About
Clint Nelsen is an American entrepreneur, operator, author and early-stage ecosystem builder now leading Tomorrow Resources, a private company originating power, land and other physical inputs for large AI data-center and energy-infrastructure projects. Andrew Hyde created Startup Weekend and ran its first Boulder event in 2007. Nelsen and Marc Nager bought Hyde’s existing for-profit venture for a reported $150,000 in June 2009, relocated the operation to Seattle and converted it into a nonprofit; Franck Nouyrigat joined the operating partnership soon afterward. Contemporary records call the trio co-directors, and official Techstars history calls them co-founders of the formalized organization, but Nelsen was not the originator of Hyde’s concept. Nelsen left his full-time Startup Weekend role in 2011 and remained an unpaid director while creating the closely affiliated for-profit Startup Labs, which made very early institutional investments in post-event teams. He later co-founded Tomato Battle and Ticketbase, worked on Blockstack’s strategic growth and institutional-capital effort, and joined Shell’s Origination & Investments team. With former Shell executive Maryam Ayati, he helped lead Neo Holdings and co-founded Watr, serving in Swiss registered management, ownership and board roles until the relevant board registrations ended in 2024. His current public profile and Tomorrow Resources describe work spanning AI data-center campuses, power assets, natural gas, transmission, water, fiber, permitting and capital partnerships. Public records establish a joint Startup Weekend purchase, Startup Labs program checks, a self-reported seed investment/advisory relationship with TrustToken, a directory-attributed Blockstack investment and disclosed Swiss company ownership; they do not establish a complete personal angel portfolio, personal check range or realized personal exits. His public themes move consistently from experiential entrepreneurship and team execution to institutional coalition-building, programmable commodity markets and physical infrastructure. Criticism around Startup Labs’ access to nonprofit participants and later regulatory findings against TrustToken are included as organizational context, with no unsupported allegation of personal wrongdoing.
Invests in
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3EnergyLogistics & Supply Chain
Beyond investing
- Communities
- Nelsen described Startup Weekend as a 54-hour implementation and relationship-building environment in which shared frameworks help developers collaborate and a minority of projects continue toward funding. The organization scaled through local organizers and facilitators rather than a centrally staffed event team.
- More
- The unique clintnelsen profile, Startup Weekend acquisition, Startup Labs, Ticketbase, Blockstack, Shell, Neo/Watr and Tomorrow Resources sequence aligns with Seattle, Switzerland and Truckee records. An Iowa State and University of Washington construction-management résumé belongs to a different Clint Nelsen and is excluded. Nelsen later recalled an impromptu handshake agreement to buy Hyde’s company for about $150,000 despite the buyers having no money in their bank accounts. Reporting confirms the total price but not financing, ownership split, payment schedule or each buyer’s contribution. In 2010 the directors proposed raising sponsorship and forming local partnerships for a Haiti event after the earthquake, promising budget transparency and local spending. Reviewed sources establish the proposal and cautious goals, not that the event ultimately occurred. By August 2011 Nelsen had left his salaried or full-time Startup Weekend work while remaining an unpaid director, creating Startup Labs to provide seed capital and mentorship to teams emerging from Startup Weekend. The close relationship between a nonprofit event network and Nelsen’s for-profit investment entity prompted questions about privileged access or cherry-picking. Nelsen acknowledged possible friction, said he would have hesitated with an investor unfamiliar with the community, and framed Startup Labs as continuity support for fragile teams. No adjudicated misconduct finding was identified. Moreynis supplied initial seed capital; the Taipei program offered approximately US$30,000 for 8%, and Vietnam partners announced US$600,000 in locally committed seed funds with expected checks from US$30,000 to US$250,000. These are vehicle and partner commitments, not evidence of Nelsen’s personal checks. Nelsen and Kraner turned a snowboarding brainstorm into a national event business. Andy Sack provided a revenue-linked loan rather than equity; proceeds funded 200,000 tomatoes, cleanup and launch costs, illustrating Nelsen’s interest in financing matched to a company’s cash cycle. Nelsen, Nager and colleagues rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell