Angel Invest Boston

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In the final episode of the podcast I, Sal Daher, review important lessons I learned in seven years of interviews and decades of investing. In my voice and in the voice of my guests, I recapitulate the discoveries most salient to me and invite listeners to find their own nuggets in the sound archive which will remain available on Apple Podcasts and other platforms. AngelInvestBoston.com will have 250 episode pages with sound, notes, and in most cases, annotated transcripts.

I’ll be publishing new content at Substack.com focused on keeping fit as we age. You can find me there under Sal Daher or under Aging Fit. Startups will show up occasionally. Here’s a link to the Substack:

Sal Daher's Substack - Aging Fit

Thanks for listening.

Highlights:

· Lesson 1: Company-Specific Risk – The Bad & The Good – Why It Matters in Startup Investing
· Lesson 2A: “You know nothing, Jon Snow” – The Need for Tight Risk Control
· Lesson 2B: “You Know Nothing, Jon Snow” – Whence a Real 400X Return
· Lesson 3A: What to Look for in a Startup? What to Look for in a Founding Team?
· Lesson 3B: The Most Significant Results from Ed Roberts’ Research
· Lesson 4A: It’s Important Not to Keep Your Idea Secret but to Talk to Many People About It
· Lesson 4B: The Google Problem – Why Founders Should Be Open About their Ideas
· Lesson 3B Recapitulated: Robust Finding: Larger Teams Do Better; Startups Tend to Have Teams that Are Too Small
· Lesson 5A: Focus, Focus, Focus
· Lesson 5B: Focus, Focus, Focus
· Lesson 6: Take the Money & Run
· Lesson 7: It’s a Long Way from the Lab to the Clinic
· Why I Am Ending the Podcast – Archive Available – See You at Substack.com

Guest: Sal Daher

Topics: angel investing strategies, co-founders, biotech, exits, pivots, partnerships with strategics

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Lessons Learned is a compilation of hard-won lessons in angel investing. They come from my podcast interviews over these seven years as well as from my three decades of angel investing. Hints on how to build your portfolio, how to eliminate sure losers and other practical advice will be offered in the voice of my guests and in my own voice. Sorry that the release of the episode is delayed until Friday 12/29 due to personal matters and this year's Christmas calendar. Thanks for listening.

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Repeat life science entrepreneur Tom Weldon is now taking on aging. He is commercializing a compound to extend health span developed at a prominent institution. Composed of substances generally considered as safe by the FDA, the formula has shown impressive results in mice and, to date, in one human, Tom himself. Intriguing chat with a dynamic founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Tom Weldon
What Problem Rejuvant Addresses
"... Then the first time the combination is not additive, take it out. That's a process that would probably take a year or two, but it ensures that you'll have an optimal result. Or, you can buy Rejuvant, because we did all that work already..."
"... if you decide that you'd like to try Rejuvant and you go on subscription, we give you a free DNA methylation test at time zero and then we give you another one after six months, which is included in the cost ... They're different and they have different algorithms. All of them except two that I'm aware of, one of which is what we provide, requires your current chronologic age as an input..."
"... It was actually discovered by Steve Horvath and he developed the first biologic clock ... Your DNA is damaged every second that you're alive. Prior to puberty, your body does an exceptional job of repairing all of that. However, after that, it starts to decline..."
"... Is there any evidence that repair is actually at work? How do we know that it's not just removing the methyl molecule from the DNA, and you have damaged the DNA that's just not methylated?..."
"... How long have you been on Rejuvant?..."
How Tom Became an Entrepreneur
"... This company had this trajectory and now it's just gone Chapter 7 recently. That is the tough side of these life science technology companies because the technology moves so fast..."
"... very difficult space. What I have seen in the medical device space, these 510k pathway devices where there is an existing predicate device, and then you can design something which is, no worse and perhaps much better than the predicate device..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Life science board member and advisor Paul Hartung is back with wise tips on how to fund your biotech startup in these had times. Listen or read below.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Paul Hartung, Experienced Biotech Board Member & Advisor
Paul Hartung Closed a Financing in the Midst of the Last Recession
Seek Out the Right Grant Funding, Watch Expenses
Pitch Contests Don’t Provide Much Money but Can Spotlight Your Startup
Peer-Reviewed Publications Can Raise Visibility of Life Science Startups
Look Outside Your Area, Consider Syndication Across Angel Groups
Watch Out for Funds That Can’t Make Good on Term Sheets – It Happens More than You Think
Be Upfront About Your Future Funding Plans
“The nature of the investors change. For each stage of financing what you want to do is make sure that you identify who the lead investor is. Very important.”
Lead Investors
Summation
About Strategic Investors

Topics: biotech, fundraising, raising money

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In my fourth decade of angel investing, I’m happy with my investments but regret having put them in my IRAs. Here are pros and cons of having illiquid, operationally complex and hard-to-value assets in IRAs.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Investing in Startups via an IRA Can Be Burdensome, Here’s Why
How I came to Have so Much of my Net Worth in my IRAs
Thank You Citibank for Encouraging a Young Banker to Save
Thank You Bob Smith for Allowing Me to Fish When the Fish Were Running
Why The Fish Are Not Running Any More
“Some weeks I spend half my time dealing with IRA-related paperwork. I have many better things to do with my life.”
The Initial Investment Is a Lot of Work for Everyone Involved
Corporate Actions Guarantee Constant Attention to the IRA Is Required
Then There Are the Required Annual Valuations
It Gets Worse!
The Upside of Investing in Startups from the IRAs
Conclusion

Topics: angel investing strategies

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Raul Rosa, artist, musician, and sound engineer, discusses his work with the Angel Invest Boston Podcast, some of his favorite interviews, and his own startup, Podspot.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Raul Rosa
Raul's Favorite Interviews
Fortified Bike
Howard Stevenson
PodSpot
Wistia
Piction Health
Savran Technologies
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, COVID, robotics/AI

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Katharine Woodman-Maynard has for seven years created a gorgeous and enduring graphic manifestation of this podcast on the web. I am fortunate to have this gifted artist enhancing my work with her talent and wisdom. She returns to talk about her favorite interviews, to share her journey as a professional artist and to offer valuable advice for those starting out.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Katharine Woodman-Maynard
Katharine's Perspective of Startups
"... I'm very grateful to you for having connected me with Drew Madson, who founded Readlee. Tell a little bit of the story. How did you connect with Drew?..."
EndeavorOTC
"... I found it fascinating in the interview that Eddie talked about how it was actually shown in trials to be more effective for adults than it was for children..."
"... Human interaction resets us, brings us back to normalcy because if we're off on our own, we go batty..."
Katharine's Professional Artistic Journey
Sticking to a Schedule
"... Once you can learn self-compassion for yourself and realize you're human and you make mistakes and not waste so much energy on being negative and hard, I think you're a lot freer to, advance in your career because you're not so hard on yourself..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, ed tech, platform

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Ethan Pierce’s startup Adaptive Reader makes great literature accessible to kids not reading at grade level. Harnessing generative AI with sophisticated prompts and quality control by humans creates compelling texts based on the classics. Ethan and his co-founder even have a promising business model. Great chat!

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Ethan Pierce
Adaptive Reader and What it is Solving
"... It's much better if they have this contact with the author, albeit in a structure that's simplified. After all, we're always reading Dante in the translation. We're reading Homer in the translation. It doesn't make it any less compelling..."
Teachers' Opinions of Adaptive Reader
"... That controversy, the conversation, the passion around helping these students read is really important and that's why we've been really grounded in research here and these conversations with these experts. I think talking to these teachers, the biggest challenge that they face is just getting kids to read at all..."
Ethan's Entrepreneurial Journey
Palette
How Adaptive Reader Came About
How Can Listener's Participate in Adaptive Reader

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, product, robotics/AI

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Brian Denenberg is an angel investor, company advisor, and co-founder. Here, he discusses some of the companies he has been involved with, including Fairmarkit, Tive, and his work at Venture Lane Studio helping startups grow sales.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Brian Denenberg
Fairmarkit
How Fairmarkit Was Started
Tive
Inbound vs Outbound Marketing
"... What Tive did, he innovated a tracker that goes on shipments, and it could go anywhere in the world, and it could not just tell you where the shipment was. It could tell you the condition of the shipment..."
"... Scientists don't know the huge difference that exists between the lab and the clinic and industry. There's a massive gap and they think that something that works in the lab will work in a clinic or an industry very easily, but it mostly does not..."
Venture Lane Studio
"... We call it a studio. It gives us the flexibility to work in different ways. The best way to think of it is like an accelerator. It's really bespoke. We take three to four companies at a time. We're not looking to doing big cohorts..."
Cedience
CIRT
Qase
Brian's Background
How Brian Got into Startups
Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech, discovering entrepreneurship

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Brian Freeman, MD, co-founded Energesis to help overweight people lose weight by growing their energy-burning brown fat. Experiments in mice have shown this approach works with GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy in accentuating weight loss. Great chat with a compelling repeat founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Brian Freeman
Energesis: The Problem it's Solving
"... What we're doing is we're acting on those cells and basically nudging them to make more mature brown fat cells, so that the mass of the brown fat cells increases..."
"... That's pretty much it. We're trying to recapitulate cold exposure in a pill. That's right..."
"... one of the issues with weight loss due to, let's call it caloric restriction ... The body doesn't take it lightly because we've evolved not to starve, right? ... The normal physiologic response to that is to reduce metabolic rate. That makes it harder and harder to lose weight as your weight goes down, and it makes it very difficult to keep that weight off..."
Further Thoughts on Energesis
Brian's Entrepreneurial Journey
"... What if you could magically make everybody in America lean overnight, think of what that would do to healthcare costs. It would be reduced by at least two-thirds..."

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, product, founding story

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

My Walnut buddy Andy Bartlett, PhD brings great energy to the group and an expert’s perspective on computing. We talked about our favorite startups including Savran Technologies, evTS, and BioFeyn. He has interesting things to say about ChatGPT. We also had a great chat about his angel journey.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Andy Bartlett
Savran Technologies
"... three of the things I really love to see in startups is a founder like Çağrı that will go through walls, that's so important. Defensibility that they have a moat, so the strong patent portfolio..."
evTS
BioFeyn
"... We're talking about the University of Illinois Gies School of Business. I'm so impressed with the way the faculty is running that business school. They're running it like a disruptive business..."
"... They've gone ahead and they've kept this very affordable. The full program, it's 18 classes plus three capstones costs about $23,000 total..."
Andy's Entrepreneurial Background
"... My mother's family had entrepreneurship. My great-grandfather, Alonzo Dodge, started a Dodge Moving and storage company. I always thought my grandfather had founded it, but actually, it was his father. They always ran that. That was the family business..."
"... Eventually, I got my way into the electrical engineering department and I've embraced that for years and years..."
"... At Chrysler, I could draw a block diagram to model some algorithm I wanted to use for onboard diagnostic testing of the Chrysler vehicles. I could model it. I could simulate it. I could pull down a menu and immediately generate code that would run on a computer in the backseat of a test car. I would drive around and I could do my experiments and collect my data..."
Andy's Opinion on ChatGPT

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech, discovering entrepreneurship

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Kevin Majeres, MD, teaches cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) at Harvard Medical School. CBT is the gold standard to treat mental health conditions without drugs. CBT can also help with workplace issues such as burnout or anxiety. Dr. Majeres (pronounced Majors) has built a digital platform, OptimalWork.com, to improve the quality of work life. I learned really useful things from this interview.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Dr. Kevin Majeres
What OptimalWork is Solving
"... what we are doing is bringing the insights of cognitive behavioral therapy out of the normal context, which is working with the cognitive behavioral therapist. We're bringing that to people in the setting of their work..."
"... In fact, everything with regard to eating behaviors, there's abundant evidence that cognitive behavioral therapy works. At one level, you could see that the more someone was afraid of hunger, the more likely they would be to act on it..."
"... This is why I think anxiety is the most central emotion to understand because anxiety is the urge to avoid challenge as challenge..."
"... Cognitive behavioral therapy, I should say, it also tends to focus on what's happening right now. What are the emotions showing up right now? Where's the avoidance right now? Where does the reframing have to take place right now?"
"... I think that we need more and more things like Endeavor OTC that are helping to identify what are the particular mental muscles that can be worked out, and whether these things are going to be universally applicable, or maybe there are certain subpopulations that that's exactly the workout that they need..."
"... How would you compliment this Cybex machine for the mind with cognitive behavioral therapy?"
"... That in a sense is like what we teach people at The Golden Hour, is how to just briefly strategize what you're about to do, lay out the steps in advance, think of how you want to be stretching yourself in these steps, calm your mind down for a moment, and then launch into it. Then you're going to have full traction, and then you get momentum. Flow is really just momentum in work..."
Dr. Majeres' Psychiatry Journey
"... anxiety is adrenaline waiting to be reframed..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, scholar

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Jason Burke wants a better way for angels to invest in startups. He founded All Stage, the platform for angel investing that powers TBD Angels which he also co-founded. In this illuminating interview Jason discusses how All Stage helps the angel ecosystem. We also chatted about Moolah Kicks, and Folia Health.

Here's how All Stage's deal looks like in the All Stage platform:

All Stage deal within the All Stage product

Highlights:

● Sal Daher Introduces Jason Burke

● All Stage and the Problem it's Solving

● "... Because unless you've done sales a lot, it's really hard to deal with rejection, especially for scientific founders..."

● "... It's an example of some of the connective tissue between Showcase, the founder tool, and Community, the investor tool, to allow for that collaboration to happen..."

● Moolah Kicks

● Folia Health

● Jason's Entrepreneurial Journey

● "... I built the Tufts cross-country site, which today in 2023 doesn't seem groundbreaking, but at the time having a password on a site and detecting the IP address of who's using it and greeting them, that sort of stuff was absolute magic to do..."

● "... which came first? Angel investing or starting a company?"

● "... Was it a personal relationship, the first investment that you made as an angel?"

● Advice to the Audience

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Brazilian startup MirScience Therapeutics is working on reversing muscle loss. I had an illuminating chat with co-founder Milena Peregrino, PhD about the technology and the company’s progress.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Milena Peregrino
MicroRNAs and What They Do
MirScience Therapeutics
"... Keeping in mind that we're talking about mouse models, it has not gone into human trials yet, but this is very promising..."
"... We are going to need the non-rodent species. For now, we are planning to go with non-human primates, so monkeys..."
How MirScience Was Founded
Milena's Background
"... Most people die from the results from falls. It's not necessarily immediately, it's within six months. If they have a severe fall, old people decline very fast and so this has huge implication for people to age better. The ability to have muscular old people going around instead of frail people who fall over easily..."
Why Milena Chose Biology
Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Repeat founder Agustin Lopez Marquez, ex-nference, brings his AI savvy to food delivery with his new startup. Built on CloudKitchens’ infrastructure, Mowgli addresses pain points for diners, sous-chefs and drivers. Loved my chat with this brilliant and practical founder. Sample Mowgli’s homey meals from exotic places at https://khipi.com/. (delivers only to Boston & Cambridge for now)

Highlights:

● Sal Daher Introduces Agustin Lopez Marquez

● "... my co-founder, who happens to be my wife, Brinda, she was the one that started the company and the first product about a couple of years back..."

● "... The idea here is that these are meals for explorers, for people who like to venture out, travel. This is not pizza or your usual weekend fare for the kids, and so forth..."

● "... it's an infrastructure play that has happened in the last three to five years. It's modular kitchens that are just the kitchens that are meant for delivery-only companies..."

● "... You're going to become like the McDonald's of adventurous eating..."

● "... we already have more than 10 drivers that consistently, every Tuesday, they choose to work for Khipi as opposed to working for any other food delivery company..."

● "... I understand you have 400 customers ordering right now. 90 of those are super dedicated and they order every week. They give you 80% of your business..."

Topics: co-founders, culture, discovering entrepreneurship, robotics/AI

Title: AI for Discovery Dining

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Repeat founder Todd Zion, PhD is back to update us on exciting developments at his second biotech startup, Akston Bio. We also geeked out a bit on how these magical proteins are concocted in the company’s bioreactors. Fun and instructive chat with a stellar founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Todd Zion
Akston Bio's Founding Story
"... The antigen in this case is the person's own insulin..."
"... you're still taking advantage of that antibody portion, but you've neutered it so that it no longer alerts the immune system, but it retains one property that antibodies all have, which is the ability to recycle and last for very long periods of time in circulation..."
"... We took the veterinary candidates and we partnered those with a company called Dechra Pharmaceuticals, PLC. They're one of the leaders in veterinary pharma development and this is all in the public domain..."
"... We made a pivot at that point saying, 'Well, what if we just go back to the portion of the antibody that interacts with the immune system and make ourselves a vaccine against COVID-19 using the same exact technology?'..."
"... you're going to continue involved in manufacturing, or are you just going to buckle down in the veterinary space and spin off these other technologies to other players?..."
"... if you're not pivoting at least once in your development, you're probably doing something wrong..."
Todd's Funding History
"... what goes on in a bioreactor, which is the heart of what you're doing? Geek out a little bit of bioreactors..."
"... there are these companies that do nothing but transfect CHO cells to produce particular types of protein..."
Energesis

Topics: biotech, COVID, discovering entrepreneurship

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Rather than purloin my kids' Ritalin, I play EndeavorOTC daily to improve my attention and be sharper. Eddie Martucci, PhD is the founder of Akili that developed the app which is backed by real science. In fact, the kid's version is FDA-cleared to treat ADHD in 8-12 year olds. Don't miss this great chat.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Eddie Martucci
The Science Behind EndeavorOTC
"... This is not IQ. This is attention. You can have extremely high IQ or low IQ and have a high attention score and low IQ or vice versa..."
"... people with ADHD, it is not that they don't want to pay attention ... It's that that system of the brain that allows you to filter out what's irrelevant to your goal and focus in on what's relevant, that part of the brain, that interference filter is weakened..."
"... You cannot become addicted to it because can't do it for more than 25 minutes period..."
Eddie's Entrepreneurial Journey
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, product

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

The third time is the charm for Piction Health. Super founder Susan Conover is back to talk about the third iteration of their business model which is showing promise of scaling profitably. Her AI has ingested a million diagnosed images of hair and skin conditions and is now making dermatologists 15X more productive. See for yourself at PictionHealth.com.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Susan Conover
What Piction Health is Solving
"... We solve the full problem for patients, end-to-end. If they have a rash or a mole they're worried about, or a case like that, they submit a case, we review that case within 24 hours with our board-certified dermatologist, we call in prescriptions..."
A Typical Consultation at Piction Health
"... How did you discover this? How is it that it dawned on you that this is the direction to go in?..."
"... Dermatologists loving working with us is one of our really important metrics that we want to make it really easy for them..."
"... How can our listeners be helpful to Piction Health?"
Thoughts to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, robotics/AI

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Rotator cuff tears are debilitating. What if you could take action to avoid them? Rabeeh Majidi, PhD founded OrthoKinetic Track to do just that through a wearable device and a predictive algorithm. Listen to our chat to learn more.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Rabeeh Majidi
What OrthoKinetic Track is Solving
"... What I would say is that orthopedic telemedicine lacks comprehensive physical exams..."
"... How is it that your system solves a problem that is of real interest to the providers?..."
"... it's not just about what you know, but also who you know..."
How Rabeeh Became an Entrepreneur
Parting Thoughts to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Richard Vlasimsky is using AI to create a low-cost way of vastly expanding our ability to detect lung cancer early. His algorithm for detecting lung nodules in chest x-rays just got FDA clearance. Listen to this remarkable founder who’s done a lot with modest funding.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Richard Vlasimsky
What IMIDEX is Solving
"... how much your studies cost to get your 510k.."
"... We had multiple radiologists looking at the image, and then we had a final truther that adjudicated these independent reads that the radiologist did..."
"... Payers care about catching it early so that they have better outcomes and the costs are much lower ... The providers, being the medical systems or the physicians, typically hospitals, they care about it because of liability issues and also because they could have the opportunity to treat something and they would get the revenue stream..."
"... It's like a very fine-tooth comb picks up all the nits. The specificity relates to how many of those things that you pick up are actually what you're looking for and not false positives..."
Exit Possibilities
"... his definition of a startup is an enterprise that uses resources that it does not yet command..."
Richard’s Entrepreneurial Journey
"... You had this experience of joining a startup, then creating your own startup which was using machine learning..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, robotics/AI, founding story

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Growing new cartilage in your knees is a dream about to become reality. Listen to Ben Holmes, PhD, co-founder of Nanochon, to learn about his promising technology. Shoutout to Richard Meiklejohn of M2D2 for the introduction.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Ben Holmes
What Problem Nanochon is Solving
"... That's really what we're looking to do, is offer a solution that can be a much easier, much more cost-effective solution for providers, but also something that can really provide much better short and long-term outcomes for patients, and, ultimately, make the knee replacement obsolete..."
The Solution: What it is, and How it Works
"... We're seeing much better repair, and we're doing it with something that's an easy-to-use, off-the-shelf product..."
What is I-Corps?
Future Funding Plans
Names and Numbers
Ben's Entrepreneurial Journey
Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

During COVID, Readlee, Drew Madson’s startup, offered teachers a highly effective way to measure and remedy reading deficits among online learners. This led to the company being acquired by Paper, the tutoring platform. An inspiring interview.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Drew Madson
What Readlee is Solving
Behind the Scenes of Readlee
How Readlee Came to Be
"... COVID just highlighted this need that already existed..."
"...I highly recommend checking out The Opportunity Atlas. If listeners haven't looked at this, it's an amazing analysis of how certain interventions can actually improve people's ability to make more money over the course of their lives and have more opportunity and flourishing..."
"... What are large language models going to do to this space?..."
How Drew Developed an Interest in Education
Parting Thoughts

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, product

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Tech founder David Kessler discusses his journey as an angel investor in companies such as CleanFiber, Wasabi, and Hilltop Bio.

