The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) recently highlighted Mike Moradi, co-founder and general partner of Oklahoma City-based Cortado Ventures, as part of its "Meet a VC" series. This spotlight illuminated Cortado’s distinctive investment philosophy, centered on backing seed-stage frontier technology companies across the U.S. Midcontinent, driven by a deep conviction in founders who possess intrinsic industry experience. The firm’s approach is a testament to a broader trend of democratizing venture capital, demonstrating that transformative innovation is not confined to traditional tech enclaves but thrives where critical industries intersect with untapped talent.
An Entrepreneur’s Journey: From Failure to Fiduciary
Mike Moradi’s path into venture capital is deeply rooted in his extensive, often challenging, entrepreneurial career. A six-time founder, Moradi navigated the tumultuous landscape of company building across diverse and technically complex sectors, including biopharmaceuticals and nanotechnology. His journey commenced with a bold pivot: leaving dental school to launch his first venture. This initial foray, however, ended in failure—a pivotal experience that, rather than deterring him, instilled an unyielding resilience. Moradi often recounts this period as a crucial crucible, forging his resolve to "keep pushing past every obstacle, to not be discouraged by hearing the word ‘no,’ and to stay the course." This early setback became the bedrock of his tenacious spirit, a quality he now actively seeks in the founders Cortado supports.
Subsequent ventures proved more successful, with one company achieving rapid growth and an acquisition by a Fortune 100 enterprise. Another notable undertaking, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, also culminated in an acquisition, though not without its trials. This company faced near collapse even after securing a substantial $18 million Series B financing round. This experience delivered a profound lesson: while capital can indeed accelerate a company’s trajectory, speed without strategic direction can be detrimental. Moradi succinctly articulates this, stating, "A high valuation and a full bank account will happily let you scale the wrong thing." This insight underscored the critical importance of aligning capital deployment with validated business models and scalable foundations, a principle that now profoundly informs Cortado’s investment strategy.
Transitioning from operator to investor, Moradi’s mission crystalized: to infuse the entrepreneurial dynamism of Silicon Valley into the burgeoning Midcontinent innovation ecosystem. His past experiences taught him the necessity of balancing entrepreneurial optimism with empirical evidence, disciplined execution, and a clear roadmap for achieving crucial milestones. He emphasizes that financing should primarily serve to test assumptions, mitigate risks, and enable companies to hit meaningful proof points, rather than fueling premature, unvalidated expansion. In 2020, Moradi co-founded Cortado Ventures with a team comprising seasoned founders, CEOs, and operators. Their collective vision was to construct the type of venture firm they themselves wished had existed during their entrepreneurial endeavors—a firm offering not just capital, but profound operational understanding and a comprehensive support network.
The Midcontinent Advantage: A Strategic Hub for Frontier Technology
Cortado Ventures’ investment thesis is predicated on the strategic advantage offered by the U.S. Midcontinent. This vast region is home to foundational industries—energy, aerospace and defense, healthcare, manufacturing, mobility, and logistics—all of which are under immense pressure to innovate and evolve. Unlike purely software-driven solutions, transforming these sectors demands a nuanced understanding of their complex physical environments, entrenched supply chains, and demanding customer relationships. This necessitates a deep, insider perspective that often only comes from years of direct involvement.
Cortado actively seeks out technical founders who possess this intimate industry knowledge. These are individuals who might have spent years within a hospital system, a manufacturing plant, a research laboratory, an energy conglomerate, an aerospace program, or a logistics network before identifying a critical problem and envisioning a disruptive solution. Their firsthand experience grants them unparalleled credibility with potential customers, invaluable insight into implementation challenges, and a contextual knowledge base that would be exceedingly difficult to cultivate from an external vantage point. This focus on "domain expertise" is a cornerstone of Cortado’s strategy, differentiating it from many generalized venture firms.
The geographical location itself becomes an integral part of the investment advantage. The Midcontinent offers unique proximity to these critical industries and a vast pool of potential customers eager for innovative solutions. Furthermore, the region boasts a technically skilled workforce, often graduating from robust research institutions and state universities, and benefits from complementary public funding initiatives. Crucially, the cost of company building—from talent acquisition to office space—is significantly lower than in established coastal tech hubs. This combination of factors allows startups to extend their runway, experiment more freely, and achieve milestones with greater capital efficiency.
