In a significant spotlight from the NVCA’s "Meet a VC" series, Mike Moradi, co-founder and General Partner of Cortado Ventures, is emerging as a pivotal figure challenging the traditional geographic concentrations of venture capital. Based in Oklahoma City, Cortado Ventures is strategically investing in seed-stage frontier technology companies across the U.S. Midcontinent, operating on a distinctive thesis that prioritizes deep industry expertise within its founding teams. The firm posits that the most effective innovators for critical sectors are often those who have spent years embedded within these industries, bringing invaluable insights and practical understanding to the table. By bridging their experience with essential capital, customer access, and a robust support network, Cortado Ventures is actively fostering a broader landscape for American innovation, demonstrating that groundbreaking ideas can flourish far beyond established tech hubs.
Cortado’s investment philosophy is fundamentally rooted in the belief that true transformation in sectors like energy, aerospace, healthcare, and manufacturing requires more than just compelling software; it demands an intimate grasp of operational realities. This conviction underpins their search for experienced technical founders who possess firsthand knowledge of the intricate workings, established supply chains, and demanding customer relationships inherent to these complex physical environments. These founders, who may have honed their understanding within hospitals, factories, laboratories, or logistics networks, are uniquely positioned to identify and solve persistent problems with innovative solutions. Their lived experience translates into immediate credibility with customers, a nuanced understanding of implementation challenges, and a knowledge base that is exceedingly difficult to cultivate from an external perspective.
A Founder’s Journey Forged in Experience and Resilience
Mike Moradi’s journey into venture capital is deeply personal, shaped by his own extensive and often arduous experiences as an entrepreneur. A six-time founder, Moradi has navigated the turbulent waters of company building across technically complex industries, including biopharmaceuticals and nanotechnology. His entrepreneurial path began unconventionally, leaving dental school to launch his first venture—a venture that, he candidly admits, failed. This initial setback, however, did not diminish his ambition but rather instilled a crucial lesson in resilience. "The lesson was to keep pushing past every obstacle, to not be discouraged by hearing the word ‘no,’ and to stay the course," Moradi reflects, highlighting a foundational principle that would guide his subsequent endeavors.
Following this formative experience, Moradi’s next company achieved rapid growth, culminating in an acquisition by a Fortune 100 enterprise. Later, a San Francisco Bay Area venture also found success through acquisition, though not without its own harrowing challenges. This company teetered on the brink of collapse even after securing a substantial $18 million Series B financing round. This near-failure delivered a different, equally profound lesson: capital, while a powerful accelerant, can be detrimental if a company is not truly prepared for scale or is moving in the wrong direction. Moradi succinctly captures this insight, stating, "A high valuation and a full bank account will happily let you scale the wrong thing." This experience underscored the critical importance of strategic capital deployment, emphasizing that funding should serve to test assumptions, mitigate risk, and achieve meaningful milestones, rather than enabling premature or undisciplined growth.
Today, Moradi’s mission extends beyond individual company success to a broader ambition: to infuse the entrepreneurial dynamism often associated with Silicon Valley into the Midcontinent. His approach to venture capital is highly analytical, dedicating as much thought to the sequencing and timing of capital as he does to a company’s underlying technology. He advocates for a philosophy that marries entrepreneurial optimism with rigorous evidence, unwavering discipline, and a clear understanding of the next crucial proofs required for a business to advance. This holistic perspective, honed through his own trials and triumphs, directly informed the genesis of Cortado Ventures. Launched in 2020 alongside a team of seasoned founders, CEOs, and operators, Cortado was conceived as the kind of firm they wished had existed during their own entrepreneurial careers—a partner capable of offering profound support beyond mere financial investment, deeply understanding the nuanced decisions founders face.
The Midcontinent’s Untapped Potential: A Competitive Advantage
Cortado Ventures’ strategic focus on the Midcontinent is not merely a geographic preference but a calculated competitive advantage. The region is a hotbed for industries undergoing immense pressure to innovate and evolve, including vital sectors such as energy, aerospace and defense, healthcare, manufacturing, mobility, and logistics. These industries are characterized by complex physical operations, deeply entrenched supply chains, and stringent customer demands, making them ripe for disruption by technologies developed by those with intrinsic understanding.
