Luke Erickson

Hudson, Wisconsin

I was born on July 22, 2000, and grew up in Hudson, Wisconsin, a river town just across the border from Minnesota. It is the kind of place where you learn early that work is something you do with your hands and your name on it. It runs in the family — my relatives built Erickson Oil, a Midwest fuel-and-convenience company that grew over decades before it was acquired by CrossAmerica Partners. By the time most of my friends were looking for their first jobs, I was running one: Stew B's, a small local business I owned and operated for the better part of five years. I did the selling, the marketing, the hiring, and the closing-up-at-night. It was not glamorous, but it taught me the lesson that has shaped everything since — that the hard part of any venture is rarely the idea. It is keeping the thing alive, day after day.

Going west

I headed west for school and studied business management at the University of Utah. Salt Lake City is where I learned to sell for real. I led and coached a sales team at Blerp, then ran high-volume outbound at Artemis Health, where I learned how to research an account, earn a first meeting, and turn a cold conversation into a relationship. I was good at it because I genuinely liked the people on the other end of the call — and because, having run my own shop, I understood what was at stake for them.

Building my own

Then I built something of my own again. One Tap brought financial services to the creator economy — to the gamers, streamers, and digital creators whose income never fit the old banking mold. As founder and CEO I grew it to over $1M in waitlist revenue before exiting the business to my tax partner. Building it largely solo taught me humility fast: that momentum is fragile, that honest feedback is a gift, and — above all — how completely a company depends on its people. Human capital is everything. It is the first thing I look for in the founders I work with now.

Around the same time I joined Popl as it scaled, selling into senior, multi-stakeholder accounts and helping roughly double the business-development team through hiring and hands-on coaching. I generated millions in qualified pipeline, closed seven figures, and set a few company records along the way — including a month I am still a little proud of. But the part I cared about most was building the people around me.

Startup Ventura

Which brings me to now. I founded Startup Ventura because I kept meeting talented people in Ventura County who had a real idea and nowhere to take it. I wanted to give early founders what I wish I'd had at the start — a community, a room to think out loud, and people who have done it before. We built it as a nonprofit accelerator, and I assembled a board of operators whose companies carry billions of dollars in combined exit value. The goal is simple and stubborn: keep Ventura County a place where it is possible to start something and stay.

Outside the work

Away from the desk, community is where I put my energy. I'm the youngest-ever board member of the New West Symphony, where I helped plan its America 250 tribute and the first symphony concert ever held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library — a premiere featured in Los Angeles Wire. I'm active in the Rotary Club of Ventura, which named me its Rookie Rotarian of the Year for service to the community. And I speak whenever I get the chance.

Above all, I'm a steadfast Christian, and my faith is the foundation under everything else. It is why I try to plant a seed of Christ in everyone I meet and water it whenever I can — and why I believe a life is measured less by what you accumulate than by what you give and who you lift along the way. Off the clock, I ski, I'm stubbornly improving my German, and I care about building things that outlast me.