In a compelling feature from the National Venture Capital Association’s (NVCA) "Meet a VC" series, Mike Moradi, co-founder and General Partner of Cortado Ventures, emerges as a pivotal figure in the evolving landscape of American innovation. Based in Oklahoma City, Cortado Ventures is strategically investing in seed-stage frontier technology companies across the U.S. Midcontinent, challenging traditional perceptions of where groundbreaking innovation takes root. The firm’s core thesis is deeply rooted in the belief that the most impactful founders are often those who have intimately experienced the industries they seek to transform. By meticulously connecting their profound operational insights with crucial capital, strategic customers, and an expansive support network, Cortado is actively working to democratize innovation, ensuring that American ingenuity can flourish beyond established tech hubs.
From Founder to Funder: A Journey Forged in Experience
Moradi’s transition into venture capital was not a theoretical leap but a natural progression born from a rich, often challenging, entrepreneurial career. His journey began unconventionally when he chose to leave dental school to pursue his first startup. This initial venture, like many audacious undertakings, ultimately failed. However, this early setback proved to be a crucible, instilling in him an unyielding resilience and a profound lesson: the importance of perseverance despite obstacles and the skepticism of others. "The lesson was to keep pushing past every obstacle, to not be discouraged by hearing the word ‘no,’ and to stay the course," Moradi recounts, highlighting the foundational grit that would define his subsequent endeavors.
Following this initial failure, Moradi’s entrepreneurial trajectory soared. His next company experienced rapid growth, culminating in a significant acquisition by a Fortune 100 enterprise. Later, a San Francisco Bay Area venture also achieved an acquisition, but not without navigating a perilous period after an $18 million Series B financing round almost led to its collapse. This near-failure imparted another critical lesson: capital, while a potent accelerator, can also amplify missteps if a company isn’t truly ready for scale or is pursuing the wrong path. Moradi succinctly captured this insight, stating, "A high valuation and a full bank account will happily let you scale the wrong thing." This profound understanding of the nuanced relationship between capital, timing, and strategic direction became a cornerstone of his investment philosophy. These formative experiences equipped Moradi with a unique empathy for founders, enabling him to bridge the gap between entrepreneurial optimism and the disciplined, evidence-based approach necessary for sustainable growth.
The Midcontinent Advantage: Unlocking Untapped Potential
Today, Moradi’s overarching mission is to extend the innovative spark traditionally associated with Silicon Valley to the burgeoning Midcontinent region. He emphasizes the critical sequence and timing of capital deployment, ensuring that financing serves to test assumptions, mitigate risk, and achieve verifiable milestones, rather than fostering premature, unproven expansion. This philosophy underpins Cortado Ventures, which he co-launched in 2020 alongside a cohort of seasoned founders, CEOs, and operators. Their collective aim was to forge the kind of venture firm they themselves wished had existed during their entrepreneurial years – one characterized by a deep understanding of the challenges founders face and a commitment to contribute far beyond the initial financial injection.
The strategic focus on the Midcontinent is not merely geographic; it is a fundamental pillar of Cortado’s investment thesis. This vast region is a vital hub for critical industries currently undergoing immense pressure to innovate and evolve. Sectors such as energy, aerospace and defense, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, mobility, and logistics operate within intricate physical environments, established supply chains, and demanding customer ecosystems. Transforming these sectors necessitates more than just a compelling software solution; it demands an intrinsic understanding of their operational intricacies. Cortado actively seeks out experienced technical founders who possess this deep industry knowledge, often cultivated through years of direct involvement within hospitals, factories, laboratories, energy companies, aerospace programs, or logistics networks. These founders, by virtue of their lived experience, bring unparalleled credibility with customers, invaluable insight into implementation complexities, and a depth of knowledge difficult to replicate from an external perspective.
The geography itself offers a distinct competitive advantage. The Midcontinent provides unparalleled proximity to these critical industries and potential customers, boasts a highly skilled workforce, is home to robust research institutions, often benefits from complementary public funding initiatives, and generally offers significantly lower company-building costs compared to coastal tech hubs. This confluence of factors creates a fertile ground for innovation. Cortado’s diverse portfolio—spanning space communications, industrial safety, critical infrastructure cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, energy, and mobility—is a testament to the breadth of pioneering solutions emerging from this dynamic environment. The firm’s strategy is not predicated on a charitable impulse to fund Midcontinent founders simply because they have historically received less venture capital. Instead, it is firmly grounded in the conviction that direct engagement with "hard problems" in these industries can generate highly differentiated companies and deliver superior financial returns. As Moradi asserts, "Talent is not concentrated anywhere in particular. Capital and networks have just been slower to distribute than talent has." For Cortado, expanding the geographic reach of venture capital is fundamentally about uncovering unique insights and innovation sources that have long been overlooked by traditional networks.