Historically, venture capital investment has been heavily concentrated in coastal tech hubs. However, recent data indicates a gradual decentralization. According to PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor reports, while California, New York, and Massachusetts continue to dominate, states in the Midcontinent have seen notable growth in venture funding, albeit from a lower base. For instance, states like Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas have experienced increased deal activity and capital deployed over the past few years, reflecting a growing recognition of their innovation potential. This trend is further supported by analyses from organizations like the Center for American Entrepreneurship, which highlights the rise of "startup ecosystems in the heartland."
The Midcontinent offers several compelling advantages for company building. It provides direct proximity to the industries Cortado targets, facilitating crucial customer relationships and pilot programs. The region boasts a technically skilled workforce, often educated at strong research institutions and universities that are increasingly focused on technology transfer and commercialization. Furthermore, the presence of complementary public funding initiatives and significantly lower company-building costs compared to coastal areas creates a more capital-efficient environment for startups. These factors collectively reduce the burn rate for early-stage companies, allowing them to extend their runway and achieve critical milestones with less capital.
Cortado’s diverse portfolio exemplifies the breadth of innovation emerging from this environment. Their investments span advanced technologies applied across space communications, industrial safety, critical infrastructure cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, energy, and mobility. These companies are not just developing software; they are creating tangible solutions for real-world problems in foundational industries.
Cortado’s strategy is emphatically not about investing in the Midcontinent simply because it has historically received less venture capital. Instead, it is built on the firm conviction that proximity to hard, industry-specific problems inherently fosters differentiated companies and, consequently, strong financial returns. Moradi articulates this belief: "Talent is not concentrated anywhere in particular. Capital and networks have just been slower to distribute than talent has." For him, expanding the geographic reach of venture capital is more than just finding new founders; it is about uncovering novel sources of insight and innovation that have been historically overlooked by traditional investment networks, thereby unlocking significant economic and societal value.
Beyond Capital: The Imperative of Ecosystem Building
When Cortado Ventures was founded, Moradi initially believed that the primary constraint facing a nascent venture ecosystem like the Midcontinent’s was a simple shortage of capital. The firm rapidly proved that promising companies could indeed be identified and funded within the region. However, as Cortado matured and its understanding deepened, Moradi’s perspective on the needs of founders evolved significantly. "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 explains, underscoring a critical realization.
Founders, particularly in emerging ecosystems, require a multifaceted support system that extends far beyond monetary investment. This includes access to experienced operators who can help them sidestep preventable mistakes, visionary customers willing to pilot unproven technologies, supportive investors prepared to bridge funding gaps between milestones, and a vibrant community where vital relationships can naturally form. Moradi emphasizes, "Money can accelerate a company. It cannot stand in for experience."
This comprehensive understanding profoundly shaped Cortado’s role within the broader Midcontinent ecosystem. Rather than reserving its network exclusively for its portfolio companies, the firm actively works to connect founders, funders, universities, corporations, policymakers, and technical experts across the region. A cornerstone of this effort is Cortado’s annual Midcontinent Venture Capital Summit, which convenes investors, limited partners, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the nation, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange. Additionally, Cortado 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 serves as a potential catalyst, helping a founder discover a customer, an adviser, a key employee, a collaborator, or a subsequent investor. Collectively, these relationships forge the essential infrastructure that enables more companies to successfully launch and scale. From Moradi’s perspective, this is where venture capital’s impact transcends individual investments. A stronger, more interconnected ecosystem provides more entrepreneurs with a viable pathway to company formation, simultaneously creating more opportunities for capital, talent, and innovation to find each other, ultimately fueling regional economic growth and diversification. This model aligns with what economic development experts often cite as critical for sustainable innovation hubs: not just capital, but a dense network of supportive resources and human connections.
