Every meaningful creation
has a Start.

OUR START

HoSt has a Start too.

House of Starts grew through experiments, relationships and people willing to begin. Its current shape came from practice.

The “Patel friend” insight

Over the years at Upsquare in Gujarat, UV heard a recurring plan from team members who wanted to build a business. They had a friend abroad who could bring funding and projects, while they would take care of technology.

In the version UV often heard, that person was a “Patel friend” in the US, Canada or UK. The phrase belonged to those conversations. The underlying need was wider: entrepreneurial ambition needed access to supportive capital, customers and opportunity.

Some left to build companies. Some returned 18 to 24 months later, having encountered the difficulty of building a sustainable business. UV began to see their ambition as something he could support.

“What if I become my team member’s Patel friend?”

A bridge into entrepreneurship

Selected people could test a business while continuing their existing work. If the experiment developed, they could eventually move into it full-time as a partner or co-founder.

The principle was to create a bridge between entrepreneurial intent and entrepreneurial action. These experiments suggested that the idea could reach beyond an internal Upsquare mechanism.

The Venture Builder chapter

UV spun the idea into an early version of House of Starts. Its first major institutional expression was a Venture Builder. Venture building and co-building gave the idea a practical form, and the thesis continued to evolve.

OTHER SEEDS

More than one beginning.

Other relationships and experiments also shaped HoSt. Some began before the institution took form.

Conversations that kept growing

Around 2016, UV and Anay connected through Kavita’s startup, Yories, which received support and funding through what was then PDPU IIC, associated today with PDEU. Their conversations explored entrepreneurship, venture studios, investment and collective capability.

UV also experimented with syndicates of IT-company owners and collaborative venture investment. These were seeds of later ideas, before today’s HoSt structure existed.

Kavita’s Start

In 2022, Upsquare faced a severe business challenge. Kavita stepped away from her own office to actively support the business through that period. Upsquare emerged stronger.

Her action helped broaden the meaning of a Start. A meaningful beginning could be a response to a real situation inside an existing business.

A Start is the point at which possibility becomes intentional action toward value.

Experience opening a new chapter

Nishith and UV first met in Jamnagar in 1984 and later attended college together. After a career in aviation and his own travel business, Nishith wanted to begin again following the pandemic.

He began contributing to alliances and partnerships at Upsquare while exploring what might emerge. Through that work, he increasingly supported HoSt, helping form relationships, shape initiatives and introduce co-creation opportunities.

Amish: a conversation that continued

Amish and UV have known each other for more than 15 years. They worked at the same company for a few months, but their conversations continued well beyond that time. They talked about technology, architecture, creating value for clients, and building careers and businesses.

Amish later took on several roles at Upsquare, including CTO and CISO, and began supporting HoSt’s initiatives. More recently, he has focused his energies on Workplate as its CEO and co-founder.

He continues to support HoSt through Workplate credits and by sharing practical solutions and in-depth insights on bringing AI into co-creation. His contribution has taken a different form as his own work has evolved.

INSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION

Co-creation gave a name to what HoSt was learning.

As UV became immersed in Systems Thinking and Theory U, co-creation gave clearer language and architecture to a philosophy that earlier experiments had been moving toward.

Venture building remains part of HoSt’s history. Today, the institution can support many forms of intentional action toward value: a venture, a project, a partnership or a new capability.

1. Early experiments

   Entrepreneurial team members test businesses with a bridge to their existing work.

2. The Venture Builder era

   House of Starts takes institutional form around venture building and co-building.

3. Co-creation becomes explicit

   Practice, relationships, Systems Thinking and Theory U help clarify the broader thesis.

4. HoSt today

   A co-creation institution, with the Network as its core asset and orchestration as its distinctive capability.

These chapters trace the idea’s evolution. The personal histories above are part of its lineage, not institutional founding dates.

Part of a larger purpose.

House of Starts is one institutional expression of a larger purpose:

Co-create a shared future with an entrepreneurial spirit worldwide.

HoSt remains institutionally distinct within the broader EightQor architecture. Technology, capital and societal capabilities may come from that ecosystem or from other participants, according to the opportunity.

Upsquare builds things. HoSt starts things. Its Network must be able to collaborate beyond the commercial boundaries of any single entity.