Refinery Ventures launches X15 to bridge the midwest’s hypergrowth gap
Silicon Valley has coffee-shop density; Ohio has isolated excellence. This new curated network aims to fix that by concentrating operators who have scaled from $1M to $100M+ ARR, creating a high-stakes "brain trust" across Ohio and beyond.
The operators who have scaled venture-backed companies from zero to $100 million are out there in the Midwest. They're just not in the same room. That's the problem Cincinnati-based Refinery Ventures is trying to solve with X15, a curated network for executives and operators who have already been through the hypergrowth experience, and are ready to put it to work again.
"The Bay Area has a lot of people who are smart, hardworking, and have spent time inside of a hypergrowth business," said Tim Schigel, partner at Refinery Ventures. "We do have some of that experience in the region, but, unlike the Bay Area, it's extremely spread out. These folks aren't all hanging out in the same coffee shops like they do out West."
X15 is Refinery's attempt to recreate that density — deliberately and at scale.
The hypergrowth experience difference
Schigel draws a sharp distinction between conventional business growth and the kind venture capital demands. Raising venture funding carries an implicit expectation: the capital gets returned in seven to ten years at a minimum 10x valuation. That requires building every system from scratch while the business is simultaneously scaling.
"The problems a company faces while going through hypergrowth are always unique, but sound similar to problems another hypergrowth business has," Schigel said. "Having prior experience allows an operator to see around corners and anticipate these problems, as well as prepare for solutions that actually remedy them."
The ideal X15 member has lived that firsthand — an early employee at a startup that went from $1 million to $10 million in ARR within 18 months, or from $15 million to $150 million in three and a half years. Current members span go-to-market, technology, product, marketing, operations, and analytics roles, and collectively represent a median ARR growth of $1 million to $72 million over four years and approximately $75 billion in total enterprise value created.
Programming built for operators
X15 offers peer circles, tactical working sessions, tech reverse pitches, deal flow reviews, and the X15 Summit. But Schigel is clear that the programming is a vehicle, not the destination.
"The punchline for everything that X15 focuses on is that we need to get these people into a room together — that's where the real alchemy occurs," he said. "The best advice any operator can get is either from someone else who is currently operating on something similar or from their own mind when thinking through someone else's problem."
To maintain that quality, X15 keeps its events deliberately exclusive. Quarterly dinners in each city are curated for members and close friends of the network, with conversation structured to move beyond small talk.
"It's hard not to feel accountable in this group when everyone is so motivated to do something big," Schigel said. "We don't even have a LinkedIn group. This is for people who are serious about growth and invest in their own leadership."
Refinery staff also make individualized connections between members based on what each person is currently working through — a more bespoke approach than typical network programming.
Three Ohio cities among the strongest nodes
X15 currently operates across nine cities, with Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati among its most active markets. Members include founders currently building their next company, operators mid-tour-of-duty with years left to vest, and leaders actively exploring their next move.
Schigel says the Midwest's moment is real — but capturing it requires infrastructure that matches the ambition.
"We've seen plenty of accelerators, coworking spaces, and the like," he said. "What we haven't seen much of is a focus on hypergrowth leadership talent. That is, until we started X15."
The name itself nods to aviation history: the North American X-15, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft that Neil Armstrong flew before the Apollo program, reaching the edge of space and breaking speed barriers that once seemed impossible. For Refinery, it's an apt metaphor for what they're building: a network designed to help operators reach heights they couldn't get to alone.
