Meridian Ventures was born out of a shared experience: deferred MBAs. Now, founders Devon Gethers and Karlton Haney have raised a $35 million fund to back pre-seed and seed-stage companies started by people like them. Gethers, 29, told TechCrunch the idea for a firm arose after he met Haney in Harvard’s MBA deferred admission program in 2020. Gethers grew up in poverty in Washington State, studied behavioral science and finance at the University of Utah, then moved into private equity before launching a company of his own (which he later exited). Haney, meanwhile, grew up on a farm in Arkansas, raising chickens, birds, and “anything that flew,” Gethers said about his business partner.  Haney, 28, went on to study industrial engineering at the University of Arkansas and worked as an investor at the family office, The Stephens Group.…