Marc Richly[ founder ]
Marc Richly
CMO / Go-to-MarketProduct, GTM, brand. Turns domain authority into a story the market actually buys.
LinkedIn[ 001 / Manifesto ]— —
We co-found
the companies
incumbents can't ship_
→ What we are
StartIn is a venture builder. We pair domain experts with a sharp founding team and attack markets where AI has just rewritten the economics of building software. We take meaningful equity. We ship the first product ourselves.
AI HAS COLLAPSED THE COST OF SERIOUS SOFTWARE 10–100× ◆WE CO-FOUND. WE DON'T CONSULT. ◆MEANINGFUL EQUITY, NOT INVOICES ◆VERTICAL SAAS IS UP FOR GRABS ◆DOMAIN EXPERTS + AI-NATIVE BUILD VELOCITY ◆AI HAS COLLAPSED THE COST OF SERIOUS SOFTWARE 10–100× ◆WE CO-FOUND. WE DON'T CONSULT. ◆MEANINGFUL EQUITY, NOT INVOICES ◆VERTICAL SAAS IS UP FOR GRABS ◆DOMAIN EXPERTS + AI-NATIVE BUILD VELOCITY ◆
[ 002 ] Thesis
The legacy moat was a multi-million-line codebase. AI just dissolved it.
For twenty years, vertical SaaS was protected by sheer code volume — features layered onto a 2010 UI nobody dared rewrite. That moat is gone. The new moat is the rare combination of real domain authority and an opinionated team that can re-think the workflow from scratch. Finding it, wrapping it, shipping it — that's the company.
10–100×
Cost collapse in shipping serious software
2
Playbooks, one operating muscle
AI
Native build velocity, top to bottom
0
Slide-only advisory, ever
[ 003 ] Two Legs
01Sourced from academia
Academic Venture Builder
We back research-rooted founders who have IP, credibility, and early traction — but need the tech and go-to-market muscle to unlock the next leg of growth.
- ▸We join as the missing co-founders
- ▸We build the product
- ▸We set up the GTM motion
- ▸We earn equity for the lift
02Sourced from practice
AI-Native SaaS Challengers
We pick a vertical SaaS incumbent, recruit a credible operator as design partner with equity, and build the AI-native challenger from the ground up.
- ▸Not a chatbot bolted on a 2010 UI
- ▸A re-thought workflow
- ▸Domain operator holds equity
- ▸We are the founders, they are the wedge
→ Why one company: Both legs run on the same engine — find the rare person with domain authority, plug in an opinionated tech and GTM team, and ship. The unifying skill is recognising under-leveraged expertise and wrapping it in software the incumbents can't ship anymore.
[ 004 ] Operating Model
01
What we bring
Tech leadership (David), product / GTM / brand (Marc), AI-native build velocity, and a small bench of operators we can pull in per case.
02
What we take
Meaningful founding-team equity. We are co-founders, not service providers. Cash-light deals. We earn the upside.
03
What we don't do
Agency work. Paid pilots. Slide-only advisory. Cap-table-light “support” roles.
04
Pace
Focused. We commit deeply to a case before taking on the next, so each company gets real founder attention.
[ 005 ] Proof Point
Leg 01 · Academic VB
Learnfluid
Edtech · Founded by an academic team
Edtech founded by an academic team with a working product and early traction — but the team needed a CTO and GTM muscle to unlock the next leg of growth. Marc joined as CMO, David as CTO — both part of the founding team, not advisors. We built the product, set up the GTM motion, and earned founding-team equity.
"Validates the model: we co-build, we don't just consult."
Stage
Live · Scaling
Role
Co-founders
Outcome
Proof point
[ 006 ] Founding Team
David Meine[ founder ]
David Meine
CTO / BuildTech leadership across the stack. Ships the first product himself, then hires the team that scales it.
LinkedIn[ 007 ] Apply
Have IP and traction.
Need co-founders?
If you're a researcher or domain expert with early validation, and shipping the next version of the product is the bottleneck — we should talk. One conversation, then either we're in or we're out.
Self-check
- ☐You have IP, research, or credibility in a real domain
- ☐You have first traction — but a CTO is the bottleneck to unlocking real growth
- ☐You're open to giving up founding-team equity to people who ship
- ☐You want co-founders on day one — not consultants on retainer
Or write directlyhello@startin.in →
Send the one-pager