Sponsored by Purdue University enrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces David Kessler
"... This is like a very counterintuitive investment for angel investors, but it was angel-funded..."
The Importance of Updates
What Hilltop Bio Does
"... This is why I want to create infrastructure to help the angels support these academic founders with connections..."
Wasabi
"... helping founders hone their messaging, hone their presentation..."
"... Basically, the question is, what other ways of looking at the world are there and are you flexible enough to say that there are other ideas out there, and you may wind up pivoting into one of those..."
How David Kessler Got into Angel Investing
"... Start slow, start small, and don't invest alone..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, building wealth, product

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Salvatore Viscomi, M.D. is CEO of Carna Health, a digital platform that is making it easier for patients with chronic conditions to do tests at home that would normally have to be done in the hospital.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Salvatore Viscomi
What Carna Health is Solving
"... We connect the device to our platform, we collect the data, we stage the disease, and then we share that information with the patient-provider..."
"... The solution is really to bring the testing to the community, identify the 90% of people that don't know they have it, let them know they have it..."
"... The devices on their own without connectivity and without a platform are really not a scalable solution for the type of programs that are needed to make an impact on these diseases ... The doctors are connected through a physician portal, and we identify all the people that are being screened..."
Carna Health's Business Model
"... We don't want our patients, necessarily, who are not feeling well, have medical conditions, to be exposed to other patients and potentially get infected..."
"... One of the ways that Carna Health enables hospital home, is that it provides some of that testing in real-time, so patients don't need to go into a laboratory or phlebotomist..."
Digital Twins: What Are They?
Salvatore's Entrepreneurial Journey
Advice to the Audience
"... I think our system has been based on being very reactive to disease as opposed to prevention. The truth is that about 80% of longevity is determined by you and your environment and 20% by your genetics..."

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, product, robotics/AI

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Nick LaRovere and Matt Hawkins co-founded Pryzm.io seeking to simplify the process of buying a home via technology.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Nick LaRovere and Matt Hawkins
What Pryzm.io is Solving
"... Nick and I are both technical co-founders. We love building things, and so we're really excited to actually have our product in the hands of our early agent partners here in Boston..."
"... We take what is previously only agent-facing tooling, and we flip it around so that the consumer can really take charge of their own transaction. They can be empowered to work autonomously..."
The Importance of Renter's Insurance
"... real estate is a very congested space from technology perspective. What Pryzm is really trying to do is be that foundational information layer that the rest of the real estate experience can evolve from..."
"... at Pryzm we are very much aware of where the opportunity for technology to help automate that space is, to understand documentation, to summarize documentation, to frame it, or repurpose it in useful ways that are understandable by somebody who hasn't read a full mortgage before, and that is very much part of the Pryzm experience..."
How Pryzm.io Came to Be
"... To make not just the entire ecosystem, but especially that consumer, that person who's really the core, the crux of the transaction, to have a better experience..."
Parting Thoughts to the Audience

Topics: co-founders, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, robotics/AI

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Coach Jina Klapisch who helps Sal Daher keep off 100 pounds is our guest in this episode. Sal and Jina discuss how HMR clients are able to take off and keep off significant weight with no hunger or feeling of deprivation. Check out HMR Weight Loss and Lifestyle Coaching at:

https://www.hmrnatick.com/about_us

Highlights:

● Sal Daher Introduces Jina Klapisch

● What Sets HMR Apart From the Rest

● How HMR Works

● "... What you're doing here is helping people discover the things that are easy for them to do repeatedly and make them into habits, and not try to do stuff that's hard, impossible for them..."

● Decision-Free

● Sal's Diet Journey at the Age of Thirteen

● Oprah and HMR

● "... when you're trying to make a very big change in your life, whether it's quitting smoking or quitting drinking, or with food, you need to take a break from that substance ... so that you can see clearly as you lose this weight and start to really figure out who I am as an eater..."

● How Your Environment Can Affect Your Weight

● Outlive by Peter Attia MD

● "... The first half mile that you walk every single day is the golden half mile. The first mile you walk is the golden mile. That is going to add years to your life..."

● Advice to the Audience

● Jina's Background

● "... 80% of weight loss is keeping it off, the hard part..."

● Jina's Parting Thoughts

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After recording the full episode titled “Tech & Weight Control” I realized I left out some important technologies I use in making the shakes that support my keeping off 100 pounds. So, here’s a mini-episode with that staircase wit, as the French call it.

Highlights:

· Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker
· Ninja Bullet & Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Are Smaller & Cheaper Alternatives
· Shaker Bottles Are Real Calorie-Savers
· Acaia Digital Scale

Topic: Healthy Aging

Guest: Sal Daher

Title: Staircase Wit: Shake Tech

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Technology has long conspired against our health by making us fatter, more sedentary and sleepless. However, we can recruit tech as our ally in building healthy habits. Here is a review of the tech that is helping me keep off 100 pounds.

Highlights:

· Tech Can Make Us Less Healthy but It Can Be Good for Us Too
· Getting Help in Weight Loss Is Really Powerful, You Can’t Do It Alone
· MyFitnessPal App
· Noom App
· Fitbit Charge 4 Tracker + Fitbit App
· WHOOP Band and App
· Shoutout to the Great Products from Hoplark
· Plenity, FDA-Cleared Weight Control Device (Does Not Act Systemically)
· “I used it [Plenity] as an on-ramp for my HMR diet...”
· Fitbod
· Life Fitness Elliptical Cross-Trainer
· NordicTrack Cross Country Exerciser
· Tonal
· Bowflex SelectTech
· $19.99 Chin-up Bar from Amazon
· Marathon Sports
· PowerStep Arch Support
· The Drive: Podcast with Peter Attia, M.D.
· Huberman Lab Podcast
· HMR: for When You Are Really Serious About Losing Weight

Topic: Healthy Aging

Guest: Sal Daher

Title: Tech & Weight Control

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Getting enough sleep is important to Sal Daher’s effort to keep off 100 pounds. This short episode discusses how sleep connects with weight and how to improve sleep in support of weight control.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Why We Don’t Sleep Enough
Markets & Technological Innovation Are to Blame but the Solutions Need to Come from Individuals and Voluntary Associations, not from Leviathan
We Know We Need to Sleep More but the Cards Are Stacked Against It
Why Is Sleep So Important to Weight Control?
As We Age Our Need for Sleep Does Not Decline but Our Ability to Sleep Does
Why I do Early Morning Exercises Outdoors – GoodLux Technologies
Huberman Lab Podcast Offers Valuable Tips

Topic: Healthy Aging

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Sal Daher, CFA discusses the role of exercise in his keeping off 100 pounds of body weight with no drugs and no surgery, just good habits for eating, exercising and sleeping. Listen for tips and for encouragement on building your exercise plan.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Why Exercise?
How Much Exercise Do I need?
Don’t Get Overly Ambitious – Start Slowly but Build Steadily
Within Safe Limits Do Try to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone – Here’s Why
Think You Can’t Exercise? Listen to These Stories Then, Tell Me You Can’t Exercise
No Financial Stake in HMR, Just Immense Gratitude for How Much They Have Helped Me
It Matters When You Exercise
Short Bouts Build Up
Do a Variety of Exercises
Zone 2 / Zone 5 Training
Exercise Has an Unexpected Side Effect for Me
I’ve Never Regretted Exercising

Topic: Healthy Aging

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Nearly two years after starting the effort to take off and keep off 100 pounds, I took a series of trips. Here’s how I coped with the challenges of being on the road and maintaining my weight.

Highlights:

· Trips to Napa Valley, Hamburg and San Sebastián Took Me Away from my Usual Supports
· Travelling Heavy to Napa Valley
· “…there may be people who can travel and not gain weight. But I’m not one of them. Therefore, I have to do unreasonable things to keep off those 100 pounds.”
· Traveled Ultra-light to Hamburg – Just Carry-on
· A Thought about the Effects of Alcohol on Sleep
· Traveled Medium-heavy to San Sebastián – 23 Days Away Is a Long Time

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I’m Sal Daher and I’m keeping off 100 pounds of body weight with no drugs and no surgery. I’m doing it by building and reinforcing healthy habits. I eat a lot but do not put on weight. It was not easy to build the healthy habits I practice but it can be done.

Highlights:

· Introduction
· Food Intake Is the Main Driver of Weight Management, Not Exercise
· Repeatable Changes You Can Live With
· What I Eat for Lunch Regularly Now
· My Fat but Fit Delusion
· Your Longevity Is Up to You, Nature Does Not Care About It
· I Could Not Change My Habits Alone, Not Even in Singapore
· I Needed Help to Build and Maintain My New Habits
· A Cool Mind Trick
· There’s a Reason They Are Called “Support Groups”
· Getting Back to Diet – Here’s What I Eat Throughout the Day
· Breakfast – This One Is for You Ralph Wagner
· Hydration Is Really Crucial – Always Trying Cool New Drinks
· Mid-morning Snack – Efficiency Is the Keyword
· Lunch – See Above – But There’s More
· Vegetables and Fruits Are My Best Friends
· Mid-afternoon Snack – My Vitamix Blender Comes in Handy
· Supper – It’s a Lot of Food So I Try Not to Eat Too Close to Bed Time
· Evening Snack – The Treat I Look Forward to All Day Long
· After My Evening Snack, My Probiotic
· The Biggest Aha! Moment of My Dieting Career
· Conclusion

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Layne Saddler founded KeyBio to help pharmaceutical companies better identify genetic traits in patients that may explain differing responses to cancer treatments. KeyBio’s computational approach promises to add a new dimension to precision medicine, which now looks at the genetics of the tumor, by also incorporating the genetics of the patient to improve outcomes in clinical trials.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Layne Sadler
What KeyBio is Solving
"... The revenue is solely focused on cancer drug discovery and the reason for that is because that's where all the money is in the pharmaceutical industry..."
"... 90% of clinical trials fail and the cost averages around 792 million, spending about a billion dollars to run a trial..."
"... I developed this AI platform and I wanted to start collaborating with other principal investigators or heads of labs in the Boston area..."
"... The DNA of tumors, over time, it mutates and it becomes very different from the DNA of the host..."
Why Layne Chose Entrepreneurship

Topics: biotech, founding story, discovering entrepreneurship

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After a career at DARPA, defending America from cyber threats, Jason Syverson founded Siege Technologies which had a great exit. He now focuses on angel investing and philanthropy. Inspiring chat.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship, and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Jason Syversen
What Problem Siege Technologies is Solving
"... How do you measure and predict probability of success and collateral damage for a cyberattack? That is actually the technology we end up being acquired for when we sold..."
"... I took over 10X Venture Partners, which is an angel group..."
SportsVisio and What it is Solving
"... That was a really interesting example of you think that this is all figured out even in pro leagues, and yet it really isn't..."
Jason's Background
"... if you had a choice between being born in a family with trust funds where your parents really don't care about you or being born in a hardscrabble family where the parents do care about you, choose the latter..."
"... Human infants need nurturing and then beyond that, and when we're grown, we need a society around us that supports us ... This lack of connection is the biggest problem in America today..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, product

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Losing and keeping off 100 pounds is hard. Having done it, Sal wants to convince you that you too can gain control of your weight. No drugs, no surgery, just new habits patiently created and reinforced. Sal’s daughter Grace Daher conducted this frank interview.

Highlights:

Here’s the Story of How Sal Daher Lost 100 Pounds with No Drugs and No Surgery – You Can Do It Too
Sal Introduces His Daughter Grace Daher Who Is Asking the Questions
When Sal Was First Told He Needed to Lose Weight
A Big 13-Year-Old on a 1,300 Calorie Diet – Misery!
Early On It Was Evident that Sal Was Triggered by Food but His Brother William Was Not
Sal Became More Active in College but Bad Diet Caused Weight Gain
Lost Weight During Summer Break in Brazil – Less Eating More Moving
Sal Was Fit in College, But Still Overweight – Did Not Realize the Burden He Was Carrying Around
Sal Got Down to His Ideal Body Weight in His Mid 30s Out of Concern for His Blood Pressure
Lost the Weight on the HMR Program – No Hunger – More Is Better
How the Weight Came Back On – Grace Remembers Sal’s Struggles
HMR Program Turns Down Chance to Coach Oprah Winfrey Individually Because They Did Not Have Data to Support that Approach
Attending Weekly Support Group Is Essential for Success Long Term – Alcoholics Anonymous Example
Grace Was Shocked to See Sal’s Weight Loss After the Isolation from COVID
Sal Was Proud to Be Fat but Fit – His Doctor’s Warnings Were Not for Fit People Like Him
Being Overweight Has a Lot to Do with Genetics – We Have to Fight Our Genes
A Painful Health Event Motivated Sal to Take the Weight Off for Good
How the HMR Program Works
The First Three Weeks Were Hard – Plenity Helped
Maintaining Your Weight Loss Means Acquiring a Whole New Set of Habits
The Multiple and Marvelous Benefits of Exercise
There are No Magic Pills – Except Exercise
The Importance of Human Connectedness in Weight Control
Sal’s Regrets for Not Having Taken Off the Weight Earlier
Sal Is a Big Supporter of Statins
“How are you managing to keep off those 100 pounds?”
Committed to a Baseline of 10,000 Steps Per Day
Highly Structured Eating
Cool Facts About Coffee
“Why Is getting sleep so important?”
“…you need the support of a coach to help you work out those particulars…”

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With minimal funding, Gloria Kolb and her husband Eric Kolb have created a device to treat urinary incontinence that has received a coveted clearance from the FDA. Elidah, their startup, expects to exceed $3 million in DTC sales this year. I really enjoyed this story of a couple bootstrapping a promising business together.

Highlight:

· Sal Daher, CFA Introduces Gloria Kolb, Co-Founder of Elidah
· Elidah Is Solving Urinary Incontinence in Women – Device Induces Kegel Exercises
· Just Got FDA Clearance for Overactive Bladder
· “She only needs to wear it for 20 minutes a day, and then it turns off automatically.”
· Differentiation from Other Devices: FDA Cleared for Incontinence
· Randomized Control Trial Result: 75% of Women Experienced Statistically Significant Improvement
· “It drives me crazy that women do wait so long and they don't tell anyone and they just deal with it for a long, long time. I think part of it is they don't think that there's any other good options for them.”
· Seeking FDA Clearance for Over-the-counter Sales, Like Gelesis
· Medicare Covers the Device
· About 8,000 Customers Have Purchased ELITONE, Elidah’s Device
· “You have shocked me. I'm not easily shocked. That airline magazines will not talk about urinary incontinence.”
· “It's not quite the razor blade model. It is definitely about the treatment kit, which cost the $400.”
· Have Built Sales of $3 MM with Just $750K in Angel Funding Plus $1.8 MM in Grants
· “A third of women have the issues, over the age of 30, but then you go to over the age of 50 and it's 1 out of 2.”
· “It's actually the number one issue of why people entered nursing homes. “
· “To women out there, I just encourage them to get treated early.”
· How You Can Help Podcasts Like Gloria’s Be Found
· Gloria Kolb Studied Engineering at MIT & Stanford, Worked at Johnson & Johnson then Got Her MBA at Babson
· Wife-and-Husband Founding Team
· “...over the counter doesn't mean it's less of a product. It is a medical device, regulated product that went through all the hoops.”

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Spinal fractures from osteoporosis cause many to lose their independence. Industry veteran Dom Messerli has a better way of fixing the problem than the risky practice of injecting liquid epoxy into the spine. Using engineered human bone, Lenoss Medical is offering a treatment that is safer, effective and easier to administer than the current standard.

Highlights:

· Sal Daher, CFA Introduces Dom Messerli, Founder of Lenoss Medical
· “Many times, the patients lose their independence when those fractures happen.”
· Current Standard of Care is to Inject Liquid Epoxy into the Spine – What Could Go Wrong?
· Liquid Epoxy Can Leak into Blood Vessels and Create Blockages
· “When it's in the heart, usually what's prescribed is open heart surgery to take out the piece of cured cement out of the heart.”
· Lenoss Medical’s Solution: Engineered Human Bone Material to Build Up the Weakened Spine
· Grafting of Same-Species Bone Material Is Decades Old – What’s new Is Applying the Approach to Spinal Fractures
· “...conducive for new bone formation.”
· There’s No Donor Matching or Donor Rejection Issue Since No Living Cells Are Implanted
· Lenoss Medical Was the Subject of Dom’s MBA Degree Project
· Lenoss Medical Plans to Go to Market Via Distributors Specializing in Products for Spinal Treatments
· The Argument for Hospitals Is Reducing Risk and Simplifying the Process
· FDA Approval Process Was Relatively Low-Burden, Human Cell and Tissue Product Pathway
· Dom Messerli’s Immigrant Story
· “Eventually, I was affected with the layoff. I was waiting for that day. The next day is when I started Lenoss Medical.”
· “...I feel we can have a positive impact with these patients with osteoporosis and the spinal fractures. That drives me.”

