Startup Studio Insider Spotlight: First Bite

Startup studios are setting a new standard for what it means to be a venture builder. With a focus on creating disruptive startup companies that offer innovative products and services, startup studios effectively reduce the risk that new ventures encounter by going through a rigorous process of validation and assigning teams of experienced entrepreneurs and category experts to guide them to success. Because those working at studios become experts at rapidly generating and testing ideas, the chances of succeeding at each attempt are much higher than with other traditional venture models.

Meet First Bite

We have recently seen a trend towards studios that concentrate on spinning out new ventures that align with a specific strategic focus area. Focus is crucial because it allows studios to get smarter, faster, and more efficient with every new idea they explore. If a studio has a strong focus and expertise, the learnings from past projects can be applied to the next, and so on.

That being said, we are so excited to introduce you to our latest startup studio insider spotlight: First Bite! Our team was surprised to learn that First Bite is the first Italian startup studio focusing solely on FoodTech.

What is Foodtech?

FoodTech is a branch of food science that deals with the production, preservation, quality control, and research & development of food products. First Bite takes learnings from global trends around FoodTech services and products in order to make smart, and timely decisions to invest in projects with highly innovative and sustainable content.

One benefit of working with First Bite is that team members and founders who get into this field become familiar with the newest state-of-the-art FoodTech technologies of the future, which makes it an exciting way to stay in the know for this exciting and innovative industry while simultaneously helping companies increase their revenue. It’s love at First Bite!

Without further ado, let’s dive into First Bite’s spotlight!

What sets you apart from the rest of the competition in the startup studio space?

First Bite is distinguished for being the First European Startup Studio Vertical on FoodTech, a sector that leverages innovative digital technologies for the production, control, and distribution of food. This is a sector that in Italy, with its food culture, can express a lot. In addition, the verticality leads us to develop a clean network quickly. In fact, we involve the most important players in the industry between VCs, startups, and companies.

How would you describe your studio’s approach to developing new ideas? What services do you offer your startups?

First Bite for new idea development focuses on 2030 sustainability needs and goals (SDGs). Also, like startups, we do ongoing customer discovery to discover user needs. Another technique is to match and analyze trends from America and Asia and based on the results analyze the feasibility of the product or service. To our startups, we offer privileged access to funds and companies, plus physical spaces to work and perks. During the process, they will have at their disposal our training and budget to carry out the business.

What does the studio’s level of involvement look like after the business has launched?

After our journey, once the startup is launched, they will have our monthly advisory tips for growing marketing and business model and monitoring based on metrics as well as access to our networking and ecosystem.

What unique benefits does the startup studio model provide entrepreneurs?

Founders of a Startup studio should have strong expertise in building companies, having made all the mistakes and having learned from them. The Startup Studio model provides entrepreneurs with a training course to launch a business idea. In addition, the startup studio breaks down all the major problems of startup failure. For example, one of the main problems in the market. First Bite analyzes the market and based on the results tests whether a business idea could fail.

How do you find your co-founders/entrepreneurs?

We find our founders/entrepreneurs through a recruiting phase sponsoring our activities mainly among universities, research centers, IT communities and managers that want to build their own startup. Later, through Hackathon days, we select the candidates based on their skills and based on tests that we submit.

What is your approach for sourcing funding?

First Bite receives support from the ecosystem where there are VCs, investors and business angels and also has a fund that invests in newly launched startups. In addition, we have our own fund that finances the initial growth of startups. We are closing the fund in these weeks with investments from business angels.

Where does the name First Bite come from?

A startup studio experiences every day a constant flow of brilliant ideas and brilliant entrepreneurs is like having the First Bite to an Apple. We work with startups focused on FoodTech, so “First Bite” gives the idea of the begging of new business adventures on food.

What are some of the key differences that you see in the market you operate in versus other countries in the world?

We are building the experiences and the food of the future, we see the world as our market, and thanks to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, soon the galaxy.

Do you have any key insights or trends from this year that you see transforming the venture studio model?

Here are some interesting key insights:
- 84% of startups generated by a Startup Studio achieve a Seed Round
- The Exit rate for a Studio is around 16% (with a range of 9% to 30%); the VC rate is around 8%.
- The average internal rate of return — IRR — for a Studio is 53%, for a traditional startup only 21.3%.

Tell us a bit more about the Food Tech space? Why do you consider this to be a growing industry?

Food is the oldest market existing and is naturally growing with the growth of population. But now the focus on innovation must be in making this market sustainable, that is why we focus on food “Innovability”, Innovation + Sustainability. This is a world need, not a PR stunt.

What are your top competitors? Both in terms of studios and in companies.

We don’t see Startup Studios as competitors, we have competitors for each company we found.
As First Bite, our strongest competitor is the resistance to innovation from big food corporations.

What a great story and innovability manifesto! We are glad to have had the chance to connect with First Bite and we cannot wait for what the future holds for them with upcoming projects and new ventures! Stay tuned here at Startup Studio Insider for more content around the world of startup studios and drop us a comment below if you’d like for us to feature a certain studio!