The Propel(x) Podcast: Recent Episodes
Swati Chaturvedi
Discussion Points
- (4:12) What does the NSF look for in companies?
- (6:05) How does the selection process work?
- (10:05) What are the non-technical elements of the awards program?
- (19:12) Examples of breakout success in the NSF portfolio
- (21:14) What distinguishes a novel technology from a promising technology based startup?
- (24:45) NSF's outreach efforts for diversity and inclusion
- (29:16) Why should the government finance technology risk?
References
- National Science Foundation
- Bayh-Dole Act 1980 (Wikipedia)
- Ginko Bioworks
- Opus 12
- Marinus Analytics
Topics
- Grant funding for science startups
- Startup investing
- Commercialization
- Investing diligence
- Evaluating team
Get to know Propel(x)
- Propel(x) Twitter
- Propel(x) LinkedIn
- Join Propel(x) as an Accredited Investor
- Andy Reed
Discussion points
- (2:43) What is Deep Tech?
- (6:26) How do you gauge commercial readiness for Deep Tech?
- (8:51) How do you evaluate the unique risk factors of Deep Tech startups?
- (13:42) How does alignment and investment strategy create value as a venture investor?
- (18:35) Bridging the technical founder to successful commercial founder gap.
- (25:20) What areas of deep tech will be the biggest drivers of innovation and growth in the next investment period?
References
- Tsingyuan Ventures
- TEEC Angels
- Tsingyua University
- Zoom
- Ginko Bioworks
- Synthetic biology (Wikipedia)
- Ambilight smart glass
- Mission Bio
- WeRide
- Plus.ai
- Applied Ventures
- TDK Ventures
- xMems microspeakers
- Subtle Medical
Topics
- Deep Tech (deeptech) startups
- Artificial intelligence
- Synthetic biology
- Genetics
- Autonomous driving
- Venture Capital Investing
- Investing Strategy
- Technical risk & due diligence
Get to know Propel(x)
- Propel(x) Twitter
- Propel(x) LinkedIn
- Join Propel(x) as an Accredited Investor
- Andy Reed
Discussion Points
- (0:30) What is product-go-to-market fit?
- (3:00) Why isn't Climate Tech just Cleantech 2.0?
- (8:00) How do you source good deals efficiently?
- (17:00) Who else supports Climate Tech?
- (23:31) What lessons did you learn from your first successful investment that are still relevant today?
References
- Baruch Future Ventures
- Jason Holt
- Tom Baruch
- Geltor
- Cyclotron Road
- MIT Engine
- Breakthrough Energy Ventures
- New Energy Nexus
- Lawrence Berkeley National Labs
- US Department of Energy
- National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (ICORPS)
- M34 Capital
- Maxygen
- Frances H. Arnold Group at Caltech
- Kauffman Foundation
Topics
- Investment Diligence
- Hard Tech
- Tough Tech
- Carbon Tech
- Decarbonization
- Technology commercialization
- Cleantech
- Synthetic Biology
- Product Market Fit
- Electrification
- Sustainable Protiens
- Pivots
- Climate Catastrophe
- Wildfires
- Climate Change
- Hope
- Solar and Wind Energy
- Geothermal
Get to know Propel(x)
- Propel(x) Twitter
- Propel(x) LinkedIn
- Join Propel(x) as an Accredited Investor
- Andy Reed
In this episode we begin to analyze the Internal Risks of a company - Technology, Regulatory and IP risks are covered in this episode. Join us as we define each of the risks, and discuss the key considerations for each.
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
In Episode 4 we had put out a framework for 'How to Evaluate a Startup'. Episodes 6 and 7 discussed 'How to Evaluate the Market' and 'How to Evaluate the Team', respectively. In this episode, we continue the discussion on how to evaluate a startup. Today we discuss how to evaluate competition.
Highlights of this episode: - Status quo, or how customers currently solve their problem, is always a competitor (often the main competitor) - Good competitors improve one of three things for their customers: 1) they are lower cost 2) they are higher performance or 3) they are more convenient. - Talking to customers or industry experts is one of the best ways to learn about competition.
