A venture studio for early founders in Alabama

We are the team your startup is missing.

I am Terry Chapman. Start Up Partners is a venture studio. My team of ten C-suite operators does the real work alongside you, from formation and branding to the build, fundraising and first revenue, so your idea actually becomes a company.

Grab a coffee with Terry See who we have helped

Read on

Idea on a napkin First customers Real revenue From concept to company No chatbot, just Terry Pre-incorporation to paying

Notes from Terry

What I am thinking about

Want it in your inbox? Just ask.

What to do the week before you incorporate

Playbook

Featured Jun 9, 2026 6 min

What to do the week before you incorporate

Most founders rush the paperwork and skip the five decisions that actually matter. Here is the short list we walk every founder through before formation.

Read the note

Field notes

Your first ten customers will not come from a launch

Launches feel productive. They rarely are. The first ten almost always come from the conversations you are avoiding, and from doing the unglamorous work.

May 28, 2026 5 min

Opinion

Doing the work beats a year of advice

Advice is cheap and everywhere. What founders actually need is a team that will sit down and do the work with them. That is the whole job, and it is the reason we built a studio instead of a consultancy.

May 14, 2026 7 min

Playbook

The whole job is just the next step

Founders freeze because they try to see the whole staircase. You only ever need the next step, and the right people to take it with.

Apr 30, 2026 4 min

Terry Chapman

Founder & CEO, Start Up Partners

The studio

I am the guy who shows up, every week, and helps you take the next step. Then the next one.

I am not a fund and I am not a consultant who hands you a slide deck and disappears. Start Up Partners is a venture studio. My team and I take a real operating role in your company and do the work with you.

When a founder comes to me, we figure out what the company actually needs next, then we go do it. Formation and legal. Branding and the website. Fiscal management and compliance. Customer discovery, software, fundraising and go to market. About ten seasoned operators covering every C-suite seat.

I have helped found and scale companies in medical imaging and radiology, data analytics, mobile marketplaces and medical devices. Start Up Partners is a grant recipient of Innovate Alabama. It usually starts with a coffee. We take on the founders we believe we can help, then we stay in the work with them, from concept to company.

Backed by Innovate Alabama

A venture studio out of Birmingham, Alabama.

Selected for the Innovate Alabama Talent Pilot Program.

Medical imaging & radiology Data analytics Medical devices Mobile marketplaces Professional services Financial & retail

Startups supported

$1.2M+

Raised by our founders

C-suite operators

2024

Founded in Birmingham, AL

Founder stories

Real people, walked from idea to revenue.

Breadboard Hardware and commerce

Joseph . Breadboard

A garage prototype, and no idea who to call.

Joseph had a working board and a long list of things he did not know how to do. My team handled the formation, the manufacturing setup and the early marketing while he focused on the product.

"Terry and his team did the work I could not. Every week we moved the company forward instead of in circles."

First 100 orders 9 months

Formation Manufacturing First sales

Visit Breadboard

Arah Product and brand

Ebony Miller . Arah

A real product, and a founder wearing every hat.

Ebony was building something people genuinely wanted, but she was doing all of it herself. My team took the brand, the production and the early sales off her plate so she could lead.

"His team picked up everything I could not carry alone. It moved fast, and it moved in the right direction."

Off the ground 7 months

Branding Production Early sales

Visit Arah

How we help

The whole job, in four moves.

We do not hand you a plan and walk away. We step in and build the company with you. Here is everything we handle, grouped the way it actually happens. We call it Concept to Company.

Foundation & validation

Confirm there is a real problem and a viable solution before we build anything.

Problem identification
Ideation
Market analysis
Customer discovery
Value proposition

Business setup

Put the legal, financial and structural building blocks in place.

Business model design
Formation and legal
Banking and credit
Intellectual property strategy

Build & brand

Create the product and the identity that will represent it.

Prototype and MVP
Technical development
Website and digital presence
Social presence
Branding and positioning

Go to market & growth

Take the product to market, generate revenue and plan for scale.

Marketing
Sales planning
Pilot and early revenue
Selling
Revenue generation
Scaling and growth

Say hi

Let us grab a coffee.

First contact is a real conversation, a coffee or a phone call. Tell me what you are building and I will tell you how we can help. No forms into a void, no chatbot, just me reading every word.

terry@sup.ventures

A real person reads every word. No forms into a void, no chatbot.

SUP 01Cool Operator 02Venture Studio 03Storyteller