Albert: Thank you again for being here for this interview. Can you share more about your background and kind of what inspired you to get into venture capital?
Mikayla: I never thought I’d end up here. I grew up in Iowa, where both my grandparents had family farms. I was always interested in food and agriculture. At university, I started a food tech startup, which was my first exposure to entrepreneurship. I’ve always been very problem-focused. I love solving problems, and launching a startup is ultimately about that. It’s easy to glamorize, but it’s one of the hardest jobs in the world. We bootstrapped the entire company and never raised outside venture capital. Many of my founder friends went through that process, but our focus on developing regions didn’t fit the venture capital model. I ran the startup for several years after graduation, but when COVID hit, it torpedoed everything.
At that point, I was trying to figure out my next steps. Coincidentally, a local venture fund in Iowa, ISA Ventures, was launching—a $22 million fund focused on early-stage investments. They had an accelerator and supported companies from idea stage through Series A and B. I knew nothing about venture capital beyond what founders had told me, often about how tough it was. Still, I thought it was an interesting opportunity. I saw it as a way to help grow the Iowa ecosystem. My experience as a founder gave me insights that are valuable for early-stage investing. I also enjoy the challenge of learning by doing—like drinking from a firehose every day.
That’s how I stumbled into venture. It wasn’t planned. Many investors take the operator-turned-investor route, but often they are angel investors, not necessarily working at an institutional fund. There are definitely skills that translate coming from being an operator, especially at the early stage, where you’re investing in the founder & idea.
Albert: As a founder turned investor, what gave you the confidence to even pursue that role?
Mikayla: When I was going through the interview process, I didn’t think I’d get the role. I didn’t think I’d make a great investor. But I have an innate sense of curiosity. I love digging into things and solving problems. Coming from the founder role, I had a strong network of founders and a good pulse on the Iowa ecosystem—knowing what startups were popping up and being the first call for information. That was tremendously valuable. The first venture capital firm I worked at only invested in Iowa-based companies, so having that insight was instrumental. I also prepared by learning about raising capital and venture terminology.
For me, jumping into venture was an opportunity to be more founder-centric in how a fund operates and help shape the Iowa ecosystem. There weren’t many investors in Iowa, and I didn’t want to leave. About a year and a half ago, I joined Ag Startup Engine. The first fund I was at invested across sectors like healthcare and fintech, where I didn’t feel I added much value or didn’t excite me. Returning to food and ag was important to me.
As an operator, you have full autonomy to take things from start to finish. At my first fund, we had an investment committee, which could reject deals after months of diligence. That was frustrating. At Ag Startup Engine, I had more autonomy and can take deals across the finish line. I also realized my strengths and interests align better with early-stage venture, versus late stage investing. At the early stage, you’re backing the founder, because often there isn’t much else to go on. Coming from the operator role, you can recognize the personality traits and skills that make a good founder, because you’ve lived it. But unlike as an operator where you’re focused on one specific thing, as an investor you pull threads and synthesize information to make the best investment decision and are often a sounding board for founders.
I love executing, making connections, and having one-on-one conversations. In venture, it’s all about your network—who you know and can connect to, from deal sourcing, to diligence, to introducing potential customers. At Ag Startup Engine we excel at connecting founders to the right people.
Albert: Can you share one or two skills that you think are integral for students trying to get into venture capital?
Mikayla: I think the most important skill is being curious and not afraid to ask questions. My job is to ask questions—whether to founders, industry professionals, or customers—to figure out if there’s something there. Being able to have conversations with strangers and developing soft skills is crucial, especially in early-stage VC. Later-stage funds rely more on digging into financial models and projections, but at the early stage, those don’t exist. There’s not years of historical performance to base an investment decisions off. If you want to get into venture, you need to build a network—it’s all about who you know. You’d be surprised by the doors that open and how willing people are to share their knowledge when you ask.
Albert: Going back into industry a little bit, AI and large language models are transforming a lot of industries, including venture capital. What trends are you excited about at the intersection of AI and agriculture? If that isn’t where you see the most potential growth in the agriculture industry, what other sectors should people be looking at?
Mikayla: I think AI and language models will have different roles in different industries. What excites me most, especially being in the Midwest and with a background of bootstrapping, is the opportunity for startup founders to leverage AI internally to reduce overhead. Instead of hiring many engineers, founders can use AI tools to build with one or two engineers. Companies are coming to market faster and at lower costs by leveraging this technology. Every founder should take advantage of it because being capital efficient is critical to being successful.
I think it will be awhile before AI is used in agriculture the same way as in other industries, because in agriculture data is often siloed. It will be interesting to see what solutions pop up over the coming years.
Albert: We see a lot of capital going to the West Coast for a lot of technology sectors, and then maybe Boston and New York for a lot of life science, and sometimes even agriculture. What unique challenges do you face when investing in the Midwest? What do you think are good reasons to be investing in the Midwest, as well?
Mikayla: We have flexibility since we invest across the US, so being in the Midwest isn’t a hindrance for Ag Startup Engine. One of the biggest challenges for Midwest founders is the region’s conservative, capital-efficient approach. Midwest investors may appreciate a narrative of raising $2 million to reach profitability and generate a few million in revenue, but coastal investors often want moonshot growth. Founders struggle to balance these narratives when pitching to different regions and investors.
From an Ag Startup Engine perspective, we’ve benefited from our Midwest network of farmers and producers who assess whether a product is practical or economically viable. This has saved us from investing in technologies that seem great on paper but wouldn’t work in real-world agriculture. We’ve avoided getting caught up in hype cycles or rushing into deals that don’t align with customer needs. Having access to the Midwest’s target customers has been instrumental in vetting technologies and making better investment decisions.
Albert: That’s really interesting, from the founder perspective, maybe there should be a shift in mentality of not necessarily growing at all cost, but seeking out investors that will give you, the hardest pushback, so you know what to do next. And that’s a good lesson for me to learn and very appealing.
Mikayla: That can be a challenge in the Midwest. Everyone is very nice, and no one wants to tell you your baby is ugly. Raising large amounts of capital is celebrated, but I don’t think it should be. I meet with a lot of students want to start a company and raise venture capital, and my first question is do you really want and understand what comes when you take outside capital? Is this business truly set up for something that could continue to grow, and could be very large? And often they realize it’s not what they want. I think in agriculture it can also be a challenge. The industry is cyclical in nature and often has slower customer adoption rates. Founders must balance investor expectations, the fund’s stage and life cycle, with what they can realistically accomplish in a set time period. There’s a lot of things founders can do to make sure that they have the right investors with them along the way. Not everyone is itching for an exit in 2 to 5 years, and that can be unrealistic.
Albert: Thank you so much, Mikayla. I’m going to leave these last few minutes for anything that you want to share with the audience.
Mikayla: I came from a less traditional background getting into venture capital. There’s a lot of people that think they need to work at an investment bank or have a finance background, but not having that can serve you better at the early stage. It allows you to see things differently.
I encourage people to avoid thinking they need to go the more traditional route to get into venture. You don’t need an MBA or finance degree to break into VC. There are programs, internships, and fellowships for those interested. We need more young people in venture.