Tim Metzner is a serial entrepreneur (x5), father (x4), husband (x1), and follower of Jesus. He believes business can and should be a force for good in the world.
Tim is the founder of Fireroad, a pre-seed fund focused on founders who are helping SMBs stay local, scale efficiently, and compete in the AI economy.
Previously, Tim co-founded Coterie Insurance, a fast-growing small-business insurance company that has raised more than $200 million in capital and is growing profitably. He also co-founded Differential, an early venture studio that helped launch several successful companies, including Astronomer, now valued at more than $1 billion, and Apollos, a digital platform for churches.
Tim also founded OCEAN Accelerator which helped launch 80 companies over a decade supporting both founders and their companies.
A graduate of the Lindner Business Honors Program at the University of Cincinnati, Tim has also served as an adjunct professor and mentor to many college students and entrepreneurs. When he isn’t working or exploring with his wife, you’ll likely find him coaching or cheering on their four children at courts and fields around Cincinnati.
SMBs have surfaced as one of the 'final frontiers' for technology, especially for AI-native startups, but building and growing a startup that serves owners & operators on Main Street is a fundamentally different mode than enterprise SaaS. This session will be a conversation between a Main Street owner-operator, a startup founder, and an investor actively investing in SMB tech, so we can see where the most meaningful connections are happening, what gets lost in translation, and how SMB operators are experiencing this new wave of technology.
