Q3 Tweener Founder Spotlights: Why We Build
Check out short interviews with our new Tweener portfolio companies: the spark, the struggle, and the next steps.
Tweener Founder Spotlights
Founder Spotlights is a series that shines a light on the people behind the startups. These are the stories that don’t show up in investor decks or press releases. It’s the late-night ideas, the hard lessons, and the moments of clarity that drive someone to build anyway.
Every founder starts somewhere. For some, it’s a problem they couldn’t stop thinking about. For others, a challenge they were determined to fix. Along the way, each one discovers lessons about resilience, creativity, and community that shape both their company and themselves.
This series is about that why, the motivation that keeps founders moving, even when the path twists and turns. It’s also a tribute to the Triangle’s startup heartbeat: where collaboration beats competition, progress matters more than perfection, and no founder has to walk the road alone.
Q3 had 9 new investments! We’ll be featuring Founders and their companies in these Spotlights. Up next? Sunlight: Founded by Ryan O’Donnell, reducing foster care duration through smarter case management.
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From Foster Care to Founder Lessons: Building Sunlight with Ryan O’Donnell
Lessons You’ll Hear Between the Lines
Ryan’s story is full of advice. Here’s the short version before you dive into the details:
Talk to customers constantly. Call, visit, buy lunch… listen before you build.
Prototype fast with no-code. Prove value with simple workflows before you scale.
Build the right team and backers. Work with people you trust who believe in the mission.
Stay close to your cohort. Share wins and losses with founders at the same stage.
The Triangle advantage. Big enough to build, small enough to connect, kind enough to help.
A Problem Too Close to Ignore
The idea for Sunlight began when Ryan O’Donnell and his wife became foster parents, while he was still running his last startup, EmployUs. Overnight, two completely different systems collided: fast-moving tech innovation on one side, and paper files, fax machines, and endless bureaucracy on the other.
“We got to see the wonderful world of tech startup land right next to the wonderful world of fax machines and snail mail. I just felt like a fish out of water.”
Seeing firsthand how outdated systems made life harder for families, caseworkers, and kids, Ryan knew he wanted to build something better.
“There were so many problems to solve. We should bring the best of technology to help the most vulnerable in our society.”
That experience led to Sunlight, a company building tools for the people who support children and families navigating the foster care system.
Ryan demos Sunlight’s first product, Your Case Plan
Turning Empathy Into Action
Sunlight’s first product, Your Case Plan, is like MyChart for foster care. It gives everyone in a child’s life, parents, attorneys, caseworkers, and social workers, a secure place to communicate, share updates, and stay organized with chat, video calls, visit reminders, and court dates.
At first, Ryan thought it might just be a personal project. It was originally built for their foster son’s dad, to help him navigate the system. Then came the call that changed everything.
“We got a call from someone in the State of Oklahoma who had heard about what we built here in North Carolina. That’s when it went from a hobby to something real, a product that could make a big difference and be a real business.”
That validation marked the shift from empathy to execution.
Listening Before Building
Because it wasn’t his first startup, Ryan had an advantage… experience. After selling EmployUs, he reunited with his co-founder and CTO, Matt Cotter, to build again. But instead of rushing to code, they started small by using no-code tools like Glide to test simple workflows.
“The first thing we built was super simple. If you got an email from your social worker, it would send you a text, and you could reply with a picture that automatically saved to your file.”
Ryan and Matt then spent nearly a year doing customer discovery, talking to more than 100 people across the child welfare world like judges, attorneys, social workers, and families to understand what really mattered.
“There’s no shortage of problems. There’s just a shortage of people willing to listen. You think you’ve got the greatest idea in the world, but a lot of them don’t survive that first customer conversation.”
Those conversations didn’t just inform the product, they defined the company’s values. Sunlight was built to shine light on people who often go unheard.
Left = Matt, Right = Ryan.
People, Alignment, and Staying Grounded
As a repeat founder, Ryan has seen how much of startup success comes down to the people around you, your team, your co-founders, and your investors.
“Build a great team that’s absolutely obsessed with the problem. Then find investors who are aligned with that mission, people who believe in where you’re going and the customers you serve.”
He’s seen what happens when that alignment slips. The wrong team, the wrong investors, or chasing the wrong customer can pull a company off course faster than any market shift. It’s advice that sounds simple but carries the weight of experience from a founder who’s lived it.
Team photo at NACC
Where Giving Back Builds Momentum
That belief in the power of people doesn’t stop at his team, it extends to the community that raised him as a founder. Ryan came to the Triangle for NC School of Science and Math, then NC State, where he started his first company. He’s been part of the local ecosystem since the early Hub Raleigh days, long before it became HQ Raleigh.
“I’ve benefited from so many people who bet early that this would be a great startup ecosystem. Even when I was a 21-year-old student, there were people willing to help.”
He’s watched the region grow into one of the most collaborative startup communities in the country, big enough to build something meaningful, but still small enough to know everyone.
“We’re big enough to build something great, small enough where you can basically know everybody, and nice enough where you actually want to.”
That kindness, he says, is the Triangle’s real competitive edge.
What Comes Next
Sunlight is growing fast. The company recently raised its first round of funding and crossed $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). After launching Your Case Plan in Oklahoma, Sunlight has expanded into three states, and recently acquired CasaManager, a long-standing platform used in thirty states.
“Going from one to three was hard enough. Now we’re heading from three to thirty over the next 12 to 18 months. It’s going to be a blast.”
He laughs when he says it, because he knows what’s coming. Long days, messy problems, and the highs and lows that make startup life worth living.
“The highs and lows are the constant, that’s startup life. But if you’re building something that matters, it’s a blast.”
Find Ryan on Linkedin with his co-founder Matt, and see what they’re doing at getsunlight.org. Explore more Tweener portfolio stories at tweenerfund.com.
Next on Tweener Founder Spotlights
Founders who tackle real problems with grit, heart, and a strong community behind them, that’s the energy we’re here to celebrate and the story we’re proud to keep telling.
Keep an eye out for our next Tweener Founder Spotlight, where we’ll feature more of the incredible Q3 portfolio companies shaping what’s next in the Triangle.