on December 28, 2012 to mark the organization’s participant milestone. This was an organizational recognition, not a personal competitive award. Nelsen self-reports a 2017-2018 strategic-growth role. Later reporting credits him with ecosystem development and the 2017 token financing, while a participant credits him with organizing a 2018 hackathon. The reported US$82 million financing belongs to Blockstack, not to Nelsen. Nelsen’s self-reported Shell work involved multi-party energy origination and investment. Neo and Watr then aimed to combine verified identity, compliance, tokenization and smart contracts for energy, metals, agriculture and carbon markets. Nelsen self-describes as a seed investor, advisor and institutional-capital convener for TrustToken. In 2024 the SEC announced settled charges against TrustToken and TrueCoin concerning 2020-2023 offers and reserve representations. The SEC release does not name or charge Nelsen, and reviewed sources do not establish his dates, authority or involvement in the conduct. The company’s current positioning centers on discovering and assembling underused power assets, industrial sites and infrastructure corridors into financeable campuses supporting hundreds of megawatts to multiple gigawatts. These are company claims and a development thesis, not verified operating-capacity figures. Contemporary Startup Weekend and company records place Nelsen in Seattle; Swiss records identify him as an American domiciled first in Seattle, then Göschenen and Altdorf; the current Tomorrow Resources federal-registration mirror uses Truckee. Exact birth date, birthplace and private family details are not reliably established and namesake genealogy is excluded.
From Clint's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Co-founder at Watr
Intro paths
In turn, Clint can intro founders to Watr's investors below.
Watr's investors · 2
Experience
- Tomorrow Resources, Inc.Founder and Chief Executive Officercurrent2021 — present
- Startup LabsFoundercurrent2011 — present
- DEX AGMember of the Board of Directors2021 — 2024
- Watr / Watr StiftungCo-founder and Member of the Foundation Council2020 — 2024
- Shell TradingOrigination & Investments Team Member2018 — 2021
- Neo Holdings / Neo Holdings CH GmbHCo-founder, executive leader, shareholder and managing director2019
- BlockstackStrategic Growth & Institutional Capital2017 — 2018
- TicketbaseCo-founder and Chief Executive Officer2013
- Tomato BattleCo-founder2011
- Startup WeekendCo-acquirer, co-owner, nonprofit co-founder and Co-director2009 — 2011
Investments
Investor
Fundraiser7Neo Holdings CH GmbHStacksStartup Labs Taipei cohortStartup WeekendTrusttoken
Per curated public sources.
Founder fit — who Clint backs
Historically, the strongest fit was a high-energy team able to execute immediately after a Startup Weekend, diagnose simple operational wounds and continue beyond a prototype. His later syndicate language favors teams addressing concrete, large-industry problems at the intersection of software, energy, commodities, logistics and infrastructure, with access to difficult counterparties and a credible coalition strategy. Current Tomorrow Resources materials are company-development materials, not an open angel mandate. Founders should not infer that Nelsen is actively writing personal checks or that old Startup Weekend access, Shell relationships or Watr affiliation creates a current investment channel.
['An idea without a committed, complementary execution team', 'Assuming a Startup Weekend win automatically creates investment access', 'Calling institutional Startup Labs, Shell or Watr capital Nelsen’s personal money', 'Generic blockchain or AI branding without a physical-market use case', 'No path through regulation, compliance or institutional procurement', 'Pure networking without measurable continuation after the event', 'Unverified claims of infrastructure capacity or counterparty commitments', 'Expecting a current personal check size from an old AngelList syndicate page', 'Conflating Tomorrow Resources business development with an external venture fund', 'Ignoring conflicts between nonprofit community access and private selection']
How to pitch
First verify that Nelsen is actively considering outside investments; no current open mandate or check range is established. If relevant, lead with the team, concrete industrial problem, customer or counterparty evidence, scarce inputs controlled, regulatory path, technical architecture, capital required and the coalition needed to reach a financeable project. Explain what survives after the first event, pilot or token launch. Separate a request for investment from a request for infrastructure partnership, commodity-market access or strategic introductions. Disclose conflicts and economics plainly, especially where a community, foundation or nonprofit relationship feeds a private company.