Beyond Capital: Building a Robust Ecosystem
When Cortado Ventures first embarked on its mission, 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 regional companies validated the potential for local investment. However, as Cortado expanded its operations and deepened its engagement, Moradi’s understanding of founders’ true needs 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 reflected. This realization underscored that financial investment alone, while crucial, is merely one component of a thriving entrepreneurial environment.
Founders, particularly in emerging ecosystems, require a multifaceted support system. This includes experienced operators who can guide them away from preventable mistakes, early-adopter customers willing to pilot unproven technologies, patient investors committed to supporting companies through various milestones, and a vibrant community where vital relationships can naturally form. As Moradi aptly puts it, "Money can accelerate a company. It cannot stand in for experience." This profound understanding has shaped Cortado’s proactive role in nurturing the broader Midcontinent ecosystem. Rather than hoarding connections exclusively for its portfolio companies, the firm actively fosters linkages among founders, funders, universities, corporations, policymakers, and technical experts.
A cornerstone of this ecosystem-building effort is Cortado’s annual Midcontinent Venture Capital Summit, a critical convening that brings together investors, limited partners, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the nation, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange. Furthermore, Cortado collaborates closely with regional entrepreneurship organizations and The Verge, an Oklahoma City-based incubator and accelerator that provides essential company-building resources, programming, and crucial capital connections. Each of these interactions, whether a summit, a workshop, or an informal meeting, has the potential to connect a founder with a vital customer, an invaluable advisor, a key employee, a strategic collaborator, or a future investor. Collectively, these myriad relationships construct the robust infrastructure necessary for a greater number of companies to successfully launch and scale. For Moradi, this systemic approach is where venture capital’s impact truly transcends individual investments. A stronger, more interconnected ecosystem provides more entrepreneurs with a viable pathway to company formation, simultaneously creating expanded opportunities for capital, talent, and innovation to converge and thrive.
Disciplined Investment: Conviction Without False Certainty
Investing in early-stage companies inherently involves navigating a landscape characterized by incomplete information. Moradi candidly acknowledges this reality: "Incomplete data is my job description." Rather than attempting the impossible task of eliminating uncertainty, his approach involves a disciplined methodology for managing it. He meticulously distinguishes between assumptions that can be immediately tested and those that will only resolve over time. This involves identifying the critical conditions that must hold true for success, proactively considering how those conditions could be disproven, and carefully evaluating the cost of achieving the next significant milestone.
Moradi’s strongest convictions typically coalesce around the founding team’s capabilities, the veracity of the customer problem being addressed, and the company’s demonstrable rate of progress. Conversely, he exercises greater caution in predicting the precise timing of an emerging market or the exact path a company might ultimately take to an exit. This discipline becomes particularly vital when a financing round is moving at a rapid pace. The allure of a charismatic founder and the pressure of a competitive process can often compel investors to make swift decisions before central investment assumptions have been thoroughly vetted. Moradi cautions against this, stating, "A hard deadline is exactly when people stop asking uncomfortable questions." In such situations, Cortado is prepared to deliberately slow down the process, bringing in independent scientific or technical experts for rigorous evaluation. This additional due diligence serves either to solidify the firm’s conviction or to reveal compelling reasons to step away from the investment. Paradoxically, some of Cortado’s most robust founder relationships have been forged through this initial scrutiny, as it helps to sharpen strategic thinking and identify critical risks while there is still ample time to address them. However, slowing the decision-making process does not equate to slowing the responsiveness; efficiency remains paramount.
Moradi applies the same disciplined approach to company valuation. He posits 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 triumph, if the company’s subsequent progress fails to meet the inflated expectations attached to that number, the repercussions can be severe. These can include dilution of founder ownership, erosion of employee equity, constrained future fundraising options, and a diminished ability for the company to adapt to market shifts. It’s a delicate balance, as Moradi points out that venture capitalists can also stifle a company’s potential through overly stringent terms. "The right number buys you options for years. In boom times, people forget that financial crises happen," Moradi wisely notes. For Cortado, this discipline is not a reflection of a lack of belief in a founder’s ambition; rather, it is a strategic mechanism to afford an ambitious company the essential flexibility and time it requires to achieve sustainable success.
