columbia-mo
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Jim McKelvey
Jim McKelvey is the co-founder of Square (now Block, Inc.), a serial entrepreneur, master glassblower, author, and philanthropist from St. Louis. He built Square after losing a $2,000 sale at his glass studio because he couldn't accept American Express - and turned that frustration into a payments company that beat Amazon when it tried to copy them. He's also founded Invisibly, co-founded LaunchCode (a nonprofit that guarantees tech jobs), serves as an Operator Advisor at Redbud VC, and is a former Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Jai Malik
Jai Malik is the founder and CEO of Amca (Advanced Manufacturing Company of America), an aerospace and defense manufacturer that launched in April 2025 with $76.5M from Caffeinated Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz. A serial entrepreneur and self-described 'industrial capitalist,' Malik previously founded Countdown Capital (2020-2024), an early-stage hard tech venture fund, after stints as an early team member at AI defense startups Accrete and Forge.AI. He also serves as Venture Partner at Redbud VC in Columbia, MO. Amca's thesis: acquire legacy aerospace suppliers and rebuild them from the inside out, starting with a 60-year-old avionics supplier in El Monte, California.
Lori Coulter
Lori Coulter is the co-founder, CEO, and President of Summersalt, the St. Louis-based direct-to-consumer swimwear and apparel brand built on data from 1.5 million body measurements. She turned a pre-teen concession stand hustle into a generation-defining brand that has sold over 4 million garments, raised $30M+, and landed in Vogue, Elle, and Forbes. She now serves as an Operator Advisor at Redbud VC and adjunct faculty at Washington University's Olin Business School, championing equitable venture funding for female founders.
Maria Heyen
Maria Heyen is an early-stage investor at Lightbank in Chicago, previously the first hire at Redbud VC in Columbia, Missouri, where she helped deploy $5M+ across 35+ companies. A Pacific Northwest native who worked 80-100 hour weeks to fund her own education, she went on to co-found the Husker Venture Fund at UNL and build a reputation as one of the emerging voices in Midwest venture. She invests at the intersection of vertical SaaS, fintech, and infrastructure in overlooked industries, and writes the Soapbox newsletter on career, culture, and capital.