Startup guru Christopher Day on boosting Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, getting investors to say ‘yes’

When serial entrepreneur Christopher Day walks into a room, he should be followed by somebody with a boombox playing “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Christopher Day gathers no moss. Over the last 30 years, he has co-founded eight businesses in seven distinct sectors—namely, artificial intelligence, software as a service, hardtech, broadband, entertainment, investment banking and real estate. For the last two years, he has been CEO of Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests in high-potential, innovation-based companies with a significant presence in Indiana. Last year, Elevate launched Rally, a three-day innovation conference in Indianapolis that brought together hundreds of companies, entrepreneurs, universities and investors from a broad range of industries. It included a pitch competition with $5 million in prizes.

With his decades of experience and different roles in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Day has a unique vantage point on Indiana’s startup community, its strengths and its weaknesses. He recently served as a panelist at IBJ’s Technology Power Breakfast, and IBJ Podcast host Mason King wanted to follow up with him on several points he made about expanding recruitment of talent, the untapped power of collaboration and transparency, and the five key aspects of a business where entrepreneurs can minimize risk and get buy-in from investors. He also shares some high-level thoughts about Elevate’s plans to relocate from northern Indianapolis to downtown’s Mile Square.

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