I was 14 when I started my first business.
It was small, scrappy, and completely unscalable.
But it wasn’t about scale. It was about possibility.

At the time, I didn’t know what the word “entrepreneur” really meant.
What I did know was that my mom saw something in me—and she moved mountains to make sure I had the chance to explore it.

Every morning, she drove over 30 minutes from our neighborhood into the suburbs of Indianapolis so I could attend a better school.
She encouraged me to sell my talents. Take risks. Be bold.
This was the early 2000s—before entrepreneurship was glamorized. Back when dreaming big without a blueprint was quietly discouraged.

But she believed anyway.
And that belief planted the seed that would grow into a life of building companies, taking risks, and now—redefining how entrepreneurship itself is supported.

A Full Circle Moment in a City That Shaped Me

This year, we were selected by the Kansas Department of Commerce to travel to Indianapolis for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) as delegates. Now a founder. A builder. A leader helping design the systems I never had access to.

A full circle moment that came over 20 years later.

To sit in rooms with global ecosystem builders, policy leaders, and capital allocators… in the same city where I first learned to dream out loud… was more than surreal—it was sobering.

Because the gap I’ve spent years trying to close is still very much alive:

Ecosystem builders bet on belief. Capital deployers bet on proof.
And if we keep funding what’s already obvious, we’ll never shift who gets to succeed.What We’re Still Getting Wrong

During GEC, I heard from innovators across the world. Different countries, same problems. Same frustrations. Same blind spots.

Here’s what stood out:

Capital is abundant—but access is still gated.

There’s no shortage of funding. But access is still filtered through familiarity, not potential. Founders without the “right” background, warm intros, or polished metrics remain overlooked.

Local ecosystems are done with performative support.

Communities don’t want inspiration tours. They want infrastructure. Support that lasts beyond the panel. Tools that build capacity—not just buzz.

Data must evolve.

We can’t keep underwriting futures based on rigid models and outdated credit scores. We need contextual, real-time insights that understand the whole founder and their environment.

Collaboration is the new edge.

The most powerful ecosystems are building together—sharing frameworks, infrastructure, and lessons in service of collective progress.

So What Do We Do With This?

If you’re reading this, you’re likely one of three people:
→ An entrepreneur navigating a system that wasn’t built for you.
→ A builder trying to reshape that system.
→ Or a funder sitting at the tipping point between proof and possibility.

To all three: we need to move differently.
Because founders can’t afford to wait until it’s “safe” for someone to bet on them.
And the future can’t be built only by the ones who made it through by luck or privilege.

We need a new blueprint. One that doesn’t just celebrate unicorns but funds the unseen brilliance right in front of us.

What This Looks Like In Practice

At Cyphr, this is our mission in action.

We’ve built tools that don’t just analyze readiness—they create it.
We use financial AI to help overlooked founders generate financials, define strategy, and package their vision in a way capital understands—without watering it down.
Because readiness shouldn’t be a barrier. It should be a bridge.

And for those building ecosystems, deploying capital, or setting policy:
Ask yourself not just who’s “ready,” but who has potential—and what role you’re playing in helping them realize it.

Final Thought

If my mom hadn’t believed in my potential before there was any proof—I wouldn’t be here.
She didn’t wait for the data. She saw me.

And now, it’s our turn to see others.
To build systems that don’t just reward polish, but nurture possibility.
To take risks not just on products—but on people.
Because sometimes, the biggest returns come from the ones we believed in before the world caught up.

Need technology to power that kind of transformation? Schedule A Demo