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
Join us as Swati discusses the process of investing with Gopi Rangan, an experienced investor in the insurance technology sector. We discuss the explosion of Micro VCs in recent times. Additionally, Gopi shares his process, how he sources companies, how he interacts with them, what characteristics he specifically looks for and he manages his portfolio post investment. As an early stage investor, Gopi seeks to understand how he can help the company grow and thrive.
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
Professional investors cite 'team' as the single most important criterion that influences the investment decision. Yet, there are no precise metrics that guide the evaluation of the team. The assessment is often fuzzy, vague, and based on how the investor 'feels' about the team. This episode presents three tips that early stage investors should keep in mind when evaluating team: 1. Early stage investing is subject to behavioral bias. Be aware of your biases. 2. Separate fact from opinion and focus on the facts when evaluating team. 3. Ask questions to cross check facts. E.g., who is really on the payroll vs. an advisor at large.
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
In Episode 4 we presented a framework to Evaluate startups. The framework lays out several criteria along which you may evaluate startups. Market size is one of those criteria.
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
In this Episode, Andy and Swati discuss how to understand the Market for a startup. Questions we discuss are: Why is an understanding of market potential relevant (and what is market potential anyway)? How should one estimate the market size? Does every startup really have to have a humungous market running into many billions of dollars?
Join us as we discuss these topics and more, that surround the key elements of startup evaluation - Market Size.
Join us as we interview our guest - Kiki Tidwell - a prolific angel investor, philanthropist, and cleantech evangelist. Among her many activities, Kiki is also a Founding Member of the Tech Advisory Group for the Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice. More on Kiki here: https://humanrights.stanford.edu/people/kiki-tidwell
In this episode, we discuss how Kiki invests. Her process - starting from sourcing deal-flow, conducting diligence, evaluating the team and more. Kiki also shares her insights on success and failure and how to build a portfolio.
We must emphasize, as always, that investing in early stage, unproven startups, is a high risk activity. There is no exact science to evaluating these companies. These investments carry the risk of complete capital loss.
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
Startup investing is inherently different from investing in the public markets. There is no 10K or 10Q to review, no analyst commentary, no chatter on Seeking Alpha, there aren’t even discounted cash flows. How does one evaluate such a company?
We discuss in this episode a framework to evaluate startups. We identify eight factors that can be used to evaluate a company: 1) Market risk 2) Competition risk 3) Execution risk (call it team risk) 4) Technology Risk 5) Regulatory risk 6) Financing risk 7) IP risk 8) Exit potential.
We had also published a blog on this topic, that you might want to read: https://blog.propelx.com/conducting-diligence-on-deep-technology-startups/
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
Learn the process of investing from a seasoned investor - Dr. Ronjon Nag, Director of MIT Alumni Angel Investors of Northern California as well as the Founder and Managing Director of the R42 Group. Dr. Nag is a serial entrepreneur (having sold his companies to Blackberry and Motorola), an active and prolific angel investor, as well as a lecturer in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University. His newest venture - the R42 Group invests in AI, Science and Biotech, 5G and FinTech. Check it out at R42Group.com
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
This episode discusses how you can get started in angel investing - how many companies should you plan to invest in, how many should you evaluate before you make an investment, where to find deal-flow, how to connect with early stage companies and more...
Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.
Andy Reed interviews Swati Chaturvedi to discuss the topic: Who should be an angel investor?
Discussions focus on three key criteria as you consider angel investing:
- Are you an accredited investor (in the United States) or permitted by your country's regulations to invest in startups?
- Will you be able to set aside sufficient capital to build a diversified portfolio? Swati suggests a rule of thumb to consider - invest in 20 or more startups to build a diversified portfolio. Assuming you can set aside a minimum of $5,000 per startup, you should be able to invest at least $100,000 in startups over 3-4 year.
- Are you able to stomach the risk? Andy and Swati discuss startup volatility and high risk nature.
If you are ready to be angel investor, join us at https://www.propelx.com/
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