Who's in the room?

I can never tell if y’all actually like this whole thing where I tell you about something I read and how it got me thinking about the actual thing I want to say to you all…but here we are again.

This is a weird one…maybe even a stretch. But I really want as many people as possible to read Derek Thompson’s essay about the “uni-context” theory:

I’m not going to delve to far because I’ll butcher it, but it basically explores the idea that the modern world and modern technology has put us all into one big room. So while I’m sitting alone typing this in my dining room - I’m actually thinking about all of you who are going to read it and all the people who are going to be in Ohio with us next week and all the 1241 people who liked Derek Thompson’s article and then all the hundreds of thousands that listen to Derek Thompson’s podcast and on and on and on. So while our brains were designed for us to be sitting in a room and very aware of everything that was a room with us and maybe only a few of the things that are happening outside that room - we’ve been thrust into a situation where everything is in the room with us.

There’s all sorts of implications that come with this (read the thing), but the one that I’m writing about today has to do with connectivity. I’ve long had this saying about LinkedIn that “if you’re connected to everyone, are you really connected to anyone,” and I think that’s relevant here. Suddenly we have a window into so many lives. We have the ability to talk to so many people. And yet it seems like many of us feel more disconnected than ever before.

And that’s why being in actual rooms with actually inspiring people feels so vital to me right now. And this is the thing I believe most deeply about when we talk about building a Midwest House. The event is the mechanism. The room is the product. And the people in that room are the program.

So when we sat down to build the Midwest House Summit Ohio — July 29–31 in Columbus (grab those tickets y’all) — we started with a question: who are the most interesting people we know who are doing serious work, and who would benefit from being in a room together?

The list below is the beginning to that answer.

Take a gander. It’s not so much a lineup assembled around a theme as a room assembled around the idea that your Midwestern friends and neighbors are doing some pretty cool stuff, and y’all should be talking. .

Tickets at luma.com/v1b3ggkg use code: JOBSOHIO26 for a whopping 50% off!!!

Who’s going to be there:

Wolf Starr (The Venture Atlas) — Our co-host and pal who works with family offices, angel networks, and venture capital teams to build modern, inclusive investment platforms.

Alex Husted (OH.io) — The person at the center of a mission to bring 100 software and AI companies to Ohio, who also previously led venture strategy for The Ohio State University.

Landon Campbell (Drive Capital) — Drive’s Chicago GM, who has seen more Midwest pitch decks than almost anyone and knows which ones are actually worth watching.

Justin Turk (ConStrat AI) — Third-generation contractor who raised $11M to bring AI to the construction industry, because someone had to.

Donna Harris (Builders + Backers) — Six-time founder with multiple exits who built an AI-powered platform to make entrepreneurship accessible to people who don’t already have investor friends.

Brian Brackeen (Lightship Anchor Fund) — Managing Partner and one of the more compelling voices in the room on where capital is going next in the Midwest.

Shannon McGhee (SEED SPOT) — CEO of one of the country’s leading entrepreneurship nonprofits, focused on getting more people into the game — not just the people already at the table.

Kris Rockwell (Kris Rockwell Foundation) — Venture capitalist, conservation board member, and current PhD candidate who has built enough distinct identities that he should honestly be several different people.

Debbie Irwin (Lighthouse Network) — Built Lighthouse Network into a 13-year-old founder development organization with 153 companies and $500M+ in capital raised — after her own company failed, which is exactly the kind of experience that makes someone worth listening to.

Kamel Greene (FibrX) — Co-founder of a deep tech company using fiber optics and AI to make critical infrastructure smarter. Also played Division I football at BYU. The combination is as interesting as it sounds.

Kim Patel (JPMorgan Chase) — Connects the capital infrastructure of one of the world’s largest banks to what’s building across the Midwest.

Alex Frommeyer (Stack Health) — Co-founded Beam Benefits ($250M raised, 500K members, Kleiner Perkins-backed), and is now building Stack Health to hand healthcare back to individuals.

