About
The Growth Studio is how Brass Ring Ventures helps promising startups turn early traction into scalable growth. Our team of Operating Partners works directly with founders to strengthen strategy, operations, and execution during one of the most fragile stages of company building: the transition from Seed to Series A.
What is the Growth Studio?
The Growth Studio is our selective fee-for-service platform. Through the Growth Studio, founders gain practical support from experienced operators who have built and scaled companies themselves.
The Growth Studio also represents a critical step in our pre-investment diligence process. We vet companies for potential investment fit before we admit them to the Growth Studio; post-investment, all portfolio companies are required to participate.
Accelerators run short-term cohort programs designed for very early-stage companies—that's not us.
We don't create companies internally or take large ownership stakes in the companies we support.
We focus specifically on helping startups become venture-ready—not broad operational consulting engagements.
Hands-on support on product-market fit and growth strategy from operators who have built and scaled companies.
Direct help across sales, marketing, finance, and product—embedded during your most critical growth stage.
Direct help across sales, marketing, finance, and product—embedded during your most critical growth stage.
Who is the Growth Studio for?
The Growth Studio is ideal for companies that have already begun to prove their business but need support to scale. We typically work with companies that:
Brass Ring’s fund is considering for an investment
Operate in the learning, workforce, and economic mobility sectors
Have demonstrated early customer traction
Are generating approximately $500K–$3M in revenue
Are preparing to raise institutional venture funding
Want hands-on support to strengthen their strategy, operations, and execution
Participation in the Growth Studio includes a fee-for-service component. This ensures that founders entering the program are deeply committed to the work required to scale their companies successfully. It also allows Brass Ring to dedicate meaningful operating resources to a small number of companies each year. In short, founders have skin in the game, access to experienced operators who are equally invested in their success, and the opportunity to vet our value add as we consider an investment.
The Six Ts
To determine whether a company is a potential fit for investment and a strong fit for the Growth Studio, Brass Ring evaluates every opportunity through a framework we call the Six Ts.
01 — Thesis
Alignment to our investment areas in the future of learning and work
02 — Theme
Fit within our core investment areas and the specific problems we're focused on
03 — Team
Founder experience, leadership capability, and coachability—the most important factor
04 — Traction
Meaningful early market validation with customers who return and expand over time
05 — TAM
A large, addressable market with genuine venture-scale potential—$1B+ opportunity
06 — Technology
Differentiated product or technical advantage that creates a real and defensible competitive moat
Hear from Growth Studio Participants
BRV has played a big role in helping us sharpen our GTM strategy and bring more discipline to how we manage deals. Their support has been hands-on, practical, and easy to apply right away. They’ve also opened doors to relationships that turned into formal partnerships, which has helped us build a stronger pipeline and a more effective overall motion.
Arbol
Miriam has brought real, practical experience to our go-to-market thinking. One of her most valuable contributions was sharing how she's approached early adopter programs in edtech — a model we adapted and made our own, and it's working. We closed our first dozen 12 paying B2B customers in four months. Beyond that, she consistently challenges us to think bigger than our current focus and brings perspectives we hadn't considered. That kind of outside-in thinking is exactly what you want from an advisor.
Youthfully
The BRV team has truly lived the founder journey, and it shows! Through the studio, I felt like I had a real sounding board for fundraising and go-to-market strategy. When I needed additional resources, BRV had top-notch talent ready to go and helped set up the engagement for success.
Campground Systems
The BRV team has added tremendous value through the Growth Studio, from helping us build a winning go-to-market strategy, bring in our first sales hires, develop our market positioning, refresh our brand, develop a financial plan, and close early financing. Miriam’s industry expertise and expansive network have been an incredible asset to our team.
ClassBank
The BRV team has been instrumental in our company’s growth. Through their strategic guidance and hands-on support, we’ve significantly strengthened our approach to leadership, revenue, and overall execution. Miriam and Joel, in particular, have become trusted mentors throughout our journey.
Edbinder
Working with BRV has been an incredible experience. They are operators at heart and they truly understand the journey of founders in the space. That is extremely rare. The insights they provide have a meaningful ROI, and their ability to showcase outcomes is what sets them apart from other investors. I’m excited to continue our journey with the team.
Robin
Interested in the Growth Studio?
Let's build.
If you're building a company shaping the future of learning and work and have already demonstrated meaningful traction, we'd love to hear from you.