09-24-2025
With more than 15 years leading venture studio Alloy Partners, which spun off from High Alpha, Ryan Larcom has helped the company launch over 90 new companies. While speaking this summer at the Midwest Engineering Entrepreneurship Network (MEEN) Conference — organized this year by Purdue University and headed by the Daniels School’s Matthew Lynall — Larcom highlighted why Indiana, and especially Purdue, is uniquely positioned to fuel innovation and build impactful new businesses that can thrive regionally and globally.
In a recent interview, Larcom expanded upon his deep insights into what it takes to build successful new ventures, and on Purdue’s unique position to make Indianapolis and the region a leader in entrepreneurship in business and industry.
Larcom emphasizes that one of Indiana’s greatest strengths is its connectivity and collaborative mindset. Unlike markets where competition can breed scarcity, Indiana operates on an “abundance mindset” where ecosystem players believe that growing together creates shared success. This spirit is evident across the regional venture community, corporate leaders, investors and public-private partnerships that actively work to launch and support startups.
This strong network reduces barriers for entrepreneurs. “For the size of the city, you can pick up the phone and talk to just about anyone you need,” Larcom notes about Indianapolis. These connections create an environment that accelerates startup growth and innovation, a critical factor in nurturing new businesses.
Indiana’s economic development efforts are tightly aligned with the state’s core competitive advantages — such as advanced manufacturing and ag biosciences — with leading organizations like Agrinovus and Conexus uniting top CEOs to advance these sectors. Larcom stresses the importance of building startups in areas where the region already has a significant advantage. This focus on sector-specific innovation makes Indiana a fertile ground for startups that can leverage local talent, resources and industry networks effectively.
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Purdue, with its ecosystem of business and STEM leadership, plays an integral role. One example Larcom offered was the partnership between Dial Ventures and Alloy Partners, where Alloy Partners collaborates directly with Purdue’s academic ecosystem — spanning business, engineering and agriculture — to co-create startups that solve real-world problems. Larcom describes how Purdue’s involvement opens doors to major corporations in the agriculture and food industries, allowing startups to validate problems early and build startups with direct industry relevance.
Purdue's Dial Ventures program enables entrepreneurial fellows to work closely with more than 70 stakeholders in the agrifood ecosystem, identifying opportunities and rapidly shaping solutions. Larcom explained how Windrow, a startup simplifying how farmers access grants for regenerative agriculture through AI-powered matching and application tools, is now a critical innovation for sustainability that integrates Purdue’s research strengths with real market need.
Larcom shares that the path to successful startups is rarely linear. Venture studios must remain relentless in discovery, often conducting dozens of interviews to really understand customer needs before committing to a solution. He emphasizes the value of pivoting based on deep insights — highlighting cases such as a supply chain startup that transformed from a software dashboard to a marketplace after on-the-ground learning.
Larcom also points out that many startups struggle with pivotal challenges like raising funding, gaining first customers and integrating with large corporate clients. The venture studio model’s strength lies in its iterative process, extensive market validation and ability to pair domain expertise with entrepreneurial talent, increasing the odds of long-term success.
Larcom stresses that entrepreneurship is a practice-based skill. “The only way to get better at starting businesses is to start businesses,” he says, encouraging universities like Purdue to create environments where students can experiment, fail and learn early. This hands-on learning culture, coupled with Purdue’s commercialization pathways including venture building, equips future business leaders with the experience and resilience needed to build transformative companies.
Larcom’s insights underscore how Indiana’s unique blend of collaboration, sector focus and strong academic partnerships, anchored by institutions like the Daniels School of Business, create a powerful engine for launching innovative startups. The regional corporate ecosystem, with companies like Lilly, Cummins and Alloy Partners, creates a reciprocal support system for academic prowess and business success. Proven success from Alloy Partners alongside the Purdue in Indianapolis ecosystem — which includes the Daniels School’s Integrated Business and Engineering program and corporate partnerships — offers business leaders the connections, expertise and resources necessary to build businesses that are not only successful but also positioned to drive long-term economic and social impact.
Indiana and Purdue are not just participating in the future of innovation — they are building it.
