Keystone Angels takes wing with emerging leader; next up: saving startups from the valley of death

A familiar face in Kansas City’s business ecosystem is stepping into a leadership role aimed at tackling one of the biggest challenges facing local startup founders: access to early-stage funding.

In February, Regina Sosa Valdovinos launched into a newly-developed director position at Keystone Angels, an angel investment network focused on connecting founders with investors across Kansas City and the Midwest. In the role, Sosa will lead efforts to recruit investors, identify promising startups, and grow programming that supports both sides of the investment pipeline.

“Connecting the two is the most important part,” she said.

The initiative is part of the broader Keystone Innovation District concept, through which local advocates work to strengthen relationships between founders, investors and innovation leaders within the region.

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Keystone CoLAB in Kanas City’s East Crossroads; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

As Keystone Angels continues to grow, Sosa wants the network to become a central gathering point in the region. That includes investors connecting with other investors, aspiring angels learning from experienced ones and founders finding more than just capital, she said.

“I want it to be a place for startups to find more than money, but to find a mentor and a potential customer,” said Sosa. “Just being able to bring a network of people together to connect and work on something greater.”

Building the plane while flying it

Stepping into the role has come with plenty of excitement for Sosa, she said, noting the reality that Keystone Angels is still evolving.

“It’s new territory in the sense that I haven’t done this type of work in a couple of years, although I’m familiar with the VC side of things,” said Sosa. “I need to dust off those skills. But I’m really excited, because it’s a new program. I’m excited to see it take shape.”

Some of the groundwork had already been started by the Keystone team before she joined, but developing much of the program’s structure is still in Sosa’s hands.

“I came in, learned what they had been doing to catch up, and then also carved my path,” she said. “Now I get to ask: ‘What do I want this to look like?’ It was a process of picking up where they left off, and thinking ahead while trying to stay afloat.”

One of Sosa’s early priorities is creating processes that make the program consistent and easier to operate long term, she said.

Filling the early-stage funding gap

Angel investors often step in during the earliest and riskiest stages of a startup’s journey, Sosa noted, emphasizing that it’s a phase that can be particularly difficult for founders to navigate in Kansas City.

“Here in Kansas City we see a gap between when you start a company and when you’re ready for venture capital,” she said. “The most prominent resources that exist are VC firms, but they want a little bit more traction before they’ll invest. They want to see results and customers.”

That leaves many founders searching for support in the critical period between launching their company and reaching venture-scale growth, a timeframe for startups commonly called the valley of death.

Angel investors can help close that gap and keep promising companies moving forward, Sosa said, adding that the goal is to make sure founders know resources exist locally.

“Startups and entrepreneurship are already so hard,” she said. “We want to make sure they have the resources, whether that’s connections or money or a space to work, to make sure their chances of success are a little higher.”

Regina Sosa, then with EDCKC, speaks in September 2025 about the KIVA KC initiative during a Lunch and Learn session at City Hall; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News

Experience on the KC business scene

Sosa brings experience working directly with entrepreneurs across Kansas City. Before joining Keystone Angels, she spent two years as a capital access manager at the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (EDCKC), helping small businesses navigate funding resources and financial programs.

That experience shaped how she approaches building programs and supporting founders.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learned is being able to listen and hear from small businesses and startups about what challenges they’re facing and what they think they need,” she said. “That’s the most important step to analyze everything and then tailor programs to the audience.”

Her work has also exposed her to how other startup ecosystems operate — knowledge she hopes to adapt locally.

“It’s about understanding how things are done in Chicago or Nebraska and asking what would be helpful here,” said Sosa. “But Kansas City is different from Nebraska and from California, so we have to customize what works for our purposes.”

Programs supporting both investors and founders

Keystone Angels offers several programs designed to support both founders seeking capital and community members interested in becoming investors.

One of the group’s core initiatives is the Keystone Angels Accelerator, a 12-week program that helps aspiring and current angel investors learn the fundamentals of evaluating and funding startup deals.

“We teach angels the best practices, the risks, the benefits associated with angel investing,” said Sosa. “And then we’ll actually bring startups into the accelerator so that the investors can learn to evaluate the deal.”

“At the end of those 12 weeks, the investor feels confident and knowledgeable enough to write their first check,” she continued.

Keystone Angels also hosts monthly investor meetings where two select startups pitch directly to members.

“Then we enter into an investor-only discussion,” said Sosa. “Keystone Angels is professionally managed, so we handle the application, the back office document collection and pass that along to the angels, really curating good quality startups.”

While the network vets opportunities and organizes the process, the investment decisions remain with individual angels.

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