Move Fast and Fix Things

For too long, Silicon Valley has pushed the?ideology?that the best way to innovate is to?Move Fast and Break Things.?The problem? Although?this model works well when all that is being "broken"?are lines of code,?breaking things?in sectors critical to American economic stability and security without a concrete plan to?fix?them?leads to fragile supply chains, lost industries, and?fractured?communities that struggle to recover.

At?Caelum Ventures,?a Midwestern VC firm?based in?Chicago, Illinois, we take a different approach:?Move Fast and Fix Things.?We take to heart the core idea?forwarded by?Frances Frei and Anne Morriss?in their book,?Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems,?that speed and problem-solving must go hand in hand. True leadership comes from fixing the problems we face, not just disrupting or breaking things.?

Here in the?industrial Midwest, we’ve seen the devastating consequences of broken systems firsthand. For decades,?unfair trade policies and the offshoring of manufacturing gutted the backbone of American industry.?The result? Closed factories, lost jobs, and economic stagnation across Middle America. But now, we have a?once-in-a-generation opportunity to reverse that trend—by rebuilding American dominance in?critical technologies that will shape the 21st century.

That’s why we’re?supporting innovative companies like Anovion Technologies, a leading U.S. producer of synthetic graphite for lithium-ion batteries. By onshoring battery supply chains and reducing reliance on Chinese imports, Anovion is helping secure?America’s energy and national security future. With demand for?grid storage, aerospace, and defense applications?growing rapidly, ensuring a?domestic, resilient supply?of battery materials is critical to U.S. competitiveness.

But this is just the beginning.?Now is the moment to onshore the technologies that will define the next era of global power:

• AI infrastructure?that reduces power consumption and increases efficiency.
• Microprocessor manufacturing?to break reliance on Taiwan and China.
• Battery supply chains?that support industrial growth, national security, and energy independence.
• Next-generation reliable power generation systems?to provide?grid resilience, national defense readiness, and industrial stability.

Breaking things is easy.?Fixing them while moving fast? That’s what creates lasting impact.

At Caelum Ventures, we’re not just investing in companies—we’re investing in?America’s future.?If you believe in?restoring industrial strength and securing the nation’s technological leadership, let’s talk: https://caelum.vc/

[^1]: Frances Frei & Anne Morriss,?Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems, Harvard Business Review Press, 2023.?Available here

#MoveFast #FixThings #CaelumVentures #Chicago #IndustrialMidwest #Innovation #AI #EnergyIndependence #BatterySupplyChain #VentureCapital #AmericanDominance #Leadership