Investment Discipline: Conviction Without False Certainty
Investing in early-stage companies inherently involves navigating a landscape of incomplete information. Moradi candidly acknowledges this reality, stating, "Incomplete data is my job description." Rather than attempting to eliminate uncertainty—an impossible task—his approach focuses on strategic risk management. He meticulously distinguishes between assumptions that can be immediately tested and those that will only be resolved over time. This involves identifying critical conditions that must hold true for a venture to succeed, actively considering how these conditions could be disproven, and meticulously evaluating the cost associated with reaching the next meaningful milestone.
Moradi’s strongest convictions typically center on the founding team’s capabilities, the clarity and urgency of the customer problem being addressed, and the company’s demonstrable rate of progress. He exercises greater caution when predicting the precise timing of an emerging market or the exact path a company might ultimately take to an exit. This disciplined approach becomes particularly vital when a financing round is moving quickly. The allure of a compelling founder and the competitive pressure of an accelerated process can often create an impetus to make a decision before central investment assumptions have been adequately vetted. Moradi warns against this trap: "A hard deadline is exactly when people stop asking uncomfortable questions."
When necessary, Cortado will deliberately slow down the investment process, bringing in independent scientific or technical experts for deeper evaluation. This additional diligence serves to either strengthen the firm’s conviction or, conversely, reveal fundamental reasons to step away from a deal. Paradoxically, Cortado’s most enduring founder relationships have often begun with this rigorous scrutiny, as it sharpens strategic thinking and proactively identifies risks while there is still time to address them. Importantly, slowing the decision-making process does not equate to slowing the response to founders; rather, it ensures a more informed and ultimately more constructive engagement.
Moradi applies similar discipline to valuation. He believes that "A sensible entry price is a form of protection for the founder, employees, and investors alike." While an aggressive valuation might feel like an immediate victory, if the company’s subsequent progress fails to meet the elevated expectations tied to that valuation, the consequences can be severe. These can impact founder ownership, dilute employee equity, constrain future fundraising options, and hinder the company’s ability to adapt to market shifts. Moradi cautions, "This cuts both ways, as VCs can also strangle the life out of a company. Balance is key." He further advises, "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; it is, instead, a strategic mechanism to grant an ambitious company the essential flexibility and time required for long-term success.
Active Support: Speed, Specificity, and Empathy in Action
The Cortado Ventures team differentiates itself through its deep operating experience, having built, scaled, and successfully exited companies across many of the industries in which the firm now invests. This firsthand knowledge profoundly shapes how Cortado supports its founders, particularly when unforeseen challenges arise or difficult strategic decisions become necessary. Moradi encapsulates their approach to meaningful support in two concise words: "Speed and specificity."
He elaborates on this ethos, advising, "Answer in hours rather than days and show up with work already done instead of advice. Better yet, pick up the phone." This commitment translates into tangible actions, which might include rebuilding a complex financial model, facilitating a critical customer introduction, assisting in the recruitment of a senior executive, or taking responsibility for navigating a challenging board conversation. It also encompasses the difficult but necessary task of offering candid, uncomfortable truths when a company’s runway is shortening or its strategic direction requires a fundamental pivot. Moradi, recalling his own experiences as a founder in such high-stakes meetings, emphasizes the value of empathetic honesty: "What helped was someone who lowered the temperature, told the truth to me and the board, and followed up after the meeting."
As Cortado Ventures and the surrounding Midcontinent ecosystem have matured, the firm’s founder support mechanisms have become increasingly sophisticated. Portfolio companies now have access to a rich network comprising operating executives, industry specialists, expert advisers, prospective customers, dedicated coaches, follow-on investors, and a peer group of other founders.
