From Founder to Funder: Why I Started Valency Fund for Wisconsin’s Entrepreneurs

After being actively involved in the Wisconsin startup community for over 25 years, I've seen firsthand the unique challenges—and opportunities—that come with entrepreneurship here. My journey from biotech founder to funder has been a path shaped by four key themes that guide our mission at Valency Fund today: learning, connecting, mentoring, and building.

Learning By Doing

My entrepreneurial education began in Wisconsin's biotech sector at a time when we were finding our footing. After getting my PhD in Organic Chemistry, I was a co-founder of a pharmaceutical biotech company. We raised millions of dollars in equity to take a cancer drug from benchtop through a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients, always with a plan to sell the company to a large pharma company. It was a classic venture capital opportunity - it works or it doesn’t. If it had, it would have been a big exit. I’ll dive into that tale in future posts. 

During the years that followed, I’ve been involved in a variety of early stage companies that develop and sell products. Diving into the financials and reviewing so many business models sparked a question for me: How many companies in Wisconsin would be profitable and scale if our funding model wasn't designed to reward exponential growth?

Connecting the Dots

As I continued to work with and mentor biotech and health tech companies and become more involved with organizations like BioForward and StartingBlock Madison, I kept encountering the same story from different founders: "We have strong growth potential and a clear path to profitability—but we don't fit the traditional funding mold of a 10x exit."

A pattern emerged. Entrepreneurs with viable businesses were unable to secure the capital they needed to grow—not because of poor performance, but because they weren’t chasing “hockey stick” growth. Many of the founders confirmed what I was thinking - that what is best for the customer and sustainable company growth was not always aligned with aggressive financial objectives.

Wisconsin has a rich tradition of building sustainable, profitable companies that create tremendous value over time. But the disconnect was clear: our funding ecosystem isn’t designed to support them.

Mentoring the Next Generation

One of my greatest joys has been mentoring founders through programs like MERLIN and Creative Destruction Lab. I’ve worked with entrepreneurs across industries who share a commitment to building responsible, lasting businesses right here in Wisconsin.

These mentoring relationships offered more than inspiration—they offered data. Time and again, it became clear: without more flexible  capital options, too many promising companies were being held back. Some were stagnating. Others were disappearing entirely.

Building a Better Solution

As a scientist, I’m trained to analyze problems and build creative solutions. Standing by and watching this problem persist was challenging. Over and over again, founders with real businesses—strong teams, loyal customers, clear paths to profitability—were stuck because the funding didn’t fit. I felt there had to be a better way and as an entrepreneur and a builder, I had to figure it out.

Through extensive research and conversations with founders, investors, and economic development leaders across the state, I identified a clear opportunity in Wisconsin’s capital ecosystem: flexible funding options for growth-stage companies with strong fundamentals, sustainable growth, and a clear path to value creation—even if, especially if, they don’t fit the “unicorn” mold.

The concept for Valency Fund emerged from this research—a funding vehicle specifically designed to support Wisconsin’s promising businesses that traditional capital sources weren’t serving.

Establishing Founder Friendly Funding in Wisconsin

In chemistry, "valency" refers to the combining power of an element—its capacity to form bonds with other elements. That's what we do at Valency Fund: strengthen the bonds between Wisconsin's entrepreneurs and the capital they need to grow, while connecting the dots across our ecosystem.

By continuously learning, connecting, mentoring, and building, Valency Fund provides not just capital, but strategic partnerships to help Wisconsin businesses scale sustainably.

Our vision is simple but powerful: a Wisconsin where entrepreneurial success isn’t defined by a single growth model or funding pathway, but by the lasting value created for customers, employees, communities, and stakeholders.

If you’re a Wisconsin founder building a strong, sustainable business—or an ecosystem partner passionate about new funding approaches—I’d love to connect. Together, we can strengthen  a funding landscape that fully taps into Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Follow Valency Fund on LinkedIn for insights on non-dilutive funding models and updates on our work: @ValencyFund