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A miserable New England day had avid cyclist Eric Janszen dreaming of better indoor riding. Together with co-founder Eric Malafeew, he launched VirZOOM which now has 40,000 users on its virtual reality platform with great engagement. Fascinating conversation about virtual games becoming sport.

Highlights:

· VirZOOM Gets Grant from Major VR Player for a Joint Development Project
· Sal Daher Introduces Eric Janszen, Co-Founder of VirZOOM
· Ongoing Crowdfunding Raise on StartEngine
· VirZOOM Meets the Challenge of Helping People Enjoy Exercise
· Technical Co-Founder Eric Malafeew Worked on Big Hits at Harmonix Music
· VirZOOM Tech Lets Users to Do Cool Things Without Getting Motion Sickness
· Broke Out of the Limitations Imposed by Being a Bike-Based Platform
· “It sounds like you could actually play Quidditch on this.”
· How the Pivot Came About
· “Where we're heading is 100% without a bike.”
· Making It a Sport Rather than a Game Has Huge Economic Consequences
· Sal Speculates on the Possibility of VR Sport Slowing Cognitive Decline
· “What gets us up in the morning is all of the reviews that we get from our customers...”
· Average VirZOOM Customer Exceeds CDC Recommended Weekly Exercise
· The Cost of Getting on VirZOOM Is Modest: $300 for the Quest Headset & $12 per Month

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Caleb Wursten is an entrepreneurial prodigy who paid for college at Babson with a bike rental business. He’s now building a platform to provide digital nomads with fractional ownership of properties in desirable locations. International business executive Jon Aboitiz joined as co-host.

Highlights:

· Sal Daher Introduces Co-Host Jon Aboitiz and Caleb Wursten, Founder of Worldhaus.co
· “The pandemic unlocked this digital nomad lifestyle for millions of people.”
· Getting Expensive to Be a Digital Nomad as Airbnb Prices Go Up
· Fractional Ownership vs. Timeshares
· Owning 1/13 of Properties in Desirable Locations via an LLC
· “You're addressing a key factor, it seems, which is the cost of living and how to make it even more affordable...”
· “The first property is a $220,000 condo in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.”
· Can Choose Between Occupancy or Renting for Income
· Comparison to Fractional Ownership of Yachts
· Developers Are Responding to Demand from Digital Nomads with Attractive Designs
· How Cobu Intersects with Worldhaus
· “...we wanted it to be simple and scalable, so we can also expand to Portugal and Colombia, Thailand easily...”
· Examples of Exciting New Communities: Culdesac and Las Catalinas
· Property Developers Can Be Remarkably Inventive
· “They don't need to put up with the $3,000 rent for an isolating experience in a hundred-year-old house.”
· “It's not so much that Gen Z doesn't want home ownership, it's that no one can afford home ownership...”
· “I was super lucky in that both my parents are small business entrepreneurs...”
· Caleb Wursten’s Bike Rental Business Paid for Babson
· “Then in that time I got a couple rental properties, which is also a common theme with digital nomads...”
· Real Estate Developers Are Already Designing Projects for Digital Nomads
· “For, let's say $4,000, you can now own a season, an entire season in Bulgaria.”
· Jon Aboitiz’s Parting Thoughts

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, platform

Title: Worldhaus.co

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Angel investor John Williams comes from a background of leadership in sales and marketing in Big Pharma. He puts his experiences to work in helping his portfolio companies which include Lenoss Medical, Elidah and Eflex Energy. John’s affable personality made this really a fun chat.

Highlights:

· Sal Daher Introduces Angel Investor John Williams
· Elidah – Solving Postpartum Incontinence
· Gloria Kolb of Elidah Embodies Howard Stevenson’s Definition of the Startup Founder
· Lenoss Medical: Better Treatment for Fractures of the Spine Due to Aging
· “...a guy who's 63 years old made the cut at the Masters this weekend. They [seniors] have higher expectations...”
· No More Heart Attacks in 40 Year Olds Thanks to Statin Drugs Controlling Blood Lipids
· “It's also fun to watch pitches. Because you're like, "Wow."”
· Robotic Gloves Keep popping Up in Sal’s Angel Investing Career
· Eflex Energy: Load Management for Your Home Backup Power
· “I would have been able to manage my energy and my battery for five days with my phone if I had one of these connected digital circuit breakers in my home.”
· How John Williams Started His Angel Investing
· Became an Angel Investor but Never Watched Shark Tank
· Interesting Startups That Have Pitched at Walnut Ventures Recently
· John Williams’ Parting Thoughts

Topics: angel investing strategies, management, portfolio

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The loss of two grandmothers to cancer propelled the daughter of an entrepreneurial family, Stephanie Culler, to a Ph.D. at Caltech and eventually to founding Persephone Microbiome. The VC-funded startup seeks to use gut bacteria to increase the success of cancer therapies. Persephone is also launching a probiotic for infants. Fascinating chat with a brilliant and articulate scientific founder.

Highlights:

· Sal Daher Introduces Stephanie Culler, Ph.D. Co-Founder of Persephone Microbiome
· Persephone’s Business Model Is to Partner with Big Pharma to Develop Products Based on Its Platform
· A Probiotic for Babies and Infants Is Coming in Early 2024
· Results from the Largest Study in the US of Infant Gut Microbiome Were Unsettling
· Causes of Insufficiencies in the Gut Biome of Babies
· “Upwards of 80% of cells of our immune system is in our gut.”
· “...if you have a good microbiome, you're much more likely to respond to treatment.”
· “We are wet lab and in silico.”
· How Persephone Got Funded
· The Importance of Enrolling Populations Previously Under-represented in Studies
· The Promise of Population-Scale Data Sets
· Scanning Large Patient Populations Unencumbered by Animal Studies
· Why You Should Help This Podcast Get Found
· Stephanie Culler, Ph.D.’s Entrepreneurial Journey
· Entrepreneurial Family that Lost Two Grandmothers to Cancer
· Sal’s Appreciation of Articulate Chemical Engineers Like Stephanie
· Stephanie’s Experience at Y Combinator
· How Stephanie Culler Connected with Leen Kawas
· Stephanie’s Parting Thoughts on Biotech Winter
Topics: biotech, robotics / AI, venture funding, discovering entrepreneurship

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Fiza Shaukat founded Patient First.AI to make a difference in the healthcare systems in areas outside the US, such as Pakistan. She decided to create a platform which would allow patients to keep their healthcare data on a digital health card. This card would make the check-in process much faster and efficient.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Fiza Shaukat
"...How PatientFirst.AI is creating value for patients in places where right now there's no really easy way except for a wad of notes, a notebook, to keep track from visit to visit..."
"... You see all the digitization happening over there, but why don't you have the same seamless experience within healthcare? That's what we want to enable with this digital health card. They'll go at a clinic and they scan their digital health card or a QR code, and as soon as they scan that in, they basically are checked in..."
The Patient First Business Model
Next Steps for Patient First
Fiza's Entrepreneurial Journey
Familial Role Models for Entrepreneurship
"... Somehow a brother and sister you have known each other for your whole life, so chances are you're going to get along more or less. Whereas husband and wife sometimes it can be you've known each other for three years and the stress of founding a company together can be very painful..."

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, robotics/AI, founding story

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Yousof Naderi, professor at Northeastern University, is co-founder of DeepCharge, which is commercializing a new technology for charging batteries without cables. Intriguing look at how our lives could change as our devices are untethered.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Yousof Naderi
What DeepCharge is Solving
"... In a case of the wireless charging, DeepCharge has selected and carefully from the beginning are working in a non-radiative technology, which means it's just coil by coil..."
How DeepCharge Came About
"... Also, there is this piece of sustainability that we can't go through all that, but we think that working with enterprise is really going to help us in our mission, also, to build a wire-free sustainable future..."
"... Now, to go to the next level, we feel that this is a right timing to look at the strategic investor and partner that can stay, share our vision, and be able to provide resources and help to make this success for everybody..."
The Future of DeepCharge
Yousof's Immigrant Story
Why Yousof Started DeepCharge
Advice to the Audience
"... I think one of the biggest pivots was just that type of technology that they use..."

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, product

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The deep experience Carolina Alarco has gained in the biotech industry now informs her work as an advisor to startups and as an angel investor. Her incisive contributions at Walnut Ventures made me eager to learn more about her story and approach.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Carolina Alarco
SYTE.bio and What it is Solving
SYTE.bio Founders' Backgrounds
Why Invest in SYTE.bio?
Verbina
Latinos in Bio
"... I do want to say that Latinos in Bio will be raising awareness of some lack of representation of Latinos in the industry..."
Carolina's Background
"... I came up in the '90s. I came to study a graduate degree in International Management Harvard..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech, discovering entrepreneurship

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Chris Selland works at Squark.AI, a startup company that uses AI and machine learning with customer data from things such as games and delivery services to help with predictions of delivery time.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Chris Selland
Squark AI and What It's Solving
"... All of those types of predictions is essentially what we do with the model. Now, we do have some other customers using us for other purposes. For instance, a very large package delivery firm is using us, actually, for prediction of packages that might be late..."
"... This, I think, highlights really the importance of networking and staying in touch with people that you've worked with successfully. Make sure that you stay in touch with them because you will have that twice annual conversation that you might have with someone that you worked two companies back with..."
Squark in the Gaming Industry
The Future of Squark
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, robotics/AI

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Mike Nolan is an angel investor specializing in machine learning. As an officer in the Air Force he trained fighter pilots on F-15s. Mike relates the opportunities offered by graduate work at MIT both professionally and in investing. Fun chat with a buddy from Walnut and a listener to the podcast.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Mike Nolan
Piction Health and Machine Learning
"... we don't frequently see companies that are on the bleeding edge of the academic research or the bleeding edge of what's going on and the top presentations at conferences and so forth, but that's okay..."
The Capabilities of Machine Learning In the Health Field
Mike Nolan's Background
"... You got to picture this beautiful country, the White Sands, New Mexico, close by, and so forth, and here's this chimp running away from this 10-mile-long sled track..."
"... They're highly creative people in a highly regimented situation. They are people who think in very creative ways, and so forth, and they have big personalities ... I suspect that there is a lot of room for creativity with fighter pilots..."
"... Yes, things can go wrong, whether you're a founder or a pilot..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech, robotics/AI

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What founders and investors in startups need to know about the history of bankruns and how to protect themselves from them in the future.

Here's the text on which my talk was based:

Historical Perspective on SVB’s Failure for Investors & Founders

This is Sal Daher of the Angel Invest Boston podcast. Prior to becoming an investor in tech startups, I spent decades as a banker and trader involved with the distressed debt of countries. My experience came in handy recently in allowing me to reassure the startups in my portfolio with deposits at SVB that the FDIC would have no option but to make all depositors whole.

This piece aims to explain why the business model of banks and past government decisions precluded any other options. It also points to ways that founders can manage deposit risk. While it bothers me to see well-off people bailed out by the taxpayer, it is the necessary if imperfect course of action until we make structural changes to hold bank management more accountable.

Why was I so certain in my assurances? Because financial authorities in the US and other countries had learned a hard lesson back when Lehman Brothers (not a deposit-taking bank) was allowed to fail in September of 2008. Lehman’s bankruptcy set off an inevitable chain of events that led to the meltdown of the market for credit risk insurance. This revealed pervasive rot in financial instruments widely held by institutions starved for yields. Thus began the Sub-Prime Crisis that ruined millions and blighted the career of so many of my colleagues in finance for nearly a decade.

The hard lesson learned was that when a financial panic gets going it’s impossible to tell where it will stop. The term contagion is apt. Financial authorities understood the need to take prompt steps to reassure investors not to make irrational moves that could impoverish us all. Back in 2008 they ended up taking over banks which created lasting distortions, some of which are still with us today.

While the circumstances of SVB’s failure are different from Lehman’s, the fundamental lesson of maintaining the orderly functioning of financial markets still applies. If the FDIC had stuck strictly to its $250K deposit insurance limit (which BTW had been $100K until the Lehman event) chaos would have ensued. Depositors everywhere would have immediately started spreading any holding in excess of $250K to other banks to avoid the possibility of loss and could have melted down the entire banking system. An impaired banking system would have resulted in hundreds of thousands of companies going under and millions of people losing their jobs. So, preventing financial panic is a public service for the entire population. It’s comparable to the fire department. Fire brigades were set up to prevent individual house fires from spreading and burning down entire neighborhoods.

There is a fundamental flaw in the business model of banks. Banks lend long and borrow short. Borrowers want to repay banks months or years into the future. Depositors usually are not willing to tie up their money for more than a few months. This creates a mismatch between the maturity of loans made by banks (assets) and deposits taken by banks (liabilities). The delicate balance between assets and liabilities is hard to achieve. This is why banks keep cash reserves on hand, i.e., they don’t lend out all their deposits. They also have short-term borrowing lines with other banks or the Federal Reserve to make sure they have cash meet all their obligations.

But if enough depositors decide that a bank is impaired, even the soundest bank would not be able to meet the demand for immediate payment without outside help. This is the role the FDIC has come to play. A role with which I am not entirely comfortable, but as we have seen, is essential as things stand.

Many argue that unlimited deposit guarantee removes the incentive from depositors to vet a banks’ books. In the absence of this vetting there is a natural temptation for banks to take all the risk possible with depositor’s money because if things go well the bank’s shares will go up and the management will get bonuses. This moral hazard of deposit guarantees is supposedly mitigated by regulations that limit how much a bank can lend and impose minimum capital requirements.

Unfortunately, the regulations failed in the case of SVB. The bank appeared to meet its capital requirements but when depositors started to draw out money, it started to sell its reserves. This prompted changes as to how assets were valued and put it suddenly in default of capital requirements. This led to a failed attempt to raise more equity in the stock market.

One moment SVB seemed fine, the next moment it was on the rocks. Bank books are complicated beyond the ability of even the most sophisticated depositor to figure out. The idea of savvy depositors keeping banks honest is fanciful. The only parties who have any hope of knowing enough about what’s going on in the bank are its management and its board of directors. I support making bank directors and senior management personally liable if a federal rescue is needed.

So, what’s a founder to do when holding more than $250,000 in cash? One thing to consider is to have the funds in more than one bank, if only to avoid a sleepless weekend as so many founders experienced recently. But that only gets you up to protecting $500,000 or $750,000. Another option to consider is putting funds into money market funds held by Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard. Funds held in custody for a beneficiary are legally protected from claims against the entity. This does not mean that there is no risk. Even safe money market instruments may lose value in times of stress, but the exposure to any one entity is much less concentrated. There’s always the risk of fraud or unauthorized trades but those are not usually system-wide and the entities usually make good on those.

Founders are in the business of sailing in uncharted waters. However, many of the risks that threaten a startup are known to accountants and board members. My advice is to bring up the matter of risk with your CFO and your board. If you don’t have one it’s time you found at least a fractional CFO and functioning board.

If found this brief piece useful I invite you to follow Angel Invest Boston on your podcast app. Thanks for listening. This is Sal Daher.

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A common sports injury left Rick McMullen incapacitated. His search for recovery led to the founding of Alleviate, a platform for physical therapy that is finding a lot of satisfied users. Thanks to Bryanne Leeming for introducing Rick to me.

· Sal Daher Explains Why He Came Off the Sidelines to Invest in Alleviate
· Rick McMullen, Co-Founder of Alleviate, Has the Ideal Background to Build Such a Company
· Investing from a Self-Directed IRA Is High-Burden
· The Problem Alleviate Is Solving
· People Often Quit Before Physical Therapy Begins to Work
· College Athletes Have a Lot of Support; When They Graduate There’s Nobody to Advise them on Recovering from Injuries
· Alleviate Aims to Fill the Gap in the Delivery of Physical Therapy in the US
· “With all of these conditions, you’ve got to do the work [to get better].”
· Atomic Habits by James Clear
· Alleviate Is Getting Traction
· Alleviate’s Revenue Is Cash-Flow Positive
· Product Returns Are Learning Opportunities
· Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator's Dilemma
· “...the specific subset of musculoskeletal pathologies that we serve. You can call it a niche, but it's like a $10 billion niche.”
· Rick McMullen’s Journey to Founding a Startup
· “...this central idea that the golden rule is the most economically rational thing.”
· Why Rick McMullen Is Focused on Capital Efficiency
· Parting Thought from Rick McMullen

Topics: product, management, discovering entrepreneurship

Title: Physical Therapy That Works

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Fintech founder and angel Aidan Yeaw discusses building and investing in companies such as NODE40 and Unruly Studios. Great chat with a Walnut colleague.

Highlights:

● Sal Daher Introduces Aidan Yeaw

● NODE40

● NODE40 Founding Story

● Unruly Studios

● "... The other component to it is that they're programming, but they're doing physical movement, physical exercise, large motor, physical exercise, running around, jumping up and down, and so forth because kids are too sedentary..."

● How Aidan Came to Angel Investing

● "... There's an ecosystem of small-scale venture capitalists that are growing, but the opportunities are so numerous, and the venture capitalists are so few, that they're an excess of opportunities, and a lack of funding, a lack of capacity to address this..."

● CoolSculpting

● Aidan's Career Journey in Fintech

● Advice to the Audience

Topics: fin tech, angel investing strategies, crypto

Title: Founder & Angel

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Jay DeVivo’s angel investing ranges far from his insurance background. Here we discuss his involvement with startups such as Hubly Surgical, FleetNurse, and ApprentiScope. Fun chat with a lively guest.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Jay DeVivo
Hubly Surgical
"... The advantage for Hubly is that doctors don't need to learn any new skills. It's pressing a button and in fact, there'll be a wider swath of clinicians that'll be able to use it than can use the current hand crank drill..."
FleetNurse
"... See, that's the thing with Angel investors. They may be new to Angel Investing, they're not new to business..."
ApprentiScope
How Jay DeVivo Came to Angel Investing
"... It's really tough as an investor because you're not controlling things. You're along for the ride..."
Jay's Career Journey
"... Later on, I did some strategy work for larger companies as well. I started that business right before business school and then I consulted all through business school and things were good, so I did it for two years after business school..."
"... It's like in the third ring out from there is where the jobs live. Basically, what you need to do is talk to a lot of people and do informational conversations, low pressure, just talk and you say, 'Hey, this is what I used to do. This is what I'm interested in'..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech, product

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Leen Kawas PhD, managing general partner at Propel Bio Partners, invests in life science companies such as Persephone Biosciences and Inherent Bio that promise immediate benefits for humanity. An uplifting chat with a dynamic VC and founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Leen Kawas
What Propel Bio Partners Does
Persephone Biosciences
"... It's a pipeline for probiotics. They're starting with infant probiotics..."
"... is anybody else working in the space of microbiome for babies? I haven't seen this..."
Inherent Bio
"... That's what Inherent is working on. They have identified an epigenetic signature that has the ability to better predict pregnancy outcome with men..."
"...What is the profile of the kind of company that you find attractive in public markets now...?"
Advice to the Audience
Leen Kawas' Immigrant Story
"... I want to tell entrepreneurs that are out there, no is typically not no. Just keep that in mind..."
"... I just want to tell the entrepreneurs out there, you tell your own story, you work on your mission, you define your why. Keep going and you'll be successful..."

