May 21, 2025
Every once in a while, you meet someone who’s not just talking about building better ecosystems—they’re doing it. That’s Dan Magnuszewski.
We brought Dan on Beyond the Core because his story is a case study in what venture building can look like outside the coasts. He co-founded ACV Auctions and took it public. Now, he’s doing something arguably harder: launching a venture studio in Buffalo to back the next wave of founders and “unsexy” ideas.
There are three big takeaways from this conversation:
Dan isn’t waiting for the next generation of founders to bump into each other at a meetup. He’s assembling the team, the capital, and the infrastructure to make the collisions happen on purpose. That’s what studios are for—and when it works, it de-risks the entire early-stage funnel for undercapitalized regions.
What Radial Ventures is doing isn’t just about Buffalo pride. It’s about leverage. Buffalo has decades of industrial expertise, real customers, and a surplus of “unsexy” problems. Most investors don’t look at those markets. Dan is building companies specifically to serve them—and that might be the edge.
The way Dan talked about Radial’s AI-powered validation workflow was one of our favorite moments in the episode. AIs debating memos. Instant research. Rapid prototyping. All designed to get to conviction faster. That kind of thinking is exactly how venture studios will increase their hit rate—and lower their cost per venture.
Dan said something that stuck with us: “There’s no one coming to save Buffalo—we have to do it ourselves.”
That’s the spirit we believe in. Whether you’re in Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, or anywhere between the coasts—if you’re building venture studios to unlock your region’s potential, we’re cheering for you. And we’re learning from folks like Dan on how to do it better.
— Ben & Marcus
We always enjoy conversations about innovation and startup building so please get in touch.
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