Month: September 2026

From Techstars to Private Equity- Mario Dealba on Focus, Pivots, & Building What Customers Want

Posted on September 29, 2026

Six years ago, Mario Dealba packed up his family, left a corporate career, and moved to Birmingham to join the first Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator.

He arrived with an idea for a software company. What he eventually built looked very different.

During a recent Founder Story at Innovation Depot, Mario shared how Elektrik went from an early-stage startup searching for product-market fit to a fast-growing, tech-enabled electrical wholesaler—and ultimately secured a strategic private equity investment.

Listen to the Customer, Not the Story You Want to Tell

Elektrik initially built software to help customers identify the right high-voltage electrical equipment. The problem? Customers weren’t eager to pay for software licenses.

They were, however, asking Elektrik to help them actually purchase the equipment.

That realization forced a major decision: keep pursuing the SaaS model the company had raised money around, or follow what customers were clearly asking for.

Elektrik chose the customer.

“We were trying to make 100 bucks a month and I was not seeing that people were begging me to give us millions of dollars for products sold,” Mario told the room.

The company shifted toward wholesale, using technology behind the scenes to deliver faster, better service. That pivot eventually became the foundation for its growth.

Focus on What Moves the Business

Mario also shared one lesson he wishes he’d learned earlier: founders have to eliminate distractions.

In Elektrik’s early years, he was simultaneously running other projects and side businesses. By 2022, with the company running low on cash, he shut those distractions down and focused completely on Elektrik.

That focus changed everything.

His advice to founders today is simple: separate signal from noise and spend your energy on the work that actually moves the company forward.

Or, as one mentor told him: “Stay small and shiny.”

Mario’s path wasn’t a straight line—and that’s exactly what made his Founder Story worth hearing. The model changed. The team changed. The strategy changed.

But the company kept getting closer to what customers actually wanted.

Founders Only: Inside Our Conversation with Peter Walker of Carta

Posted on September 22, 2026

At Innovation Depot, being a founder means more than having a place to work. It means being plugged into a network of people, resources, and conversations designed to help you build smarter. Founder Only events are a great example of how this community brings entrepreneurs together.

Recently, our community had the opportunity to join an exclusive virtual session with Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta, for a candid conversation on startup equity, fundraising, venture capital, and what founders need to understand before giving away pieces of their company.

Peter spends his days analyzing Carta’s massive startup dataset, which includes insight from tens of thousands of companies across the venture ecosystem. During the session, he walked founders through real data on co-founder splits, advisor equity, employee option pools, SAFE notes, venture trends, and what investors are really looking for in today’s market.

And, this truly exclusive session, this was not a surface-level webinar. It was a direct, honest conversation built specifically for founders who are actively making decisions that can shape the future of their companies.

Real Advice for Real Founder Decisions

One of the biggest themes of the session was simple: equity decisions matter.

Peter encouraged founders to think carefully about how ownership is divided from the very beginning, especially with co-founders. While many teams assume a 50/50 split is the obvious answer, Peter pointed out that most companies on Carta do not actually split equity equally. His bigger point was not that one structure is better than another, but that founders need to have the hard conversation early.

That same mindset carried into his advice on vesting schedules. Peter was direct: if you are building a venture-backed company, founder vesting is not optional. It protects the business, the remaining founders, and the company’s ability to raise money if a co-founder leaves.

The Truth About Advisors, Employees, and Equity

Peter also challenged founders to be cautious about how they give equity to advisors.

His perspective was refreshingly blunt: advisor equity is often overused, and many advisors do not deliver enough value to justify a meaningful percentage of the company. Instead, he encouraged founders to tie advisor equity to clear expectations, deliverables, or performance-based outcomes.

He also broke down employee equity, including how early hires are typically compensated and why the first few team members can be some of the hardest people to recruit. For startups, equity is only one part of the pitch. Mission, growth, agency, and the chance to build something meaningful often matter just as much.

Venture Capital Is Not the Default Path

One of the most valuable parts of the session was Peter’s honesty around venture capital.

Rather than treating fundraising as the obvious goal for every startup, he encouraged founders to ask a better question first: Do I really need venture capital?

For some companies, VC can be the right tool. For others, bootstrapping or building with revenue may lead to a better outcome. Peter made it clear that venture capital comes with expectations, especially around speed, scale, and growth. Once a company takes venture money, it is no longer operating on the founder’s timeline alone.

