Time to value.

There was a time when “time-to-value” was a SaaS slide. Now it’s the standard you’re compared against, whether you like it or not. LLMs didn’t just change how we build. They changed what users expect. Value, now, is measured in minutes. Sometimes seconds. And the uncomfortable part? If your product needs a human to explain why it’s valuable… you’re already late. Here’s what time-to-value looked like inside Builders this month.

First things first: time-to-value is the new moat.

Most teams still design for adoption. But adoption is downstream. The real question is: how fast can a user get to a real “oh, nice”? Without onboarding theatre. Without forms. Without a sales rep translating the value.

We see this everywhere right now:

• founders refusing “demo-only access”

• buyers demanding one-click setup + instant results

• studios needing to compete on execution leverage, not frameworks

• communities choosing rooms with signal over noise

What this unlocks (and how we’ll prove it):

• Less friction → more truth. If value shows up fast, people don’t need convincing. Proof: shorter cycles from first touch to “yes / no”, fewer zombie pilots.

• Speed of learning → speed of trust. Fast value creates immediate credibility. Proof: stronger rooms, better follow-ups, higher-quality second conversations.

• Studio advantage → visible leverage. The studio must compress venture creation, not add steps. Proof: faster prototypes, faster kills, faster “earned right to build.”

In the loop: signal, speed, and sharp rooms

A few moments that shaped the month:

• LP meeting — the last 10 minutes landed. We spent the evening explaining “speed of learning”… and then showed an internal platform we’ve been building: years of venture knowledge turned into a shared company memory, surfacing signals fast. The real takeaway wasn’t what it did, it was how fast it showed value.

• Studio Roadshow — OSS Ventures in Rotterdam. A full-day, no-BS exchange on where studios create leverage… and where “helping” turns into founder dependency. Full write-up is live. Read here 🔗

• Builders Investor House #13 moved to March 17 (umob). For investors who care about durability over optics, and founders building infrastructure in regulated markets. Fireside chat with Bibi Jorissen. Fewer slides, more signal. Signup 🔗

Ventures in motion: value, faster

• Avery — building for the first minute. We hosted the first Talent Craft Sessions at YoungCapital’s HQ: 20+ TA leaders, and business leaders outside TA (CFO, Head of Data Engineering, Strategy & Ops). No fluffy slides. Honest conversation. Biggest insight: speed without clarity just scales wrong decisions. Vol. 2 is coming. Event recap 🔗

• Cortena — pivot with the vision intact. Sometimes you build the right thing… too early. Cortena pivoted because urgency wasn’t there yet - direction changed, vision stayed: financial landscapes at the speed of your thoughts. Respect to Bruno and the team for sharing the learning openly. Visit the new website 🔗

• Everday — the seat at the table isn’t earned by dashboards. Third Everday roundtable (with HiBob) went straight to the uncomfortable: “AI is making hiring faster, but not necessarily better.” And the line that stuck: “Data doesn’t earn HR a seat at the table — owning a number does.” Event recap 🔗

• Trigger — from hook analyzer to compounding context. The hook analyzer proved the point (2,000+ hooks, some 6x performance). Now we’re onboarding 10 more companies + freelancers into preview for Trigger - the real engine: connected profiles, competitor signals, strategy analysis, and reporting that compounds over time. Try today 🔗

👀 What we’re reading (and writing):

• Validate → build (not build → validate). Julia Bramer’s practical breakdown of testing the riskiest assumption first, running lightweight experiments, and earning the right to go full build mode.

• Stop selling to me like it’s 2024. The new expectation is one click setup, connect data, instant value - because you’re competing with GPTs and Claudes delivering value all day long.

• YC: OpenClaw taking over… A sharp reminder of what happens when AI-native products collapse time-to-value to near zero. Worth watching if you’re building anything that touches workflow, automation, or leverage.

• Beyond the Numbers (Episode 1). Not about metrics. About the journey that shapes how people build, and who they choose to back. Here’s Remco’s post with the full mini-doc 🔗

Final word: Make value visible

Users don’t want to be convinced.
They want to feel it.

Time-to-value used to be a metric.
Now it’s the baseline expectation.

Build for the first “oh, nice”.
Everything else can come later.

Forward, always,

Michael van Lier
Managing Director at Builders