In a landscape often dominated by coastal tech hubs, Cortado Ventures, an Oklahoma City-based firm, is strategically reshaping the narrative of American innovation. Co-founded and led by Mike Moradi, the firm has emerged as a pivotal force, directing seed-stage capital and strategic support towards frontier technology companies rooted in the U.S. Midcontinent. Their distinctive investment thesis is predicated on the profound belief that the most impactful founders, those poised to revolutionize critical industries, are frequently individuals who have spent years immersed within those very sectors. By bridging their invaluable firsthand experience with essential capital, customer access, and an expansive support network, Cortado Ventures is actively decentralizing the locus of American innovation, proving that groundbreaking ideas can take root and flourish far beyond traditional Silicon Valley confines.
The Genesis of a Founder-First Firm: Mike Moradi’s Entrepreneurial Crucible
Mike Moradi’s journey into venture capital is deeply personal, forged in the crucible of his own extensive entrepreneurial endeavors. A six-time founder, Moradi navigated the tumultuous waters of company building across technically complex domains, including biopharmaceuticals and nanotechnology. His initial foray into entrepreneurship, a venture he embarked upon after leaving dental school, met with failure. This early setback, however, did not diminish his ambition; instead, it instilled a profound resilience and an unwavering commitment to persevere despite obstacles. Moradi succinctly captures this enduring lesson, stating, "The lesson was to keep pushing past every obstacle, to not be discouraged by hearing the word ‘no,’ and to stay the course.” This foundational experience profoundly informs Cortado’s empathetic, founder-centric approach.
Subsequent ventures brought both rapid growth and stark lessons. One company achieved a swift acquisition by a Fortune 100 enterprise. Another, a San Francisco Bay Area startup, narrowly averted collapse following an $18 million Series B financing round before ultimately being acquired. This brush with near-failure underscored a critical insight for Moradi: while capital can indeed accelerate a company’s trajectory, speed without strategic direction can be detrimental. As he observed, “A high valuation and a full bank account will happily let you scale the wrong thing.” This realization solidified his conviction that effective financing must align with a company’s readiness to scale, serving to validate assumptions and mitigate risk, rather than merely fuel unproven growth. Today, Moradi’s life mission is to extend the innovative dynamism traditionally associated with Silicon Valley to the Midcontinent, meticulously considering the sequence and timing of capital deployment alongside technological merit.
In 2020, Moradi, alongside a cadre of seasoned founders, CEOs, and operators, co-launched Cortado Ventures. Their collective aim was to establish the kind of firm they wished had existed during their own entrepreneurial careers: one that genuinely comprehended the intricate decisions founders face and could offer contributions extending far beyond a mere initial investment. This ethos of deep operational empathy forms the bedrock of Cortado’s engagement with its portfolio companies.
Cortado Ventures: Pioneering Frontier Tech in the Heart of America
Cortado Ventures strategically targets seed-stage frontier technology companies, focusing on industries vital to the American economy and particularly prevalent in the Midcontinent. These include energy, aerospace and defense, healthcare, manufacturing, mobility, and logistics. These sectors are characterized by complex physical environments, entrenched supply chains, and demanding customer relationships, necessitating solutions that go beyond superficial software applications. Transforming them demands a granular understanding of their intrinsic workings.
The firm actively seeks out experienced technical founders who possess this intimate knowledge. These are individuals who may have spent years within a hospital, factory, laboratory, energy corporation, aerospace program, or logistics network, identifying persistent problems and envisioning innovative solutions from within. Their deep industry experience provides unparalleled credibility with customers, crucial insights into implementation challenges, and specialized knowledge that would be exceedingly difficult to acquire from an external vantage point. This approach contrasts sharply with the generalized tech investment trends often seen in more established venture markets, where novelty can sometimes overshadow domain expertise.
The Strategic Advantage of the Midcontinent Ecosystem
Cortado’s investment strategy is not merely a geographic play; it’s a conviction-driven thesis that views the Midcontinent as a distinct competitive advantage. The region offers unparalleled proximity to critical industries and potential customers, a robust technically skilled workforce, strong research institutions, complementary public funding mechanisms, and significantly lower company-building costs compared to coastal hubs. These factors collectively create a fertile ground for innovation that is often overlooked by traditional venture capital.
While venture capital historically concentrated over 70% of its funding in just three states (California, New York, and Massachusetts), recent trends indicate a gradual decentralization. Data from PitchBook and NVCA show a modest but consistent increase in venture capital flowing to emerging hubs, especially in the wake of the pandemic and the rise of remote work. States like Oklahoma, while still representing a smaller slice of the national pie, are seeing accelerated growth in tech startups and investment. For instance, Oklahoma’s GDP growth has often outpaced the national average in recent years, fueled by diversification efforts in aerospace, energy tech, and biotech, alongside its traditional strengths. The cost of living in Oklahoma City, for example, is consistently 20-30% lower than the national average, and significantly more affordable than major coastal tech centers, allowing startups to stretch their capital further and attract talent seeking a higher quality of life.