Topics: building wealth, management, raising money

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Artist K. Woodman-Maynard discusses her gorgeous graphic novel interpretation of The Great Gatsby, the business of being a graphic artist and other engrossing matters. A delightfully different interview with a charming guest.

Highlights include:

Sal Introduces K. Woodman-Maynard, Creator of The Great Gatsby Graphic Novel
“Color is gorgeous. The drawings are extremely expressive and interesting… the style of the period is displayed.”
“…I think it's a good way to get people who might not otherwise read The Great Gatsby, the prose book, interested.”
Cashflow from a Graphic Novel Is Inconsistent – Good to Have Steady Income from Graphic Design
“…it was very painful for me to cut out specific lines, because I love those lines.”
“I'm in complete agreement that you shouldn't dismiss somebody's whole life's work just based on certain philosophies. It's a balance.”
“…it started by a very intense deep reading of the text…”
“The whole book took about 1500 hours. That's actively time tracked hours.”
“…the first thing for a beginner that they need to know is that they can do it. You can make a living as a graphic artist.”
“I was encouraged to go into architecture because that was considered to be more stable for artists. I'm so glad I didn't, because I graduated college in 2008.”
“One thing that's been key for me has been diversifying my income. I have income from graphic novels. I have income from graphic design work, from illustration.”
“I think it's an important thing for yourself as a graphic artist to be able to pivot and to be able to work in different ways.”
“…finding good mentors. That's something that I would encourage your niece to do.”
“Going to Harvard has really helped me with asking stupid questions.”
“You can be a good business person and also be good at your craft.”
“The Great Gatsby was a commercial flop at the time that it was published.”
“He was making a huge amount. He would just spend it before he even got it, which is the direct opposite of me.”
“…a captive audience of troops who read The Great Gatsby and then returned and spread the word about it.”
“I'm wondering what's going to happen once the vaccine is out. Will we experience another Roaring Twenties in a different way?”
“I do the Pomodoro method. …You work for 25 minutes; you take 5 minutes off. Then every two hours, you take a half an hour break.”
“In high school, we had to take career placement tests. I had equal likelihood artist and military officer.”
The Importance of Story Telling
Addressing Mental Health Issues with Kids via Comics: TKAMI.org
“I decided not to go into architecture because it wasn't my calling. Also, because I could see that it wouldn't be good for my mental health.”
“It's just gorgeous. I highly recommend this work.”

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Paul Hartung returns to talk about how to fund promising biotech and life science companies. He continues his conversation from his previous episode discussing his past experience with angel investing.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Paul Hartung
"... Tell me the story of the first syndicated angel funding here in New England..."
"'... there's a bunch of guys like you and me who've been successful in business, who are starting to get together.' He said, 'I just joined a group called Launchpad...'"
"... I was CEO from the start and chairman, the president and secretary and [laughter] and all the offices..."
"... The story here is that technologies are coming out of labs that are amazing, that are just astonishing, that could do things that couldn't be done 10 years ago by any stretch of the imagination. It's not one-off, they're multiplying. The cost of developing this technology is a coming down..."
"... how do I support angels? Due diligence I think is part of it, creating due diligence, and I think part of it is also syndication..."
"... What is the end game? Who would be the strategic partners that might end up acquirers or might license the technology...?"
Pros and Cons of Grant Funding
".. the timing of strategics is not the timing of startups..."
"... I think there's a lot of room for Angel-friendly venture funds that will work with Angels and will help bring Angels over from software investing into the life sciences, perhaps initially for digital health, but eventually, in wet lab..."
Advice to the Audience
"...Don't just have a purely science team. You need to have someone who's going to be your business representative if you will..."

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech, building wealth

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Sascha Deri and Lindsay Becker were interviewed by co-host Ben Littauer and me about the equity crowdfunding campaign this fascinating rocket company based in Brunswick, Maine is doing on WeFunder. They are targeting the a growing niche of sending small non-human payload into space. They are doing this with a non-toxic rocket fuel that is friendly to the envidonment. As of this writing they had already passed the million dollar mark at WeFunder. Check them out here: https://wefunder.com/blushiftaerospace

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What if automation could help patients better follow their prescriptions? Natalie Park and Saumya Rawat met at MIT and are co-founders of Pharmesol which seeks to do this.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Martin Aboitiz Introduces Natalie Park and Saumya Rawat
What Problem Pharmesol is Solving
Pharmesol's Product and What it Does
Pharmesol's Business Model
Fee-For-Service vs. Value-Based Payments
What Makes Pharmesol Marketable?
"... I think ideal profile of a customer would be an integrated delivery network. What that means is that they have both a health system as well as a health plan..."
Why Not AI?
"... Pharmesol is a clinical automation company, and we're solving the problem of lack of clinical capacity and challenges with workforces at provider organizations..."
"... These people, they know what they're talking about. They're trained. Graduate degree, they're a doctor of pharmacy. Underutilized resource..."

Topics: co-founders, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Finding a less noxious way to sterilize medical devices is the goal of CL Tian, winner as MedTech Innovator ’22. She founded Phiex to commercialize a sterilant that allows devices to sterilize themselves in the presence of light. Industry is listening to this compelling founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces CL Tian
What Problem Phiex is Solving
"... The moat is how do you deliver it without using capital equipment, with plastic packaging material as the delivery system, and how do you deliver it when it's activated by light? Our materials, once they see ambient light, start to release a sterilant..."
“... I don't think I mentioned, but the amount of devices that are sterilized with this cancer-causing technology's half of the industry. That's 20 billion devices in the US a year. There's no alternative for most of those devices…”
CL Tian's Background
How CL Tian Came to the Issue of Sterilization
Message to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, product

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Paul Hartung is an angel investor involved in the life sciences field. Here, he discusses how he helps build companies such as Leuko, Clairways, Verisense, and others in the MedTech space.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Paul Hartung
Leuko Labs
"... Something dark goes through, that's a red blood. Something light goes through, that's a white blood cell. Then they count that, and then it can come up with immunocompromised, or low leukocyte count, or normal leukocyte count..."
Upcoming Milestones for Leuko
Clairways
"... That's an area of great interest for me is academic founders in the life sciences, taking their technology from the lab into the clinic, or into the market. It requires understanding the technology, and it also requires understanding the market..."
Verisense
Xander
"... Well, he's basically creating a software that interprets the voice of the person who's speaking to the wearer of the glasses, and creates a caption, which projected on the lens. You can caption what people are saying to you..."
Paul's Backstory
How Paul Got Into Life Sciences
3Com
"... The whole premise of the technology was that you could take people who were suspect of the disease, and rather than immediately going in for really expensive brain imaging tests, which actually involve exposure to radiation and you can only do them very infrequently, this is something that could be done in a general practitioner's office, doesn't even have to be done in a hospital...:
Sonivance
Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, product, venture capital

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Founder, entrepreneur, and angel, Richard Lane, explains his experience investing in companies such as Alice’s Table and The Jitterbug phone.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Richard Lane
"... The founder is in the business of discovering new territory, terra incognita. The angels and the board members are in the business of making sure that she doesn't run aground on well-known shoals..."
Alice's Table
"... She was helping women who were very much into floral arrangements to teach in-person classes in floral arrangement, and how to make a really beautiful floral arrangement. What her business did-- basically, she helped these women to run events. The women would use those tools in their network..."
"... As an angel investor board member, I go in and I say, "Are you on schedule? Great. Everything's good? I don't care about that. I'll look at that later. Tell me what is keeping you up at night. What is the first stumbling block?"
Richard's Entrepreneurial Career
"... One of the driving things I had since my childhood was, what happens when you die?"
Telephone Companies
"... It's a business that didn't exist. Before that, landlines were everything. It was everything, that was telephony was a landline..."
Pacific Telephone Company
The Jitterbug
"... A couple of things worth noting, a device around older people, needs to be looking at their user’s expectations. We're hardwired by the time we're 65 to think certain ways, to do certain traits..."
LifePod
Parting Thoughts to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, founding story, product

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MIT Media Lab alum Alex Westner has glasses that show captions to hearing-impaired people during real-time conversations. His approach is to refine existing technologies to deliver an excellent experience in one use case. Loved the focus and his dedication to detail.

Highlights:

Sal Introduces Alex Westner, Sound Technologist & Founder of Xander – Glasses with Captions for the Hearing-Impaired
Xander Seeks to Assemble Existing Technology into a Great User Experience
XanderGlasses Are Great on Privacy Because Nothing Is Recorded
Xander’s Speech Recognition Is Built on Kaldi, the same Opensource Platform Alexa Uses
Xander Trims Features of Augmented Reality Devices to Focus on It Use Case
Maybe There’s an Annual $200 Million Market for XanderGlasses
XanderGlasses Are Certainly Cooler than Hearing Aids (Faint Praise!)
Xander’s Go to Market Approach
What If Google Gets into the Business?
Alex Westner’s Entrepreneurial Journey
An Easter Egg for Raul
Alex Westner’s Parting Thoughts

Topics: software, product

Title: Augmented Reality for Hearing Loss

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Which Founding Teams Succeed? Are Founders Born or Made? Can Innovation Be Crowdsourced? How Many Jobs Do MIT & Stanford Add to the Economy? Blockchain for the Supply Chain? Chuck Eesley, Stanford's Startup Prof Addresses These Questions and More.

This timeless interview is being relaunched to make available the wise and affable words of Professor Chuck Eesley.

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: * Introduction

Professor Charles Eesley Bio
The Traumatic Founding Experience
Shivang Dave, PlenOptika & Entrepreneurs in Poor Countries
How Chuck Eesley Ended Up at MIT Studying with Ed Roberts
The Economic Impact of MIT & Stanford: Millions of Jobs Created & Trillions in Economic Activity
“And the other big takeaway is that we had been looking at the impact of these universities in too narrow of a way previously.”
Robust Finding: Larger Teams Do Better; Startups Tend to Have Teams that Are Too Small
Chuck Gets a Great Idea for Research While Hiking with a Friend
Cooperative vs. Competitive Commercialization
“…, if the industry is high in the effectiveness of patent protection, and high in the importance of complementary assets ... you're motivated to go and talk to the big guys, because you need their complementary assets…”
“…low effectiveness of patent protection, low importance of complementary assets, that's where you tend to get competitive commercialization…”
“Are You Experienced, or Are You Talented?”
Sal Talks About the Impact of Portfolio Company Concrete Sensors
Evidence-based Entrepreneurship
Blockchain to Make it Easier to Finance Supply Chains
“And with that additional data, then we can also start to optimize more and more of the startup process, and do a better job of picking which ventures to invest in, and to devote resources towards.”
The Value of Thrift in Life and in Entrepreneurship
Chuck & Family Plan to Give Their Money to the Universities that Made Their Success Possible
“So, I think it [thrift] is an underappreciated value. And definitely in Silicon Valley…”
Early Google Investor David Cheriton Is a Role Model for Chuck
Chuck’s Parting Thoughts: (1) Entrepreneurs Can Change Their Luck, (2) If Chuck’s Projects Interest You, Reach Out, and (3) Be Frugal in Life and in Entrepreneurship.

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Stephane Allard, MD and Peter MacGuire of Alissa Pharma explained the company’s promising approach to treating cancers like Hodgkin’s lymphoma or pancreatic cancer which over-express a certain protein on the surface of tumor cells. Alissa’s therapy targets this protein with antibodies linked to radioactive material that decays quickly. The result is destruction of tumor cells with reduced toxicity. A really compelling chat.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Stephane Allard and Peter MacGuire
What Alissa Pharma is Solving
"... Then we can look at different indication because we already have preclinical data indicating that the product, the anti-ferritin combined with the radiotherapy could work in pancreatic cancer, in hepatic cancer, and in neuroblastoma..."
How the Idea of the Product Came About
"...What you've done is you have been able to create a more usable manufacturable chemistry ... which gives you better results, more stable results of the binding of the antibodies to the radioactive tracers or radioactive therapy..."
Where Alissa Pharma is Headed
Competition
Peter MacGuire's Background
Dr. Stephane Allard's Background

Topics: biotech, founding story, product

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Ten years ago, Pierre-Louis Théron dreamed of changing the internet. With two classmates at a top French engineering school, he created software that improved the streaming of content. The dream became portfolio company Streamroot which was acquired in 2019. A great story about three guys who made the internet smarter.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Pierre-Louis Theron
Streamroot: the Problem it Was Solving
"... What's interesting with our approach is it wasn't like we're going to remove completely the traditional or the CDN out of the picture, what we're doing is that we're going to sit on top..."
"... Your genius idea was to come up with software that you could load onto peoples' set-top box, let's say a Roku, or whatever, over the box, they have local business..."
Pivot Point in the Execution Phase
"...We should also mention to listeners that the platform doesn't leave a footprint on the set-top box..."
How the Idea of Streamroot Came About
"... It took you a long time to develop your technology, but by 2017, it was rock solid, you ended up raising $6 million..."
Pierre-Louis's Background
"... I think it's being relentless, not only in your own dedication but also in building up the relationship with your partners, to have them excited and motivated year after year even though it's not an easy path..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, product

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Arturo Falck and Steven Valenti founded Whoo.ai to help owners and tenants of apartment buildings deal with security and buzzing people in. Their device connects to a free app giving tenants a Ring doorbell-like experience. A clever go-to-market strategy promises quick adoption.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Arturo Falck and Steven Valenti
What Whoo.ai is Solving
The Benefit of an Open, Android-type System versus a Closed, Apple OS-type System.
"... As a property manager or property owner, you pay for the device and then you pay us a subscription service for every one of your tenants..."
"... We actually are in a really good position to bring the technologies of things like Cobu to these communities because they already have the app..."
Arturo's Backstory
Steven's Backstory
"... I just wanted to point out that my brother is also involved, we actually have two sets of brothers..."

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, co-founders, founding story

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Infection is a major problem for long-term users of catheters. Souvik Paul saw the problem in his family and founded Aurie. Based at Harvard’s i-lab, Aurie has a design that promises more safety and convenience. The reusable self-catheter is backed by a grant from the Department of Defense. Do listen to this committed and capable founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Souvik Paul
The Problem Aurie is Solving
"... Essentially, what we're doing is we're increasing access to the safer life-saving technology by making it safely, automatically, and portably reusable..."
How Aurie is Reducing Infection Rates and Costs
What Stage the Product is At
Funding
Balancing Online and In-Person Care
"... Our whole model is partnering with people living with disabilities to develop products that help improve quality of life, improve health in everyday contexts..."
Souvik's Entrepreneurial Journey
Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Inspired by a tragedy Dr. Junaid Shaik built a device that radically lowers the cost of tests on blood smears. Livo.AI is now translating its experience in India to the US. Shout out to listener Sudhir Manda, MD for connecting me with this compelling founder and startup.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Dr. Junaid Shaik
What Livo.ai is Solving
"... We are basically digitizing these samples, whichever goes into a microscope so that a pathologist can basically see these tests or see these cells or samples in very high resolution from elsewhere, sitting elsewhere..."
"... That's where Livo comes in. You directly jump right into the report, and the second problem is you don't have to in the first place travel there..."
What Makes This Device So Affordable?
How Livo.ai Will Bring in Revenue
Dr. Junaid's Background
“...I understand that what pushed you to start Livo.ai is that you had a tragic experience in medical school…”

Topics: biotech, founding story, discovering entrepreneurship

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Founder Casey Grage has a better device for drilling into human skulls. Hear how her personal story led to the founding of Hubly Surgical. A truly compelling narrative.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Casey Grage
What Problem is Hubly Surgical Solving?
How Casey Came to Hubly
Testing the Drill
Studies on the Hubly Drill Vs. Hand-Cranked Drill
"... We want to know when we're going through the finance committees and hospitals, what kind of questions do they ask? What data do they need? Then we want to intimately know the users of our very first customers, and we want to be able to interview them after they use the drill..."
Casey's Entrepreneurial Journey
Casey's Entrepreneurial Inspiration
Failure Builds Success
Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Tomer Amit and Sonia Berrih-Aknin, PhD founded PreciseMent Health to target treatments for depression and bipolar disorder guided by protein markers associated with good outcomes. The work promises to address the great uncertainties that exist in current treatment practices. Truly a mind-expanding conversation with a compelling team.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Tomer Amit and Sonia Berrih-Aknin, PhD
What PreciseMent Health is Solving
"...Basically, you had a database of patient data, where the patient's response to treatment had been recorded. Then you took blood samples, and you analyzed to see if there were proteins that indicated certain treatments being more likely to lead to successful treatment than others..."
"... Really, for the first time, we can say that we are identifying dependable biosignatures in the peripheral blood..."
Dealing With Side Effects
"... We'll make it more accessible because of the copay. The $2,000 has a $300 copay with it, which makes it very difficult for a lot of people to pay. We can go in a lot lower because our costs of goods sold are going to be lower ... We want to really have a huge change in the way that mental health is treated and diagnosed..."
Intellectual Property Protection
"...We're targeting initially the psychiatry market. We'll be looking to provide them with a plasma card test, which will give them, in a sense, for the first time, the ability to test an individual at the point of care with a few drops of blood..."
Tomer and Sonia's Backstories
"... we are in the process of having biotechnology eat the world as software was eating the world for the last 11 years. We're seeing everything being turned over and reinterpreted in the light of these extremely powerful technologies that can discover patterns, where, before, it was just invisible for us..."

Topics: biotech, co-founders, founding stories

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Founder Tim Spong is back to update us on how vistaPath.ai went from product discovery to real-life operations. Our first interview was part of my due diligence for this digital health investment that is now VC-backed. A really instructive and fun chat.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Tim Spong
VistaPath: What is It?
"... You're using machine vision AI to give superpowers to the lab technician and to make his or her work more efficient, and also much more reliable, and much more accountable..."
"... What you're doing is massively, massively consequential. A mundane thing, but that could have huge consequences..."
The Spouse as an Unofficial Co-Founder
"... When I say that my dad, my family, taught me perseverance, I think that he didn't teach me computer vision, he didn't teach me AI, but he taught me the ability to get over those moments..."
Learn More at vistapath.ai

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, robotics/AI

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Greg Geehan is co-founder of Carna Health, a connected health startup. Carna is removing friction from blood testing with an at-home kit for patients unable to go to a lab for a draw. Great chat with an interesting entrepreneur.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Greg Geehan
What Carna Health is Solving
"... You guys aren't actually doing the testing or anything like that. You're basically integrating these devices, you're doing the software around these devices..."
What Stage Carna Health is At
Carna Health's Founding Story
Greg Geehan's Backstory
“...We'll go back and forth a couple of times and see if it's worth investing in, and then if we all agree that there's something there, then I'll bring it to the core fund under NextGen Venture Partners and put it up for pitching and see if it goes through the process…”
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, biotech, founding story, robotics/AI

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Lisa Frusztajer is Investor in Residence at The Capital Network, where she supports founders in raising angel money more effectively. We discussed some exciting startups that have benefitted from Lisa’s wisdom, skill and network. A powerful episode!

