How to Become a Venture Capitalist w/ Matt Harbaugh (Mountain State Capital)

Matt Harbaugh is a co-founder and Managing Director at Mountain State Capital. The 20 million dollar fund has invested in over 16 firms in the greater Appalachia region.

Prior to founding MSC, Matt served as CEO of a machine learning-based software company that was acquired by Facebook and was the Chief Investment Officer at Innovation Works, one of the most active seed funds in the United States.

Across his career, Matt has invested in, managed, and advised more than 100 private companies over the past twenty years. He realized that he was interested in being involved in venture capital back in 1999 as an investment banker at PNC and has spent more than a decade and a half preparing himself to succeed.

In this episode, Matt and Aaron discuss his career arc, the venture capital business model, and how startups in the region are still lacking enough funding options.

Timestamps
0:00​ Matt Harbaugh Intro
1:52 Mountain State Capital
3:44 Geographical Opportunity
6:06 SBIC Benefits
9:13 Phases of Investing
11:57 Scale of Return
14:31 Coaching Entrepreneurs
17:12 Founder Friendly
20:36 Returning to Pittsburgh
28:08 Takeaways
36:14 Creating a Track Record
42:18 Connect w/ Mountain State
43:09 Matt Harbaugh's Challenge to the Audience

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Edited by Kelsee McHugh
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🕺Aaron Watson, Chief Executive Officer of Piper Creative

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Aaron has an obsession with storytelling, business building, and creating media that leads to sales.

Aaron’s experience in media creation and strategy started at the age of 23 when he launched a podcast, Going Deep with Aaron Watson. In the subsequent 3 years, he has built a powerful network, executed profitable events around Pittsburgh, and started a paid public speaking career on the back of his digital media brand building.

As the co-founder of Piper Creative, Aaron is passionate about leveraging his expertise to help others build healthier company cultures, execute effective storytelling, and master the distribution of their content.

🧑🏻Hannah Phillips, Chief Creative Officer of Piper Creative

Hannah is our brilliant visual media artist that produces genre-defining work across digital video, photography, graphic design, and fine art.

At Piper Creative, she guides and mentors the next generation of creatives while leveraging their skills to transform brands and drive business outcomes