In a compelling interview for the National Venture Capital Association’s (NVCA) “Meet a VC” series, Mike Moradi, co-founder and General Partner of Cortado Ventures, shed light on his firm’s distinctive approach to fostering innovation from its base in Oklahoma City. Cortado Ventures, an NVCA member, is rapidly establishing itself as a pivotal player in the seed-stage frontier technology landscape, specifically targeting the U.S. Midcontinent region. The firm’s strategy is built on a profound conviction: the most impactful founders, those poised to revolutionize critical industries, are often individuals who have garnered years of immersive experience within those very sectors. By strategically deploying capital, forging crucial customer connections, and cultivating an expansive support network, Cortado Ventures is actively broadening the geographical footprint of American innovation, challenging the long-held perception of venture capital concentration.
A Founder’s Journey Forges a VC’s Vision
Moradi’s journey into venture capital is deeply rooted in his extensive, often challenging, firsthand experience as an entrepreneur. A serial founder with six ventures under his belt, Moradi has navigated the complexities of launching and scaling companies across highly technical fields such as biopharmaceuticals and nanotechnology. His entrepreneurial odyssey began unconventionally, leaving dental school to pursue his first startup—an endeavor that ultimately failed. Far from deterring him, this initial setback served as a powerful crucible, instilling an unwavering resilience and a steadfast commitment to his vision, even when confronted with skepticism. "The lesson was to keep pushing past every obstacle, to not be discouraged by hearing the word ‘no,’ and to stay the course," Moradi reflected, encapsulating the grit that defines many successful founders.
His subsequent ventures painted a more successful picture, including one that achieved rapid growth and was acquired by a Fortune 100 corporation. However, a later San Francisco Bay Area startup, despite securing an $18 million Series B financing, teetered on the brink of collapse before ultimately being acquired. This near-failure proved equally instructive, highlighting a crucial, often overlooked, aspect of capital deployment: while funding can accelerate growth, speed is only advantageous when a company is on the correct trajectory and genuinely prepared for scale. Moradi acutely observed, "A high valuation and a full bank account will happily let you scale the wrong thing." This insight underscored the critical need for founders to pair entrepreneurial optimism with rigorous evidence, disciplined execution, and a clear understanding of the immediate, provable milestones required for sustainable growth.
Today, Moradi’s overarching mission transcends mere investment; it is about extending the entrepreneurial dynamism often associated with Silicon Valley to the burgeoning Midcontinent. His approach is characterized by a meticulous consideration of the sequence and timing of capital infusion, alongside a deep dive into a company’s technological merits. He advocates for financing that empowers founders to rigorously test assumptions, mitigate risks, and achieve significant milestones, rather than enabling premature or unproven expansion. This philosophy, honed through personal triumphs and tribulations, directly informed the genesis of Cortado Ventures in 2020. Moradi, alongside a team comprising seasoned founders, CEOs, and operators, established the firm they wished had existed during their own entrepreneurial careers—a partner capable of offering profound insights and support far beyond the initial capital injection.
The Midcontinent’s Untapped Competitive Edge
Cortado Ventures’ investment thesis is strategically anchored in the unique advantages offered by the U.S. Midcontinent. This vast region is a hotbed for industries currently undergoing immense pressure to innovate and evolve, including energy, aerospace and defense, healthcare, manufacturing, mobility, and logistics. These sectors are characterized by intricate physical infrastructures, deeply entrenched supply chains, and demanding customer relationships. Transforming them, Cortado recognizes, demands more than just a compelling software application; it necessitates an intimate, granular understanding of how these industries operate from the inside out.
Consequently, Cortado actively seeks out experienced technical founders who possess this invaluable domain expertise. These are individuals who may have dedicated years within a hospital, factory, laboratory, energy corporation, aerospace program, or logistics network before identifying a critical problem and envisioning a disruptive solution. Their firsthand experience grants them unparalleled credibility with potential customers, deep insight into implementation challenges, and a wealth of knowledge that would be exceedingly difficult for outsiders to cultivate.
The geographical location itself contributes significantly to Cortado’s investment advantage. The Midcontinent provides unparalleled proximity to these critical industries and their potential customers. Furthermore, the region boasts a technically skilled workforce, robust research institutions, access to complementary public funding initiatives, and significantly lower company-building costs compared to traditional coastal hubs. Recent economic analyses and regional development reports have consistently highlighted the Midcontinent’s growing attractiveness for tech startups, citing a lower cost of living and doing business as key factors attracting talent and capital. While specific VC funding data for the Midcontinent has historically lagged behind coastal areas, a growing trend of increased investment activity in the region has been observed over the past five years, underscoring the validity of Cortado’s thesis.
