William Norvell

Had a great time at DC Startup & Tech Week (Formerly DC Startup Week) moderating a panel with Scott Christensen (Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund (CBSCF) , Faith Davis (Exelon) and Bill McNulty (NextEra Energy Investments), convened by the great C'pher Gresham. Here's a quick recap: 1) The panelists were phenomenal - a mixture of corporate, state and foundation-backed VC's all focusing on climate. They're actively funding companies across a range of sectors - e.g. nature-based solutions, energy + AI, water, etc. Point being, we were lucky to have experts with such broad purviews. 2) The current climate could be pushing at least some climate VC's to focus on software and move away from hardware, at least temporarily. This type of capital may indeed just be better suited for software companies at this juncture. It also reflects the fact that certain segments of the climate-tech market are just more mature than others - e.g. software performs best once the hardware and the business case around it are solid, then it becomes and optimization and efficiency game. 3) Founders need to target "must-solve" climate problems from the investor lens. In other words, yes there's a sea of climate challenges where startups can be additive. However, in this environment, few of these areas are attracting meaningful capital. There's nothing wrong with tackling problem areas that are under-invested, we need this in spades. However, for those trying to get capital in the door, realize the constraints that come with targeting problems that investors just aren't prioritizing. 4) Look to funders overseas. The EU, where so much climate finance, policy and general expertise has come from, could be playing a much more important role. I'd also argue that Gulf countries like KSA and UAE are going to be critical here too, not to mention China, of course. 5) We need mentoring and coaching to be at an all-time high. With so much uncertainty, networks/communities where both founders and investors can learn from/lean on each other have never been more important. The panel/audience was a nice microcosm of the types of support networks we need to be actively building. Big thanks again to C'pher, Faith, Scott and Bill, as well as the whole DC Startup + Tech Week team. Til next year!

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Boards are supposed to help founders. Over the past 19 years, I've watched many trap them instead. As companies scale, many boards turn from insight to oversight and stop doing what founders actually need: Help making big, hard decisions. Early boards tend to be small, the board members are close to the business and highly invested in it. They argue from first principles. They help founders think. Later-stage boards often look more impressive on paper - they have more independent directors, committees and process. Somewhere along the way, collective problem solving gets replaced with oversight. The board shifts from helping the CEO make better decisions to monitoring decisions that have already been made. Strategy discussions get safer, real debate gets rarer and meetings become more about risk management than judgment. This usually coincides with the introduction of more professional board members. For better or worse, they often optimize for governance, optics, and liability management. That’s their job. But it’s not always what the company needs in moments of real uncertainty. Then, CEOs stop using them as thought partners. That’s a problem. So what should founders do? A few principles that help: • Keep the board as small as you can for as long as you can • Add directors for new insight they bring, not what boxes they check • Treat board seats like senior hires, not trophies • Design meetings for debate rather than reporting • Be explicit about when you want input vs approval Good boards should improve decision-making. If your board isn’t making you think harder, it’s probably not doing its job.

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Today we officially kick off our $2M pre seed round for Salubrum (Backed by Forum Ventures), supported by Forum Ventures, Coeus Collective Ventures, and Draper House Americas. Healthcare companies spend over $30B a year trying to acquire patients. The problem is not media. The problem is timing. Every time a patient approaches a healthcare decision a moment opens. Which doctor to see. Which procedure to pursue. Which treatment to start. For the companies involved in that decision, knowing that moment exists is incredibly valuable. Salubrum (Backed by Forum Ventures) is building the intelligence layer that maps those decision moments across the U.S. patient population. Our system aggregates large healthcare datasets covering 300M+ patient identities and uses them to predict when individuals are approaching important healthcare decisions. That signal can then be used by providers, pharma companies, payers, and other healthcare organizations trying to reach patients at the right time. Our first wedge is patient acquisition for healthcare providers and brands, but the underlying intelligence layer has much broader applications wherever patient behavior influences economic decisions. Over the past months we have quietly built the foundation. • Early pilots validating our patient intent scoring system • Distribution partnerships forming across healthcare platforms • Backed by Forum Ventures, Coeus Collective Ventures, Draper House Americas, NEXT Canada and Metta World Peace Starting tomorrow we will be meeting investors as part of the Forum Ventures showcase. If you are an investor interested in building with us get in touch. Calendly: https://lnkd.in/e5j-VvGC Investor Memo: https://lnkd.in/e5HyemAp

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For the past few years, I’ve been deeply focused on one question: What does it actually take to help #Black and underfunded founders build businesses that scale? A recent Pew Research Center study reinforced something many of us working in this space already know: while access to capital is the most visible barrier, it’s rarely the only one. Many #underfunded businesses struggle to grow not because the founders lack talent or vision, but because the structures around their businesses weren’t designed for efficiency or scale in the first place. Why? Because access to: • the right networks • technical assistance • stage-specific guidance has historically been uneven. So instead of focusing on just one intervention (like #funding), I started designing a support structure that tackles the how of business growth. Here’s the framework we’ve been building: 1. Assess: Founders evaluate where their business actually is today. 2. Equip: They get access to the tools, education, and resources that match their stage. 3. Support: They receive targeted opportunities to grow based on that stage. Today I want to highlight #3: Support. One way we’re doing this is through the Rialto Business Directory. Yes, #founders can list their products or services, but the real value is deeper than that. The directory can also be used to: • find early customers • recruit beta users • run market research • test new ideas with a supportive ecosystem In other words, it’s not just a directory, it’s a growth tool. And the best part? It’s free for founders. If you’re building something and want a space to test, learn, and grow, I’d love for you to join us. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eMteVkGX #MelsMondayMusings

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Building the VC Firm Founders Choose First with Primary Venture Partners. Ep#18 of Startups Decoded just dropped featuring Jason Shuman I’m joined by Jason, General Partner at Primary Venture Partners, to explore how the top venture firms are redefining what founder support really means. We dig into:  - What makes Primary’s investment strategy stand out in a crowded landscape - How Primary built an Impact Team twice the size of their investment team - The incubation model that turns ideas into companies - Fundraising strategies that work in today’s market - Why community and hands-on support are the new VC differentiators This isn’t just another episode, it’s a blueprint for what modern venture capital looks like when it’s built around founders first. Tune in wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

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I’m so proud that Hyphen Capital has been a backer of Tim Hwang and Jonathan Chen since the beginning of Nitra. They had big ambitions to modernize the archaic back office of healthcare practices from fax machines to AI. It’s been amazing to see their growth from processing zero transactions to over a billion dollars and they’re just getting started.

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