Conviction, tested by doing.
Matt Beckett and Mitch Marescia started N+1 on a simple conviction: capable people and practical opportunities deserve a better route into business ownership.
From research to a portfolio
We started out wanting to help build 100 businesses, each with 10 good jobs. The research showed us what that takes, and it gave us our name. N+1 means favouring the system over the goal: add one more business, one more productive person, and keep building well past a hundred.
2022
A year of research and testing how to start businesses better.
May 2023
Launch with three founders in three businesses.
2023 to 2026
More than three years building with our own capital, inside seven businesses.
2026
Four trading in the portfolio. The Venture Engine takes shape.
Seven businesses. We show all of them.
Early-stage investing commonly expects about 1 in 10 businesses to win. We aim for 9 in 10 that thrive. 4 in 7 is our honest starting point. The failures were cheap in capital and expensive in time.
Six lessons from three years inside the businesses
Capacity comes first
A founder cannot coordinate scattered specialists into a management team. Businesses need a team with the time and incentive to make progress.
Build the team in-house
Outsourced partners could not give the companies everything they needed. That is why the Engine is an in-house team.
A plan for each stage
Development, launch and growth need their own timeframes, accountable people and realistic budgets.
Work done beats advice
Founders gain most from services and management, with advice second.
Care for the relationship
Expectations, trust and clear responsibilities shape everything. The founder owns operations.
Discovery beats diligence
Working inside a business reveals more than any pitch or remote assessment.
A small team, and the partners who build with us
Founding team
Matt Beckett
Co-founder and venture lead: strategic finance, founder support and hands-on operations.
LinkedIn
Mitch Marescia
Co-founder and investor: commercial experience and established business building.
LinkedInPartners in the build
Willem Haarhoff
SME accounting through DoughGetters; builds the finance function with us.
DoughGetters
Charles Marriot
Coach: leadership, training and founder coaching.
Specialists who have helped build our businesses
How we work
Keep building
Learn from wins and setbacks. Keep improving the business, the process and the partnership.
Back people early
Back founders before others see the potential. Trust, teach and delegate so founders grow into leaders.
Take the shot
Ask, seek and take meaningful shots. Find partners who share the ambition.
Transformation is needed
Recognise unequal access to opportunity. Build ownership and participation with awareness and respect.
Problems can be solved
Take problems on directly, with creativity, clear communication and practical fixes.
A South Africa where the drive to build meets the capital and skills to back it, with a clear way in for every first-generation founder.