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Lisa Frusztajer
"... What we're doing is we're breaking down how early-stage funding works, but we're also expanding the definition of what constitutes early-stage funding..."
"... We're seeing the potential of digital health really exploding into all new areas that are both patient-friendly, and provider friendly..."
"...The leadership training series creates a cohort where it's one of the few places where founders can really get together and let their guard down. Because one of the things with entrepreneurs, one of the things with founders is that you're under a lot of scrutiny, and you've got a lot of accountability..."
How Lisa Came to Entrepreneurship
"... I think there is potential for the number of women angel investors to increase even more than it has. You'd be surprised, the younger generation of angel investors that there are a lot more women among them than the older generation..."
Sal's View of the Change in Investment Practices
Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, discovering entrepreneurship, management

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Mark Ribeiro is managing partner at Juna Equity Partners in NYC, a growth equity firm that grew out of part of GE Capital. Since one of my portfolio companies was acquired by a growth equity firm, I thought it would be fun to learn more about this type acquirer.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Mark Ribeiro
Angel Investing Vs. Private Equity
What Juna Equity Partners is Looking For
"... They basically provide autistic learning centers for kids that have been identified at an early age with autism. It's a company that when we bought it, it was still considered a somewhat niche space ... There was a change in the macro environment..."
"... what private equity does is it allows companies to become more efficient, and it makes American companies, absolute world beaters..."
Private Equity Investments Gone Wrong
Advice to the Audience
"... This is what angels do. Angels look at founder flesh. They evaluate founder flesh. The other thing is, is this a technology that has the potential to revolutionize an existing business somewhere? ..."
Why Staying a Private Company is Better than Going Public

Topics: boards, angel investing strategies, management

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As a practitioner working with foot injuries, Eric Greenspan became so excited about the potential of the smart insole developed by startup IWS that he joined the team. Great chat about the promising field of connected devices in healthcare. Walking six miles per day gives me a strong appreciation for Eric’s work.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Eric Greenspan
What Innovative Wellness Systems (IWS) is Solving
"... What we're really offering patients is peace of mind..."
"... It helps the podiatrist document the value of their orthotics..."
"... This is not a diagnostic tool. This is a monitoring device..."
Innovative Wellness Systems' Founding Story
How Eric Greenspan Became an Entrepreneur
The Team Roles at IWS
Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, founding story, product

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Nurses were a big part of the frequent medical care Alicia Tulsee’s family needed. This led to conversations about how uncomfortable, expensive and ill-fitting were the work clothes available to nurses. Moxie Scrubs was founded to solve that problem. Don’t miss this great conversation with a compelling founder.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Alicia Tulsee
Moxie Scrubs: What It's Solving
"' ... no one's created a brand for nurses and nurses have been shopping online since they received their first paycheck. This the future of the market ... '"
The Future of Moxie Scrubs
Alicia's Immigrant Founder Story
"... I actually started my first business at 19 ... Going online and early days of eBay, I found wholesalers that were selling costume jewelry and purses and handbags and things like that. I said, "Oh, man, if I can buy this stuff and resell it, I can make more money than what I would be earning on an hourly wage at the mall ...'"
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story, product

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Yun Rhie, Minwoo Jung, and Minjun Kim are the founders of WittGen. The company is working with AI to create a more efficient platform for treating cancer, a field which tends to have a lower treatment success rate due to its complexity.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Yun Rhie, Minwoo Jung, and Minjun Kim
"... The problem you have is that you have to figure out what kind of a tumor you have in order to treat it, to have the right medication to treat it...."
Looking Ahead at What's to Come for WittGen
"... Using sequencing of the RNA, which tells you what genes are being expressed and being triggered, and then you can look at that and then compare that to samples of the cells, looked at in the microscope and so on..."
What Sets WittGen Apart
How the Team Came to Be

Topics: robotics/AI, biotech, founding stories

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Seeking to match endometriosis patients with doctors most capable of treating the disease, Dr. Saeid Gholami founded iCareBetter. With a background in primary care, Saeid now works with AI to find better solutions to this issue and spread awareness of its importance.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Dr. Saeid Gholami
iCareBetter: Finding a Solution for Endometriosis
Peer Review: The Vetting Process for Endometriosis Surgeons
How Endometriosis Affects Patients' Daily Lives
How iCareBetter Started Out
“...When we nail the model for endometriosis, then we focus on complex diseases which need multidisciplinary highly specialized care, replicate the model for their diseases…”
How Saeid Gholami Came to the U.S.
The Immigrant Superman Effect
Advice to the Audience

Topics: robotics/AI, founding story, discovering entrepreneurship

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Sherine Abdelmawla, PhD, founded Akanocure Pharmaceuticalsto combine chemistryand AI in a platform for discovering effective drugs that can be easily produced at scale. The first use case is a cancer therapy. Great chat with a compelling founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Sherine Abdelmawla
What Akanocure Pharmaceuticals is Doing
"... The challenge is ... logistically speaking, manufacturing antibodies, they have problems with pharmacokinetics. Can we have a small molecule that can do the job of that antibody? ..."
Collaboration in the Lab Vs. Collaboration in the Field
The Business Model for Akanocure
"... interrupting the process that the cancer uses for hijacking the production of lipid fats to create its own version, a lipid shell that has particular features that make it really hard to detect the cancer..."
Sherine's Backstory
Why Research?
“...Science is hard enough, but on top of it, doing science with inadequate resources…”
Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, founding story, robotics/AI

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Tech VC and founder Jeff Rosen talks about his favorite portfolio companies at Broom Ventures and how his fund came about. He also tells a compelling story from his days at Teach For America.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Jeff Rosen of Broom Ventures
Team, Leadership & Culture
“...we look particularly closely at the people and try to understand their commitment, their mission orientation, their psychology, their empathy.”
Broom Portfolio Company Writesonic Helps People Write Really Fast & Effectively
“It is scary. It's so good that you cannot possibly tell that it wasn't written by a human.”
“We're quite comfortable investing in in-person teams, distributed teams, international teams. It's the people that matter more than anything else.”
Broom Portfolio Company Tive: Hardware Trackers & Integrated Software for Supply Chains
Broom Invested in Tive Just as the Pandemic Was Starting in 2020; Brilliant Move in Retrospect
Krenar Komoni Is an Outstanding Founder Driving Surprising Growth
Immigrant Founders and the Superman Effect
A Conspiracy Theory Debunked
Listeners, please Leave a Written Review on Apple Podcasts; It Helps Us Get Found
Jeff Rosen’s Trying Experience in Teach For America
Jeff Rosen Grew a Beard and Impersonated a Drill Sargent to Get Control of His Classroom
“There were some extraordinary students in the school despite all of the challenges that they had faced in their lives.”
Jeff Rosen Started Programing in Middle School be Creating Games for His TI-83 Calculator
How Jeff Rosen Became a Co-Founder of Rhombus, a Blockchain Infrastructure Company
Sal Daher Expresses His Skepticism About the Existence of a Compelling Use Case for the Blockchain
Sal Daher Remains Open to Being Convinced About the Blockchain
How Jeff Rosen and His Co-Founder Dan Von Kohorn Started Their VC Fund

Topics: co-founders, portfolio

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CEO Ryan Eriksen and CTO Annie Bernard founded Sol Clarity, with the help of Malav Sukhadia, to develop a way to clean solar panels in areas where water is limited. It uses static electricity to remove dust and debris, while lowering the carbon footprint and using minimal energy.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Ryan Eriksen, Annie Bernard, and Malav Sukhadia
Sol Clarity: Cleaning Solar Panels with Static Electricity
Efficient Solar Panel Maintenance with Low Energy Activation
"... What we're trying to do with solar energy is to make everything carbon-free, and that purpose is defeated if you're driving around trucks to wash these panels. The EDS can also have a negative carbon print attached to it..."
The Decision Process for the Original to Current Designs
"... The vision is to have this technology anywhere in the world on any optically clear surface that needs cleaning, and cleaning is a pain point there and water is not available to clean..."
Founding Backstories
Advice to the Audience

Topics: cleantech, co-founders, discovering entrepreneurship, founding stories

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Jake Tamarkin’s startup, Everyday Life, uses machine learning to match people who don’t fit the traditional mold of buyers with insurers eager for their business. Jake’s personal experience in buying a life policy surfaced this compelling opportunity.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Jake Tamarkin
The Problem Everyday Life Insurance is Solving
"... Basically, what they're saying is, if you're poor, you're riskier, because of this very blunt instrument that they're using, which is credit score..."
What Sets Everyday Life Insurance Apart
Everyday Life's Founding Story
Why People Don't Want to Talk About Life Insurance
"...We basically pivoted out of banks and into insurance companies and that's been going much better..."
How Jake Tamarkin Came to Life Insurance
Advice to the Audience

Topics: founding story, discovering entrepreneurship, software

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Life science founder and angel investor, Marc Cote, discusses his experience in investing, as well as developing startups. He has valuable thoughts for founders and investors.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Marc Cote
Marc Cote’s Founding Experience
“...That's when I joined Boston Harbor Angels, and that was back in 2012. Shortly after we co-founded Synchroneuron saying, ‘What better way to get an investor perspective, than actually sit with a bunch of investors and actually put some of your own funding at risk?’...”
How Synchroneuron Developed
The Placebo Effect Vs. the Drug Itself
Today’s Treatment for Tardive Dyskinesia
“...The model that you had of bringing in a professional CEO doesn't exist anymore. Right now, the market for biotech executives is so strong…”
The Challenge of Attracting Talent to Startups
Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Joe Phoenix founded Givinga to democratize philanthropy. After a luminous career in investments, he is turning his fruitful energies and network to build a new space he calls philantech. A dynamic chat with a remarkable founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Joe Phoenix
Givinga’s Mission
How Givinga is Helping Portfolio Company Meenta Build its Non-Profit Effort, Curesology
Givinga's Founding Story
Joe’s Transition to Putnam
“...Funds have been around for a long time, but it was like a breakthrough in financial technology that enabled the creation of mutual funds…”
Cryptocurrency Versus Mutual Funds
“...take your return, divide it into 72 and it tells you how many years it takes you to double your money…”
Change in Money Value Over Time
The Growing Biotech Industry
Advice to the Audience

Topics: founding story, discovering entrepreneurship

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

A career in international finance gives Marco Salvalaggio an unusual perspective on angel investing. We discussed his favorite startups and pondered strategies founders and angels can use to build better companies.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Marco Salvalaggio
HappyNest: An App-Based Laundry Service
Cactivate: Ad Placing for Small Businesses
Revizion: Software for Managing Customer Reviews
The Difference Between California and New England Angel Investors
“...You need the Puritanism of New England and you also need the can-do informality of California…”
Marco's Background
“...It was the convergence of my personal life with my professional life that got me to Angel investment because I met a very nice woman that eventually became my wife…”
Advice to the Audience
“...if you have perspective where you understand the whole technology cycle ... that means that you're going to have less waste of resources, that means higher returns…”

Topics: angel investing strategies, discovering entrepreneurship, fin tech

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Gathering scattered medical data about a patient and giving it to the doctor in time for a visit is Connective Health’s aim. Founder, Ryan Hess, updates us on the progress of his startup in improving care and lowering costs.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Ryan Hess
Connective Health: The Problem It's Solving
Patient Info Doctors Are Missing and Why It Matters
"... it's something a provider wants to see because they want that short story..."
Connective Health's Next Step
"... if it is a provider that is about to deliver treatment and there is an entity that has your data, that entity, as long as it's under the realm of HIPAA, can provide that data to the provider..."
Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

David Fogel, CPA, is an angel investor who teaches entrepreneurship at Northeastern University. His company, Swifton CFOs, offers fractional chief financial officers to startups. We discussed strategies to help angel investors.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces David Fogel
"Don't spend your time sweating the legal details"
“...I've been involved in angel investing for maybe 10 or 12 years now between Mass Medical and TiE…”
Inspiration for Success
The Process of Angel Investing
"Have a champion, have more than one champion, don't go into the room cold"
Balancing the Budget
"Tell me the truth. Don't candy-coat it"
"To me, it's all about, do you have a great idea? Can you implement it?"
Advice for the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, discovering entrepreneurship

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Carter Williams went from building fighter jets to building technology startups. A mind-expanding conversation with a VC who grapples with big ideas. Topics range from the future of food to how to get more people into the innovation economy.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Carter Williams, Aerospace Engineer Turned VC
Portfolio Company Benson Hill Aims to Make Plant-Based Meats Affordable
Portfolio Company Kula Bio Harnesses Micro-Organisms to Increase Nitrogen Fixation in Soil
Gathering Scattered Data to Create Synthetic Control Arms for Clinical Trials
Healthjump’s Role in the COVID Research Data Base
How Carter Williams Went from Engineer to VC
Carter Williams Greatly Respects the Risk Taking of Founders
Savran’s Enabling Technology
New Models of Startup Creation
“I want to build the AWS of precision fermentation.”
Carter Williams on Getting Capital Off the Sidelines and Into Innovation

Topics: portfolio, venture capital, biotech

Title: The Future of Food

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Orly Zeewy is a brand wiz with a focus on startups. Her book, Ready, Launch, Brand: The Lean Marketing Guide for Startups, offers success stories and actionable exercises which help founders build their brand. Great chat, learned tons.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Orly Zeewy
Branding: Why Names Matter
"You ask people what they want, you give them what they want, and ... they come because you give them what they want."
Ugly Baby Syndrome
The Impact of Social Media
Advice From an Entrepreneur
Social Media Algorithms: How They Affect Branding
"Get clear on your story because people invest in stories"
Finding the Right Target Audience

Topics: selling, platform, discovering entrepreneurship

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Investing modest sums and copious energy, Ben Littauer helps tech companies sprout. His focus is startups that do the most good for the world. Founders and angel investors value Ben’s advice greatly.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patebt attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Ben Littauer
Discovering Angel Groups
Why Be an Angel Investor?
Startups That Ben Littauer Has Invested In
" It started off as being a soft robotic glove that allows a stroke survivor to move their hand ... measure how it's doing, and do multiple repetitions"
The Importance of Coachability
"The stuff that you and I invest in now are people inventing new things and there are no right answers"
Sal's Angel Investing Journey
"Jeff helped me realize that ... where I should be focusing all my energies is in these early-stage companies"
"Aquaculture is the future of food"
Advice for Potential Investors

Topics: angel investing strategies, raising money, discovering entrepreneurship

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Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

AI is coming for the pesky chores of bookkeeping. Enrico Palmerino, founder of VC-backed Botkeeper, relates how machine learning is helping accountants and their clients. Compelling founder with a great story.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Sal Daher Introduces Enrico Palmerino
What Botkeeper Does
Why Efficient Bookkeeping Matters
What Sets Botkeeper Apart
Growing Clientele
“We're venture backed. We've raised a total of about 90 million to date. We just closed our C round...”
The AI Revolution
The Statistics of Bookkeeping
Challenges and How They're Dealt With
Adapting to New Technologies
Enrico Palmerino Had a Lot of Entrepreneurship in His Family
Advice for Starting a Startup
Evolving with Your Environment

Topics: robotics/Ai, founding story, product

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Bacterial growth in an IV caused a kid to lose his legs. Shocked by the tragedy, young physician Maryam Soomro began researching solutions. Her startup, TuCann, now uses black phosphorus tech from RMIT, Australia's MIT, to fight infection. Heartening!

Sponsored by Purdue University entreprenuership and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Maryam Soomro
The IV Issue
Black Phosphorus: How it Works
Using Reactive Oxygen Species to Eliminate Bacterial Infection
Creating a Startup: Where to Begin
Where Will TuCann be Based?
Getting a License For Use of Materials
How TuCann Came About
From Research to Entrepreneurship

Topics: biotech, techstars, discovering entrepreneurship

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It can take days to identify the cause of a bacterial infection; Ed Goluch, PhD founded QSM Diagnostics to change that. QSM now has a device that can detect a bacteria of interest in minutes. Ed updates us on the headway QSM has made since his first interview, Diagnosis in Minutes.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Ed Goluch
How QSM Diagnostics Came About
Quorum Sensing Molecules: What Are They?
Redirecting From Human To Animal Diagnostics
Getting the Product Off the Ground
Mail-in Test Kits Speeding Things Up at the Veterinary Offices
Academic Founder to Founding CEO
Persevering Through COVID Setbacks
Animal Data Will Eventually Lead to Human Based Devices
Greater Market in Animals Due to People Prioritizing Their Pets
"The other interesting thing, lot of our sales are actually going to mobile vets"
Getting the Word Out
QSM Diagnostics Receives Prestigious Award

Topics: founding story, product, discovering entrepreneurship

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Eduardo Jorgensen founded Medicsen to improve the care of people with diabetes. Witnessing the struggles of patients taking insulin inspired Eduardo to leave medicine and build a device and an app to simplify the control of blood sugar by patients.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Eduardo Jorgensen, Founder of Medicsen
What Medicsen is all About
The Suggin App and What it Does
Making an Insulin Device That Does Not Require Needle Injection
Discussing Product Patents
Sonophoresis: Sound Based Drug Delivery
Raising the Funds for the Company
The Role Models Behind the Startup
"Even if you're comfortable getting out of your comfort zone, doing that as a dad, it's a hard thing to do."
Funding for Angel Investors
Making Medicsen Profitable
Deep Dive into the Suggin App
How the Product Works With the App
Perseverance Regardless of Low Funds and No Business Experience

Topics: Biotech, Discovering Entrepreneurship, Founding Story

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While at Harvard Medical School, Senan Ebrahim was deeply affected by witnessing a still birth. Convinced better data could have avoided the tragedy, he founded Delfina Care with Priyanka Vaidya from EMOTIV, the EEG platform, and his brother Ali Ebrahim, PhD, a former Tech Lead at Google. Senan and Priyanka joined me for a great chat about the exciting things happening in digital health.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Senan Ebrahim and Priyanka Vaidya of Delfina
Senan Ebrahim Was Interviewed in a Prior Episode Titled “Hikma Health”
Obstetricians Are Flooded with Data from Pregnant Patients Leading to Poor Outcomes
Priyanka Vaidya’s Experience with Gestational Diabetes Highlighted the Need to Coordinate Care
“...I realized discontinuity of care is a major problem.”
“Delfina wants to be that one place that integrates all of these discrete sources of data so that the mom stays in the center of the care...”
Integrating Health Data Shows Up in Interviews with Jeremy Wiygul, MD of Pela Health and Ryan Hess of Connective Health
“...how are we going to take better care of the four million pregnant moms in 2023 than we did in 2022?”
Senan Reached Out to Priyanka for Product Savvy and to His Brother Ali for Experience Building Sophisticated Data Models
The Patient Journey at Delfina
“This data is being enriched as the patient travels along the journey.”
Machine Learning Is Just Starting to Do Useful Things in Medicine Like Identifying a Stroke Quickly or Predicting Preeclampsia
Incentives Are Aligned in Pregnancy Care; Nobody Wants Babies to End Up in Intensive Care
What Delfina Means by “Closing the Loop” in Patient Care
Delfina’s Platform Is Actually Live at a Practice in California
Commercialization Will Focus Initially on Under-Served Populations
How the Name “Delfina” Came About
The Founding Story of Delfina Care

