“A pioneering force of venture capital in the heartland, Chris has helped shape the Midwest’s startup ecosystem like few others,” Bobby Franklin, president and CEO of NVCA, said when they gave out the awards in June.

Connecting ideas to dollars

Rizik launched UnDemo Days in 2015 to provide a place for venture capital investors to come to Detroit to meet startups as they kick the tires in deciding whether to invest.

“It’s like speed dating for startups,” he said.

The last UnDemo Day was held Oct. 1 at Ford Field and introduced over 250 local startups to venture capital investors with over 900 people attending.

With so much going on, I posed a couple questions to Rizik (his answers are edited for length).

QUESTION: Tell me about state of venture capital in Michigan?

ANSWER: Michigan has been one of the fastest growing states for venture capital in recent years. We’ve always had great technology and a talented engineering workforce here, but for decades we underperformed at creating startups. Now there’s energy around startups in Ann Arbor, Detroit and Grand Rapids and other places and VCs are excited to come here. They are investing at more than four times the level they were when we started hosting our UnDemo Days.

Q: Explain how VC investors get involved in a startup?

A: Venture capital is high risk investment in startups that have the potential to grow very big very fast. They typically involve some kind of game-changing technology or process. These are companies that are generally too risky for banks to loan money to, but venture capitalists are willing to take the risk in hopes the company will explode into something that can change the world and at the same time provide lucrative financial results. A majority of these investments will not pan out financially, but the hope is that the successes more than make up for the failures.

More: Lawrence Tech got its start as night school for autoworkers. How it continues to innovate

Q: Where are the opportunities for VCs here?

A: Michigan is best known around the world as being particularly strong in areas like mobility, cybersecurity, life sciences, advanced materials, supply chain and advanced manufacturing.

Q: You just got a national award where you were credited for bringing VC opportunities to areas that have been challenged. How have you been able to succeed?

A: We are focused on what we are and what we are not, and we keep our focus in a world where there are temptations to chase shiny objects that take you off course. We are about investing in great venture capital funds around the country and connecting them with the Michigan ecosystem to help grow the state.

Q: Give me an example of a VC success story you’ve been involved with?

A: One of the most interesting was Orbion Space Technology. In 2018 we met the founder, Dr. Brad King (of Michigan Technological University) in Houghton where he started the company. He was creating a revolutionary propulsion system for satellites, and was committed to building the company in the U.P. But raising capital there was difficult. So we invited him to UnDemo Day and introduced him to venture capitalists. A Boston firm, Material Impact Fund, loved what they heard and became Orbion’s first institutional investor. The next year Orbion met more VCs at UnDemo Day. Now, Orbion is a leader in propulsion systems and one of the largest employers in Houghton. It is a great Michigan story and a great Renaissance success.

Contact Carol Cain at clcain@cbs.com. She is senior producer/host of “Michigan Matters,” which airs 5:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS Detroit and 9:30 a.m. Sundays on CW Detroit 50. See Detroit City Councilman Coleman Young II, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, GOP Strategist Susy Avery, Adrian Fortino of Mercury Fund, Patti Glaza of  Invest Detroit  and Chris Rizik of Renaissance Venture Capital on this week’s show. You can also watch the show simultaneously on Fubu, Pluto TV, YouTube TV  and Apple TV.