Stages: pre-seed (historical Startup Labs), seed (self-reported and directory-limited), strategic project origination · Sectors: AI data-center infrastructure, energy, commodities, power generation and transmission, supply-chain logistics, ports and shipping, blockchain and digital identity, commodity trading, industrial software, startup-community tools
Editorial inference from Clint's portfolio, writing and public record — not a published mandate.
Investment themes
8 documented themes from Clint's essays, talks and portfolio, grouped by what they say about founders.
▶More themes7
Entrepreneurship is learned through compressed action
Startup Weekend’s format emphasized pitching, self-selected teams, implementation, feedback and relationships within 54 hours rather than passive instruction.
For founders: Show what the team built, tested and learned under a deadline.
Great teams matter more than weekend ideas
Nelsen’s Startup Labs comments focused on whether a promising Sunday team could keep executing, not merely whether its demo generated excitement.
For founders: Demonstrate commitment, complementary skills and post-event momentum.
Fragile prototypes need small, timely interventions
Startup Labs was designed to apply modest capital and mentorship immediately after a weekend, when team friction or a small resource gap could otherwise stop continuation.
For founders: Identify the smallest financing or operating intervention that unlocks the next proof point.
Capital structure should fit operating cash flow2012
Tomato Battle used a revenue-based loan whose payments varied with sales rather than immediately selling equity or accepting fixed bank-style installments.
For founders: Match financing repayment and dilution to the business model instead of defaulting to venture equity.
Large-industry change requires anchor counterparties
Nelsen’s Shell, Watr and Tomorrow Resources descriptions repeatedly center on assembling sovereign, corporate, utility, technical and capital partners around complex opportunities.
For founders: Map the coalition, incentives, rights and anchor participant needed to make a project bankable.
Identity, compliance and traceability can modernize commodities
Neo/Watr materials argue that verified identities, smart contracts and digital records can reduce friction, expand liquidity and track environmental attributes in physical commodity markets.
For founders: Treat compliance and provenance as product infrastructure, not an afterthought.
AI growth is constrained by physical infrastructure
Tomorrow Resources frames AI deployment as an origination problem spanning land, generation, grid connection, gas, water, fiber, permits and development rights.
For founders: For infrastructure pitches, prove control and deliverability of physical inputs before projecting compute scale.
▶Health, frontier & community1
Distributed local organizers create global reach
Startup Weekend scaled with volunteer facilitators and organizers adapting a common format to local entrepreneurial communities.
For founders: Use repeatable frameworks while giving local operators real agency.
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Clint NelsenStartup Weekend Attendees Connect, Compete
Daily Nexus · dailynexus.com
How do you bankroll a tomato battle in Seattle?
KNKX Public Radio · knkx.org
Startup Labs to bankroll best and brightest from Startup Weekend
GeekWire · geekwire.com
Could a Start-Up Competition Help Haiti?
The New York Times / You’re the Boss · archive.nytimes.com
Herding Code 85: Clint Nelsen on Startup Weekend
Herding Code · herdingcode.com
HC Insider with Clint Nelsen
HC Group / Neo · neo.co
Writing
Frequently asked questions
- Which Clint Nelsen is this?
- The American entrepreneur tied to Marc Nager and Franck Nouyrigat at Startup Weekend, then Startup Labs, Ticketbase, Blockstack, Shell, Neo/Watr and Tomorrow Resources. He is not the Iowa State and University of Washington-trained Seattle construction manager or the University of Iowa-trained financial-services risk executive with the same name.
