Founder-friendly capital
Learn more about our screening criteria, our startup expertise and support, and our efficient, pragmatic process.
Experienced
We understand where you’re coming from, and we can envision where you’re headed. We’ll help you capitalize not just on our investment, but on our broad connections and deep expertise.
strategic
We provide monthly mentoring from startup veterans who can help you find resources, solve problems, sort out operations and strategy, and ride the waves of running a startup. If we don’t have the answer you need, we know someone who does.
Fast
As an entrepreneur, you have an action bias and like to move fast. We do, too. After you pitch, the members immediately vote. You’ll get a same-day decision, and we’ll close two weeks later.
HOW IT WORKS
You submit your pitch deck, we learn more about you, and if you look like a good fit, we perform due diligence. If all goes well, we schedule a slot for you to pitch to our members. Members meet monthly, and votes are simple up or down. When you secure a majority of yeas, the entire group invests.
While we have our own standard documents for investment, we’re happy to use yours. We don’t take board seats, but we do require that your CEO meet with one of our mentors monthly for the first year and periodically thereafter. Flywheel Fund is a good fit for startups who want active investors who can help shape operations and strategy. We’re here to invest not just our money in your success, but our time and energy, too.
One more thing. Diversity matters to us—a lot. We actively seek out diverse founders and encourage all our portfolio companies to build diverse leadership teams.
Questions? Make an appointment with Brian Hatton, our Venture Partner, to discuss your startup. In-person office hours are Thursdays, 9:30-11:30 am at The Mill.
WHO WE FUND
Your startup must meet three initial criteria: it must be based in Indiana, early-stage, and tech-driven.
Beyond that, we look at three primary factors when we evaluate startups: team, market, and product. Your team is particularly important, since we’re investing in early. We know things will change, and we want to see that your leadership team brings the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to thrive and grow with the changes.
The size and strength of your target market, and thus the opportunity for a return on our investment, is also critical. We like capital-efficient tech companies that can reach product-market fit quickly.
Questions? Make an appointment with Brian Hatton, our Venture Partner, to discuss your startup. In-person office hours are Thursdays, 9:30-11:30 am at The Mill.
Pre-seed & seed
We fund early-stage companies. You’ve validated your company: the product is built, and you have at least a few customers. You’re probably raising somewhere between $100K and $1.5M.
Tech-Driven
We look for companies that can scale quickly, and that typically means tech. We invest across many industry sectors, but all of our portfolio companies are driven by technology and innovation.
indiana-based
This part’s pretty simple: we only invest in Indiana-based companies. You don’t have to be incorporated in Indiana, but you do need to have nexus here. Often that means the CEO or a majority of the leadership team lives here.
PITCH FLYWHEEL
Getting started is easy. We just need your pitch deck and a little information about you and your startup.
“From our initial interaction with Flywheel, we knew we were talking to seasoned investors who immediately understood our value proposition. The fund acted decisively in their investment process while respecting our time as busy founders. Our company’s successful fundraising round was kicked off by these fellow visionaries, and America’s largest VC firm for investors followed suit!”
Taylor Chartier
Founder & CEO / Modicus Prime
“It’s been a pleasure to work with Flywheel Fund and Pat East. We have gotten connections to other investors. The advice and support we have received has also been invaluable—helping us build the most intuitive and impactful volunteer management software for nonprofits.”
Geng Wang
CEO / civic champs
“The SecondSight team collectively is super excited to finally have a Bloomington-based fund as part of our mission. First time ever that I’ve gone through a raise with the diligence performed up front and a vote with decision same day . . . super impressive.“
Reuben Vandeventer
CEO & Founder / SecondSight
“Flywheel is truly founder friendly. They make very fast investment decisions and they are super supportive. I feel lucky to have Flywheel as my investor and highly recommend it to all my fellow founders.”
Eric Xiao
Laxis / Founder & CEO
Contact Us
Send us an email, or request an appointment with Brian Hatton, our Venture Partner, to discuss your startup. In-person office hours are Thursdays, 9:30-11:30 am at The Mill.