I have taken a technology company from private rounds through a Nasdaq listing to a strategic buyer. What decides that outcome is whether the technology solves a problem someone is already paying a lot to live with.
Noel Knape is a Partner and Managing Director at Flathead Forge, a Houston-based fund investing in the infrastructure of the Industrial Supercycle. He brings more than three decades of experience across finance, operations, capital markets, and emerging industrial technology, with a particular focus on building and financing companies through commercialization and growth.
Before joining Flathead Forge, Noel served as Chief Financial Officer of Monogram Technologies, an orthopedic robotics company developing next-generation robotic systems for joint replacement surgery. He helped lead the company through multiple rounds of private financing, raising approximately $30 million, and through its transition to the public markets with a Nasdaq listing. He remained with the company through its acquisition by Zimmer Biomet, one of the world's largest orthopedic medical-device companies.
Earlier in his career, Noel held senior finance and operating roles across a range of businesses and industries, developing experience in corporate finance, M&A, capital formation, financial reporting, governance, and operational execution. His career has included working with both established businesses and early-stage companies where translating technology into a commercially scalable enterprise requires disciplined capital allocation and financial infrastructure.
At Flathead Forge, Noel leads finance and operations and plays a central role in investment underwriting, transaction structuring, portfolio construction, and fund management. He works closely with portfolio companies on financing strategy, financial systems, governance, acquisitions, and commercialization. His investment approach is shaped by his experience taking emerging technology from private financing through the public markets and ultimately to a strategic exit, with a focus on identifying technologies that solve expensive, real-world problems in industrial markets.
Noel holds an International MBA from American Graduate School of Global Management (Thunderbird) and is an active CPA. He lives in the Houston area with his family and enjoys golf, skiing, sailing, and spending time outdoors.