Topics: biotech, product, robotics / AI

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Exited founder Sean Kevlahan, PhD tells the story of Quad Technologies and how an interesting polymer contributed to the explosion of cell therapies in the last decade. Sean gives great advice for biotech founders and investors, and joins Armon Sharei in my pantheon of chemical engineers who are gifted communicators.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patents attorney at Fish & Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Welcomes Sean Kevlahan, PhD, Founder of Quad Technologies
“...how do you release a cell from a substrate [underlying substance] without killing a cell?”
“Magnetic beads have been around for a while. Researchers use them to separate cells.”
How Do You remove the Magnetic Beads without Killing the Cell?
Quad Technologies’ Polymer Made It Possible to Remove the Magnetic Beads
“When we first started out Quad, we focused on the academic markets.”
The Success of CAR T-cell Therapies Opened Up an Opportunity for Quad -Help Multiply the CAR T-cells
Emily Whitehead, the First Patient Treated with CAR T-cell Therapy, Is in Remission for Ten Years
The Aha Moment that Put Quad Technologies on the Map
Sean Kevlahan’s Epiphany Led to a Pivot and Product/Market Fit
Ran Into Someone from Bio-Techne at the JP Morgan Conference & Discovered the Strategic Fit
Bio-Techne Acquired Quad Technologies in July of 2018 – Investors Did Very Well
Sal Daher Is Eager to Learn About Sean Kevlahan’s Stealth Startup
“Even in biotech winter exited founders who have had this kind of success are very much in demand.”
Sean Kevlahan’s Grandfather Was an Entrepreneur, a Successful Restauranteur
Sean’s Entrepreneurship Activated by Hitting the “3-Year Wall” Doctoral Students Experience
Quad’s Polymer Used to Be Just Coating for Microfluidics Chips; Sean and Adam Hatch Imagined Many More Uses
“We went from obviously, biotech, which just makes the most sense to coating the undersides of boats for marine biofouling.”
Due to MassChallenge, Quad’s Tech Was Used in the International Space Station
Sean Kevlahan Speaks Well of Northeastern University’s Tech Transfer Office
Quad Raised $ 6 Million Which Qualifies as Angel-Scale
The Vital Importance of Clear Messaging by Life Science Founders – Lose the Jargon!
“...I have to do a mental check, and making sure that I'm not being too jargony.”
Biotechnologies Are Multiplying and Creating a Cascade of Opportunities
Quad Raised $ 6 Million from Fifteen Angel Investors
Siamab Raised $ 14 Million from More than Forty Angels
Going from Biotech Founder to Biotech Executive: Compare and Contrast
Jeff Behrens Recommends that Prospective Biotech Founders Get Experience at Big Biotech Companies
Parting Thoughts from Sean Kevlahan, PhD

Topics: biotech, partnerships with strategics, pivot, returns, IP / patents, Mass Challenge

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Founder Justin Real tells us how Realplay Sports survived the COVID pause and set itself up to serve booming customer demand in 2022 and 2023. In the 2-year hiatus, Realplay expanded the type customers it can address and brought in partners to enrich its product offering. An inspiring chat with a compelling founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneuship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Welcomes Back Justin Real, Founder of Portfolio Company Realplay Sports
Justin Real Diplomatically Notices That There’s a Lot Less Sal
“...Realplay is a technology company with a goal of solving a problem for the amateur sports ecosystem.”
Realplay Serves Mainly the 14 to 18-year-old Players Being Recruited. Younger Players Who Aspire to Be Recruited Also Forms a Significant Clientele
“When they're watching the kid playing in the tournament venue, they can just enjoy the game instead of being there with the camera, taking a video...”
The Impact of the Angel Invest Boston Podcast in Connecting Justin Real and Launchpad
Erik Bullen Was an Early Believer in Realplay Sports
2020 Was Supposed to Be a Big Growth Year for Realplay, Then COVID Hit
The Big March 13th Event in Arizona that Never Happened
Potential Partners Began to Reach Out During COVID to Explore Collaborations
Connections Made During COVID Led to a Much Richer and Diverse Product Offering that Made Realplay More Compelling to Users
How Realplay Stayed Alive in 2020
Rapsodo Now Provides Pitch and Ball Tracking on Realplay
In 2021, Realplay Still Managed to Grow Despite All the Uncertainties
Realplay Expects 2022 to Set a Record for Growth in Revenues
Jason Real Makes the Point that Zoom Lowers the Cost of Taking a Meeting with Someone and thus Makes People More Willing to Take Meetings
Realplay’s Current Challenge Is Stepping Up to the Expected Tripling of Business in 2023
Peter Thiel’s Advice on Follow-On Investments
Parting Thoughts from Justin Real, Founder of Realplay Sports: Gratitude + Watch Out for That Curveball

Topics: product, raising money, partnerships with strategics, COVID

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Founder & VC Aaron Michel of 1984.vc on portfolio companies, Reggora, Faimarkit and Relevize and how they exemplify the firm’s approach to seed-stage investing. Aaron also gives Sal a mind-expanding suggestion on angel-scale biotech. Compelling & jargon-free!

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Sal Daher, CFA Introduces Aaron Michel, Venture Capitalist at 1984.VC
Reggora: “...they're just enabling the lenders to do an appraisal almost in an Uberized fashion, in a much faster and much more efficient way than it used to be.”
Brian & Will of Reggora Sold $5 Million of Real Estate in their Senior Year at Boston University
A Dorm Room Business Helped the Founders of Reggora Discover a Scalable Business Opportunity
Fairmarkit Is Automating the Enterprise Procurement Process
Relevize – Helps Companies Sell Better via Channel Partners
Relevize Gives Channel Partners Digital Advertising Content and Then Monitors Performance
Aaron Michels Founded PathSource to Help People Find the Right Career
Sal’s Partner Bob Smith Was Not Cut Out for the Law But was a Natural Entrepreneur
“Both my parents are professors. They were both professors at Boston University. Both had started companies.”
CareerPath’s Pivot
How Aaron Michel Crossed Over from Being an Operator to Being a VC
“Ideally, you can choose your competitor set.”
“For B2B actually, we are open to investing pre-launch, as long as there's a product.”
Aaron Michel’s Mind-Expanding Suggestion for How Better to Address the Opportunities of Angel-Scale Biotech
“VCs tend to overvalue their advice and undervalue their introductions.”

Topics: founding story, competition, venture capital

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Why angel-scale biotech is so promising: Learn More

Qiuyan Xu, PhD is a statistician, an entrepreneur and a colleague at Walnut. We talked about the startups she has invested in, her immigrant journey and the work she does at Gravitate AI (https://www.gravitate.ai)

Sponsors: Purdue University entrepreneurship & Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Qiuyan Xu, PhD, Statistician, Entrepreneur and Angel Investor
Qiuyan Xu Talks About Her Investment in AOA Diagnostics
Qiuyan Xu Talks About Her Investment in Octagon Therapeutics
What Sal Daher Looks for in an Academic Founder
Qiuyan Xu Wonders About the Long Holds in Life Science Investments
“It's an important thing to remember now that the early-stage, angel-scale life science investing is really, really just beginning to take off.”
“There are some angels who have done very successfully, with just a handful of companies.”
“Weeding out the obvious losers. I think it makes a lot of sense.”
We Still Know Surprisingly Little in the Life Sciences
Qiuyan Xu Came to the US in 2003 to Study Statistics at UC Davis
“...I got my PhD in 2008, in statistics, in the middle of a recession.”
What Drove Qiuyan Xu to Become an Entrepreneur
Qiuyan Xu’s Company Is Gravitate AI (https://www.gravitate.ai/)
Gravitate AI Helps with Data Cleaning & Automation as Well as Customizing Open-Source AI Solutions
How Qiuyan Xu Became an Angel Investor
Contagious Enthusiasm
Qiuyan Xu’s Advice to Angel Investors
“You're urging angels to step right in, but at the same time, exercise control and have a budget.”
Advice to Founders

Topics: robotics / AI, discovering entrepreneurship, angel investing strategies

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Angel-scale biotech is hot: Learn More

Slater Victoroff founded Indico Data in his dorm room at Olin in 2012. Two years later Indico had gone through Techstars and was VC-backed. Hear the story of how making deep learning accessible to enterprise customers led to massive growth.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Slater Victoroff, Founder and CTO of Indico Data
Indico Was Founded in a Dorm Room in 2012, Two Years Later They Raised $3 million in an Oversubscribed Round
Machine Learning Is Programming with Data Rather than Code
Deep Learning Is Characterized by a Focus on Unstructured Data i.e., Text, Audio and Images
Indico’s Original Aim Was to Make Deep Learning Accessible to Software Developers
Slater Victoroff Founded Indico Because Most Innovation in Deep learning Was Driven by Industry
Indico’s Experience at Techstars
Semyon Dukach Saw Promise in Indico Others Did Not
“...Techstars really helped us understand was that we were real.”
Why Slater Victoroff Gave Up the CEO Role
The Shift to Enterprise Clients and Massive Growth
Stellar Customer Satisfaction Metrics Was the Secret
Slater Victoroff Was an Unlikely Founder
About Hiring Machine Learning Talent
Slater’s Work at .406 Ventures
What Sets Olin College Apart
How Textbooks Empower the Self-Directed Learners
Why Slater Victoroff Does Not Invest in the Life Sciences
Parting Thoughts from Slater Victoroff

Topics: founding story, robotics / AI, Techstars

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Angel-scale biotech is exploding: Learn More

Practicing urologist and founder Jeremy Wiygul, MD believes millions of people are suffering needlessly due to the inadequate delivery of effective treatment, among these his own wife. Pelex aims to use new technology to integrate existing resources and greatly enhance patient outcomes for people with pelvic floor problems such as incontinence. A fun chat with a compelling founder.

Sponsors: Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Jeremy Wiygul, MD Founder of Pelex
“...up to 60 million Americans are affected by one form or another of pelvic floor disorders.”
Pelex Combines a Connected Device and a Telehealth Platform to Provide Effective Care
Pelex Intends to Bring Together the Right Provider, the Right Treatment and the Right Delivery of Care
Consumer-Grade Pelvic Floor Devices Are Hit or Miss
Parallels to Imago Rehab Which Delivers Physical Therapy Remotely via a Connected Device
Connected with Jeremy Wiygul via Chrissy Glover of Imago Rehab
Jeremy Wiygul’s Own Physical Rehab Informs His Work
Why Would a Urologist with a Practice in New Your City Found a Startup?
What’s the Innovation Pelex Is Bringing to Market?
The Regulatory Strategy to Build Value in the Long Run
“...we feel very strongly that our outcomes are going to be above, and significantly better than any other service that's out there.”
Strategy with Regards to Intellectual Property
The Combination of Practitioner, Care and Delivery Has the Potential to Build a Brand Based on Dramatic Improvements in Outcomes for Patients
If the Wife of an Urologist Struggles to Get the Right Care in Her Husband’s Specialty, There’s Obviously a Problem
Contact jeremy@pelex-med.com if You Have the Problem or Want to Help
Exit Strategy
The Power of Bringing the Right Technology to Market at the Right Time
Learn More at https://pelexhealth.com/
Thanks Chrissy Glover of Imago Rehab for the Introduction to Jeremy Wiygul

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, software

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Erik Bullen, founder, angel and listener, gives us an overview of his startups and how his life has changed since exiting his last company. Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Erik Bullen, Angel, Founder & Listener
Erik Bullen Is Excited About Focal Point, a SaaS Solution in the Procurement Space
“It's one of those stories where he could not find a solution to actually solve this problem so... I'm going to create my own solution and build my own company.”
Anders Lillevik of Focal Point Was on the Fence About Joining Techstars Atlanta; It Turned Out Well
“What Focal Point does is it integrates a lot of the other silos that are out there.”
How Erik Bullen Reshaped His Work Life After Selling His Company
“...Guidely is targeting...alternate methods of mental health and personal development and using techniques, not clinical techniques...”
Cyberthentic: “...a very novel way to prevent email business compromise...”
“It's actually complementary to some of the other cybersecurity solutions out there.”
Meenta Grew Exponentially During COVID
Gabor Bethelendy’s First Startup Failed; a Few Months Later Gabor Was Starting Meenta
Gabor Bethlendy Met His Co-Founder Stephan Smith Because Their Sons Got into Fisticuffs at School
Realplay: Simplifying Sports Videos for Tournament Venues
Realplay Cameras Record Tournament Play, Its Algorithm Finds and Tags Crucial Parts
Erik Bullen and Justin Real of Real Play Developed a Close Advisory Relationship
Erik Bullen Was Born in Bremen to a German Mom and an American Dad
Biked 10 Miles in His Suit During a Virginia Summer to Get to a Job Interview!
“"Looks like you need a beer." He goes over a fridge gets me a beer. This is a very different interview than I was expecting.”
“It was formative for me in terms of really loving starting things and building things as well.”
"Hey, by the way, your van is smoking."
Erik Bullen Worked in Amsterdam in Digital Marketing; World Wildlife Fund & International Red Cross Were Clients
Erik Bullen Eventually Headed Global Services at Brightcove
Sal Daher Asks Erik Bullen About Obstacles to Investing in Biotech
Knowledge About the Science and the Industry Is the First Obstacle
Long Investment Hold and Capital Requirements Are the Second Obstacle
“Life Sciences would be great, but you know what, I can't spread myself too thin either.”
“I'm big on finding solutions and supporting cancer research...but I have not invested in a company that focuses on that area.”
Sal Daher’s Perspective on the Knowledge Problem in the Life Sciences
Why Sal Daher Is Bullish on Daphne Zohar and PureTech Health
Why Sal Daher Is Focusing on Angel-Scale Biotech
RockStep Solutions and VistaPath Bio Are Examples of Software Eating the Life Sciences
“Most of these companies are going to end up being bought by a strategic.”
The Angel Invest Boston Podcast Introduced Erik Bullen to Angel Investing
Compare & Contrast: Walnut Ventures, Launchpad and TBD Angels
Erik Bullen’s Parting Thoughts

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Susan Conover of Piction Health, is building an AI to improve results and reduce costs in the treatment of skin conditions. Piction has amassed 500,000 diagnosed images and is already helping primary care physicians interpret skin problems in patients. A great chat with an inspiring founder.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Thanks Sponsors Purdue University Entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson
Sal Daher Introduces Susan Conover of Piction Health
Susan Conover’s History with Melanoma and the Scarcity of Dermatologists
"What are opportunities for identifying skin diseases and how can technology help?"
“...we help elevate every doctor to have that visual expertise of a dermatologist...”
Piction Health’s Data Set Includes 500,000 Diagnosed Images with a Variety of Skin Tones
“We're, right now, focused on rashes.”
“...what makes the most sense to start with is a buyer who's realizing the value of our product now.”
“We estimate we can save these organizations, risk-bearing organizations, $160,000 per doctor per year.”
Piction Health Is Looking for Providers Who Have at least 50% of the Downside Risk of Patient Costs
Looking for a Product Manager and a Senior Machine Learning Engineer
Piction Health Is Partnering with a Big Provider to Develop Its Product Offering
Scaling Dermatology from 40 Patients per Day to 40,000 Patients per Day
The Value of Techstars and MassChallenge to Piction Health
Parting Thoughts – Advice to People Who Are on “Survival Mode” at Work

Topics: Mass Challenge, Techstars, robotics AI, discovering entrepreneurship

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Angel-scale biotech is hot! Learn More Psychiatrist and founder Jacqueline Olds on her startup and her mission to fight loneliness in America. Words of wisdom and lots of laughs in this interview that could actually make your life better.

Brought to you by:

Purdue University entrpreneurship, and
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces, Jacqueline Olds, M.D., Psychiatrist and Founder
Jacqueline and Her Husband, Founded GoodLux Technologies to Help Treat Depression without Drugs
They Created a Device and an App to Help People with Bright Light Therapy
“We thought this would be a wearable that would remind people that there was a way to treat their depression without using “
Sal Used the GoodLux Sunsprite to Help His Newborn Grandson Sleep Through the Night
“The people who lived in places with an abundance of sun sometimes got seasonal depression, because they couldn't stand going outside in the summer, and they were inside like moles.”
Overcoming Loneliness, Practical Strategies for Finding Connection
“...a huge percentage of our patients were lonely but they were all embarrassed to admit it, and were thinking that they were the only ones who felt lonely and left out...”
Marriage in Motion: “...what lasting marriages look like.”
The Lonely American: Why Americans in Particular Experience so Much Social Isolation
“There's that undercurrent of American culture that essentially says you're going to be okay if you're on your own...”
“Fewer people are getting married and fewer people are living with other people and everybody acts like that's a reasonable thing to do...when it's bad for your health mentally and physiologically.”
“Part of the reason psychotherapy can be helpful, is that you bring out these secrets that you felt terrible about and they sound positively measly when you talk them over with an actual human being...”
Americans Are Confiding in Fewer and Fewer People
Opportunities for Human Interaction Are Disappearing Due to Technology and Other Factors
The Down Side of Interacting with People Only When You Feel Like It
“To live in an environment where you have so many ties means you have very few choices...”
The Thickly Connected Social Environment of Sal’s Home Town in Brazil
Social Life of Grad Students in Boston in the Mid-1960s
The Town of Roseto and Its Notable Cardiac Health and Longevity Outcomes
The Secret of Longevity Was the Close Social Bonds of the Community
The Down Side of Close-Knit Communities
The Paradox of Choice: How Too Many Options Keep Us from Deciding
“...COVID has given us all a chance to reset and try to achieve balance in a new way because we were forced to calm down and give up some of our favorite enjoyments like going to restaurants or going to plays or going to concerts.”
Psychiatrist Jacqueline Olds’ Suggestion for Connecting Younger People Working Remotely
“Lots of slightly anxious, lonely, depressed people decide, "I don't want anyone to know how needy I feel, so I'm just going to take my light down.’”
The Value of Witnesses in Marriage
“...making sure those three o'clock thoughts are just that, nonsense. At eight o'clock in the morning, with coffee in front of you, just, "It's nothing. It was just a nightmare."”
Love, Shopping & Cocaine
“When a college student comes in and they're looking all miserable and cold and unhappy with their studies, and then they find somebody that they're starting to fall in love with and suddenly they're full of smiles. You can just see the dopamine practically showing on their face.”
Parting Thoughts from Jacqueline Olds, M.D., the Wise Psychiatrist

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The miracle-working CEO of portfolio company Finetune Learning is back to tell us about the latest developments in applying artificial intelligence in educational assessments. We also got into remote work and explored how to support younger workers in creating professional networks while working remotely.

