This is Andrew Gunderman’s weekly newsletter, a place to find his upcoming events, news, and to read about technology, business / startups, economics, and investing.

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👀 Who is Andrew Gunderman?

I am a young entrepreneur who raised venture capital for the first time at 21 and dropped out of college that same year. I sold my first company at 23.

I also host both private and public events for celebrities, professional athletes, influencers, elected government officials, business magnates, and more. Many thousands of people have attended my events all over the country, and I've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorship.

I was named on the Inno 25 Under 25 list for 2023. You can find me in Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inno Magazine, and more.

🎉 My Upcoming Events

• The Quarterly Penthouse Series is the premier private event in Chicago aiming to be THE event for the most accomplished people in the city. Featuring professional athletes, celebrities, influencers, business magnates, high ranking and elected government officials, and more. These events feature guests worth billions of dollars and who have millions of social media followers.

  • Mid June - For extremely accomplished individuals in any field

• Renowned Chicago is the premier private community for established influencers & content creators in Chicago. Our community represents a membership with a cumulative 80 million followers on socials including some of our city’s biggest names.

  • Late April - For established influencers or content creators making any type of content (30k minimum followers or some major accomplishments)

That’s it for now! If you’re interested in attending an event just respond to this email and let me know. However, all of my events are curated for specific groups of people, so if you’re not in an event’s target group don’t expect an invite.

🙂 Avoiding Group Think in Chicago’s Startup & VC Ecosystem + What’s Wrong With It

I had coffee with an absolutely incredible Chicago VC this morning. We talked about a variety of topics, but one of the most interesting things was the idea of “loving, but hating Chicago”. What she had said was basically that she loves the city, but hates some of the mindset here - and honestly she’s totally right.

Her point was that much of the Chicago ecosystem has succumb to group think. When everyone in the crowd calls themselves a disruptor - they’re not actually disruptors. They’re the exact same type of person that 100% of them claim to detest. If you are truly disrupting something you are probably going to upset some people and push back on the status quo. Chicago has institutions in the startup & VC ecosystem, but these institutions often mostly exist to give themselves more influence and perpetuate their government funding rather than to actually help anyone in the early stage ecosystem. This is not a criticism of the institutions, rather an opinion on how they could change how they decide where to put their effort. Instead of all of Chicago’s most powerful people talking to one another about how to improve the ecosystem, why don’t they ask the early stage founders?

If you survey most early stage founders they will tell you that they have no idea what many of these institutions do. Something I thought about during the conversation was the funny point that many of the VCs in our town talk amongst themselves about “what’s wrong with our early-stage ecosystem.” They’ll host events where they interview one another, they’ll make content about it, but then they will spend zero time actually talking to a single early-stage founder about it. They spend zero time asking early stage founders what help they need or what resources would be useful here. It’s a beautiful irony because VCs always tell founders to “talk to your customers”, but they aren’t even talking to theirs. “How can we improve our early stage startup ecosystem?” is the question that everyone asks everyone - except we don’t ask the actual early stage founders building here. No wonder so many of our valuable founders leave.

Over the last year I’ve developed a very solid network in Chicago. Something I’ve been told by many early stage founders is that there is hardly any access to successful founders, as someone who is trying to build an early stage company. As a result, that’s something I’ve been trying to do with my network that I’ve built up. I host one of the top private gatherings in a downtown penthouse each quarter. This community was built because of the personal feeling I’ve had of everything being gatekept. I had to build my own community because I wasn’t included in anything else. This is a common feeling amongst early stage founders. Thus, I’ve started inviting select high potential early stage founders to my penthouse series to get them to meet some of Chicago’s most successful founders & CEOs. We need a better way for these individuals to gain access to people who have been there and done that.

Now, I love Chicago. And honestly, I don’t really have a problem with how the ecosystem operates. The ecosystem will do its thing and I will do my best to help & improve it where I can. I don’t think it’s helpful to complain too much about things you aren’t going to try to fix, and I have other problems I’m focused on. However, I think the whole ecosystem could do a lot of good by stepping back and talking to their “customer”. The heads of all of these institutions are far too gatekeep-ey. Young founders, even someone as well connected as myself at this point, have zero access to them. This is not a long sustainable solution and does zero good for the ecosystem. I hope the heads of our institutions will start to do a better job about being more accessible to earlier stage founders in the city and acting less as gate keepers. There are many high potential young people in the city and sometimes all they need is an opportunity to gain access for you to see them take advantage of it.

😇 20 Active VCs and Angels in Columbus, Ohio

1. Drive Capital
   Founded in 2013, Drive Capital is a Columbus-based venture capital firm that has raised over $2.5 billion to support startups addressing critical challenges in expansive markets. Their investments span various sectors, including financial services, healthcare, IT, and artificial intelligence. Notable investments include Duolingo, Root Insurance, and Comply365. I’ve raise venture capital from them myself, and I highly recommend them.