Cortado’s diverse portfolio stands as a testament to the broad spectrum of innovation emerging from this environment, spanning areas such as advanced manufacturing, critical infrastructure cybersecurity, energy, healthcare, industrial safety, mobility, and space communications. The firm’s strategy is not merely a philanthropic endeavor to fund undercapitalized regions. Instead, it is firmly rooted in the conviction that direct engagement with "hard problems" in critical industries will inevitably yield highly differentiated companies and, by extension, robust financial returns. Moradi eloquently articulated this belief: "Talent is not concentrated anywhere in particular. Capital and networks have just been slower to distribute than talent has." For Moradi, expanding the geographic reach of venture capital is not just about discovering more founders; it is about unearthing overlooked sources of insight and groundbreaking innovation that traditional, often insular, networks may have historically missed.
Beyond Capital: Cultivating a Thriving Ecosystem
When Cortado Ventures first launched, Moradi initially believed that the primary impediment to a nascent venture ecosystem was a scarcity of capital. The firm’s early successes in identifying and funding promising companies in the region indeed helped to validate this initial hypothesis. However, as Cortado matured and its understanding of the entrepreneurial landscape deepened, Moradi’s perspective on what founders truly needed became significantly more expansive. "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," he stated, highlighting a critical evolution in his thinking.
Founders, he realized, require a multifaceted support system that extends far beyond mere financial injection. This includes access to experienced operators who can help preempt costly mistakes, customers willing to embrace and pilot unproven technologies, investors prepared to offer sustained support between critical milestones, and a vibrant community where vital relationships can naturally coalesce. "Money can accelerate a company," Moradi explained, "It cannot stand in for experience."
This profound realization has profoundly shaped Cortado’s role within the broader Midcontinent ecosystem. Rather than hoarding relationships exclusively for its portfolio companies, the firm actively works to forge connections among founders, funders, universities, corporations, policymakers, and technical experts throughout the region. Cortado’s commitment to ecosystem building is exemplified by initiatives like its annual Midcontinent Venture Capital Summit, which convenes investors, limited partners, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the country, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange. The firm also actively collaborates with regional entrepreneurship organizations and The Verge, an Oklahoma City-based incubator and accelerator that provides crucial company-building resources, programming, and capital connections. Each of these interactions, Moradi believes, represents an opportunity for a founder to find a customer, an adviser, an employee, a collaborator, or a future investor. Collectively, these myriad relationships form the essential infrastructure that enables a greater number of companies to both launch and scale successfully. For Moradi, this is where the true impact of venture capital transcends individual investments, creating a stronger ecosystem that offers more entrepreneurs a viable path to company formation and generates increased opportunities for capital, talent, and innovation to converge.
Conviction Balanced with Prudent Discipline
In the dynamic and often opaque world of early-stage investing, perfect information is a rarity. Moradi candidly admits, "Incomplete data is my job description." Rather than striving for an unattainable elimination of uncertainty, his strategy involves a disciplined separation of assumptions that can be immediately tested from those that will only resolve over time. He meticulously identifies the conditions that must hold true, critically evaluates how those conditions could be disproven, and assesses the cost associated with achieving the next meaningful milestone.
Moradi’s strongest convictions typically revolve around the founding team’s capabilities, the authenticity of the customer problem being addressed, and the company’s demonstrable rate of progress. He maintains a more cautious stance when it comes to predicting the precise timing of an emerging market or the exact path a company might eventually take to an exit. This rigorous discipline becomes particularly crucial when a financing round is moving at a rapid pace. The allure of a charismatic founder and the competitive pressure of a fast-moving process can often create an environment where decisions are rushed before central investment assumptions have been thoroughly vetted. "A hard deadline is exactly when people stop asking uncomfortable questions," Moradi warned, highlighting the inherent risks of such scenarios.
When necessary, Cortado will deliberately slow down the investment process, bringing in independent scientific or technical experts to conduct additional diligence. This added scrutiny, Moradi notes, can either solidify the firm’s conviction or reveal compelling reasons to step away from an investment. Intriguingly, many of Cortado’s most robust founder relationships have blossomed from this initial scrutiny, as it sharpens strategic thinking and identifies potential risks while there is still ample time to address them. Importantly, slowing the decision-making process does not equate to a delayed response; rather, it ensures a more informed and considered commitment.
Moradi applies a similar discipline to company valuation. "A sensible entry price is a form of protection for the founder, employees, and investors alike," he emphasized. While an aggressive valuation might initially feel like a triumphant victory, if the company’s subsequent progress fails to meet the elevated expectations tied to that number, the consequences can be severe. These can impact founder ownership, dilute employee equity, constrain future fundraising options, and hinder the company’s crucial ability to adapt to unforeseen challenges. This philosophy, Moradi stresses, is a two-way street; just as excessive valuations can be detrimental, overly restrictive terms from VCs can also stifle a company’s potential. Balance is paramount. "The right number buys you options for years. In boom times, people forget that financial crises happen," Moradi cautioned, underscoring the long-term perspective essential in venture capital. For Cortado, this discipline is not indicative of a lack of belief in a founder’s ambition; rather, it is a strategic mechanism to provide ambitious companies with the vital flexibility and time required to ultimately succeed.
Proactive Support: Speed, Specificity, and Empathy
Cortado Ventures’ team brings a wealth of operational experience, having built, scaled, and successfully exited companies across many of the very industries in which the firm now invests. This deep operating background profoundly shapes how the firm supports its founders, particularly when strategic plans inevitably shift or difficult decisions emerge. Moradi distills the essence of meaningful support into two potent words: "Speed and specificity."