Sponsored by:

Purdue University entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher Expresses Gratitude for His Sponsors: Purdue University Entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson
Sal Daher Introduces Steve Shapiro the Miracle-Working CEO of Finetune Learning
Finetune Learning Uses Technology to Support the Creation of Great Educational Assessments
Version 1.0 of Finetune Made It Easier to Grade Essays Consistently – A 2X Improvement
Finetune Version 2.0 Is More B2B – It Is Assisting in the Effective Creation Content for Educational Assessment
Making Assessment Writers 10X More Effective
“The other product that we have that scans the text, then classifies and tags it, does it in two orders of magnitudes more than a team of humans. Let's throw away the 2X to 10X and start saying 100x, 200x.”
“...we never said this is something that replaces a human. We believe that strongly. We always say this is something that's going to augment humans who are really good at this.”
Pre-Trained Systems Will Revolutionize Adaptive Learning
“In most cases, we're not a full solution. We are either a widget or an intel inside a larger solution with a large partner that's a multi-billion-dollar”
"I went into this because I actually hated school and you're throwing me back into a classroom....”
Old-Time Adaptive Learning
“That missing 10%, they have to be trained and they're not there because the teaching methods don't fit their learning style.”
“...there's a ton of Gen Z and Millennial founders out there that are starting to create companies in education technology...”
Unexpected Source of Talent for Cybersecurity
Finetune Driven to Remote Work Before the Pandemic Due to the Difficulty of Competing for Talent with Amazon and Google in Kendall Square
Lessons on Managing a Remote Workforce – Learned from GitLab
The Right Approach to Company Culture
How a Founder Learned to Get Along with Her Co-Founder
How Younger Workers Are Disadvantaged by Remote Work
How to Help Younger Workers Build Social Networks? A Question for Jacqueline Olds, M.D.
How Do We Reskill Angel Investors to Help Build Life Science Startups?
A Happy Outcome from Zoom School
Steve Shapiro’s Parting Thoughts

Topics: edtech, management, robotics / AI, software

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The Promise of Angel-Scale Biotech: Learn More

SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) are democratizing startup investing. In this interview with Jeremy Neilson, founder of Assure.co, we discussed how founders and angels can benefit from these increasingly economical platforms and what they mean for the future.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Jeremy Neilson Co-Founder of Assure.co
Sal and Jeremy Met at an Event Held by Jason Calacanis in 2019
“...the engine of a large number of groups that do angel investing.”
Use Cases for SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles)
It Used to Be Very Pricey to Set Up and SPV – No Longer
A Way for Angels to Increase the Diversity of their Portfolio
co Is helping Democratize Investing in Private Assets
co Focuses on Accredited Investors – Does Not Do Equity Crowdfunding
The Founding Story of Assure.co
“...AngelList called my co-founder, Katie, and I and said, "Can you guys figure out how to do funds in bulk?"”
Sal Daher Advises People Not to Make the Mistake He Made in Creating His Own SPVs – A Lot of Work!
“He's the pope of angel investing podcasts. I'm just a cardinal, or perhaps a bishop.”
Biotech Too Is Being Democratized
“...we're seeing in the ecosystem is a very large shift away from thinking strictly financial.”
“No longer is it a very small niche of uberwealthy or venture funds, now it's the entire ecosystem of accredited investors now have the opportunity to participate.”
io and Curesology
“We have seen clients come and say, "I want to donate my carry to a good cause."”
“Carta, AngelList, Assure.co were those three that got started all together back about eight, nine years ago.”
Cheaper SPVs Are Helping to Give Access to More Diverse Founders by Broadening the Reach of Investors
Sal Compares Two Robotic Glove Startups Three Decades Apart to Demonstrate How Much the Startup Ecosystem Has Developed
“Her life is going to be so much easier in starting that company than it was for Chrissy Glover’s starting Imago Rehab [today] and way, way easier than Beth Marcus’ starting EXOS back in the early '90s.”
“Assure.co is helping to lower the dead weight of a startup rocket that's trying to reach escape velocity.”
Wisdom from Waseem Daher of Pilot.com on Angels & Cap Tables
SPV Pricing at Assure.co
co Powers Jason’s Syndicates, EquityZen and Forge Among Many

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, fin tech, angel investing strategies

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The Opportunitites in Angel-Scale Biotech: https://syndicate.angelinvestboston.com/en-us/the-surge-of-opportunities-in-angel-scale-biotech

The dynamic duo of founder Adam Martel and super angel Christopher Mirabile are back on the podcast to report on the sale of Gravyty and to discuss Adam’s new startup, Givzey.

Highlights:

Gravyty Created a New Category
How COVID Affected Gravyty
Merging Gravyty and Graduway
Sal Compares the Gravyty Exit and the Mavrck Exit
Selling a Startup to a Private Equity Firm
Adam Martel Talks About his New Startup, Givzey
“Because we're experts in data, we've seen if you make a gift to your alma mater for the last 20 years, odds are that you're going to make a gift in the 21st year.”
“...the ability to understand the market and to understand the timing of the market; is the market ready for this, has been shown to be a very important predictor of success in ventures.”
Sal Daher Shifts the Conversation to the Life Sciences
“...you don't meet many academics who aren't pretty sharp. When you think about it, many of them are really quite good at project management.”
Being Coachable Is Essential for First-Time Academic Founders
“...Michael Jordan wasn't coachable, but I think he would tell you that he heard everything people said.”
AceUp, the Executive Coaching Platform
Purdue University Entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson Sponsor the Podcast
Hilltop Biosciences and Founder Amanda Drobnis
QSM Diagnostics
Kalion: Bioengineering Microorganisms to Produce Valuable Compounds
KnipBio – Another Use for Microorganisms
Piction Health – AI for Skin

Topics: product, exits, biotech

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Why Sal Is Bullish on Biotech: Click Here

Adam de Sola Pool, a highly successful pioneer in green tech investing in the 1990s, now sees huge opportunities in blue tech. Don’t miss this fascinating tour of ocean technologies conducted by an engaging investor/guide.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher Welcomes Back Fellow Angel Investor Adam Pool
“...he finds the kind of opportunities [in ocean tech] today that he saw in cleantech back in the 1990s.”
The Surge in Aquaculture Creates Massive Opportunities for Investors, including Angel Investors
Adam Pool Recently Invested in BioFeyn Which Is Making the Feeding of Farmed Fish More Efficient
“...we're transforming the food part of the $3 trillion business that is the ocean economy.”
Sal Sees Parallels Between the Explosion of Opportunities in Biotech and in Blue Tech.
Cool: Seatrec and its Ocean-going Electric Charging Stations
Cool: Making Fish Food Out of Mealworms and Black Soldier Fly Larvae
Cool: Ocean Rainforest Produces Kelp Used to Control Bovine Flatulence
Cool: Reel Data Uses Facial Recognition for Salmon. IKYN!
Interested Angel Investors Can Contact Blue Angels
https://sea-ahead.com/blue-angels
Cool: Oyster Tracker Offers Digital Tracking of Oysters from the Sea Bed to the Dinner Plate
Cool: Fish in Fashion – You Won’t Believe This!
“I'm so glad that I violated my format and went blue instead of bio.”
Many Exits in Blue Tech
Interesting Companies Protecting the Oceans but also Creating Work Opportunities for Displaced Workers
Several VC Funds Being Raised – Investable by Angels
Sal Daher Sees Adam de Sola Pool as a Visionary Who Is Also Practical

Topics: product, exits, portfolio, venture capital

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Why Sal Is Bullish on Biotech

VeraMorph has a new way to deliver insoluble drugs by mouth. Founder Doug Godfrin, PhD elucidates the promise of accessing the 85% of drugs that are not soluble. Does VeraMorph pass Sal Daher’s screen for angel-scale biotech? Listen and find out.

Sponsors: Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher, CFA Introduces Doug Godfrin, PhD, Founder of VeraMorph
A New Way to Deliver Drugs Orally
How VeraMorph Gets Around the Solubility Problem
VeraMorph’s Approach Is Janus-like: Shelf Stable but Available Where Needed
The Decade of Biotech & VeraMorph
AltrixBio: Gastric Bypass Surgery in a Pill
Sal Daher’s Biotech Screen: Strong Patents
“VeraMorph actually owns the patents outright for this platform technology.”
“We've really taken a totally different perspective with this class of material by focusing on immediate release via oral delivery...”
Sal Daher’s Biotech Screen: Capable Academic Founder
Sal Daher’s Biotech Screen: Is it Angel-Scale?
US$1 Million Will Get VeraMorph to Production for Pre-Clinical Trials
“...chances of reaching that next set of milestones is 90% or above.”
Doug Godfrin Is Collaborating with Colin Minchom, PhD, a Veteran of Drug Development
US$ 2 to 3 million More Will Take VeraMorph to Clinical Stage, Doug Predicts
Sal and Doug Look at the Odds of Getting to Clinical Stage
Sal Daher’s Biotech Screen: Do Strategics Care?
Sal Daher’s Biotech Screen: Platform Technology?
Sponsors Purdue University and Peter Fasse Are Founder-Friendly
The Upside of Failure in Biotech
This guy calls me up, "Saleh, let's get together at Darwin's in Cambridge. I want to talk to you about a new company."
Doug Godfrin’s Parting Thoughts

Topics: biotech

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Click to Learn About Opportunities in Angel-Scale Biotech Diane Stokes, founder and angel investor, is back to update us on her startups. This inspiring triathlete has great ideas for startups who want to scale. Highlights: * Sal Daher Welcomes Back Iron Woman Diane Stokes, Founder & Angel * This Interview Picks Up Where the Prior Interview Left Off – Back to Wyebot * How Wyebot Weathered COVID * Diane Stokes and Colleagues Formed a Firm to Help Startups Grow * Squadle – Promising Startup in Which Diane Stokes and Sal Daher Invested * Dermal Photonics – Diane Stokes Is Trying Their Product * Dermal Photonics Is Championed by Super Angel Jeff Arnold Who Has Been on the Podcast * Sal Daher’s Standing Question: How to Get More Angels to Do Biotech * “He discovered that VCs are not doing the small-scale biotech anymore. By small scale is a company that could sell for $200 million.” * “They all want to have the next Moderna.” * “One of the things is, is it manufacturable? How do you get to scale on your manufacturing, if it's not even at that stage yet?” * Diane Stokes Believes Angels Have to Be Shown the Possibilities of the Biotechnology Beyond the First use Case * “The resource we have an abundance of, are brilliant academics with no business experience, but with tremendous motivation.” * “If you get a physician that is open to having somebody work with them and know what they don't know in that, it can be very successful and I think this is similar.” * “Being able to understand the state of where your organization is, what help you need, where to spend that newly acquired funding that you received.” * Diane Stokes Plans to Do a 2000-mile Bike Ride to Fight ALS

Topics: management, angel investing strategies, biotech, pivot

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Join Sal's Syndicate: https://syndicate.angelinvestboston.com/en-us/the-surge-of-opportunities-in-angel-scale-biotech Artificial intelligence guru Gil Syswerda is back to talk about angel investing and to give practical advice to founders. We closed with entertaining stories from Gil’s career.

Highlights:

AI Guru Gil Syswerda Is Back to with Tips for Angels & Founders
Why Founders Should Value Their Time at $10 per Minute
“...I stopped driving...I take an Uber or Lyft because it's not worth my time to be in a car... An Uber is way cheaper than $10 a minute.”
Advice to Founders: Find a Co-Founder with Critical Skills You Lack
Advice to Founders: “You need to be in the trenches, along with everybody else.”
“One thing you make a must-read is an article by Paul Graham. It's called Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule.”
“...The Hard Truth About Innovative Cultures, Gary Pisano just nails it, when he talks about how to create an innovative culture...”
“...get an executive assistant as soon as you can.”
“...you just cannot function at 100% if you don't get enough sleep.”
Exercise Is Essential: Intense Outdoor Exercise at Sunrise; plus do Bouts Like Taking the Stairs
“It's actually quite difficult for most people to make money as an angel investor.”
“...I believe that Jeff Arnold probably does pretty well on his investments but he has pretty grounded knowledge in the biotech space and he has a methodology for evaluating companies.” How to Make Money in Biotech with Jeff Arnold
Frank Ferguson Was a Spectacularly Successful Investor (Bose and Curriculum Associates) by Focusing on a Few Investments Intensely Practical Dreamer with Frank Ferguson
Howard Stevenson Got Warren-Buffett-like Returns on His Angel Portfolio [Wealth & Families with Howard Stevenson]
Sal Daher and His Biotech Screen for Angel Investing
“These people [academic founders] have tremendous skills. If we can help them turn those skills in the direction of something useful, I think they can create a lot of value.”
VistaPath Bio Using Off-the-Shelf Machine Vision to Create Value in Pathology
Gil Syswerda Stories
The HP Interview or Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Third Grade
Growing Fish at BBN Labs
The Interview at Lawrence Livermore Research Laboratory
Gödel, Escher, Bach & All That
The AI Researcher and the Daughter of the Soviet Scientist
Simulating Professor Paul Scott
How to Have a Board without a Board
Gil Syswerda’s Perception of Where AI Is Today
Gil Syswerda Highlights People Who Were Influential in His Success

Topics: co-founders, angel investing strategies, management

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Why Sal's Bullish on Angel-Scale Biotech: Learn More

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Founder Matt Breen of Rahoo Baby is back to update us on the progress of the company and on their new product, Walk Block. This startup is building a brand around helping parents support the cognitive development of their babies.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Matt Breen, Co-founder of Rahoo Baby
“...scarcity of information that parents should have about how to positively impact their child's early development...”
“...only about 6% of families actually tap into that knowledge that we [therapists]”
“...oftentimes, it really isn't rocket science. It's stuff that can really easily be implemented into a parent's daily routine in terms of how they interact and play with their”
Many Developmental Delays Can Be Remedied with Simple Interventions that Do Not Entail Onerous Visits to the Hospital
Rahoo Baby’s First Product Is a Baby Lounger that Reduces Reflux and Increases Tummy Time – Funded by a Kickstarter Campaign
“Very little marketing spend is required to attract customers, which is a huge advantage for our startup.”
Walking Independently Drives Cognitive Development – Second Product “Walk Blocks” Promotes Walking
Rahoo Baby Is Creating Content to Help Parents Based on Each of the First Twelve Months of the Baby’s Life
A Shout Out to Angel Investor & Listener Mark Bissel Who Connected Us
Martin Aboitiz Made Himself an Expert in Electronic Health Records – 80 Million EHRs in His Company’s Data Lake
Sal Daher Pitches Purdue Entrepreneurship & Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson
Matt & Erica Have No Model for Entrepreneurship in Their Families
Another Reason to Join Sal Daher’s Syndicate List

Topics: co-founders, raising money, selling, product

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When Semyon Dukach’s family came to America as refugees from the Soviet Union, they had a hundred dollars to their name. Semyon is now one of Boston’s most consequential VCs. Along the way he founded a couple of startups himself and made some remarkable angel investments that put him in a position to be helping founders with money and time. He has a knack for encouraging founders during the tough times. He’s done some fascinating stuff, like being a member of MIT’s fabled blackjack team, more recently he headed up Techstars in Boston. Then he raised a venture fund, One Way Ventures, focused on working with immigrant founders.

Don’t miss this inspiring interview. Topics covered include:

Sal’s Announcement of the Angel Invest Boston Syndicate
Sal’s Intro of Semyon Dukach
Semyon Dukach Bio
The Moment Semyon Dukach Figured Out What He wanted to Do in Life
Semyon Dukach’s Immigrant Story
One of Semyon Dukach’s Adventures on MIT’s Fabled Blackjack Team
The Satisfaction of Helping Out Customers in Significant Ways
Semyon Dukach’s Tremendous Pivot Story
Semyon Dukach’s First Angel Investment
Some of Semyon Dukach’s Favorite Startups – Wanderu, Quanergy & Lovepop Cards
Semyon Dukach’s Leadership at Techstars Boston
Semyon Dukach’s Advice to Startups Applying to Techstars
Why Are Immigrants So Over-Represented Among Founders
How One Way Ventures Came About
About Eveline Buchatskiv, Semyon’s Partner in One Way Ventures
Semyon Dukach’s Advice to Angels & Founders

Topics: venture capital, angel investing strategies, Techstars, focus, co-founders, founding story, exits, pivot

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Listener Robert Nagle is a mathy software guy and an angel investor. We had a great chat which included his perceptions of the risks in biotech investing and also discussed some of the companies in his portfolio. This is an instructive conversation with a thoughtful angel investor.

Sponsored by:

Purdue University entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Listener Robert Nagle, Mathy Software Guy and Angel Investor
Robert Nagle Was Born in Ireland & Came to the US
Robert Nagle Knew Jon Hirschtick as a Brilliant Intern at Computervision [ Jon Hirschtick podcast: https://www.angelinvestboston.com/jon-hirschtick-innovating-in-the-cloud]
“If you're nice to people, sometimes they remember, sometimes they don't. If you're a jerk, they always remember...”
Robert Nagle’s First Angel Check – Startup Making Bespoke Eyeglass Frames
Conversation About Virtual Angel Investing
“...many fascinating opportunities that spill out of the universities...”
“That model that serves virtually-based, tool-based, asynchronous doesn't depend on a meeting is one of the exciting innovations that I think TBD Angels has brought to fruition.”
“I think more than one model is good for angels. The aggregate sums as you point out can be comparable.”
Robert Nagle Belongs to Hub Angels, Sky Ventures and TBD Angels
Two Brothers in Law: How They Help Sal’s Angel Investing
Robert Nagel on His Portfolio Company Easyship
Robert Nagel on His Portfolio Company NODE40 – Pickaxe & Shovels for Crypto
Sal Daher on Portfolio Company Meenta – A COVID Rocketship
Rockstep Solutions – ERP for Pre-Clinical Trials
VistaPath Bio – Machine Vision Helping the Intake of Pathology Samples
“...what holds you back from investing in life science companies?”
Sal’s Mentor on Life Science Company Was a Life Science Skeptic Having Made His Money in the Space
“...life science companies...are taking over the value of the portfolio. That's where all the value creation is going on.”
Said of SQZ: “...I'm putting my money on the fact that they have a technology that helps other people produce their therapies faster, more efficiently.”
Said of Savran Technologies: “A few million dollars is enough to develop two use cases in a company like that.”
The Subset of Biotech Companies that Interests Sal Daher, CFA
How Sal Daher, CFA Made a Good Chunk of His Net Worth on a Scary Asset
“At one point I had my kid's tuition money in Nigerian promissory notes. You'll probably say, "Majnun," that’s Arabic for crazy.”
“That taught me a lesson that a particular area, a particular asset that people don't like at all, they turn their noses at it. There, I will find opportunity.”
Why Life Science Companies Are Paradoxically Accessible to Intelligent Lay People
“I don't think the challenge is people being unable to see the opportunity. I think the problem is...on the risk side.”
The Weird & Wonderful Story of Bacteria That Glow in the Dark
Robert Nagle on Marc Andreessen’s Thesis about Founder-Led Companies
“I'm always gratified when I talk to a listener. I have yet to be disappointed, and I'm also surprised at the number of people come up to me and say, "I started my startup because of listening to your podcast."”

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech

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When Sid Satish saw his first surgery he was struck by the contrast between the advanced technologies in use side by side with ancient practices such as the negotiation over how much patient blood has been lost. He saw an opportunity to apply technology to create an informed calculation of blood loss. This was in 2011, now this technology runs on iPad Pros and is in use at 30 hospitals. In the fall of 2021 Gauss Surgical was acquired by Stryker so it’s time to re-launch this compelling interview.

Here are some highlights from this eye-opening interview:

Siddarth Satish’s Bio
Got Hooked on Entrepreneurship from Business Plan Competitions at UC Berkeley
Gauss’ Device & Software Scans the Operating Room to Estimate Blood Loss – Too Cool!

[The Product Is Called Triton and Has Been Adopted at 30 Hospitals and Used on 100,000 patients Already]

How Gauss Got Started
“…we've had a few of our health systems study the delivery of the system and find that it has clinically impacted blood transfusions, made them more efficient, it has led to a significant increase in the recognition of hemorrhage, which is the problem we're trying to solve….by almost 400 percent.”
“When you're trying to change an entire field and trying to change the way that medicine is ultimately practiced with a completely new perspective, it takes re-imagination both on the technical front, but also on the clinical front, on the customer-facing front.”

