memberships. International opportunities. And entirely new business models.
Software. AI. Data. Marketplaces. Services. Memberships. International opportunities. And entirely new business models.
3. We Present the Best Ideas
We bring the strongest opportunities to management — what we would build, why we think it could work, and what each could become.
You decide which, if any, you want to pursue.
You decide which, if any, you want to pursue.
4. We Go From 0 → 1
Once you choose an opportunity, we develop the business plan, offering, initial product or service, go-to-market strategy, and everything needed to get it into the market.
This is where our team’s 25 years of experience starting businesses from zero becomes especially valuable.
This is where our team’s 25 years of experience starting businesses from zero becomes especially valuable.
5. We Build It. Launch It. Run It.
With budgets approved by you, our team builds the business, takes it to market, finds the first customers, learns what works, and continues operating it.
Your core team can stay focused on your core business.
Your core team can stay focused on your core business.
6. You Decide What It Becomes
As the business proves itself, you stay in control of what happens next.
Scale it with us. Keep us operating it on the side. Bring it inside your company. Put a key employee in charge. Or make it a much bigger strategic priority.
We get it from idea to something real. You decide how far to take it.
Scale it with us. Keep us operating it on the side. Bring it inside your company. Put a key employee in charge. Or make it a much bigger strategic priority.
We get it from idea to something real. You decide how far to take it.
What Could Be Hiding Inside Your Company?
Let our team find the businesses hidden inside your existing assets, present the best opportunities, and build and operate the one(s) you choose — without distracting your core team.
The Software Business
Turn an internal tool, workflow, or technology into software other companies can buy.
The Data Business
Turn proprietary data into intelligence, benchmarks, scores, reports, or subscriptions.
The AI Business
Turn your company’s expertise, data, workflows, or proprietary knowledge into an AI-powered product or service.
The Marketplace Business
Connect your customers, suppliers, partners, or industry participants and monetize transactions or access.
The Membership Business
Turn an audience or customer base into a paid community, membership, or recurring service.
The Media Business
Turn expertise and audience into newsletters, research, podcasts, content, sponsorships, and events.
The Education Business
Turn company expertise into courses, training, certifications, or an industry academy.
The Services Business
Productize something your company does exceptionally well and offer it to others.
The Intelligence Business
Package industry knowledge, research, and insights into a recurring information product.
The Licensing Business
License your technology, IP, processes, methodologies, brand, or content to others.
The Platform Business
Build technology that allows customers, partners, or other businesses to operate on top of your capabilities.
The Network Business
Turn your relationships and industry position into a valuable professional or commercial network.
The Lead Generation Business
Use your audience, data, or distribution to connect qualified buyers with businesses that want to reach them.
The Commerce Business
Sell complementary products or services to customers you already reach.
The Private-Label Business
Use your brand, distribution, or customer relationships to launch products manufactured by someone else.
The Subscription Business
Package an existing capability, service, information source, or benefit into recurring revenue.
The Certification Business
Create a recognized standard, credential, assessment, or accreditation around expertise you already possess.
The Events Business
Turn your audience and industry authority into conferences, executive gatherings, experiences, or specialized events.
The International Business
Create a market-specific version of your existing offering for a new country.
Going From 0 → 1 Is a Different Skill Set.
Your team is built to run, grow, and optimize an established business.
Starting one from nothing is different.
It means finding the opportunity, testing assumptions, building with limited resources, getting the first customers, changing direction quickly, and figuring out what actually works — before there is a team, a playbook, or even certainty that the business will work.
Starting one from nothing is different.
It means finding the opportunity, testing assumptions, building with limited resources, getting the first customers, changing direction quickly, and figuring out what actually works — before there is a team, a playbook, or even certainty that the business will work.
That’s what we do.
SideStarter can take a new business from idea to launch, prove the model, and even operate it alongside your core business — without distracting your existing team.
When it’s ready, you decide what happens next: keep us operating it, bring it inside your company, or put one of your leaders in charge of what we’ve built.
When it’s ready, you decide what happens next: keep us operating it, bring it inside your company, or put one of your leaders in charge of what we’ve built.
We Bring Entrepreneurial Machinery Inside Established Companies.
Companies don't necessarily need another innovation workshop.
They need to build.
WE BUILD COMPANIES.
We've spent decades identifying opportunities and turning them into businesses.
Now we're bringing that company-building capability inside established organizations.
We've spent decades identifying opportunities and turning them into businesses.
Now we're bringing that company-building capability inside established organizations.
We help uncover opportunities hiding inside:
Employees
Customers
Technology
Data
Intellectual Property
Distribution
Expertise
Existing Markets
Then: Discover → Validate → Build → Launch → Scale or Stop
Not every opportunity becomes a company.
It shouldn't.
The objective is to create enough intelligent options that the market can tell us which deserve to become businesses.
It shouldn't.
The objective is to create enough intelligent options that the market can tell us which deserve to become businesses.
Imagine Applying This Inside Your Company
An illustrative example of how a Side Venture pipeline could work—not historical SideStarter results.
100 Experienced Executives
↓
50 Overlooked Opportunities
↓
10 Opportunities Investigated
↓
3 Opportunities Validated
↓
1–2 New Businesses Launched
Then do it again.
And again.
And again.
Until creating businesses isn't something your company occasionally attempts.
It becomes something your company knows how to do.
Your Next Great Business May Already Work For You.
ASPATORE'S LAW
Every Business Has a 10-Year Expiration Date.
Inspired by the simplicity of Moore's Law, Jonathan Aspatore developed Aspatore's Law to describe what accelerating technological change means for businesses:
Assume the business you have today will be obsolete within 10 years. Build the businesses that replace it before someone else does.
