Social entrepreneurs - especially in low-income countries often struggle to make their ventures ready for institutional funding, a challenge known as the ‘Pioneer Gap’. Our approach is to offer 'venture-building investment' as a bridge over this gap, based on three core principles: (1) we can increase founder commitment by investing in their success; (2) we can accelerate product-market fit through a standardized venture-building process; and (3) we can increase investor interest by presenting validated, de-risked startups they’re more likely to fund. We have three core offerings: Design, Build, and Grow. Design is a Human-Centered Design training program delivered through workshops, webinars, and e-learning for early stage participants to create innovative concepts. Build (for pre-launch ventures) and Grow (for full-time founders) are tailored advisory programs for individual teams. United Social Ventures invests in these initiatives by allowing them to pay for our support from future funding, aligning our success with theirs.