Concurrently, the needs of founders have also evolved. In the early days, when capital was a scarce resource in the region, Cortado’s investment and its ability to attract additional investors were paramount. Today, while capital remains crucial, founders increasingly seek customer access, senior talent acquisition, specialized technical expertise, and, perhaps most importantly, individuals willing to offer honest, unfiltered guidance. Crucially, the firm’s role is never to usurp control from the entrepreneur. Sometimes, Moradi observes, "the most valuable contribution an investor can make is knowing when not to intervene. Other times, being helpful means staying out of the way." This nuanced approach reflects a deep respect for entrepreneurial autonomy coupled with a readiness to provide decisive, hands-on support when it is most needed.
Building What Outlasts a Fund: A Vision for Enduring Impact
Mike Moradi holds a profound conviction that a venture firm’s responsibilities extend well beyond the immediate confines of its own portfolio. "We must build things that outlast a single fund," he asserts, articulating a vision for enduring impact that transcends short-term investment cycles. For Cortado Ventures, this philosophy translates into actively strengthening the connective tissue among founders, funders, universities, corporations, and policymakers across the region. It also encompasses a proactive commitment to fostering the formation and growth of more investment firms within the Midcontinent.
Moradi views this collaborative expansion not as a competitive threat but as a collective opportunity: "This is not a zero-sum game. 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 and participate in promising ventures. Over time, this collective effort builds a more robust and durable pathway between regional innovation and national capital markets, ensuring long-term sustainability and growth.
However, Moradi is quick to emphasize that ecosystem building does not in any way diminish a firm’s fundamental responsibility to its limited partners. Having served as a trustee and audit committee member for a state retirement system, he possesses a keen understanding of the fiduciary duties involved. This experience reinforced the paramount importance of directness and transparency regarding 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 states, highlighting the dual imperative of growth and accountability.
Moradi also recognizes the critical role of organizations like the NVCA (National Venture Capital Association) as vital connective infrastructure supporting firms and founders nationwide. Policy issues such as capital formation, research commercialization, immigration, government procurement, tax treatment, and securities regulations are not abstract concepts; they directly influence an emerging manager’s ability to raise a fund, a startup’s capacity to attract talent, and a new technology’s journey to reach the customers and institutions that 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. Participation in the NVCA also provides Cortado Ventures with a crucial platform to bring a Midcontinent perspective into national conversations concerning innovation, capital formation, and the future trajectory of the venture industry, ensuring that diverse regional voices are heard.
Expanding the Map of American Innovation: A Future-Forward Perspective
Mike Moradi hopes that the narrative of Cortado Ventures can illuminate the true breadth and diversity of American venture capital. The industry’s largest, most visible firms often capture the lion’s share of attention, yet Moradi points out that "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 smaller, specialized firms play an indispensable role in identifying founders before their markets become obvious, skillfully connecting specialized knowledge with crucial capital, and guiding companies through the challenging period between a promising idea and a sustainable business. "The hardest work happens after the money moves," Moradi affirms.
The current technological landscape is making this work even more consequential. The proliferation of artificial intelligence, automation, advanced manufacturing techniques, breakthroughs in energy innovation, advancements in biology, and sophisticated space technology are dramatically reducing the cost of pursuing ambitious ideas. This paradigm shift means that small, agile teams can now tackle opportunities that once demanded the vast resources of large corporations or national-level programs. Crucially, many of these transformative teams are emerging in locations intrinsically connected to the very problems they are striving to solve.
This decentralization of innovation and capital has profound implications for the U.S. economy. By democratizing access to venture capital, it fosters a more resilient and geographically distributed innovation ecosystem, reducing reliance on a few concentrated hubs. This leads to job creation in diverse regions, strengthens local economies, and ensures that the benefits of technological progress are more widely shared across the nation.
This is the 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 nation’s vibrant innovation economy. For Moradi, the founders who dare to attempt what others deem impossible remain the single greatest reason for unwavering optimism. "Never forget that we’re here for them. When we do this right, everyone, including humanity, wins," he concludes, encapsulating the ultimate purpose behind Cortado Ventures’ pioneering efforts. The NVCA proudly counts Cortado Ventures among its membership, recognizing their vital contribution to shaping the future of venture capital and American innovation. For more information, visit cortado.ventures.