Cortado’s portfolio vividly illustrates the breadth of innovation emerging from this environment, spanning space communications, industrial safety, critical infrastructure cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, energy, and mobility. This diversification underscores the region’s inherent strengths and the strategic foresight of Cortado’s investment thesis. The firm’s strategy is not born from a desire to simply fill a funding gap in an underserved market. Instead, it is firmly anchored in the conviction that direct proximity to "hard problems" — the complex, systemic challenges facing foundational industries — can inherently produce differentiated companies and, consequently, superior returns. Moradi encapsulates this belief by stating, “Talent is not concentrated anywhere in particular. Capital and networks have just been slower to distribute than talent has.” This perspective challenges the long-held assumption that innovation is solely a product of specific geographic concentrations, arguing instead that talent is ubiquitous, awaiting the right capital and network connections.
Beyond Capital: Building a Comprehensive Innovation Infrastructure
When Cortado Ventures was founded, Moradi initially believed that the primary impediment to a burgeoning venture ecosystem was a dearth of capital. The firm quickly demonstrated that promising companies could indeed be identified and funded within the region. However, as Cortado expanded its operations and deepened its engagement, Moradi’s understanding of founders’ needs broadened considerably. He realized that capital, while undeniably necessary, was far from sufficient for sustained success. As he now asserts, “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 require a multifaceted support system: experienced operators to help them sidestep preventable missteps, early-adopter customers willing to pilot unproven technologies, patient investors prepared to bridge funding gaps between milestones, and a vibrant community conducive to forging crucial relationships. Moradi emphasizes that “Money can accelerate a company. It cannot stand in for experience.”
This expanded understanding profoundly shaped Cortado’s role within the broader Midcontinent ecosystem. The firm proactively works to interconnect founders, funders, universities, corporations, policymakers, and technical experts, rather than exclusively reserving these relationships for its own portfolio companies. Cortado’s annual Midcontinent Venture Capital Summit serves as a key convener, drawing investors, limited partners, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the nation to foster collaboration and explore regional opportunities. Furthermore, the firm collaborates closely with regional entrepreneurship organizations and The Verge, an Oklahoma City-based incubator and accelerator that provides vital company-building resources, programming, and capital connections. Each of these interactions, whether it leads to a customer introduction, an advisory role, a new hire, a collaboration, or a follow-on investment, contributes to the foundational infrastructure necessary for more companies to successfully launch and scale. For Moradi, this holistic approach extends venture capital’s impact far beyond a single investment, cultivating a robust ecosystem that offers more entrepreneurs a viable path to company formation and success, while simultaneously creating new avenues for capital, talent, and innovation to converge.
Cortado’s Disciplined Investment Philosophy: Conviction with Caution
Investing in early-stage companies inherently involves navigating a landscape of incomplete information. Moradi candidly acknowledges this reality: “Incomplete data is my job description.” Rather than attempting to eliminate uncertainty entirely, his approach involves a disciplined separation of assumptions that can be immediately tested from those that will only resolve over time. He meticulously identifies the critical conditions that must hold true for a venture to succeed, contemplates how these conditions might be disproven, and carefully evaluates the cost associated with achieving the next meaningful milestone.
Moradi’s strongest convictions typically revolve around the founding team’s capabilities, the clarity and urgency of the customer problem being addressed, and the company’s demonstrated rate of progress. He maintains a more cautious stance regarding predictions about the precise timing of an emerging market or the exact path a company might eventually take to an exit. This discipline becomes particularly crucial during rapidly moving financing rounds, where the allure of a compelling founder and a competitive process can generate immense pressure to make a swift decision before central investment assumptions have been thoroughly vetted. “A hard deadline is exactly when people stop asking uncomfortable questions,” Moradi cautions.
When circumstances demand it, Cortado will deliberately slow down the investment process, engaging independent scientific or technical experts for deeper evaluation. This additional diligence can either strengthen the firm’s conviction or reveal critical reasons to step away. Paradoxically, many of Cortado’s most robust founder relationships have originated from this rigorous 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 imply a slower response once a decision is made.
