Building a company is hard.Building alone is optional.
BlackFries creates companies from the ground up and works alongside founders already building theirs. We combine entrepreneurial leadership with product, commercial, financial and operational execution — from the first decision to the exit.
Born in Belgium. Built to scale beyond it.
The problem
Founders are expected to do everything before they have the resources to do anything properly.
- Build the product.
- Find customers.
- Recruit a team.
- Manage the finances.
- Create the brand.
- Navigate legal complexity.
- Identify investors.
- Raise capital.
Doing all of this alone is not a badge of honour. It is a structural disadvantage.
The right people are difficult to identify. The right expertise is expensive. The wrong decisions cost time, money and credibility.
Sometimes, they cost the company.
BlackFries exists to change the odds.
What BlackFries is
More than capital. More than advice.
What we are not
- An accelerator
- An agency
- A passive investor
What we are
A company-building partner.
We work alongside founders to validate opportunities, build products, reach customers, structure operations, recruit teams and raise capital.
- We make decisions together. (1)
- We execute together. (2)
- We share the risk. (3)
We do not tell founders what to build. We help them build it.
Two ways to build
One partner. Two ways in.
01
Start with one of our opportunities
Build as a CEO
We identify meaningful problems, study their markets and develop new business opportunities.
When an opportunity is ready, we look for the right entrepreneur to take ownership, build the company and lead it for the long term.
You bring market knowledge, resilience and leadership. BlackFries brings the initial structure, resources and company-building team.
02
Bring what you have already started
Bring your venture
Already working on an idea, product or company?
BlackFries can join at any stage of the journey. We become an operational partner, bringing structure, expertise and execution where they create the most value.
You keep leading the vision. You gain a team that helps you move it forward.
Move across to choose your side
01
Start with one of our opportunities
Build as a CEO
We identify meaningful problems, study their markets and develop new business opportunities.
When an opportunity is ready, we look for the right entrepreneur to take ownership, build the company and lead it for the long term.
You bring market knowledge, resilience and leadership. BlackFries brings the initial structure, resources and company-building team.
02
Bring what you have already started
Bring your venture
Already working on an idea, product or company?
BlackFries can join at any stage of the journey. We become an operational partner, bringing structure, expertise and execution where they create the most value.
You keep leading the vision. You gain a team that helps you move it forward.
The terms
The deal, in plain language.
Most company builders never publish how the relationship actually works. Here is ours, on one screen.
Who leads the company
Build as a CEO
You. The CEO owns the vision, the market and the outcome.
Bring your venture
You. You keep leading the vision.
Where the opportunity comes from
Build as a CEO
Identified, researched and initially validated by BlackFries.
Bring your venture
Yours — an idea, a prototype, early customers or an operating business.
What BlackFries contributes
Build as a CEO
Initial company foundations, the Kitchen's operational execution and access to its network.
Bring your venture
Time, expertise, operational resources and access, adapted to your stage.
Your ownership
Build as a CEO
Up to 30%, depending on long-term commitment and agreed revenue and profitability objectives.
Bring your venture
You remain a founder. BlackFries' share is agreed case by case.
What BlackFries takes
Build as a CEO
An equity stake as the company's co-founding shareholder.
Bring your venture
An equity stake agreed individually against the contribution expected.
Fees
Build as a CEO
We charge a minimal monthly fee to cover essential operating costs. This allows us to bring in the best resources, remain fully focused on each venture, and provide dedicated teams and ongoing support.
Bring your venture
We charge a minimal monthly fee to cover essential operating costs. This allows us to bring in the best resources, remain fully focused on each venture, and provide dedicated teams and ongoing support.
Capital
Build as a CEO
Raised with private investors, seed funds and venture capital partners, and in some cases complemented by BlackFries.
Bring your venture
Raised with private investors, seed funds and venture capital partners, and in some cases complemented by BlackFries.
Commitment
Build as a CEO
Full time. This is not a job — it is a company you co-own.
Bring your venture
Openness to challenge and shared decision-making.