It doesn't mean your company disappears in exactly 10 years.
It means leadership should never assume today's products, economics, competitive advantages or business model will protect the company a decade from now.
AI makes that assumption even more important.
It means leadership should never assume today's products, economics, competitive advantages or business model will protect the company a decade from now.
AI makes that assumption even more important.
The 10/10 Rule
10 YEARS
Operate as though your current business has a 10-year expiration date.
~10%
Consider dedicating approximately 10% of operating profits—or another meaningful, protected annual budget—to identifying, testing and building Side Ventures.
EVERY YEAR
Continuously create new options for where your company's future growth could come from.
The exact investment will vary by company.
The commitment shouldn't.
BUILD
The Business That Got You Here Won't Be the Business That Keeps You Here.
Markets change.
Technology changes.
Customers change.
Competitors change.
And AI is accelerating all of it.
Yet most companies still depend overwhelmingly on the businesses that made them successful in the first place.
After more than 25 years building, growing and selling companies, SideStarter Chairman & Founder Jonathan Aspatore came to believe that this dependence is one of the greatest risks facing established companies.
It led to a simple principle that now sits at the center of how SideStarter works with companies.
After more than 25 years building, growing and selling companies, SideStarter Chairman & Founder Jonathan Aspatore came to believe that this dependence is one of the greatest risks facing established companies.
It led to a simple principle that now sits at the center of how SideStarter works with companies.
Give Your Best People Something To Build.
Aspatore's Law isn't only about protecting future revenue.
It's also about protecting your future talent.
Some of your most ambitious executives don't simply want another promotion.
It's also about protecting your future talent.
Some of your most ambitious executives don't simply want another promotion.
They want to build.
Without that opportunity, some will eventually leave to build somewhere else—or for themselves.
Side Ventures create another option.
Side Ventures create another option.
Give exceptional people businesses to run.
A promising executive can become the CEO or GM of a new Side Venture.
They get autonomy.
They get responsibility.
They get something meaningful to build.
Your company keeps the talent, institutional knowledge and potential upside.
Instead of simply preparing your next generation of leaders:
Instead of simply preparing your next generation of leaders:
Give them something real to lead.
Depending On One Business Is The Risk.
Starting new businesses is traditionally viewed as adding risk.
Aspatore's Law argues the opposite.
Aspatore's Law argues the opposite.
Depending on one business for your company's future is the bigger risk.
If nearly all of your company's profits depend upon one core business, you're making an enormous bet:
That what works today will continue working tomorrow.
Side Ventures create options.
That what works today will continue working tomorrow.
Side Ventures create options.
Explore multiple opportunities.
Test before making significant investments.
Stop what doesn't work.
Invest further in what does.
And occasionally build something capable of becoming your company's next major growth engine.
Side Ventures aren't a distraction from your core business. They're insurance on your company's future.
Create Options Before You Need Them.
This may be the most important principle behind Aspatore's Law.
The best time to build your next business is while your current business is still working.
That's when you have the greatest advantages.
Time.
Capital.
Customers.
Talent.
Distribution.
Credibility.
And the ability to experiment without desperately needing every idea to work.
Yet companies often do the opposite.
They begin searching for new growth after growth has already slowed.
By then, the clock is working against them.
Side Ventures create optionality before it's needed.
They begin searching for new growth after growth has already slowed.
By then, the clock is working against them.
Side Ventures create optionality before it's needed.
Don't wait until you need your next business to start building it.
Think Portfolio, Not One Big Bet.
Aspatore's Law isn't about betting the company on one brilliant idea.
It's almost the opposite.
Make smaller bets. Create more options. Let the market identify the winners.
It's almost the opposite.
Make smaller bets. Create more options. Let the market identify the winners.
Explore.
Validate.
Test.
Launch.
Scale what works.
Stop what doesn't.
Then do it again.
Controlled downside. Multiple options. Asymmetric upside.
Over time, something even more valuable happens.
Your company develops the ability to:
Over time, something even more valuable happens.
Your company develops the ability to:
Continually create its own next businesses.
The Benefits Go Far Beyond New Revenue.
Aspatore's Law starts with corporate survival.
But the benefits of continually creating Side Ventures extend much further.
Side Ventures can help your company:
But the benefits of continually creating Side Ventures extend much further.
Side Ventures can help your company:
Enter new markets without forcing them into the existing business.
Create new revenue streams capable of becoming meaningful businesses over time.
Retain entrepreneurial executives by giving them something significant to build and run.
Develop future CEOs and GMs through real operating experience.
Monetize existing advantages including data, IP, technology, expertise and distribution.
Take advantage of AI to test and build businesses faster and with less capital.
Reduce concentration risk by creating additional sources of future enterprise value.
Create strategic optionality before you actually need it.
And occasionally:
Create the business that eventually becomes your company's future.
The Greatest Risk May Be The Business You Never Start.
Jonathan Aspatore has spent 25 years starting companies.
And that experience has shaped another important SideStarter belief:
And that experience has shaped another important SideStarter belief:
Failure isn't necessarily the greatest risk in starting something new.
A Side Venture that doesn't work can be stopped.
Its investment can be limited.
Capital can be deployed in stages.
Progress can be measured.
Lessons can be carried into the next opportunity.
But there's another failure that's much harder to recover from:
Its investment can be limited.
Capital can be deployed in stages.
Progress can be measured.
Lessons can be carried into the next opportunity.
But there's another failure that's much harder to recover from:
Failing to build the business that someone else eventually uses to disrupt yours.
That's the risk Aspatore's Law is designed to address.