We're a small team based in Columbus, Ohio. Between us, we've co-founded Root Insurance, run FinTech71, built enterprise platforms from scratch, and shipped production AI systems across fintech, insurtech, and agtech. No bench. No layers. The people you meet are the people who build.
Matt is a serial tech entrepreneur who's spent his career at the intersection of data, insurance, and fintech. He co-founded Root Insurance—the digital-first auto insurer that went public in 2020—and serves as Executive Director of FinTech71, Ohio's fintech accelerator backed by industry leaders including Nationwide and Bread Financial.
Before that, he held leadership roles at Fair Isaac (FICO) and Experian, building deep expertise in predictive analytics and big data. At H2L, Matt connects the dots between startup energy and institutional opportunity—finding the gaps where AI ventures can take root and grow.
Tim is the operational bridge between ambitious ideas and things that actually ship. With a background spanning startups, media, the arts, and civic work in Columbus, he handles everything from website builds and marketing automation to go-to-market strategy and business development.
He builds with AI tools daily—the H2L website, marketing systems, and client-facing materials are all built with Claude as a co-pilot. Tim's perspective: the tools have changed, but the standards haven't. It still has to be good.
Rick is the technical backbone of H2L. He built PolicyFlow—the insurance operations platform that automates complex policy, premium, and payment workflows—and is now pushing agentic AI deeper into its data layer. When Rick talks about AI in production, he's drawing from systems he's personally architected and operates.
His current focus: AI data intake/output pipelines, MCP integration for natural-language project management, and the gap between "look what AI can do" demos and systems that run reliably at scale. That gap is where Rick lives.
Todd thinks about how AI fits into real business operations—the data, the processes, the experience of the person buying and using the system. With a background in aerospace engineering from Ohio State, he spent his career in technology scouting and market intelligence at Singularity University, Rekovo, and Lumos Innovation before bringing that lens to H2L.
He's the one asking whether the design communicates what it should, whether the data model actually maps to how a business runs, and whether the executive buyer will trust what they're seeing. Todd bridges the gap between what we build and how it lands.
Zak keeps the infrastructure running and the architecture decisions sound. With a Master's in Computer Engineering from Virginia Commonwealth University, he brings deep experience in software development, DevOps, and infrastructure technology—the kind of work that's invisible when it's done right and catastrophic when it's not.
He handles the build environment, deployment pipelines, and infrastructure decisions across H2L's venture portfolio. When a system needs to scale, survive an outage, or pass a security audit, Zak's the one who made sure it could.
Jess brings product design discipline to H2L—the kind that comes from leading design at small tech startups and consulting for brands like IBM. She balances strategic challenges with design details, making sure the things we build don't just work but feel right to the people using them.
In a world where every AI company's website looks like every other AI company's website, Jess is the one who makes sure H2L's products and interfaces look like something built by people who care about craft.
Ohio is home to Root Insurance, Nationwide, CoverMyMeds, and a growing fintech ecosystem anchored by FinTech71. We're plugged into that network—and we've helped build parts of it.
We work with clients across the country. No layers, no account managers, no bench. The people on this page are the people who do the work.
This team has launched companies together, navigated production incidents together, and learned what works the hard way—by shipping and iterating with our own capital on the line.