2. Rev1 Ventures
   Rev1 Ventures is an investor startup studio providing seed-stage venture capital funding in Columbus, Ohio. They offer guidance, connections, and space to help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market. Their portfolio includes companies like ScriptDrop, PriorAuthNow, and Seamless.AI. They are admittedly not right for you if you’re just looking for capital and nothing else. I previously tried raising rounds from them but they require you to go through their customer workshops, which depending on your stage might not be necessary.

3. Loud Capital
   LOUD Capital is an alternative investment firm specializing in early-stage venture capital, private growth equity, and wealth management. They focus on addressing global challenges, particularly in human health, and have invested in companies such as Seamless.AI, Gemelli Biotech, and Genetesis. I know some of their Chicago partners and they’re great.

4. Ikove Capital
   Ikove Capital is a venture development company founded to pursue early-stage investments with an emphasis on commercializing innovative technologies. They have invested in companies like Nikola Labs, Atreon Orthopedics, and Circular Wave Drive. They are unique since they mostly invest in companies that they co-found themselves and their focus is on Robotics, IoT, AI, Medical devices, FinTech, and FoodTech

5. Heartland Ventures
   Heartland Ventures is a value-add venture investor that connects high-growth startups with new customers in the Midwest. They focus on sectors such as real estate, construction, manufacturing, logistics, and agriculture, with investments in companies like Soil Connect, StrongArm Tech, and LinkedField.

6. Ohio Innovation Fund
   Ohio Innovation Fund provides venture capital and strategic support to high-growth startups in Ohio, focusing on sectors like MedTech, BioPharma, SaaS, and cybersecurity. Their portfolio includes companies such as Able, Aware, and ScriptDrop. They are very well connected and everywhere in Ohio. I ran into them a bunch during my time in the city.

7. NCT Ventures
   NCT Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Columbus, Ohio, that offers commercial financing and funding & investment services, focusing on venture capital and private equity.

8. Converge Ventures
   Converge Ventures harnesses the power of public-private partnerships to develop and market cutting-edge products. Based in Hilliard, Ohio, they focus on technology commercialization.

9. Pride Fund
   A joint venture between LOUD Capital and Atlas Venture Partners, Pride Fund specializes in early-stage startups led by members of the LGBTQ+ community. The fund was launched in 2020 and continues to empower LGBTQ+ tech founders in Columbus and beyond. I know Wolf Starr, who is Managing Partner here, and he’s awesome.

10. 71/70 Angels
    Managed by Rev1 Ventures, 71/70 Angels is a new angel investment fund focused on early and seed-stage software and advanced technology companies in Columbus.

11. Narya Capital
    Narya is a thesis-driven, early-stage venture capital firm based in Ohio, investing in companies across various sectors. They focus on investing in companies that solve big problems faced by the world. This was founded by the current US Vice President, JD Vance.

12. Allos Ventures
    Allos Ventures invests in early-stage technology companies, focusing on B2B software companies in the Midwest.

13. Lightship Capital
    Lightship Capital is an impact venture capital fund focused on technology-driven startups founded or led by underrepresented professionals.

14. CincyTech
    CincyTech is one of the Midwest's most active seed funds, investing in disruptive human health and technology companies in Ohio.

15. H Venture Partners
    H Venture Partners is an early-stage fund that invests in science-based consumer brands. They are based in Cincinnati, but are active throughout Ohio.

16. North Coast Ventures
    North Coast Ventures includes six contributed capital funds comprised of leading investors and entrepreneurs, focusing on early-stage technology companies. They defined themselves as “early-stage capital for saas superstars.”

17. Refinery Ventures
    Refinery Ventures invests in early-scale companies, bridging the gap between post-seed and Series A funding, with a focus on high-growth potential startups. I know Tim Schigel here, the Managing Partner, and he’s great. He’s very intelligent and has an unbelievable background.

18. Ohio Angel Collective
    An angel investing syndicate dedicated to funding early-stage Ohio-based companies. They provide both capital and mentorship to foster entrepreneurship within the state.

19. Accelerating Angels
    Focused on empowering early-stage, high-growth women-owned businesses, Accelerating Angels offers funding, mentorship, and educational programs to support female entrepreneurs in scaling their ventures. I’ve known the founder Cindi Englefield since they first started the organization and she’s awesome. She’s very passionate about giving opportunities to women and to the city of Columbus.

20. Carmen Ventures
    An OSU alumni-led venture capital firm investing in deep technology ventures that can leverage The Ohio State University's extensive resources and network. They focus on companies founded or led by OSU alumni, or those that can benefit strategically from OSU's assets.

🫠 What I Need Right Now

• Join me in NYC in May to represent Chicago for Andrew Yeung’s OOO summit to see Andrew Yang (the presidential candidate), Sahil Bloom, and the founder of Girls That Invest. Use the code “GUNDERMAN” for $100 off. His events are incredible and feature some of the most successful founders & investors I’ve ever met. If you want to instantly develop a network, this will be the place to be.

Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram for more. Check out my site here.