Why State College.
Home of Penn State’s University Park campus and Innovation Park, which means an enormous flow of student founders, research spinouts and alumni who want to stay in Happy Valley.
Invent Penn State and the Happy Valley LaunchBox give student founders a place to start. I came up through the Penn State system, so this is a market I understand from the inside.
I am based in York, Pennsylvania, and I have spent my career building companies in this part of the state: Bindr, ColdStart, and a long list of client and portfolio work before them. State College is close enough that I can be in the room, and I would rather be in the room.
What I invest in here.
Student and recent-graduate founders with a working product and real users on campus. A campus is the best possible test market for consumer software; I want to see the campus numbers.
Local markets first
The companies that break out of Central Pennsylvania usually win one county before they win a country. I look for founders who can prove repeat behavior in State College and its neighbors, then use that proof to raise the next round. A dense local market is an unfair advantage if you use it on purpose.
LGBTQIA+ founders
I co-founded Bindr, a dating platform built for the LGBTQIA+ community that won the first-ever 2SLGBTQIA+ Entrepreneur Prize at Startupfest. I know what it is like to raise for a queer company in a market that is not always ready for one, and I back LGBTQIA+ founders in State College and across the United States and Canada.
Dating and consumer technology
Consumer networks are the hardest category to start and the most rewarding to grow. If you are building a dating, social or community product in State College, I want to see the mechanism behind your first users, not a projection of your millionth.
How I work.
I write angel checks and I stay involved on the growth side. ColdStart exists because getting a good product found is the problem every founder eventually hits, and it is the problem I have spent the most time solving. Companies I work with get an operator who has pitched at TechCrunch, won Startupfest, and put a product in front of Forbes, not just a wire transfer.
What I need from you is simple: a working product, real users, the story of how those users arrived, and an honest account of what is broken. The case studies I keep coming back to explain what I mean by engineered traction.
Pitch me on LinkedInQuestions founders in State College ask.
Do you invest in startups in State College?
Yes. I am based in York, Pennsylvania and I actively look at companies in State College and across Centre County. I write angel checks and I get involved on the growth side, which is usually where an early company needs the most help.
What kinds of State College companies are you looking for?
Three things: businesses that can win a local market before they try to win a national one, LGBTQIA+ founders, and dating or consumer technology where the first users have to be engineered rather than waited for. A working product with real users beats a deck every time.
How do I pitch you?
Send me a note on LinkedIn with what you are building, who already uses it, how those first users got there, and where you are stuck. If it is interesting I will reply and we will talk. I do not need a formal deck to start the conversation.
Do you only invest in Pennsylvania?
No. Central Pennsylvania is home and I know these markets best, but I also back LGBTQIA+ founders across the United States and Canada, and dating and consumer companies wherever they are built.