Cortado’s diverse portfolio vividly reflects the breadth of innovation emerging from this fertile environment. The firm has invested in companies pioneering advancements in space communications, industrial safety protocols, critical infrastructure cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing techniques, healthcare delivery, sustainable energy solutions, and next-generation mobility platforms. This strategic focus is not merely about channeling capital to historically underserved regions. Instead, it is built on the unwavering conviction that direct proximity to "hard problems" — the complex, real-world challenges faced by critical industries — inevitably fosters differentiated companies and ultimately generates superior returns. As Moradi often states, "Talent is not concentrated anywhere in particular. Capital and networks have just been slower to distribute than talent has." This philosophy underpins a broader vision: expanding the geographic footprint of venture capital is not merely about discovering more founders, but about unlocking novel sources of insight and innovation that traditional, insular networks may have consistently overlooked.
Beyond Capital: Cultivating a Robust Ecosystem for Sustainable Growth
When Cortado Ventures launched in 2020, Mike Moradi initially believed that the primary impediment to a nascent venture ecosystem was a scarcity of capital. The firm rapidly demonstrated that promising companies within the region could indeed be identified and successfully funded. However, as Cortado expanded its operations and deepened its engagement with the local startup community, Moradi’s understanding of founders’ comprehensive needs evolved significantly. His revised perspective is succinctly captured in his observation: "Five years ago, I would have said the limiting reagent in a young ecosystem was capital. Capital turned out to be necessary, and also nowhere close to sufficient."
Founders, particularly in emerging ecosystems, require a multifaceted support system that extends far beyond mere financial injection. They need seasoned operators who can offer invaluable guidance, helping them preempt avoidable missteps. They require access to customers willing to pilot unproven technologies and provide crucial early feedback. They need patient investors prepared to bridge the gaps between significant milestones. And fundamentally, they need a vibrant community where vital relationships can naturally form and flourish. Moradi emphasizes, "Money can accelerate a company. It cannot stand in for experience."
This profound realization has profoundly shaped Cortado’s expansive role within the broader Midcontinent ecosystem. The firm actively works to forge connections among founders, funders, academic institutions, established corporations, policymakers, and technical experts. Crucially, Cortado does not reserve these invaluable relationships exclusively for its own portfolio companies. This collaborative spirit is exemplified by initiatives such as the annual Midcontinent Venture Capital Summit, which convenes investors, limited partners, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the nation, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas and opportunities. Furthermore, Cortado actively collaborates with regional entrepreneurship organizations and The Verge, an Oklahoma City-based incubator and accelerator that provides essential company-building resources, specialized programming, and critical capital connections.
Each of these interactions, whether a direct introduction or a facilitated networking event, can prove instrumental in helping a founder secure a crucial customer, enlist an expert adviser, recruit a key employee, find a strategic collaborator, or attract additional investment. Collectively, these interconnected relationships establish the foundational infrastructure that empowers a greater number of companies to both launch and scale successfully. For Moradi, this is where venture capital’s true impact begins to transcend the confines of a single investment. A robust, interconnected ecosystem not only offers more entrepreneurs a viable pathway to company formation but also creates a virtuous cycle, ensuring that capital, talent, and innovative ideas can more readily converge and thrive. Regional entrepreneurs and industry observers consistently attest to the transformative effect of such ecosystem-building efforts, noting how they de-risk early-stage ventures and foster a culture of shared success.
The Art of Prudent Investment: Conviction, Discipline, and Value
Investing at the seed stage inherently involves operating with imperfect information. Mike Moradi candidly acknowledges this reality, stating, "Incomplete data is my job description." Rather than attempting the impossible task of eliminating all uncertainty, Cortado’s methodology centers on intelligently managing it. This involves a disciplined approach: clearly separating assumptions that can be immediately tested from those that will only be resolved over an extended period. The firm meticulously identifies the critical conditions that must hold true for a venture to succeed, rigorously considers how these conditions could be disproven, and carefully evaluates the cost associated with achieving the next meaningful milestone.