For founders in Alabama and the Southeast, Peter’s advice was especially relevant. He acknowledged that venture can be unfair and highly network-driven, but he also emphasized that momentum still matters most. Fast growth, a clear story, and real traction can open doors no matter where a company is based.

Focusing on Founders

This session with Peter Walker is a perfect example of what we are building at Innovation Depot.

Founders need more than encouragement. They need access. Access to data. Access to experienced operators. Access to honest conversations. Access to people who can help them understand what is coming before they are in the middle of it.

And that is exactly what Innovation Depot is here to do.

Introducing Voltage 13!

Posted on September 10, 2026

Innovation Depot is excited to welcome Voltage Cohort 13 — a new group of aspiring founders ready to test ideas, challenge assumptions, and start building.

Voltage is Innovation Depot’s intensive five-week, idea-stage program designed to help early founders move from “What if?” to “What’s next?” Through hands-on work, expert guidance, and a community of peers, participants learn how to validate their ideas, better understand their customers, and determine what it will take to turn an early concept into a real opportunity.

In partnership with Harmony Venture Labs, Cohort 13 will spend the next several weeks researching, testing, refining, and building alongside one another. Some ideas will evolve. Some assumptions will change. And every participant will leave with a clearer understanding of what it takes to move forward.

That process is what Voltage is all about: giving founders a place to start, the tools to learn quickly, and a community to build alongside.

Meet Voltage Cohort 13

Aditya Singh

Aquil Abdur-Rasheed

Armand Green

Ashley Rose Rhea

Benjy Thomas

Carey Fountain

Carla Sims

Caroline Ford

Chase Vines

Clay Haley

Emmett Davis

Gibril Davies

Kiersten Little

Michael Raspberry

Shubhangi Singh

Todd Lind

 

We’re excited to follow their progress over the next five weeks and see what takes shape. For many founders, Voltage is the first step in a much longer journey — and we’re proud to be there at the beginning.

Welcome to Voltage 13. Let’s build.

Keep reading: Voltage Cohort 12

About Innovation Depot

Innovation Depot is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit tech and entrepreneurial support organization housed in a 140,000-square-foot facility in downtown Birmingham. As the largest tech hub in the Southeast, Innovation Depot supports founders at every stage — from idea validation to startup growth — through structured programs, expert resources, workspace, community, and access to capital.

To learn more about Voltage, visit innovationdepot.org/program/voltage.

Think Like an Entertainer: Raj Nathan on Building a Better Pitch

Posted on September 2, 2026

Founders spend a lot of time thinking about what to say in a pitch — but few think like an entertainer when they say it.

Raj Nathan challenged our Capital Readiness cohort to think just as hard about how it feels to hear it.

During his recent session at Innovation Depot, Raj, founder of Startup Hypeman, encouraged founders to stop thinking only like entrepreneurs when they pitch and start thinking like entertainers.

Not because every founder needs to become a performer.

But because entertainers are constantly thinking about one thing: the audience.

“How do I move my audience? How do I make them feel something?”

 

Raj compared a great pitch to a concert setlist.

When a band takes the stage, they don’t play every song they’ve ever written just because they can. They choose what matters. They think carefully about the opener, where the energy shifts, what comes next and how they want the audience to feel when the show ends.

A founder should approach a pitch the same way.

You know every feature, customer conversation, statistic and product decision behind your company. Your audience doesn’t need all of it.

They need the highlights.

As Raj put it, founders need to “play the hits.”

That means choosing the pieces of your company’s story that will make someone understand the problem, connect with it and want to keep listening.

Capital Readiness Collage

And entertainment doesn’t mean being loud, funny or charismatic.

One founder in the room pushed back on the idea, noting that not everyone naturally has a big personality. Raj’s response was important: the goal isn’t to become an entertainer. It’s to think like one.

Speak with intention. Know your audience. Care about how the story lands. Give people a reason not to check their phone.

That same thinking applies to delivery.

Raj pointed out that founders can easily develop “pitch fatigue.” After explaining your company five or six times at an event, it’s tempting to rush through the next conversation.

But for the person standing in front of you, it may be the first time they’ve ever heard your story.

They deserve the full version.

A strong pitch also doesn’t have to explain everything. Its job is to make someone curious enough to ask the next question, schedule the next meeting or lean in and say, “Tell me more.”

That’s what makes pitching less about presenting information and more about creating an experience.

For founders preparing to raise capital, the takeaway was simple:

Don’t just know your story. Curate it. Practice it. Deliver it with purpose.

Think like an entertainer; give your audience a reason to stay for the next song.