- Did Clint Nelsen originally create Startup Weekend?
- No. Andrew Hyde created the first event in Boulder in 2007. Nelsen and Marc Nager bought Hyde’s venture in June 2009, converted it to a nonprofit and scaled it with Franck Nouyrigat. Co-founder is accurate for the formalized nonprofit, not for the original concept.
- Was Nelsen an owner or only an employee?
- He was a joint buyer and co-owner of the for-profit venture before nonprofit conversion. The whole purchase was reported at $150,000, but his individual contribution, financing and ownership percentage are not public.
- How long did he work at Startup Weekend?
- He acquired it in 2009 and left his full-time role in 2011, remaining an unpaid director. His self-profile carries a co-founder affiliation through December 2017, but the exact director end date and duties after the 2015 Techstars acquisition are not independently documented.
- Did Nelsen work for UP Global or Techstars?
- The reviewed acquisition histories credit him as a Startup Weekend formalizer but identify Marc Nager as UP Global CEO and the Techstars community executive. No reliable source establishes Nelsen as a salaried UP Global or Techstars employee; his later profile’s Startup Weekend co-founder dates should not be converted into those titles.
- Did he make money when Techstars acquired UP Global?
- No personal proceeds are documented. Marc Nager said no economics changed hands for him or UP Global staff, and Nelsen had already left full-time Startup Weekend work. The transaction should not be presented as a verified personal cash exit.
- What was Startup Labs?
- A closely affiliated for-profit seed and acceleration initiative created to help promising Startup Weekend teams continue. Moreynis supplied initial capital, and regional programs used partner and local-investor money. The original Washington LLC was administratively dissolved in 2015 even though Nelsen still self-lists the founder affiliation.
- Was Startup Labs criticized?
- Its proximity to the nonprofit raised a legitimate perceived-conflict question: a private vehicle could gain early access to teams cultivated by a grant-supported community. Nelsen acknowledged potential friction and argued that aligned insiders understood the format and could help teams survive. No reviewed record establishes an adjudicated breach or personal misconduct.
- What did Nelsen do at Blockstack and Shell?
- He self-reports strategic growth and institutional-capital work at Blockstack in 2017-2018 and membership in Shell Trading’s Origination & Investments team from 2018-2021. TechCrunch corroborates the Blockstack ecosystem role and connects his later Watr work to former Shell leadership, but exact compensation and transaction-level authority are not public.
- Is he still at Watr?
- He remains historically identified as a co-founder, but Swiss registry records show his Watr Stiftung and DEX AG board registrations ending in November 2024. Current public work centers on Tomorrow Resources, so no current Watr operating title is asserted.
- What is Clint Nelsen doing now?
- He publicly identifies as founder and CEO of Tomorrow Resources, which originates large AI data-center campuses and associated power, gas, transmission, land, water, fiber, permitting and capital partnerships. Public descriptions are development claims; completed capacity and revenue are not independently established.
- What are his verified personal investments?
- The strongest personal-capital evidence is his joint purchase of Startup Weekend, a self-reported TrustToken seed investment and Swiss registry ownership in Neo Holdings CH; a directory also attributes Blockstack. Startup Labs checks, Shell transactions and Watr backers are institutional. No complete personal portfolio or check range is public.
- Does the TrustToken SEC case implicate Nelsen personally?
- The SEC’s 2024 release names and charges TrustToken and TrueCoin, not Nelsen. His profile calls him a seed investor and advisor but gives no dates or authority. Without evidence linking him to the alleged 2020-2023 conduct, the matter is organizational context, not a personal finding.
- Where did Nelsen study?
- A contemporary book-derived biography identifies him as a University of Wisconsin–Whitewater graduate and says he lectured about entrepreneurship at Stanford; degree, field and dates were not found in a primary alumni record. Iowa State and University of Washington construction credentials belong to a namesake and are excluded.