Program Best Practices: 6 Key Insights in the Pre-Idea, Pre-Team stage of Systemic Venture Building
Written by Simon Schilt, Program Manager at Fresh Ventures Studio
The hidden work beneath the surface
For the past three years, Fresh Ventures Studio has proudly hosted our annual Pre-Studio Program, also known as our Venture Building Program. Over the course of four months, we welcome ambitious, purpose-driven aspiring entrepreneurs into our space, where we support them in shaping and refining early-stage startup ideas. Through dedicated mentorship, access to our network, and tailored resources, we work to unlock their potential and help cultivate ventures that address systemic challenges - paving the way for meaningful, long-term transformation in our food system.
However, before the seed of an idea is planted, before teams, pitch decks or ventures emerge, something quite delicate happens. This is the quiet – and often overlooked – phase in a startup where the grounds for venture building are being prepared. Just as healthy soil creates the conditions for plants to emerge and thrive, we must create the right conditions for regenerative ventures to take root and grow. Venture building therefore, especially in a regenerative context, is really an art of cultivation.
In this very early stage of this cultivation process - pre-idea, pre-team - what are the conditions that enable regenerative ventures to emerge? How do we prepare the soil? What must be in place beneath the surface before a startup can grow? In this blog, we’d like to walk you through six key-insights, or enabling conditions, that we’ve learned about through cultivating fertile soil in our venture building program.
- Fall in love with the problem, not the idea
We believe that the most resilient ventures grow from a “problem-founder fit”. A problem-founder fit is a deep connection between the founders’ unique background and the systemic issue they are called to address. That’s why founders that join our pre-studio program start with a deep exploration and systemic analysis of various problem areas. Not just to find a problem they are uniquely positioned to address, but one that resonates on all levels.
A classic startup trap is falling in love with your idea. Founders may want to push for their solution even though it doesn’t solve the very problem it aims to tackle. When building any startup it is important to avoid this. Yet regenerative ventures must be even more flexible, given the complexity of the systems they’re trying to change. To put it bluntly: as the founders’ understanding of the systemic issue evolves, so should the startup’s solution.
That’s what is enabled when participants in our program find their problem-founder fit. Once they find the right problem, the solution or value-proposition may change. But the clarity and energy of the founding team stays rooted in the love for a problem.
- Find the problem within the problem
When a founder identifies a problem that they are passionate about and uniquely equipped to address, this is not enough to become a regenerative venture. That is actually just the start. This is where we challenge founders to find the problem within the problem. What is the structural block, cultural pattern, or missing link that keeps the visible issue from being resolved? This deeper layer is where the real innovation lies.
It is not just about finding what is broken, but finding out why it stays broken. And how to unlock it. Before ideation happens - or even to stimulate the process of ideation - we nudge founders to leverage their unique edge (industry knowledge, specific skill, or way of understanding) to find the problem within the problem. This requires deep exploration with specific stakeholders - something we aim to foster and accelerate through actively providing access to our ever-growing and ever-evolving ecosystem.
By creating feedback loops in our program, and by unlocking access to networks, we stimulate founders to dig deeper. This is an essential part of the soil in which regenerative innovation is able to emerge.
- We don’t just need systems thinkers - we need systems beings
So: through the problem-oriented start of our program, we shape sharp system-thinkers who can identify and act upon deep systemic issues. And yet, when it comes to cultivating regenerative ventures, systems thinking might not be all. In fact, as the phrase “problem-loving” suggests, engaging with systems change is not just a matter of the mind, but above all a matter of the heart.
This insight reshapes how we approach the process. We’re learning that regenerative ventures don’t just emerge from new ways of thinking, but from founders willing to explore and embody those ways in how they build, relate, and lead. As Rowson (2019) puts it, this is about “becoming the change you want to see in the world”. This is a phrase he uses to describe Bildung as a lifelong journey of personal development intertwined with social responsibility. When applied in the context of the cultivation of a regenerative venture, we like to call that: Regenerative Foundership.
How we can grow and nurture regenerative foundership is a continuous exploration, but it is becoming clear that this inner work is part of the soil too.
- Start with a Theory of Change, not just a business model
When founders enter our venture building program, we guide them to develop a Theory of Change that links their intended impact to the real-world activities of their emerging venture. A Theory of Change is a tool that helps back-cast what steps need to be taken to come to certain systemic impacts or changes. It surfaces the underlying assumptions - things that need to be true, in order for the venture to come to its intended outcome.
That way, a Theory of Change serves a bit like a map, to guide what needs to be done, and in what order. Often the business model that a regenerative venture starts with is just one step in the Theory of Change. This makes a regenerative venture constantly challenge itself: is what we’re doing actually still serving the goal we’re trying to achieve? Going beyond the question of “what should we be?” by asking themselves: “what should we become?” Ever evolving their activities and business models.
Too often does the focus on a business model of startups blur or even block the route to their intended impact. By starting with a Theory of Change, we aim to shape the conditions in which clarity can arise, and the gap between a strong business model and an intended impact can be bridged.
- Finding the right who before the what
Even before a venture takes form, the right human connections can change everything. That’s why in our program we don’t just support solo founders: we actively cultivate potential co-founder relationships. That means matching complementary personalities and creating spaces where trust and resonance can grow organically. That’s why we design our programs as cohorts. We bring together mission-aligned individuals who are exploring similar questions, even if they’re working on different problems.
We also pay close attention to what kind of teaming a regenerative venture needs. Different stages of the journey require different capacities - and regenerative ventures often need more than just technical or operational skills. They need teams with shared values, emotional resilience, and a capacity to navigate complexity together.
Teaming in regenerative venture building isn’t just about finding a co-founder - it is about being part of a living, supportive system.
- Slow down to see clearly, even in a fast-moving season
Those committed to entrepreneurship for systemic change often find themselves caught in a seeming paradox of time. While the challenges demand rapid action, you can’t rush systems change. While building a startup means having too little time for everything, there’s a need for space to reflect, integrate, and see the bigger picture. Yet, let’s not get caught up in this paradox. Early stage regenerative venturing requires both slow and quick work.
In fact, it requires counter-balancing - deep, reflective work to grow regenerative foundership and find the right problem to commit to, alongside fast experimentation to understand systems, test assumptions, and shape business models. To some founders in our cohorts this is confusing, because of the seeming tension between the two. And it’s true: using this tension and growing into the art of counter-balaning is a challenge. It is all too easy to get lost in the deep work or caught up in the rush of doing.
Although holding balance with our founders is a continuous development, it is one of the strengths of the Fresh soil and something we are becoming increasingly better at every cycle.
Conclusion
Solving problems can be difficult, but changing systems is complex. That’s what makes regenerative venturing incredibly hard. Where conventional startups often solely focus on solving a user problem, regenerative ventures operate on multiple levels. They identify leverage points in broken systems, address user needs in context, and design interventions that change patterns. And all of this must still be viable as a business.
This is entrepreneurship as a way to create lasting impact. Combining creativity, smart thinking, hard work, talent and deep passion to come to the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. At Fresh, we create the fertile conditions and give the hands-on support for regenerative ventures to take root and thrive. A place where founders can fall in love with a problem, find a unique innovation gap, embody their principles, bridge the gap between business model and impact, find fellow venturers and balance slowing down with moving fast.
Unlocking the incredible power of mission driven entrepreneurship is what drives us. It’s what empowers us to keep doing our work beneath the surface.
Excited to join our next cohort? Applications are live [here] for the 2025-2026 Pre Studio Program.
Ready for such a journey — or know someone who is? Join our 2026 Venture Building Program and help regenerative ventures take root. Applications are now open - explore the details here!