Corey Kossack

"Don't listen to the ecosystem. Listen to the founders." I've worked to get more capital flowing to founders for the last 15 years -- seven years at Kiva, and eight years at Wefunder. I've seen thousands of people and organizations ("ESOs" -- I have always hated the acronym) try to empower entrepreneurs and build thriving local startup ecosystems. Most "practitioners" get it horribly wrong. Zap ⚡️ gets it right. If you're working to build your local startup ecosystem, I would highly recommend watching this discussion, which I had with her last year. A big part of her success -- listening to what *founders* want, and trying to serve them. A customer-centric approach to her mission. It's not rocket science, but it's sadly far too rare in this field. https://lnkd.in/ervE8UHS

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Speaking at TRANSFORM VC's Impact a Billion Summit to answer your most asked questions. Topic: How we're turning cold outreach into warm connections at Valley. The mission: Kill spam forever. We asked a simple question: What if every message in your inbox actually mattered to you? Most outreach is noise. Spray-and-pray tactics that waste everyone's time. Valley's building the alternative - outreach so relevant and thoughtful that prospects welcome it. What I'll cover: → How signal-based targeting beats volume approaches → Why AI personalization finally works (when done right) → The death of "blast 10K emails and pray" The vision: Connection comes first. Spam becomes history. If you're building in the outreach/sales space or just tired of terrible cold emails, come find me there. What are some questions you've always wanted to ask me about Valley? Sign up: impactabillion.com Looking forward to the conversations.

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The first thing I remember about Daniel Tian was his quiet intensity. He had dropped out of UPenn to join Ramp as an early engineer. He eventually left to start his own company with the same electric energy and talent. But when we met back in late 2023, he was concerned about the opportunity size of the company he was building in healthcare—then called Ava. “There are a bunch of companies in this space that hit a ceiling of $50M in revenue after 10 years,” he said in one of our early calls. “Is that what will happen to us too if we stick with this idea?” In our coaching work we worked through those doubts, navigated bumps in the road with early customers, talked through recruiting efforts for new eng, and explored ways to expand the market to other industries like construction and retail. In the end, Daniel and his cofounder realized the opportunity in home care alone was bigger than they'd initially thought. AI could dramatically reduce back office costs—making home care more affordable for older patients while helping helping the individual caregivers and small operators who do this vital work earn what they deserve. And now their company, Zingage has announced a major round of funding. As a coach, I don't write code, checks, or strategy docs. I help founders see their path more clearly and use their unique strengths to navigate whatever challenges arise—both external and internal. This achievement belongs entirely to Daniel and his team—their vision, their grit, their execution. I'm just so proud to see a former client succeed and make a meaningful impact in the home care industry. Helping founders navigate the uncertainty of a new idea and ultimately create a solution that helps 50,000 caregivers support their patients—that's why I do this work.

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Driving to Venture Atlanta Conference, here’s how I make conferences count Most founders waste conferences. Not because they don’t meet people, but because they meet everyone. Here’s how to focus where it matters 1. Skip the business cards. They get lost. You don’t. Lead investors straight to your Capwave profile so they can see real-time engagement, traction, and know if you’re a fit. It also helps you track who’s showing real interest and who’s just being polite. Quick "how-to" here: https://lnkd.in/eANKnixj 2. Prioritize depth over volume. You don’t need 100 new contacts. You need 5 right investors who actually write checks for your stage and sector. Do the homework before you land, if they don’t fit your raise, skip the pitch. 3. Follow up fast. Within 24 hours, send: Your deck or Capwave link and a clear next step (“Would love to explore fit / investor alignment”) 4. Protect your energy. Conference mode burns people out. Hydrate. Sleep. Take 15-minute resets. 5. Keep momentum after. The real work starts after the event. Track your investor convos, send updates, and keep “too early” investors in the loop, they often convert later. At Capwave AI, we built tools for exactly this: finding the right investors, tracking engagement, and automating your follow-ups, so you can spend less time chasing and more time closing. Heading to Venture Atlanta? Let's meet :) Staying in SF? I'll see you at TC Disrupt.

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I’m thrilled to officially announce our $3M seed investment in Propel People, a company we built inside the 1848 Ventures studio to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing the #construction industry today: the skilled #labor shortage. For small and medium-sized contractors, hiring isn't just a challenge. It's the number one threat to their growth, profitability, and safety. With 94% of contractors struggling to find qualified workers, it’s clear that traditional hiring methods aren't built for the trades. That’s why we built Propel People. It’s a mobile-first, AI-powered hiring platform designed for how construction actually works: in the field. By leveraging smart candidate ranking, instant #SMS-based screening, and a fully #bilingual interface, Propel helps contractors build great crews faster and more efficiently. I’m also thrilled to formally announce that industry veteran Dexter Bachelder is at the helm as CEO. Having worked with Dexter and the team over the last few months, we've already seen the impact of his leadership. His 25 years of experience scaling construction tech companies will be instrumental as Propel People enters this initial stage of growth. This investment reinforces our core thesis at 1848 Ventures: building AI-native companies that solve fundamental pain points for the #SMBs that form the backbone of our economy. A huge congratulations to Dexter and the entire Propel People team on this milestone. We are incredibly proud to partner with you to support the people who build our world. Read the full announcement below. #constructiontech #venturecapital #seedfunding #ai #skilledtrades #smb

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Weather delays. Compliance gaps. Lost days and lost dollars. Every contractor knows the pain. Pavewise, based in North Dakota and built by operators who’ve lived it, has just raised a $2.5M seed round led by C2 Ventures Fund II, alongside Connetic Ventures, Service Provider Capital, M25, gener8tor 1889, and Broadwater Capital. Their platform brings real-time compliance, weather, and production tracking to road construction, helping crews make better calls, cut rework, and keep projects on time. This is exactly what we mean when we talk about our thesis, Dirty, Dull, and Dangerous innovation: solving real operational problems in essential industries with durable tech. https://lnkd.in/eecPMHdN

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I’ve been re-reading The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky. On first glance, it’s a founder’s playbook, an airport read: startup-y, punchy, filled with hard-won-but-maybe-not-that-applicable wisdom. But returning to it now, with a few more grey hairs and hard lessons of my own, I see something deeper that I think nonprofits and purpose-driven organisations often sleep on. In the nonprofit and social impact world, the middle bit after initial success (winning a grant / award / core funding) is where most ventures quietly stall. Not because they’re broken or because customers are grumpy, but because they’re overwhelmed by conflicting inputs from boards, funders, and community, the pressure to scale without stable systems, and the risk of momentum dragging them off-mission So, I've reframed Belsky’s book as a nonprofit leadership loop with three principles: Stabilise the core → Adapt the edges → Use your momentum wisely. Not revolutionary by any means. But reframed like this, it’s an incredibly useful leadership model for anyone working to change things. I've written more about it in this week’s newsletter. It’s for anyone deep in the build, trying to lead through complexity rather than just survive it. If you want the full breakdown (with tools, case examples, and what to do with your board / community / team), you can read it on Thursday. Link below!

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Childcare is a movable barrier and the care economy is workforce infrastructure. Siran Cao dropped so much truth on First Builders this week and shared why even capitalists in a vacuum should care.

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