You’re never too young to pursue your entrepreneurial ambitions, as so many talented youngsters, or ‘kidpreneurs’ have proved by turning their ideas into thriving businesses while still at school. While many of them continue their business journeys as adults, a few transition from operations to venture capital and the opportunity to help other startups achieve their full potential.
Aaron Golbin is one of them. He founded his first business, Kings Corporation, a service providing indoor and outdoor entertainment, at the age of eight, and spent his teenage years launching multiple startups including DebateIsland.com BestDealWins.com and The American Post.
Last December he graduated from George Washington University with a BSc in information systems a year and a half early to focus entirely on his latest role as managing partner of LvlUp Ventures, a multi-stage venture ecosystem with a bottom-up approach to investing.
Transitioning to venture capital
Like many entrepreneurs, Golbin, 21, admits that academia never fascinated him as much as working in the real world. He says: “After more than a decade of waiting, since founding my first business when I was eight, I was excited to graduate as soon as possible to finally be able to work full time without being in school. In college, I worked significant hours alongside college studies, largely on LvlUp Ventures, as I transitioned out of my startups to help create this VC firm and make it what it is today. Our goal is to reshape venture capital.”
Working alongside LvlUp’s founder and general partner Brandon Maier, Golbin has seen the firm’s portfolio expand to 30 fast-growing companies in under a year, with a combined value of half a billion dollars. He also launched and spearheads LvlUp’s corporate partnerships business unit, building and overseeing startup programs and corporate innovation accelerators for enterprises such as Fidelity, Mercury, Pipedrive, and SPIN Magazine.
Venture value for startups
A key element of the LvlUp ecosystem is its bespoke accelerator and incubator arm, NextUp. Launched 18 months ago, it has worked with over 50 portfolio companies, with the average achieving 8x revenue growth within 12 months. The portfolio market cap is $1 billion, and the startup failure rate is less than 5%.
“As a startup founder, I was never fond of accelerators, but always felt that the high-level model had the potential to be very powerful,” says Golbin, who is also founding partner and head of NextUp. “Being able to work with startups in a close way, almost as an extended team, can unlock extraordinary potential for founders.”
NextUp works with businesses ranging from pre-launch startups to nine-figure publicly traded enterprises. “We’re the first accelerator to work with a public company; a milestone in the value and perception of VC and accelerators,” says Golbin.
Companies include ARAX Holdings, a $150 million public company specializing in blockchain solutions and enterprise data management, Balnce.ai, which develops AI agent systems for enterprises focused on synergizing user privacy and data monetization, and Interactive Images, which uses AR technology to reimagine fan engagement and whose clients include LiveNation, Hulu, and Lady Gaga.
Golbin says: “Through our NextUp programs for pre-launch and post-launch startups we work with companies in a bespoke, strategic, and hands-on way for however long it takes them to get to launch or scale, which is usually between six and 12 months. In exchange for that, we take a 1-5% non-cash equity stake in the companies with the option to invest in them post-accelerator.
“This allows us to add value for founders through our expertise as serial founders and investors, whether it’s developing their go-to-market strategy, operations plan, hiring key team members, etc.”
Beyond funding
LvlUp served as lead advisor for ARAX Holdings through the NextUp Scale accelerator, entirely restructuring the company’s commercialization strategy and organization, and boosting growth, efficiency, and scalability.
COO Ockert Loubser says: “This program goes far beyond traditional funding, delivering hands-on support, strategic alignment, and an exceptional network that allows us to connect directly with industry leaders and secure vital use case development funding. The NextUp accelerator is helping ARAX expand our presence within the Web3 and blockchain space, accelerating our innovation journey and amplifying our impact across global ecosystems.”
Beauty brand Medalist joined the NextUp portfolio in November 2023, going from nine months pre-launch to launch in July this year. The company was nominated for the Beauty Independent Beauty Brand Launch of 2024 award.
Founder Ann Ragan Kearns says: “The NextUp team provided exceptional go-to-market strategy support which was instrumental in preparing us for our July launch. Their expertise helped shape our launch approach, and their support extended beyond strategy, facilitating valuable introductions to key retailers, service providers, and investors.”
Following on from NextUp is the LvlUp Ventures Seed Fund for backing ‘mature seed’ founders, those with significant traction and growth, top tier founding teams, that are operating at the intersection of AI and almost every tech field. Invested companies include VersusGame, now a $375 million company, and CosmicWire, a $130 million startup providing blockchain compression technology used by the likes of Google and NVIDIA.
A true venture firm
LvlUp currently has over 1,500 core and extended team members in every major startup hub and is forecasting 150 portfolio companies by the end of 2025. The LvlUp Fund IRR (Internal Rate of Return) over the past year is around 116%, while the MOIC (multiple on invested capital) is 2.16, figures that Golbin says the LvlUp team is incredibly proud of.
He says: “As a teenage entrepreneur I always envisaged being a founder or an operator, either in the startup or corporate innovation context. But the transition into helping create LvlUp was very natural because, unlike a pure VC fund, we’re truly a firm. Around half of my work involves operating in a similar way to a startup, which I enjoy. That, combined with backing and investing in startups, supporting them in their growth as a lead advisor, and scaling LvlUp is exciting.
“I believe that LvlUp can help startups have an even larger positive impact on the markets, the users they target, and the world at large. Venture capital is an antiquated industry and we’re innovating within it, almost like a startup. That’s very exciting and I believe it has the potential to have a profound impact on the innovation economy.”
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