Moradi applies a similar discipline to valuation, viewing a sensible entry price as a form of protection for all stakeholders: “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 triumph, if the company’s subsequent progress fails to meet the elevated expectations tied to that number, the repercussions can be severe, impacting founder ownership, employee equity, future fundraising prospects, and the company’s vital ability to adapt. This dynamic cuts both ways; overly aggressive VCs can stifle a company’s growth, highlighting the critical need for balance. As Moradi sagely notes, “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, but rather a strategic mechanism to afford an ambitious company the flexibility and time it needs to achieve sustainable success.
Empowering Founders Through Specificity and Strategic Support
The Cortado team’s collective experience in building, scaling, and successfully exiting companies across many of the industries in which they invest profoundly shapes their approach to founder support, particularly when plans pivot or difficult decisions arise. Moradi distills meaningful support into two essential qualities: “Speed and specificity.” He advises, “Answer in hours rather than days and show up with work already done instead of advice. Better yet, pick up the phone.”
This commitment to actionable support can manifest in various ways: rebuilding a complex financial model, facilitating a crucial customer introduction, assisting in the recruitment of a senior executive, or taking the lead on a challenging board conversation. It also entails the willingness to articulate difficult truths when a company’s runway shortens or its strategic direction requires a fundamental shift. Moradi vividly recalls his own experiences as a founder in such high-stakes meetings: “What helped was someone who lowered the temperature, told the truth to me and the board, and followed up after the meeting.”
As Cortado and the surrounding ecosystem have matured, the sophistication of its founder support has likewise evolved. Portfolio companies now have access to a comprehensive network comprising operating executives, industry specialists, expert advisors, prospective customers, coaches, fellow investors, and other founders within the firm’s expansive network. Concurrently, the needs of founders in the region have also evolved. While capital access was once the paramount concern, today, founders increasingly seek customer access, senior talent, specialized technical expertise, and candid, experienced guidance. However, 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. As Moradi wisely states, “Other times, being helpful means staying out of the way.” This nuanced understanding of support underscores Cortado’s deep respect for founder autonomy and vision.
A Vision for Enduring Ecosystem Growth and National Impact
Moradi firmly believes that a venture firm’s responsibilities extend beyond the confines of its own portfolio. “We must build things that outlast a single fund,” he declares. For Cortado, this encompasses strengthening the vital connections among founders, funders, universities, corporations, and policymakers. Crucially, it also means actively fostering the formation and growth of other investment firms within the region. “This is not a zero-sum game,” Moradi asserts. “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 provides founders with a broader array of potential capital sources and expertise. It simultaneously creates more opportunities for investors to collaborate and participate in promising companies, ultimately establishing a more durable pathway between regional innovation and national capital markets. This ecosystem-building imperative, however, does not supersede a firm’s fundamental responsibility to its limited partners. Moradi’s experience as a trustee and audit committee member for a state retirement system reinforced the critical importance of being forthright about investment risk, duration, and potential losses. “Ecosystem building matters, and it does not excuse any of us from being disciplined fiduciaries first,” he emphasizes.
Moradi also recognizes the pivotal role of organizations like the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in providing connective infrastructure for 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 pathway to reach its intended customers and institutions. “NVCA helps each of us make policy concrete and stay on top of the issues that matter in D.C. and beyond,” Moradi states. Furthermore, Cortado’s active participation in NVCA provides a vital platform to inject a Midcontinent perspective into national dialogues concerning innovation, capital formation, and the future trajectory of the venture industry.
Expanding the Map of American Innovation
Moradi hopes that Cortado’s story will broaden the perception of American venture capital. While the industry’s largest firms often garner the most attention, the vast majority of venture capital activity involves smaller investors writing early-stage checks into specialized industries, technologies, communities, and 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 observes. These specialized firms play an indispensable role in identifying founders before their markets become obvious, connecting niche expertise with capital, and guiding companies through the arduous period between a promising idea and a sustainable business. “The hardest work happens after the money moves,” Moradi notes.
The advent of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, automation, advanced manufacturing, energy innovation, biology, and space technology, is dramatically reducing the cost of 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 national programs. Many of these innovative teams are naturally emerging in locations directly connected to the very problems they are striving to solve.
This decentralization represents the broader, transformative impact of expanding venture capital across America. When investors intentionally look beyond familiar networks and engage with founders in regions where critical industries operate, they facilitate the transformation of more ideas into viable companies, enable more technologies to reach the market, and empower more communities to actively participate in the nation’s innovation economy. For Moradi, the enduring optimism lies with the founders themselves—those individuals who relentlessly pursue what others deem impossible. “Never forget that we’re here for them. When we do this right, everyone, including humanity, wins,” he concludes, encapsulating the profound societal impact of their mission. Cortado Ventures, as an active member of the NVCA, continues to exemplify how localized, specialized venture capital can drive national innovation and foster enduring economic growth.