Cortado’s strongest convictions typically revolve around the founding team’s capabilities and commitment, the authenticity and scale of the customer problem being addressed, and the company’s demonstrable rate of progress. Conversely, Moradi maintains a more cautious stance regarding precise market timing or the exact exit pathway a company might eventually take. This discipline becomes particularly vital when a financing round gains rapid momentum, as a compelling founder and a competitive process can generate intense pressure to finalize a decision before core investment assumptions have been thoroughly vetted. Moradi keenly observes, "A hard deadline is exactly when people stop asking uncomfortable questions." To counteract this, Cortado is prepared to deliberately slow down the process, often engaging independent scientific or technical experts for additional, specialized diligence. This thorough evaluation process either solidifies the firm’s conviction or, if necessary, reveals compelling reasons to step away. Ironically, Cortado’s most enduring founder relationships often originate from this very scrutiny, as it sharpens strategic thinking and identifies potential risks while there remains ample opportunity to address them proactively. However, slowing the decision-making process never implies slowing the subsequent response or support once a commitment is made.
Moradi applies a similar rigor to valuation, viewing a sensible entry price as a form of long-term protection for all stakeholders. "A sensible entry price is a form of protection for the founder, employees, and investors alike," he asserts. An overly aggressive valuation, while initially appearing as a victory, can saddle a company with unrealistic expectations. If the company’s progress fails to meet the lofty benchmarks tied to that valuation, the repercussions can be severe, impacting founder ownership, diluting employee equity, constraining future fundraising options, and hindering the company’s crucial ability to adapt to market changes. This balancing act is critical, as Moradi notes that venture capitalists can also "strangle the life out of a company" with overly conservative terms. The key, therefore, is balance. He offers a sobering reminder, "The right number buys you options for years. In boom times, people forget that financial crises happen." For Cortado, this discipline is not a reflection of a lack of belief in a founder’s ambition; rather, it is a strategic approach designed to provide ambitious companies with the essential flexibility and time required to navigate challenges and ultimately achieve sustained success.
Beyond the Check: Hands-On Support and Ecosystem Leadership
The Cortado Ventures team distinguishes itself through its extensive operating experience, having built, scaled, and successfully exited companies across many of the very industries in which they now invest. This deep, firsthand knowledge profoundly shapes their approach to supporting founders, especially when strategic plans shift or difficult decisions become unavoidable. Mike Moradi encapsulates this meaningful support with two key words: "Speed and specificity." He advocates for rapid, actionable responses: "Answer in hours rather than days and show up with work already done instead of advice. Better yet, pick up the phone."
This hands-on approach translates into concrete actions. It might involve meticulously rebuilding a complex financial model, facilitating a critical customer introduction, actively recruiting a senior executive, or taking direct responsibility for navigating a challenging board conversation. Crucially, it also entails the courage to articulate uncomfortable truths when a company’s financial runway is dwindling or its core strategy demands a fundamental overhaul. Moradi, drawing from his own entrepreneurial past, vividly recalls being the founder in such high-stakes meetings. He notes, "What helped was someone who lowered the temperature, told the truth to me and the board, and followed up after the meeting." This empathy ensures that Cortado’s interventions are not just strategic but also delivered with understanding and ongoing commitment.
As Cortado and the broader Midcontinent ecosystem have matured, the firm’s founder support mechanisms have become increasingly sophisticated. Portfolio companies now have access to a vast network of operating executives, industry specialists, expert advisers, prospective customers, dedicated coaches, fellow investors, and other experienced founders. This comprehensive network provides a rich tapestry of resources tailored to evolving needs. While initially, Cortado’s investment and its ability to attract co-investors were uniquely valuable in a capital-scarce region, today’s founders increasingly seek customer access, senior talent recruitment, specialized technical expertise, and, perhaps most importantly, individuals willing to offer honest, unvarnished guidance. Yet, the firm’s role is not to usurp control from the entrepreneur. Sometimes, the most valuable contribution an investor can make is recognizing when to step back. "Other times," Moradi concludes, "being helpful means staying out of the way."
Building Legacies Beyond Fund Cycles: A Vision for Enduring Innovation
Mike Moradi firmly believes that a venture firm’s responsibility extends far beyond the immediate confines of its own portfolio. His overarching philosophy is encapsulated in the conviction: "We must build things that outlast a single fund." For Cortado Ventures, this translates into a proactive commitment to strengthening the connective tissue among founders, funders, universities, corporations, and policymakers throughout the Midcontinent. It also means actively fostering the formation and growth of other investment firms within the region, viewing the venture ecosystem as a collaborative, non-zero-sum endeavor.
