Our Vision
We’re building toward a world where people live with purpose, do meaningful work, and build ventures that measure success by human flourishing—not growth alone. A recognized hub where purpose-driven companies, leaders, and resources grow together.
Our Core Values
Pursue Purpose
Human flourishing is deeply connected to living and working with intention. When purpose is clear, effort becomes meaningful and contributions endure.
Choose Interdependence
Meaningful and lasting work is created together. Progress at scale requires trust, shared responsibility, and mutual reliance.
Take Ownership
Flourishing requires agency. People and organizations grow by taking responsibility for shaping outcomes and stewarding what they’ve been given.
Practice Radical Transparency
Clarity enables growth. Open and honest exchange allows people and organizations to learn, adapt, and build trust over time.
Commit to a Growth Mindset
Human potential is not fixed. Growth comes from curiosity, reflection, and the willingness to learn from experience, feedback, and changing circumstances.
Build for Flourishing
Environments, systems, and organizations should be intentionally designed to support long-term human flourishing and meaningful contribution.
Our Mission
NextBetter Ventures develops people and ventures that enhance human flourishing. We build companies, develop leaders, and steward resources so that meaningful work can endure, adapt, and scale.
We do this through three pillars—Venture Architecture, Human Development, and Resource Stewardship—helping purpose-driven ideas grow sustainably while the people behind them grow as humans and leaders.
About the Founder
Lucas “Coach Woody” Woody spent the first chapter of his career in health and fitness—front desk at 4:30 AM, then personal trainer, fitness director, director of operations, and eventually founder of his own performance company. Every client conversation started with a body goal. Almost every one ended somewhere deeper: I feel stuck. I’m exhausted. I don’t know what I’m working toward.
That pattern became the work. Over fourteen years of coaching founders, owners, and leaders, one thing proved true again and again: direction comes first. Purpose, values, and a clear path are the foundation everything else is built on.
Then the same pattern showed up in the ventures. Purpose-driven start-ups with real conviction and real potential kept stalling for the same handful of reasons—mission drift, burnout, misaligned teams, growth without structure. Passion alone wasn’t enough to sustain them. They needed architecture, developed people, and resources aimed at what mattered.
NextBetter Ventures is the answer to that pattern: a venture studio that develops people and ventures together, so meaningful work can last.
Coach Woody still teaches entrepreneurship at Purdue, mentors founders through several accelerator programs, and hosts the NextBetter Podcast. He’s happiest when someone wakes up with purpose, takes ownership of what’s in front of them, and builds something that helps others flourish.
Highlights
Founder, NextBetter Ventures
Founded or advised 12+ start-up companies
Host of the NextBetter Podcast
Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, Purdue University
14+ years developing leaders, founders, and teams
Mentor with gBeta, Plug and Play, Elevate Ventures, and Purdue Innovates