Julia Dewey (Rev1 Ventures) — Chief Partnerships Officer at Rev1, our co-host. Helped CoverMyMeds navigate a billion-dollar acquisition before turning her full attention to the startup ecosystem.

Tim Grace (Techstars Columbus) — Managing Director of Techstars Columbus, who also co-founded LongJump (one of the Midwest’s most active pre-seed funds) and once built a no-code startup out of YC.

Mickayla Rosard (Groove Capital) — Partner at Groove Capital, creator of Angel Fest, and one of the people quietly making Minnesota’s early-stage investment scene a lot louder.

Chelsea Toler — Philanthropy strategist who raised $20M for 750 nonprofits in a single day and has directed $100M+ toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals. PhD candidate studying the next generation of women philanthropists.

Jason Mejeur (Coya) — Spent 15 years coaching college basketball before building Coya, a health and performance platform that brings the same accountability into the boardroom.

Suresh Rachuri — Built and exited a technology consulting firm. Now advises founders on the parts of scaling that nobody warns you about.

Brian Folmer (FirstLook Ventures) — Built FirstLook into a private investor community that has put capital into 396 consumer brands. Clevelander. Ohio State alum. Believes founders are the lifeblood of the global economy, full stop.

Andy Sparks (Management Craft) — Executive coach to 20 startup CEOs, co-founded Mattermark ($5M ARR, 150K subscribers), raised $20M+ in venture, and wrote the definitive guide to raising venture capital.

Jonathan Poma (Loop) — Board Chair of Loop and the founder of a new AI company still in stealth. One of those people whose next move you want to hear about before everyone else does.

Shanna Greathouse (Ohio Startup Network) — Leads Startup Programs at the Ohio Startup Network, including the HustleBus Founder Exchange, and is also a founder herself — which means she’s building the runway and landing planes on it at the same time.

Kristin Bailey (Innovatemap) — Senior Product Designer who starts every project in research and ends with something people can actually use. The kind of designer who makes everyone around her sharper.

Arnab Nandi (The Ohio State University) — OSU Computer Science professor, ACM Distinguished Member, co-founder of OHI/O and the STEAM Factory, and founder of a connected vehicles startup that was acquired by Bridgestone.

Derrick Maultsby (FBT Gibbons) — Startup lawyer, Pittsburgh Mag 40 Under 40, and one of the sharper minds in the room on what founders actually need — and don’t need — from legal counsel.

Abby Grimm (Cintrifuse) — Led U.S. expansion for UNIQLO before pivoting to helping Cincinnati’s startup ecosystem move with startup speed. Founder of RADICO. Interim ED of the OTR Chamber.

Philippe Vella (StartMidwest) — Founded StartMidwest, an online magazine covering innovation and entrepreneurship across the American heartland, and Zeroto7, a consultancy helping international founders and funds break into the U.S. by starting in the middle — a $4.7T market most people fly over. Previously built and sold Europe's first Fractional CMO firm for early-stage startups, working with 200+ businesses and VCs that collectively raised over $1B. Australian by origin, based in Ann Arbor.

Spencer Abrams (Innovatemap) — Principal PM who has worked at Salesforce, DemandJump, and Aha!, and specializes in getting teams to stop talking about priorities and actually commit to them.

James Feagin (Black Bottom Ventures) — Managing Partner at Black Bottom Ventures, helped launch the first Apple Developer Academy in North America, and created a $10M Detroit founder fund at the Gilbert Family Foundation. Advised NSF, MIT Media Lab, Knight Foundation, and TED.

Max Joseph (Robot Sales Club) — Helping robotics companies cross the commercialization gap — and building Ohio into a robotics hub in the process. Robot Sales Club is exactly what it sounds like, and it’s working.

Josh Kline (Ground Game Ventures) — Partner at Ground Game Ventures, spent two decades helping Sutter Hill’s portfolio — Data Domain, Pure Storage, Snowflake — reach $100B+ in combined enterprise value. Now backs the next generation.

