Systems Thinking

A quick post today - with a bunch of updates at the end - but probably the start of an on-going meandering.

At the Ohio Summit, I had the privilege to talk with Donna Harris of Builders & Backers on stage who I’ve mentioned on here before. Days before we talked she published a piece on her feed that I I’ll be chewing on for a long, long time:

It is one hell of a read that is very much worth your time, but the last few paragraphs are basically a more articulate version of something I’ve been trying to say here for months:

“Even before AI, venture capital financed only a tiny fraction of new businesses. Last year, Americans filed roughly 5.6 million new business applications. But just 10,500 companies received venture capital.

Today, that disconnect is becoming even more pronounced. Headline venture statistics increasingly reflect the capital needs of a relatively small number of frontier AI companies rather than the broader market for company creation.

Physics doesn’t tell us whether a system is good or bad. It tells us how it behaves.

That’s why I think this moment matters so much. The underlying forces shaping venture capital are changing. Capital is concentrating. Infrastructure is replacing experimentation. Scale is reinforcing scale. Private markets are assuming roles once played by public markets.

Those aren’t temporary market conditions. They’re the new physics of venture capital.

And once the physics changes, everyone (founders, investors, policymakers, universities, economic developers, and the institutions that support entrepreneurship) has to learn to navigate a different system.”

— Donna Harris, Builders and Backers

Man oh man, this is so spot on. And the real kicker for those of us in the middle of the country is that we were already playing catch up to the old system.

Which means the question isn’t just how do we close the gap with a system that was never really built for us. It’s whether we can help shape whatever comes next — before it hardens into something we’re again playing catch-up to.

I don’t have a clean answer yet. I’m actually not sure an answer yet exists. But I have a feeling we’re going to be talking and working on this for a while.

More below — and more on this soon.

Coming up in the Midwest
A few things worth your attention:

• Health/Wellness founders!!! Applications are now open for the Startup Portfolio at this year’s Chicago Venture Summit — The theme is “The Future of Health” and I doubt you will find a room more chockfull of health related investors. The Midwest Startup Exchange is accepting applications from health tech companies for the Chicago Venture Summit, and travel funding will be available. Founders will also receive

  • One (1) complimentary registration to Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Health

  • Access to select founder programming throughout the summit

  • Featured placement on the official Future of Health website and select digital platforms

  • Inclusion in the official Startup Portfolio, which is shared with participating investors, sponsors, and strategic partners.

This is a really great opportunity, so please help us spread the word. Apply here

• The Midwest College Rankings for Startups & Entrepreneurship — StartMidwest put together their 2026 list of which Midwest schools are actually producing founders and building ecosystems worth paying attention to. Please direct all complaints, thoughts, and ire to Philippe Vella. start-midwest.com

• Midwest House Summit — Grand Rapids, December 2–3 — We sold out of Early Bird tickets in two weeks!!! Thanks for that y’all. Regular priced tickets are still available and as a Substack readers you can get 20% off with code SUBSTACK2026. Grab your ticket

• We’ve started putting a bunch more of our panels from the last few months up on our Youtube page. Give it a look here: https://www.youtube.com/@midwest_house