New Ventures · Capital · Diligence · Scale — Cleveland, Ohio
Ulchaker Ventures is the venture practice of Eric C. Ulchaker — an investor and operator who works alongside founders from formation and first capital through diligence, growth, and exit, with particular depth in healthcare and medical devices.
What this looks like in practice
Building companies from a blank page. Getting a round structured, priced, and closed. Running the diligence that tells you whether a deal is real. And staying in the room afterward, while the company scales.
Most advisors have sat on one side of the table. I work on both.
I started building companies before I started funding them. That order matters. It means I know what a founder is actually carrying when they walk into a raise — and I know exactly what an investment committee is going to do to their deck once they leave the room.
Today I am a Managing Partner of a healthcare and medtech investor network spanning seed through secondaries, sourcing and diligencing new deals each year and taking lead positions where the thesis is strong. Before that I managed a university venture fund, led diligence for a pre-seed fund built in partnership with High Alpha Innovation, and ran deal screening and reference work at a seed-stage firm.
The practice is deliberately small. I take on a limited number of engagements so that the work is done by me, at the level of detail that changes outcomes — not delegated down and summarized back.
Focus
Each one is something I do continuously — not a service line invented for a website. The overlap between them is where most of the value sits.
Taking an idea, a technology, or a clinical insight and turning it into a company that can be funded — entity and equity structure, founding team, early validation, non-dilutive funding paths, and the first credible version of the story.
Narrative, deck, model, and data room built to survive scrutiny — then a targeted investor list, warm routes in, and hands-on support through term sheet negotiation, redlines, and close.
Structured validation, customer and founder reference calls, market and competitive work, and full written investment memoranda. Built for funds, angel groups, family offices, and founders who want to see themselves the way an investor will.
Care delivery, digital health, diagnostics, and health services — evaluated with a working understanding of who pays, how long that takes, and which clinical evidence actually moves a buying decision.
Regulatory and reimbursement pathway risk, clinical milestone planning, capital intensity, and an honest read on which strategics acquire in the space and what they buy for.
What happens after the round closes: operating cadence, hiring against the plan, board and investor reporting that builds trust, cap table hygiene, and preparing the next raise well before it becomes urgent.
Engagements
Project-based, retained, or as a formal advisory or board seat. Most engagements start with a short, no-cost conversation to determine whether I'm the right person for the problem.
Investor narrative, pitch deck, financial model, and data room — plus a prioritized target list and the sequencing strategy to run a real process rather than a series of one-off conversations.
Independent diligence delivered as a written memorandum with dilution analysis and a clear recommendation — the format investment committees expect, produced on their timeline.
Clean cap tables that model SAFE and note conversions, option pool expansion, new-money dilution, and exit waterfalls — so you know what every term is actually worth before you sign it.
Standing a company up from formation: structure, founding team, early customer validation, grant and non-dilutive strategy, and the materials required to attract a first institutional check.
Design, build, and launch — websites, plus the graphics and marketing materials that go with them.
About
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Ulchaker Ventures · Managing Partner, Serial Stage Venture Partners
Eric originally founded Ulchaker Enterprises in 2017 and has since formed Ulchaker Ventures, spending the years since on both sides of the venture table — building and advising early companies, and evaluating, structuring, and leading investments into them.
He is Managing Partner of Serial Stage Venture Partners, a healthcare and medtech investor network from seed through secondaries. The network holds a $23.7M portfolio of 33 companies and is backed by a membership of more than 175 investors. He sources and diligences new opportunities each year, leads a portion of them, and negotiates and drafts the documents that put those deals together.
Earlier, he managed the University of Notre Dame's Pit Road Fund, led diligence for the 1842 Fund built in partnership with High Alpha Innovation (now Alloy Partners), and worked deal screening and reference diligence at North Coast Ventures. He holds a Master of Finance from Case Western Reserve University, a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Notre Dame's ESTEEM program, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Operations Management, with a minor in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, from The Ohio State University.
Education
Recognition & Service
Contact
Whether you're forming a company, preparing to raise, or pressure-testing a deal already on the table — send a short note on where you are and what you need. Every inquiry is read personally.