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“If an adversary is present, one needs a strategy; otherwise, a plan will suffice.”
—Antulio J. Echevarria II, ‘Military Strategy’
While many businesses like to compare themselves to generals and commanders, ONMAE found a better connection with the mindset of a farmer.
When a farmer says they’re “just a farmer”, what they mean is they not only know how to plow, dig, plant, earth unearth, treat and harvest; it also means they know when to do it, and in what order, to maximize the chances of a good harvest with as little risk or loss as possible.
In harmony with the principles of ‘growing’ startups in the absence of an adversary, at ONMAE we created different sets of workflows according to the specific project we work on.
Yes, we do one thing: we grow startups.
But we believe that adapting how we do it to the ‘weather’ and the ‘soil’ is crucial to success.
The Core Operating Model
“Wait, are we… building this just to quit? I thought we were solving a problem!”
—Someone in Silicon Valley
Sometimes we’ll build to exit, some other times we’ll realize a dream.
In either case, with Founders and Startups, our operational approach follows four phases:
Phase 1: Validation and Assessment
Is this real? Does the market want it?
We run lean validation sitting at our desk: target customers conversations, market research, competitive landscape review, Model Triptych review, scalability and profitability assessment. At this stage, we are testing assumptions, not running a formal program. If validation signals “no,” we’ll tell you. If it signals “go,” we commit.
Phase 2: Team Assembly
A business is all set for failure without the right people.
We build with you the founding team: identifying operators, engineers, or domain experts needed for the next phase. We also outline the strategy and the initial financial means, strong of our own expertise and industry advisors. Sometimes that’s hiring; sometimes it’s convincing existing founders or operators to join. We leverage our network and our credibility to attract talent.
Phase 3: Go-To-Market and BizDev
At this point, we execute. Strategy becomes action.
Go-to-market planning and early customer acquisition. Partnership development. Operational systems and infrastructure. Optimization of workflow and processes. Planning for scaling up.
We’re hands-on here. Not strategic advising: actual execution.
Phase 4: Funding Pathways
If and when the time comes, we will explore additional financing means beyond VCs.
We will identify and pursue the best-fitting funding model for the startup we create, including: Corporate investors and corporate venture, government subsidies and grants, VCs, strategic partnerships that carry capital or resources, and even bank financing and debt instruments.
What we don’t to
“You shouldn’t do something just because you can. That’s why at ONMAE we’ll only do what we do well.
(Which is, admittedly, not everything there is to do. But don’t put it on the website.)”“You did what??”
—Sesto Keisuke Ueda
Nobody does everything, so there are some thing we don’t do and separate us from what many see as our competition.
– We are not a fund. We don’t provide direct funding as of 2027.
– We are not a consultant. We don’t take fees on co-founding. While startups crafted around a specific request from a corporate partner usually follow more standard pricing models, when we start a startup with you we don’t make money out of you; instead, we generate money with you.
– We are not a mentoring platform. We don’t mentor abstractly from a distance, and we prefer being on the field with you.
ONMAE LLC 