Chad Reynolds (Vurvey Labs) — Founder of Vurvey Labs, building people-powered AI systems. DAAP grad. Has been thinking about co-creation and consumer insight since before either phrase was cool.

Abe Lichy (Mezcalum / The Advisory Legal) — Co-founder of Mezcalum, an Oaxacan mezcal brand produced by a fourth-generation maestro mezcalero, and founder of The Advisory, a legal platform for creators and brands. He’s bringing the bottles to Columbus.

Jeremy Hughes (Elevate Pictures) — Founding partner of a transmedia studio whose YouTube distribution platform drives 15 billion monthly views across 5,000+ channels in 190 global markets. The largest media company you’ve never heard of.

Helen Todd (CincyAI for Humans / Tide Rise) — Co-founded Ohio’s largest AI community, sits on the Cincinnati Mayor’s AI task force, has been on the SXSW Advisory Board for years, and speaks globally on what human-centered AI actually looks like.

Patrick Henshaw (Render Capital) — Founder and Managing Director of Render Capital. Self-described “Frontier Capitalist” with a Tesla in the driveway and a crossbow by the door. You want him in the room.

Tino Chow (Giant Shoulders) — CEO of a commercialization design agency for healthtech and climatetech founders. TED Fellow. RISD grad. Former military officer. The person you want when breakthrough innovation isn’t yet a business.

Densil Porteous (Human Rights Campaign) — VP of Volunteer Leadership at the Human Rights Campaign, founding CEO of Pride Fund 1 (one of the first VC funds for LGBTQ+-led companies), former ED/CEO of Stonewall Columbus. One of the most compelling people we’ve ever invited to a stage.

Adam Berk (Startup Program Design) — Co-author of Startup Program Design (McGraw-Hill), faculty at Lean Startup Co., and mentor across multiple Techstars cohorts. The person who has thought more carefully about what makes startup programs actually work than almost anyone else.

Michelle Murcia (Book+Street) — Fractional CFO to Ohio’s most promising startups, with 25+ years of finance experience and a reputation as the person founders call when the numbers stop making sense.

J.D. Davids (SmartMoney Group) — Built and exited six VC-backed companies in California with $100M+ raised and $1.5B in completed transactions, then moved to Ohio and built the Ohio Venture Pipeline — now tracking $5.9B in capital across 920+ deals. Also a Marine veteran.

Ryan Fogelman (Fire Rover / COhatch / The Ignite Group) — Co-founder of COhatch, one of the fastest-growing coworking companies in the country, VP of Fire Protection at Fire Rover, and a serial entrepreneur who keeps building things that are genuinely different from each other.

Jim Ford (American Frontier Institute / RVMP) — Director at the American Frontier Institute, focused on emerging technology and innovation policy, and Director of AI at RVMP — one of the people who thinks seriously about what American competitiveness in the AI era actually requires.

Rick Harlow (Physics of Creativity) — Partner at Physics of Creativity, a Grand Rapids design studio and innovation office, with 25 years building value across consulting, product innovation, and customer experience. One of three people who kicked off our Substack interview series on design thinking in the startup world.

Andy Van Solkema — Founded and sold an award-winning design firm, served as VP of Digital Strategy at OST, and now serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at both Michigan State’s Spartan Innovations and GVSU’s Commercialization Office, advisor to High Alpha Innovation and Vation Ventures, and adjunct faculty at GVSU’s Seidman Graduate School of Business. The person in the room who has been thinking about design as a system — not a style — longer than most people have been thinking about it at all.

Hien Lam (Huck Finch) — Chief Prophesy Fulfiller at Huck Finch, a strategic branding studio that turns a company's purpose into visual identity and messaging that actually gets noticed. He specializes in purpose-driven startups — and if you're at Summit Ohio on July 30, he's also the person behind the Ugly Portrait activation. Yes, he's going to draw you.

That’s 46 people. That’s one hell of a room.

You want to be in it.

July 29–31. Columbus. Hit the damn button below (that code again is JOBSOHIO26 for 50% off).

TICKETS