He elaborates, "Answer in hours rather than days and show up with work already done instead of advice. Better yet, pick up the phone." This proactive, hands-on approach can manifest in diverse ways, from meticulously rebuilding a financial model, making a crucial customer introduction, or assisting in recruiting a senior executive, to taking responsibility for navigating a challenging board conversation. It also encompasses the difficult, yet necessary, act of delivering candid feedback when a company’s runway is shrinking or its fundamental strategy demands a pivot—conversations others might shy away from. Moradi vividly recalls being the founder in such meetings: "What helped was someone who lowered the temperature, told the truth to me and the board, and followed up after the meeting."
As both Cortado Ventures and the surrounding ecosystem have matured, the firm’s founder support mechanisms have become increasingly sophisticated. Portfolio companies now benefit from a rich network of operating executives, industry specialists, expert advisers, prospective customers, coaches, co-investors, and other founders within Cortado’s expansive network. Concurrently, the needs of founders in the region have also evolved. While capital scarcity once made Cortado’s investment and its ability to attract additional investors particularly valuable, today, founders increasingly seek customer access, senior talent, specialized technical expertise, and partners willing to offer honest, actionable guidance. Importantly, the firm’s role is never to usurp control from the entrepreneur. Sometimes, the most valuable contribution an investor can make is recognizing when to step back. "Other times," Moradi noted, "being helpful means staying out of the way."
Building Legacies Beyond Fund Cycles
Moradi firmly believes that a venture firm’s responsibility extends far beyond the confines of its own portfolio. "We must build things that outlast a single fund," he declared. For Cortado, this overarching principle translates into a dedicated effort to strengthen the connective tissue among founders, funders, universities, corporations, and policymakers throughout the region. Crucially, it also means actively fostering the formation and growth of other investment firms within the Midcontinent.
"This is not a zero-sum game," Moradi asserted. "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 inherently provides founders with a broader array of potential capital sources and expertise. It also creates increased opportunities for investors to collaborate and participate in promising companies, ultimately establishing a more durable and efficient pathway between regional innovation and national capital markets.
Moradi’s commitment to ecosystem building is underpinned by a strong sense of fiduciary duty. Having served as a trustee and audit committee member for a state retirement system, he gained invaluable experience that reinforced the paramount importance of being direct and transparent about investment risk, duration, and the potential for losses. "Ecosystem building matters, and it does not excuse any of us from being disciplined fiduciaries first," he stated, balancing the broader vision with pragmatic financial responsibility.
Moradi also recognizes the NVCA’s crucial role as part of the connective infrastructure that supports venture firms and founders nationwide. Issues such as capital formation policies, research commercialization frameworks, immigration regulations, government procurement practices, tax treatment, and securities rules are not abstract concepts. They directly influence an emerging manager’s ability to raise a fund, a startup’s capacity to attract top talent, and a new technology’s potential 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 affirmed. Participation in NVCA also affords Cortado the vital opportunity to inject a Midcontinent perspective into national dialogues concerning innovation, capital formation, and the future trajectory of the venture industry.
Redrawing the Map of American Innovation
Moradi hopes that the narrative of Cortado Ventures can significantly broaden the public’s understanding of the true breadth and diversity of American venture capital. While the industry’s largest, most prominent firms often capture the lion’s share of media attention, a substantial portion of venture capital activity is driven by smaller, specialized investors writing early-stage checks into niche industries, specific technologies, underserved communities, and emerging regions.
"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," Moradi pointed out, demystifying the industry’s often misunderstood landscape. These specialized firms play an indispensable role in identifying founders before their markets become obvious, connecting specialized knowledge with essential capital, and guiding companies through the notoriously difficult period between a promising initial idea and the establishment of a sustainable business model. "The hardest work happens after the money moves," Moradi emphasized, highlighting the intensive, hands-on support required for early-stage ventures.
The advent of new technologies is rendering this work even more consequential. Advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, advanced manufacturing techniques, energy innovation, biotechnology, and space technology are dramatically reducing the cost and complexity associated with pursuing ambitious ideas. This technological democratization means that small, agile teams can now tackle opportunities that once demanded the vast resources of large corporations or extensive national programs. Crucially, many of these innovative teams are emerging in locations intimately connected to the complex problems they are striving to solve.
This, Moradi contends, 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 facilitate the transformation of more ideas into viable companies, enable more groundbreaking technologies to reach the market, and empower a greater number of communities to actively participate in the country’s dynamic innovation economy. For Moradi, the enduring optimism lies squarely with the founders who dare to attempt what others deem impossible. "Never forget that we’re here for them. When we do this right, everyone, including humanity, wins," he concluded, encapsulating the ultimate purpose behind Cortado Ventures’ mission. The NVCA proudly acknowledges Cortado Ventures as a valued member, a firm that embodies the evolving landscape of venture capital. To learn more about their pioneering work, visit cortado.ventures.