Strategic Support: The Operator’s Edge
The Cortado Ventures team distinguishes itself through its profound operating experience, having successfully built, scaled, and exited companies across many of the very industries in which the firm now invests. This hands-on expertise fundamentally shapes how they support founders, particularly when unforeseen challenges arise or difficult decisions loom. Moradi encapsulates their approach to meaningful support in two concise 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 engagement can manifest in various critical ways: meticulously rebuilding a financial model, leveraging their network for a crucial customer introduction, assisting in the recruitment of a senior executive, or taking ownership of a challenging aspect of a board conversation. It also entails the courage to deliver uncomfortable truths when a company’s runway is shrinking or its strategic direction requires a fundamental pivot.
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." Cortado’s founder support system has continuously evolved and become more sophisticated as the firm and the surrounding ecosystem have matured. Portfolio companies now have access to a rich tapestry of resources within the firm’s network, including experienced operating executives, specialized industry experts, trusted advisors, prospective customers, dedicated coaches, fellow investors, and a community of other founders. The needs of founders in the region have also progressed. While capital scarcity once made Cortado’s investment and its ability to attract additional investors particularly valuable, today’s founders increasingly require access to customers, top-tier senior talent, specialized technical expertise, and candid, honest guidance. Crucially, the firm’s role is never to usurp control from the entrepreneur. Sometimes, the most valuable contribution an investor can make is discerning when not to intervene. "Other times," Moradi concludes, "being helpful means staying out of the way."
A Vision Beyond Funds: Expanding the Map of American Innovation
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 declares. For Cortado, this translates into a dedicated commitment to fortifying connections among founders, funders, universities, corporations, and policymakers throughout the region. It also encompasses actively fostering the formation and growth of other investment firms within the Midcontinent. "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 inherently 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 ventures, ultimately establishing a more durable pathway between regional innovation and national capital markets.
While committed to ecosystem building, Moradi remains steadfast in his understanding of fiduciary duty to limited partners. His experience as a trustee and audit committee member for a state retirement system reinforced the paramount importance of transparency regarding investment risk, duration, and potential losses. "Ecosystem building matters, and it does not excuse any of us from being disciplined fiduciaries first," he states, underscoring the delicate balance between impact and financial stewardship. Moradi also recognizes the NVCA as a crucial component of the connective infrastructure that supports venture 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 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 notes. Participation in the NVCA also affords Cortado the invaluable opportunity to inject a vital Midcontinent perspective into national dialogues concerning innovation, capital formation, and the future trajectory of the venture industry.
Moradi hopes that Cortado’s narrative can illuminate the true breadth and diversity of American venture capital. While the industry’s largest, most prominent firms often capture the lion’s share of attention, the vast majority of venture activity is driven by smaller, specialized investors. These firms write early checks into niche sectors—be they industrial, geographic, demographic, or otherwise. As Moradi astutely observes, "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 play an indispensable role in identifying founders before their markets become obvious, skillfully connecting specialized knowledge with essential capital, and guiding companies through the challenging chasm between a promising idea and a sustainable business. "The hardest work happens after the money moves," Moradi emphasizes.
The advent of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, advanced automation, sophisticated manufacturing techniques, groundbreaking energy innovation, transformative biology, and revolutionary space technology, is dramatically reducing the cost of pursuing ambitious ideas. This paradigm shift means that small, agile teams can now tackle opportunities that once demanded the colossal resources of large corporations or national programs. Many of these pioneering teams, Moradi predicts, will emerge precisely in those regions intimately connected to the complex problems they are striving to solve. This is the profound, broader impact of democratizing venture capital across America. When investors consciously look beyond familiar networks and actively engage with founders where critical industries operate, they catalyze the transformation of more ideas into viable companies, enable more technologies to reach the market, and empower more communities to participate fully in the nation’s vibrant innovation economy. For Mike Moradi, the founders who dare to attempt what others deem impossible remain the single greatest source of optimism. "Never forget that we’re here for them. When we do this right, everyone, including humanity, wins." The NVCA proudly recognizes Cortado Ventures as a vital part of its membership, showcasing a model of venture capital that is not only financially astute but also deeply committed to systemic innovation and regional prosperity.