"This is not a zero-sum game," Moradi emphasizes. "We want to enable a dozen other firms in our geography, and bring in outside funds for later rounds. We need to create scalable structures where everyone can win." A larger, more interconnected investment community offers founders a wider array of potential capital sources and expertise. It simultaneously creates more opportunities for investors to collaborate, co-invest, and participate in promising ventures. Over time, this collective effort establishes a more durable and efficient pathway, linking regional innovation directly to national and even international capital markets. This strategic approach aligns with broader economic development goals, as robust venture ecosystems are proven drivers of job creation, technological advancement, and regional prosperity.
However, Moradi is quick to balance this ecosystem-building imperative with the fundamental fiduciary responsibility to limited partners. His experience serving as a trustee and audit committee member for a state retirement system reinforced the critical importance of transparent communication regarding investment risk, expected duration, and potential losses. "Ecosystem building matters, and it does not excuse any of us from being disciplined fiduciaries first," he states, underscoring the necessity of balancing aspirational goals with rigorous financial stewardship.
Moradi also views the NVCA as an indispensable component of the connective infrastructure that supports venture firms and founders across the entire country. Policy issues such as capital formation, research commercialization, immigration policies, government procurement, tax treatment, and securities regulations are not abstract legislative concepts; they directly influence the ability of an emerging manager to raise a fund, a startup to attract top talent, and a new technology to reach the customers and institutions that desperately need it. "NVCA helps each of us make policy concrete and stay on top of the issues that matter in D.C. and beyond," Moradi notes. Cortado’s active participation in the NVCA also provides a crucial platform to bring a Midcontinent perspective into national dialogues about innovation, capital formation, and the future trajectory of the venture industry, ensuring that diverse regional voices are heard at the highest levels.
Expanding the Map of American Innovation: A Future Forged by Frontier Thinkers
Mike Moradi envisions Cortado Ventures’ narrative as a vital contribution to a more comprehensive understanding of American venture capital. He challenges the prevailing "caricature" of the industry, which often focuses solely on a handful of mega-funds in established tech hubs. Instead, he highlights the indispensable role of the vast majority of venture capital activity, which comprises smaller, specialized firms writing early checks into niche sectors, specific geographies, unique demographics, or particular technologies. He aptly points out, "Most of VC looks nothing like the caricature. The bulk of the industry is small firms writing early checks into some niche, be it industrial, geographic, demographic, or otherwise. And a VC firm is also a startup until fund 3 or 4."
These specialized firms are essential for identifying founders before their markets become obvious, connecting highly specialized knowledge with crucial capital, and guiding companies through the arduous period between a promising idea and a sustainable, thriving business. Moradi succinctly captures the essence of this challenging work: "The hardest work happens after the money moves."
The current technological landscape, marked by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, advanced manufacturing, energy innovation, biotechnology, and space technology, is making this work even more consequential. These innovations are dramatically reducing the cost and barriers to entry for ambitious ideas. Small, agile teams can now pursue opportunities that, just a generation ago, would have required the vast resources of a multinational corporation or a national government program. Critically, many of these transformative teams are emerging in locations directly connected to the complex problems they are striving to solve, rather than being confined to traditional tech centers.
This is the profound, broader impact of strategically expanding venture capital across America. When investors consciously look beyond familiar networks and actively seek out founders where critical industries operate, they ignite a powerful chain reaction. More innovative ideas blossom into viable companies, more groundbreaking technologies reach the market, and, fundamentally, more communities gain the opportunity to actively participate in and benefit from the nation’s dynamic innovation economy.
For Mike Moradi, the enduring reason for optimism lies squarely with the founders themselves—those intrepid individuals audacious enough to attempt what others deem impossible. His ultimate conviction, and the guiding principle for Cortado Ventures, remains steadfast: "Never forget that we’re here for them. When we do this right, everyone, including humanity, wins." Cortado Ventures’ story, as illuminated by the NVCA, serves as a powerful testament to the transformative potential of strategic, disciplined, and ecosystem-focused venture capital, proving that the future of American innovation is indeed being forged in unexpected places. To learn more about Cortado Ventures, visit cortado.ventures.
