Small Towns, Big Ideas 2025: Founders, Innovation, and the Power of Rural Entrepreneurship
Rural founders from across the country proved that innovation can happen anywhere at CORI’s 5th annual pitch event. The evening highlighted the bold creativity and entrepreneurial momentum building across small communities nationwide.
Small Towns, Big Ideas, CORI’s one-of-a-kind pitch event, held in partnership with the Magnuson Center at Dartmouth College, returned for its fifth year for another celebration of rural innovation and entrepreneurship. This annual pitch event shines a spotlight on founders from across the country who are building scalable startups in small towns, proving that big ideas can truly come from anywhere. Five inspiring founders representing communities from Vermont to Kentucky took the stage in front of a packed room of investors, community leaders, and representatives from four venture funds to share their visions and compete for a $10,000 cash prize.
Kicking off the evening, Matthew Stone, founder of Ludare (Portsmouth, OH), introduced a bold new way to fund and distribute indie video games. With independent developers now responsible for the majority of new game releases, Ludare is re-imagining how the industry supports creativity. The subscription-based platform enables gamers to explore early-stage titles, providing developers with real-time validation and funding to support further development. Much like platforms that have reshaped the film industry, Ludare aims to revolutionize gaming by providing small studios with the visibility and financial backing they deserve.
Next, Callon Nanny, founder of WholeNote (Paducah, KY), took the stage to share his journey as a lifelong musician turned founder. WholeNote is an all-in-one platform for independent artists to manage royalties, rights, and promotions, helping musicians recover unclaimed revenue. Callon shared how his experience as a performer opened his eyes to the fact that indie artists were missing out on a significant amount of unclaimed royalties and how cumbersome the process of recovering that income could be. By simplifying the system and helping artists release songs through the right channels, WholeNote ensures artists receive the recognition and revenue they’ve earned.
The parallel between WholeNote and Ludare was striking: both companies are empowering creators in industries long dominated by large players.
Representing Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Leah Kyaio, founder of RespexTech, showcased an AI communication platform designed to measure and build respect in digital interactions. Rather than simply enabling conversation, RespexTech provides data-driven insights to improve understanding and empathy, ensuring that technology strengthens, rather than replaces, our humanity. Leah’s mission resonated deeply with the audience, highlighting how rural founders are making meaningful contributions to the ethical future of AI.
Joshua Spicer, an ER physician from Vermont, took the stage to present a high-impact health tech innovation. Capnesity (St. Johnsbury, VT) delivers ICU-level respiratory monitoring through a wireless wearable device that enables real-time patient care outside of traditional hospital settings. Joshua also shared a fun fact: as an ER physician during his residency, he rotated or interned within 45 minutes of each of the founders’ communities. It was a small-world moment that had the audience smiling and underscored just how connected these ecosystems can be. Blending medical expertise with small-town ingenuity, Joshua’s story reminded us that innovation often comes from those closest to the problems and passionate about solving them.
The night’s grand prize went to Gretchen Heinen, founder of Authsnap, an AI-powered SaaS platform transforming how hospitals manage insurance claim denials. By automating appeals that typically require hours of administrative work, Authsnap empowers healthcare teams to focus on patient care, rather than paperwork.
Gretchen shared a compelling story about a patient whose life-saving treatment was delayed due to an insurance denial, an all-too-common scenario that motivated her to build a solution that ensures patients get the care they need faster. Her personal experience in healthcare and her commitment to reducing these barriers are what make Authsnap such a powerful example of mission-driven innovation.
Gretchen’s story embodies the spirit of Small Towns, Big Ideas, a founder building a scalable, high-impact solution in a small community. Her victory was met with an outpouring of support from the judges, audience, and fellow founders alike.
While Authsnap took home the grand prize, every founder left with something equally valuable: new relationships and opportunities with mentors and potential backers, underscoring CORI’s commitment to connecting rural founders with the resources they need to grow.
Small Towns, Big Ideas 2025 was more than a pitch event; it was a poignant reminder that innovation knows no geographical boundaries. Rural founders are shaping the future of technology, creativity, and community.
Thank you to our event sponsors:
