David Blivin on Why Great Ideas Don’t Need Silicon Valley to Succeed
Great ideas don’t live exclusively in Palo Alto.
They live in research parks, national labs, university basements, and founder brains—everywhere. What’s unevenly distributed isn’t innovation. It’s money and management.
In this episode of The Covert Code Podcast, host Anna Covert sits down with David Blivin, founder and managing director of Cottonwood Technology Funds and author of Crossing the Cactus, to unpack what it really takes to commercialize innovation outside of traditional tech hubs.
David Blivin has spent decades investing in early-stage technology—starting in the Research Triangle Park ecosystem, building one of the largest funds in the I-85 corridor, and later launching Cottonwood in the Southwest with a focus on “hard tech”—science-backed innovations that can be patented, protected, and manufactured.
This conversation is a roadmap for founders, investors, and economic development leaders who believe the next big breakthroughs won’t come from the usual ZIP codes.
Who Is David Blivin?
David Blivin is the founder and managing director of Cottonwood Technology Funds, an early-stage venture firm focused on hard tech—materials, semiconductor innovation, electric motors, health tech, and other science-based breakthroughs that require more than a pitch deck to prove.
He began his career in accounting and finance, earned his MBA at Duke, and entered venture capital after seeing a major problem firsthand: regions full of innovation but short on the kind of capital and expertise startups need to scale.
That gap became the mission.
The Big Idea: Innovation Is Everywhere—Capital and Management Aren’t
One of David Blivin’s clearest points is also the most important:
Great ideas are everywhere. What’s not everywhere is money and management.
In other words, if your region wants real economic diversification through tech commercialization, it can’t stop at supporting research. It has to solve for the full triangle:
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Ideas (usually abundant)
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Money (often scarce locally)
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Management (the hardest to build and keep)
David Blivin contends that the building of successful ecosystems occurs when these three elements consistently connect, not sporadically.
Why Venture Capital Shifted Away From Hard Tech (and Why It’s Coming Back)
David Blivin explains a key venture trend that founders feel every day: VC moved heavily toward software because it’s faster and cheaper to scale.
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Software can test markets quickly
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Scaling doesn’t require manufacturing
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Exits can happen earlier
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Capital requirements are lower
Hard tech is different. Manufacturing is real. Supply chains matter. Prototypes take time. Later investors want proven execution and experienced operators.
But David also points out something that’s easy to forget in AI hype cycles:
You still need “things.”
AI needs chips. Data centers need power efficiency. Quantum needs hardware. The “internet of things” still requires physical devices.
That’s why investors are starting to re-engage with hard tech again—because the future isn’t only digital. It’s physical.
The Book: Crossing the Cactus and the Ecosystem Problem Nobody Wants to Solve
In Crossing the Cactus, David Blivin lays out a practical roadmap for commercializing innovation beyond Silicon Valley—with a focus on what states, cities, and countries can actually do if they want startups to launch and stay.
He shares an issue that quietly drains entire regions:
Universities and national labs license valuable IP… and it leaves the state.
Even when brilliant research originates locally, it often gets commercialized somewhere else because the capital and business talent aren’t nearby.
The result: the idea becomes a product, but not in the place that created it.
“Money Follows Management” vs “Management Follows Money”
This is one of the most useful frameworks in the entire episode.
David Blivin says the traditional venture mantra is:
Money follows management.
That works in places like Silicon Valley and Boston—where experienced startup executives are everywhere.
But in under-resourced ecosystems, David flips it:
Management follows money.
If early capital is meaningful enough, it becomes a magnet that attracts the operators who know how to build companies. But the catch is this: many regions don’t invest enough early to recruit real business leadership.
And without a business leader, hard tech companies struggle to raise the next round—because later investors want to see someone who has scaled before.
The Hard Truth About People
David Blivin shares a striking pattern from his investing experience:
When startups recruit top CEO talent from outside the region, those leaders often don’t move—and eventually, the company moves to where the CEO’s network is.
That’s why “people strategy” is the missing piece in economic development conversations.
Buildings don’t create jobs.
People do.
And if regions want to keep innovation local, they have to create incentives that make it rational for executives and builders to plant roots—not just fly in quarterly.
David Blivin’s Advice for Founders Raising Early Capital
For founders with big ideas, David Blivin offers grounded advice:
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Establish a strong legal and advisory network, as a lawyer with connections to the venture ecosystem can facilitate access to early capital.
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Build enough proof (prototype, demo, MVP) to be “presentable.”
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Talk to customers early—make sure you’re solving a need-to-have, not a nice-to-have.
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Don’t assume “1% of a huge market” is easy—no one gives away market share.
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If you’re technical, find your business counterpart—someone who can translate value, pricing, competitive landscape, and go-to-market strategy.
The message is simple: breakthrough tech needs breakthrough execution.
Connect with David Blivin
David Blivin is the founder and managing director of Cottonwood Technology Funds and the author of Crossing the Cactus, a practical guide for commercializing innovation and building sustainable tech ecosystems beyond traditional hubs.
To learn more, reach out via Cottonwood Technology Funds.
