FOR COMPANIES
Build the Businesses That Come Next.
SideStarter partners with select established companies to identify, validate and build new Side Ventures—creating new sources of growth, new opportunities for top talent and more options for whatever comes next.
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.
Your Next Business May Already Be Hiding Inside Your Company.
One of the principles behind Aspatore's Law is that established companies have an enormous advantage when creating businesses.
They aren't starting from zero.
You already have assets entrepreneurs would spend years trying to create:
They aren't starting from zero.
You already have assets entrepreneurs would spend years trying to create:
Customers.
Distribution.
Data.
Technology.
Intellectual property.
Industry expertise.
Capital.
Credibility.
Talented people.
Jonathan's experience building companies has repeatedly reinforced the same idea:
Some of the best new-business opportunities begin with advantages you already have.
SideStarter helps uncover those opportunities, determine which have real market potential and turn the best into Side Ventures.
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.
PROCESS
How SideStarter Works
SideStarter was created around a belief Jonathan Aspatore developed over decades of entrepreneurship:
Building businesses is fundamentally different from talking about innovation.
We're not an innovation consultancy.
We're not here to conduct workshops and leave behind a strategy deck.
We're not here to conduct workshops and leave behind a strategy deck.
We build businesses.
We work alongside leadership teams to identify opportunities capable of becoming meaningful Side Ventures and help take them from possibility to reality.
01 — DISCOVER
We uncover opportunities across your customers, employees, technology, IP, expertise, data, distribution and existing markets.
02 — VALIDATE
We test assumptions, talk to potential customers and determine whether genuine demand exists before significant investment.
03 — BUILD
For opportunities that demonstrate potential, we develop what's necessary to turn them into businesses.
Strategy.
Brand.
Product.
Technology.
Positioning.
Go-to-market.
Infrastructure.
04 — LAUNCH
We put the Side Venture into the market and begin generating real-world customer feedback.
05 — SCALE OR STOP
The market decides.
Promising businesses receive additional investment.
Others are stopped.
Then the process continues.
Promising businesses receive additional investment.
Others are stopped.
Then the process continues.
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:
The cusEnter new markets without forcing them into the existing business.tomer.
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.
OUR APPROACH
Why SideStarter
SideStarter was founded by Jonathan Aspatore around a belief developed over more than 25 years of entrepreneurship:
The best time to build your next business is while your current one is still working.
Jonathan has started companies from zero, grown businesses to millions in revenue and successfully sold multiple companies to Fortune 500 companies.
We've experienced what it takes to go from:
Idea → Market → Customers → Revenue → Scale → Exit.
And we've learned that building a company requires something very different from advising one.
It requires doing.
We've experienced what it takes to go from:
Idea → Market → Customers → Revenue → Scale → Exit.
And we've learned that building a company requires something very different from advising one.
It requires doing.
Testing.
Building.
Selling.
Changing.
Sometimes failing.
And continuing until something works.
SideStarter brings that company-building experience to established organizations.
Not another strategy deck.
Not another innovation workshop.
New businesses.
Build What Comes Next.
Aspatore's Law starts with a simple assumption:
The business creating your profits today won't necessarily be the business creating them 10 years from now.
So don't wait to find out.
Build new businesses.
Create new leaders.
Enter new markets.
Reduce concentration risk.
Create options.
Don't wait until you need what's next. Build it now.