Building Better Companies: The CEV Method

Turning investors into entrepreneurs, transforming deeptech into real companies, and unlocking the full potential of the Interior Innovation Corridor.

The Interior Innovation Corridor (IIC) is rich with research universities, national laboratories, engineering talent, and high-value intellectual property. But even with this concentration of scientific capability, the region has historically faced a major bottleneck: the lack of a structured, repeatable process to turn early-stage innovation into high-growth companies.

At Community Equity Ventures (CEV), we built our model specifically to solve this problem.

Our approach is different from traditional venture capital. We don’t sit back and wait for companies that already fit a portfolio thesis — we actively identify promising technology, cultivate it, shape it, and help build the companies that will move the region forward. The goal isn’t simply to fund startups; it’s to create the conditions where hardtech and deeptech can actually scale.

And that means doing things differently.

A System Designed for Deeptech and Hardtech

Deeptech companies are fundamentally different from SaaS or consumer startups. They require:

• rigorous scientific validation

• access to national labs and university infrastructure

• capital-intensive prototyping

• regulatory or industry certification

• partnerships with industrial or government customers

• patient, long-duration capital

Traditional venture models weren’t designed for this environment. We designed ours to match it.

Our process focuses on sourcing, shaping, accelerating, and scaling hardtech companies in ways that create meaningful advantage for founders, investors, and the region.

1. Identifying Promising Companies Early

Because the IIC is dense with R1/R2 universities, research hospitals, industrial clusters, and national labs, exceptional technologies emerge long before they are investor-ready.

CEV scouts the region proactively:

• university labs

• federal lab partnerships

• regional accelerators

• research consortia

• engineering and medical device programs

• advanced manufacturing hubs

This early access allows us to identify high-potential companies before they enter competitive capital markets. We see opportunities others miss.

2. Turning Investors Into Entrepreneurs

One of the biggest gaps in the IIC is the shortage of experienced startup operators — especially those who understand deeptech. We bridge this gap by:

• pairing researchers with seasoned mentors

• embedding operators into early founding teams

• building advisory networks across industry, academia, and government

• training new angels and LPs to think like entrepreneurs

• creating repeat founders in markets where they are needed

This model doesn’t just support companies — it builds a generation of entrepreneurial leaders across the region.

3. Cultivating Companies Making Important Impacts

Deeptech companies require more hands-on partnership than typical software startups. Our team works closely with founders to:

• navigate regulatory pathways

• refine business models

• validate technology through national labs or university partners

• build industrial relationships

• prepare for non-dilutive funding

• develop manufacturing or supply-chain strategies

• secure early pilots and strategic customers

The result is a portfolio of companies solving real problems — in energy, healthcare, materials, automation, climate, and national security.

4. Creating Wealth Through Real Innovation

When companies solve real-world challenges, they create real economic value:

• new manufacturing facilities

• high-wage jobs

• exportable technologies

• stronger supply chains

• industrial and federal contracts

• durable, defensible IP

This is how generational wealth is created — not through speculative hype cycles, but through engineering, research, and execution.

We invest in companies that will still matter 10, 20, or 40 years from now.

The Takeaway

The Interior Innovation Corridor has the assets: universities, national labs, supercomputing, talent, industry, and IP. What it needed was a process — a structured, repeatable method for transforming those assets into companies that scale.

That’s what CEV brings to the region.

We identify the most promising innovations.
We turn investors into entrepreneurs.
We cultivate companies solving vital national problems.
We create lasting wealth through real innovation.

This isn’t just venture capital — it’s venture building, designed for the future of American competitiveness.