TooEarly’s First Year: a good idea is only the beginning

What separates a good startup idea from one that can actually grow into a business?

The first year of TooEarly Venture Studio at EBS has shown that the idea itself is only part of the equation. What matters just as much – if not more – is the person behind it: how willing they are to test their assumptions, talk to customers, listen to feedback and change direction when needed.

A wide range of ideas and founders

Since January, TooEarly has selected 21 ideas and early-stage startups for its studio. Around 70% have been digital products or platforms, but the studio has also worked with more science- and technology-intensive ideas.

The founders have been just as diverse. TooEarly works with EBS high school students, bachelor’s and master’s students, PhD students and alumni, as well as people from outside EBS – in fact, the majority have come from outside the school. The youngest founders have been 17, while at the other end of the spectrum are experts over 40 who are considering a career change or looking to build something new based on their professional experience.

“We’ve seen people from very different backgrounds, but one of the most important qualities is that the founder is genuinely invested in what they are doing and curious about everything that can help make their product or service better,” says Aneth Tinnus, co-founder and COO of TooEarly Ventures.

According to Tinnus, strong founders stand out through their proactivity. They do not wait for the programme, a mentor or a potential investor to tell them what to do next. Instead, they actively look for solutions, connections and opportunities themselves.

Not everyone starts from the same place

Some teams join TooEarly having already established a company. Others have only just met at a hackathon and decided to take their idea further. For some, even the basic concepts of the startup world are new. Their questions can range from founder agreements and team dynamics to hiring their first employees, equity and fundraising.

Yet one challenge comes up across very different ideas: how to find the right first customers and pilot partners.

“Having access to the right person is not enough. You also need to know how to ask the right questions,” Tinnus explains. A potential customer may say that an idea sounds great, but that does not necessarily mean they would be willing to pay for it. At an early stage, one of the most important skills is learning to distinguish polite positive feedback from genuine market demand.

That is why TooEarly does not operate in fixed cohorts where all teams start and finish at the same time. One idea may still be at the stage of its first customer interviews, while another may already be nearing the end of the programme. The support needs to reflect where each individual team is at.

Entrepreneurship means learning to navigate uncertainty

According to Triinu Lukas, head of TooEarly, one of the most important lessons of entrepreneurship is learning to act when there is no clear answer yet. An idea may look excellent on paper, but only testing it with real people reveals whether the problem it aims to solve is important enough. It also means getting comfortable with the fact that not every experiment will work.

The early stage is precisely when ideas can be tested while the stakes are still relatively low. As a startup grows, there is usually more at stake – investors, employees, partners and money all become part of the equation. That is why it is important to learn early that changing an idea or deciding to walk away from it does not necessarily mean failure.

Tinnus also believes that attitudes towards failure have changed in recent years. More entrepreneurs are openly talking about ideas they spent a long time developing but that ultimately did not work. This helps make experimentation a natural part of entrepreneurship rather than something to hide or feel embarrassed about.

The people around you matter

TooEarly’s first year has also confirmed that the people you meet can make a real difference when building a company. This does not mean that a startup needs to be built five days a week around the same office table. Tinnus and Lukas do, however, see great value in creating an environment where people with different experiences regularly come together.

Sometimes you need a mentor, sometimes a potential customer, and sometimes someone with a technical background who can help solve a problem another team is currently facing.

TooEarly organises monthly meetings that also bring together EBS alumni and other entrepreneurs. According to Tinnus, the networking that follows these events often lasts much longer than originally planned – people start conversations and make connections that cannot be arranged in advance.

The TooEarly team has seen the same pattern in previous initiatives. When founders with different strengths get to know each other properly, they start helping one another without the programme manager having to arrange it. One has the technical expertise another currently needs; another knows the person a third founder is trying to reach.

From support and connections to investment

Through TooEarly, EBS’s role goes beyond providing mentors, connections and a community. For selected companies, EBS is also considering making an investment to help teams with strong potential reach the next stage of development.

In this way, a collaboration that starts at an early stage can grow from advice and network support into a direct financial contribution to the company’s development.

This is the kind of environment TooEarly wants to continue building around EBS: a place where entrepreneurship is not only about working on your own idea, but also about having access to people, experience and connections that help an idea meet the real world sooner.