How long we stay
Build as a CEO
For the life of the company, not the duration of a programme.
Bring your venture
For the life of the company, not the duration of a programme.
Every partnership is documented and agreed before work begins. Nothing on this page replaces the terms you sign.
The Kitchen
The company-building team behind the founder.
The Kitchen brings together the capabilities early-stage companies need but rarely need — or can afford — entirely in-house.
The support the BlackFries team provides.
Product strategy
The founder
BlackFries is led day to day by its internal team and supported by a selected network of specialists operating under preferred agreements.
The objective is not to create dependency. It is to give each company the right expertise at the right moment.
How we build
From opportunity to independent company.
01
Understand
Identify a meaningful problem, the people affected by it and the reason it remains unsolved.
02
Validate
Test demand through conversations, commitments, pilots and early commercial evidence.
03
Build
Develop the product, business model, brand, financial structure and go-to-market foundations.
04
Launch
Reach the market, secure early customers and create the traction needed to build confidence.
05
Fund
Prepare and manage the fundraising process with relevant private investors, seed funds and venture capital partners.
06
Scale
Recruit dedicated teams, expand beyond Belgium and continue building towards sustainable growth, profitability or exit.
Ownership
Lead it like an owner.
The CEO of a BlackFries Original is an entrepreneur, not an employee.
Depending on long-term commitment, revenue and profitability objectives, a CEO can earn up to 30% ownership in the company they lead.
BlackFries also creates access to capital through its network of private investors, seed funds and venture capital partners. Additional investment structures are considered according to the needs of each company.
Ownership follows commitment. Rewards follow results.
up to
30%
of the company you lead
Ventures
Currently being built inside BlackFries
We are working on opportunities across local commerce, property operations, publishing, urban mobility, professional services and personal care.
Some are being created inside BlackFries. Others have joined us with founders already in place.
Their names remain confidential while we validate, build and prepare them for market.
Local commerce
Independent floral retailers
Independent floral retailers remain underserved by digital tools. We are exploring ways to improve their visibility, reduce value lost through unsold inventory and create additional sources of revenue.
BlackFries Original
Property operations
Owners and property managers
Property owners often lack a simple view of what is happening across their buildings, upcoming decisions and financial performance. Property managers simultaneously face repetitive requests, fragmented communication and increasing expectations around transparency.
BlackFries Original
Personalised publishing
Personalised stories, beyond direct-to-consumer
An established creative publishing company producing memorable, personalised stories for children is expanding beyond direct-to-consumer sales into corporate, institutional and family-oriented gifting.
Partner venture
Mobility media
High-attention formats in urban mobility
We are exploring new high-attention media formats within urban mobility, designed to create more relevant brand interactions in environments where traditional advertising is increasingly ignored.
BlackFries Original
Professional liquidity
Payment cycles in publicly funded legal work
Legal professionals working on publicly funded cases can wait many months to receive payment for completed work. We are exploring responsible ways to reduce the financial pressure created by these payment cycles.
BlackFries Original
Personal care
A more personal approach to skincare
Consumers increasingly want products adapted to their individual needs, with clearer formulations and trusted professional input. We are exploring a more personal and transparent approach to everyday skincare.
BlackFries Original
Where we start
Belgium is our starting point. Not our limit.
Belgium offers access to talent, customers, institutions and several European markets within a concentrated ecosystem.
It is an excellent place to test, learn and establish early traction.
But every BlackFries venture is evaluated for its ability to scale beyond Belgium.
We start close to the customer. We build for a larger market.
Community
The right network changes what is possible.
Access matters.
The right expert can prevent months of mistakes. The right introduction can open a market. The right investor can bring far more than capital.
BlackFries is developing a selected community of founders, operators, experts and investors who want to contribute to building durable companies.
The community is curated. Participation is based on expertise, values and the ability to create meaningful value for others.
You do not need to have every answer.
You need the resilience to keep looking, the honesty to face reality and the ambition to build something meaningful.
Bring your venture.Or lead one of ours.