Topics: robotics / AI, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Salvatore Viscomi, MD founded his own startup and is now with GoodCell which isolates and stores cells of healthy patients who may need them for future cell therapies. The startup is founded by David Scadden, MD of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. A truly informative interview.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney.

Highlights:

Sal Daher, CFA Introduces Salvatore Viscomi, MD, Physician, Founder & Investor
“...to isolate and store cells that you may utilize for future therapy.”
“The ability to not only isolate and store the cells but to be able to say, "These cells are of good quality for future therapy...”
“One of the unique capabilities we have is looking at what are the genetic changes that happen in our lives that cause risk.”
“...two years from now, and we can always reference your biobank material to see what your baseline levels were.”
GoodCell Co-Founders: David Scadden, MD, Trevor Perry, CEO, Brad Hamilton, CSO
Salvatore Viscomi Was Vetting GoodCell for a Friend but Ended Up Investing and Coming Aboard as Chief Medical Officer
Raised $30 million Series Seed, Looking for Strategic Collaborations
GoodCell Has Expanded on the Intellectual Property Licensed from the Broad Institute
“The second filing was around the ability to determine the quality of cells that go through a manufacturing process.”
Owned Patents Also Cover Matters Related to Autoimmune Disease
How GoodCell Tests for CHIP (proliferation of unhealthy cells) Works
Possibility that a Therapy for CHIP Will Be Developed
A Plug for Purdue University Entrepreneurship & Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney
“Purdue is in the middle of the country in West Lafayette, Indiana and so they're really making a big effort to reach out to angel investors in both coasts.”
Salvatore Viscomi’s Father was a Stone Mason from Italy Who Moved to US via Argentina
How Salvatore Viscomi, MD Got the Entrepreneurial Urge
The Resistance of Certain Academic Institutions to Entrepreneurial Ventures
“...taking that idea and making a business out of it, which is probably what was really the most fun for me...”
How Being an Immigrant Makes People More Prone to Entrepreneurship
“No matter how smart you are, no matter how smart your idea is, it's very difficult to do it alone.”

Topics: biotech, co-founders, discovering entrepreneurship, IP / patents

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Virtual visits & robotics to improve greatly the recovery of stroke patients. Chrissy Glover & her startup, Imago Rehab, are taking to market technology from Harvard's Biodesign Lab informed by deep experience in how stroke rehabilitation is done now.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Chrissy Glover, Co-Founder of Imago Rehab
“...they've had a stroke maybe a year ago, and their hand is just stuck in this fist position.”
“It's well understood that what is required for successful recovery is high-intensity rehabilitation.”
300 Repetitions of Hand Movements per Day Is What’s Needed; Stroke Patients Now Get 30 Reps Twice a Week - If They Can Get to the Clinic
The Brain Is a Lot More Plastic Than We Thought, Even the Brain of the Elderly
“...we see people who are five years post-stroke and able to really drastically improve their hand function, which is really exciting.”
With The Robotic Glove in Their Home, Some Patients Go Way Beyond 300 Reps per Day and Have Great Outcomes
Chrissy and Imago Have been Through Mass Challenge
FDA Regulatory Path Is Relatively Simple; Imago Rehab Is Getting Reimbursed for the Virtual Visits Even Before Approval
“We actually just entered the market, which is exciting news for us.”
With Imago Rehab, Sal Daher Has Dèjá Vu from His First Startup Investment, EXOS, Which Involved a Force-Feedback Glove
Co-founder Kristin Nuckols Brings 15 Years of Experience in Occupational Therapy
Technology Developed at the Harvard Biodesign Lab under Professor Conor Walsh Who Is Also a Co-founder
Sal Daher on the Connection Between Creative People and Startups
How Chrissy Glover Decided to Become an Entrepreneur
Chrissy Glover Takes Notes and, More Significantly, Can Read Them!
“You talked about could there be a multiplier effect for therapists where we're taking out some of the mundane tasks so they can really be more efficient with their time.”
Imago Rehab Has the Potential to Build Strong Value for Individual Therapists and Thus Attract Large Numbers of these Sought-after Specialists
Basecamp and Summit Thoughts on Imago Rehab
“We're hyper-focused on stroke in the hand, but then we do have larger aspirations.”
“Actually, in the Biodesign Lab, there is a shoulder and elbow device also in development.”
“It could be learning algorithms, making their work more efficient, making their lives more manageable...Because the limiting factor in therapy is the availability of therapists.”
“This is entrepreneurship. It's Stone Soup.”
“...Imago Rehab, a startup that is getting ready to revolutionize the space of physical rehabilitation ..”

Sponsored by:

Purdue University entrepreneurship, and
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Topics: product, robotics / AI, co-founders, Mass Challenge, platform, founding story

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Harvard’s Tom Eisenmann is the author of Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success. We discussed valuable lessons from the book and how they might apply to biotech startups.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Prof. Tom Eisenmann of the Harvard Business School, Author of Why Startups Fail
Howard Stevenson’s 400X Return
Contrasting Brad Feld’s Book with Prof. Tom Eisenmann’s Book
Sal Daher’s Favorite Part of the Book: Failing
“[failed] founders probably cycle through those. ...the Kubler Ross stages...”
“...basically, half of failed founders come back and get back on the horse and do it again.”
Shutting Down the Failed Venture, Gracefully
The Number One Killer of Startups: False Starts
“...engineers are particularly vulnerable to this because they want to build.”
Sal Daher Discusses SQZ Biotech’s False Start and Brilliant Pivot
The Origin Story of Why Startups Fail
“...the factories that actually make this stuff actually generate enough cash to invest in new apparel companies...”
Silver Linings of the Pandemic
Tom Eisenmann on Harvard’s School of Engineering and the MS/MBA Program
Tom Eisenmann on Tough Tech: Technical Uncertainty + Market Uncertainty
Creating Supports for Life Science Academics to Become Founders
Creative Destruction Labs
Sal Daher’s Focus on Biotech Angel Formation
Software Startup Funding vs. Biotech Startup Funding
Maybe Successful Angel-Backed Founders Such as Todd Zion and Armon Sharei Could be a Resource for Training Angels
The Dynamics of Venture Capital in the Last Decade – Many New Shoots
Tom Eisenmann’s Parting Thoughts

Sponsored by:

Purdue University entrepreneurship, and
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Topics: biotech, management, co-founders, Mass Challenge, raising money, scholar, venture capital

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Genius founder Sam Bogoch of Axle.ai returns to the podcast to tells us the secrets of equity crowdfunding. Axle.ai helps enterprises with massive video files make them usable. The startup has found great success on Republic and Sam has wisdom to share.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Sam Bogoch Founder of Axle.ai Who Is a Returning Guest
Sam Bogoch’s Back Story Is on Another Episode Titled “Boy Genius, MD & Founder”
Axle.ai addresses the accumulation of video content in enterprises
What Axle.ai Does for Its Customers Such as Sports Venues
Enables Remote Work & Finding Relevant Parts on Massive Video Files
It’s a Big Problem and Companies Are Getting Acquired – Adobe Bought Frame.io for $1.3 billion
Video Files Grow Faster than Bandwidth, So Most of Them Are Still on Disk Drives, Not the Cloud
“...Amazon Web Services, when they're collecting very, very large data sets, they actually send out a tractor trailer-“
How Do Crowdfunding Investors Get Paid Out?
“We probably couldn't have gotten to where we are today had we not done that equity crowdfunding.”
Sam Bogoch and Axle.ai Had a Great Experience at Republic
Axle.ai Went Live Just Before the COVID Lockdown – Maybe It Helped Because a Lot of People Were on Their Screens
The Joy of Watching the Investments Come In on Real Time
Axle.ai Is Growing Fast But Not Fast Enough for VCs
“Today we have over 1,000 investors in our company.”
How Much You Can Raise on Republic?
Sal Daher Pitches Sponsors Purdue University Entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse Patent Attorney
Secret #1: Be a Business that’s “Crowdfunding-Ready”
Secret #2: Your Business Has to Be Easily Understood by People
Secret #3: Be Radically Committed to Communicating with Potential Investors
Republic Vets Startups Closely Which Leads to a Success Rate of 90%
Could a Life Science Company Succeed in Crowdfunding?
“You want to know what it takes to be successful, but you also want to see what flopped and understand what it was about the intersection of the platform, the audience, and the company itself that did not click.”
“...I do think that taken broadly, that this trend is going to change the way investing happens over the next 5 to 10 years.”
Relatable Companies Like Nanno (Uber for Nannies) Have Investors Who Use Their Services and Refer Their Friends – They Go Viral
“It's like Stone Soup at scale.”
Contact Sam Bogoch at sam@axle.ai to Get His Advice
Sam’s Company Axle.ai Is Raising Right Now So Check Them Out on Republic
Secret #4: Have a Really Catchy Video
Sal Daher Lost 70 Pounds Thanks to Plenity and the HMR Program

Topics: fundraising, Robotics / AI, software

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Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Hesitant about investing in biotech startups? Founder Çağrı Savran and I discuss the unique opportunities and requirements of angel-scale life science startups. This is the first in a series of biotech angel bootcamps.

Highlights:

Podcast Sponsored by Purdue University Entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney
Sal Daher Introduces Founder, Çağrı Savran, PhD
Purdue University Now Evaluates Professors of Engineering on Translation of their Technology to Industry as Well as on Publications and Citations
Episode Created for Angel Investors Who Are Hesitant About Biotech
Savran’s First Round of Funding Was Very Easy, the Subsequent Three Rounds Took Great Effort
Several Walnut Members Had Invested in SQZ, Which Also Had a Fast Angel Round
“...they saw parallels between SQZ and Savran.”
” If somebody is taking too much time to think, they're probably not interested and that's okay. You don't need the whole world...”
“...it's similar to marriage... Sometimes it clicks, sometimes it doesn't click.”
There Are Many People Looking for Attractive Investment Alternatives – It’s About Finding Those People
Sal Asks About an Alternative Way to Fund Biotech Startups that Could Be More Efficient in the Long Run
Angels Should Consider Staging their Investment in Biotech Startups Over Four Years with Annual Drawdown Based on Milestones
Staged Funding Would Provide a Stable Financing Path So Founders Can Focus on the Business
Angel Investors Have Contributed Much More than Money to Savran Tech; Advice, Introductions and Encouragement
Çağrı Savran Wants Angels to Appreciate All the Trial & Error Involved in Building Life Science Companies
When Things Work Out, Life Science Companies Can Build a Lot of Value Due to Strong Barriers to New Competitors
Software Startups Face Stiff Competition Due to Low Barriers to Entry for Competitors
“...you need to worry about minimizing user-to-user variation, especially if you're making an instrument. It's not like a computer code where if you hit a couple of keystrokes, it doesn't matter who it is that's hitting the keystroke.”
Biotech Startups Have Different Metrics for Progress from Software Startups
Biotech Startups Tend to Collaborate with Big Players; Software Startups Usually Compete
Strong Patents Are Needed to Make Biotech Startup Valuable to Strategic Players
“If the startup is making progress, it will have built a prototype.”
Maturation of the Technology Is an Important Measure of Progress, It’s What Will Get the Company Acquired
Founder-Led Companies Are Special
Startups Can’t Afford Experienced People in Management but They Can Get Them on the Board
“...the lesson here for angels is, don't expect a professional CEO in a life science startup.”
We Are Living in a Time of Miracles; Biotech Miracles
There Are Promising Biotech Startups that Can Flourish with Just $5 Million in Funding – Angel-Scale Biotech Startups

Topics: biotech, management, angel investing strategies

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Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is the whole ball game. Whoever gets it first will rule. Who’s ahead and how to bet on them; this is only part of the excellent second chat with AI wiz Gil Syswerda.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Second Installment of Interview – AI and the Future
Sponsors:
- Purdue University entrepreneurship, and
- Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson
“History is full of financial firms devising algorithms that work great in the past and don't work in the future.”
“...our back testing showed on average 15% returns per year, and our live performance was exactly that, 15% per year.”
“...we needed a supercomputer to run our algorithm. We built one. In the end, we spent upwards of a million dollars on this machine, and it took $10,000 a month in electricity to run it.”
Gil Syswerda Teams Up with the Legendary Paul Tudor Jones and His Hedge Fund via Percipio
The Start of the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis Breaks Gil’s Algorithm and He Goes to Cash
Investors Complain When Gil’s Fund Goes to Cash in August of 2008 but by the End of The Year, They Think He’s a Genius
The Algorithm from Gil’s Hedge Fund Finds Use at a Lead Generation Company
Percipio became Jobcase which Is Heading to Unicorn Status
After the Hedge Fund Experience Gil Returns to Angel Investing
Gil “Busted” While Coding at Darwin’s Coffee House
Genetic Rule Induction Seminar at Babson – Big Turnout
Machine Learning Talent Is Had to Get Even for the Legendary Paul Tudor Jones
Gil Starts FeatureX to Look for Patterns in Satellite Imagery
Machine Alpha Looked for Trades Based on Tudor Data
Algorithms Required so Much Computing that AWS Bill Approached $2 million in One Year
Gil Syswerda’s Next Challenge Is Artificial General Intelligence
“...if you're so smart, how come you're not a billionaire? The answer to that is I like to work on hard problems, hard technical problems.”
Sal Discusses Some of the AI Companies in His Universe: PathAI, Pilot.com and VistaPath
The First Company to Build Artificial General Intelligence Will Rule
Buy Google Shares Because DeepMind Is Doing Amazing Stuff and Could Win the AGI Race – What Else to Buy
Jeff Hawkins – Thousand Brains Theory - Numenta
AI Research Is Hugely Expensive Due to the Massive Computing Requirements

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Sponsors:

Purdue University entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Mostly diagnosed in late stages, ovarian cancer is a silent killer of women. Oriana Papin-Zoghbi of AOA Dx aims to defeat this threat. Fresh out of Y Combinator, the team is making impressive headway in commercializing a promising technology from McGill University.

Highlights:

Sal Introduces Sponsors, Purdue University Entrepreneurship & Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney
Sal Daher, CFA Welcomes Oriana Papin-Zoghbi of AOA Dx to the Podcast
Ovarian Cancer Is a Silent Killer of Women
“None of us on the founding team were originally scientists... We needed to really create a partnership.”
Partnered with Professor Uri Saragovi of McGill University
“...80% of cases being diagnosed when they're already Stage III and IV.”
Professor Saragovi’s Approach Is Using Certain Glycolipids in the Patient’s Blood as a Marker of the Presence of Ovarian Cancer
AOA Dx Supported by a Retrospective Study – Reached 95% Accuracy
Sal Daher, CFA Makes the Case for Re-Skilling Angels Used to Investing in Software into Life Science Investors
“We expect to be on the market in the US by 2025. Another four years out from here.”
AOA Dx Is Developing a Platform for Early Detection of Other Diseases as Well
Is AOA Dx Considering a Strategic Collaboration?
A Good Attitude Towards Strategic Collaboration
“...I can make the case for life sciences and that is where we are today is at the cusp of innovation, or medical innovation in the life sciences, this is truly just the beginning.”
“...our ability to beat cancer or Alzheimer's or other types of diseases. It's that impact investment that is going to make a difference 30 years to come from now...”
“I fully attest to the value Y Combinator gave us...”
“...TBD Angels I worked specifically with, or closest I should say, with Yael and with Vicky was, how quick and transparent all of our communication was.”
“...for anybody that is interested in the art of persuasion, I very much recommend reading about Robert Cialdini and his books...”

Topics: biotech, co-founders, founding story, fundraising

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Sal's Syndicate: https://www.angelinvestboston.com/our-syndicates

Sponsored by:

Purdue University Entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

The best measure of a founder is how much she can get done with limited resources. By this metric, Bryanne Leeming is an outstanding founder.

Two years before she had a paper prototype and vague hopes for a Kickstarter program. At the time we spoke she had a sleek physical product that’s gaining market. She also had the software to make it valuable and had completed a successful Kickstarter campaign.

The interview with Bryanne Leeming left me inspired.

Here’s some of what we talked about:

Bryanne Leeming Bio
How Bryanne Leeming Decided She Wanted to Be a Founder
What Bryanne Leeming Got from Her Babson MBA
Balancing Time Between Consulting Gigs & Working on Her Startup
How Being an Athlete Affects the Work Bryanne Leeming Does
Bryanne Leeming Tells the Unruly Studio Story
How Bryanne Leeming Overcame Not Being a Technical Founder
Sal Reads a Listener Review – Asks Listeners to Review the Podcast on iTunes
Bryanne Leeming Tells About Her Kickstarter Experience
Bryanne Leeming’s Tips for Founders on Fundraising
How Unruly Studios Is Doing a Lot with Few Resources
Unruly Studio’s Go to Market Plans
Product Roadmap for Unruly Studios
Bryanne Leeming on Taking Advice as a Founder

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Sponsored by:

Purdue University entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

I invested in Savran Tech back in 2017 around the time of the first part of this interview. Recently I sat down with Cagri Savran to review the progress of his remarkable biotech startup in the last four years. Listen to the original interview followed by a recent update.

Here is a list of the topics discussed:

Çağrı Savran Bio (Çağrı Is Pronounced Cha-re)
Accident that Took Çağrı Savran from Turkey to Indiana
Purdue University’s Remarkable Support for the Commercialization of Faculty Inventions
Çağrı Savran: “So, when I say "extremely rare," I mean one-in-a-billion rare.”
Çağrı Savran: “Our technology can find those five or six or ten cells that are, among about a billion.“
“…from a blood sample, you have a glimpse into the tumor without cutting into the person.”
The Promise of Monitoring Cancer Treatment with a Blood Draw
“The advantage is if you can do this with a blood sample, it gives you a chance to do this test frequently, right?”
Applicable to the Prenatal Monitoring of the Fetus
Savran’s Tech Is Simple, Fast and Results in High Purity and Yield – 1000 Times Faster than Typical Microfluidic Systems
Like Alexander with the Gordian Knot, Savran Has Loosened One Constraint to Great Effect
Bigger Scale and Faster Flow Allows the Fast Separation of Rare Cells
Device Seems Amenable to Large Scale Usage – Handling Many Patients at the Same Time
How the Invention Came About
Why Çağrı Savran Founded a Company
Purdue’s New Commercialization Policy Played a Big Role in the Decision to Found the Company
Why Turbocharging Cell Separation Is So Important
Other Use Cases: People Are Always Suggesting New Ones but Need to Concentrate
Savran’s Tech Is a Game Changer because of Throughput and Parallelization
Other Techniques Look at Pieces of DNA – Savran’s Tech Is Capable of Finding the Entire Genome
Sal Daher Reads the Review by Spizzy Spong on iTunes and Asks for Your Review
How Savran Landed Bigwig Advisor Ken Morse
How Savran Found Its CEO – Patrick Rivelli
"Oh, you have no idea how I wish that somebody would say that about me, that I'm 'quietly competent.'”
Savran’s Choice of the Right Patent Attorney Was Crucial – Peter Fasse Helped Way Beyond Patents
Patrick Rivelli, CEO Proposed a New Go to Market Approach
What Makes the Savran Lab at Purdue so Productive
Çağrı Savran Urges Fellow Academics to Bring Their Inventions to Market
Update on the Original Interview with Çağrı Savran, Ph.D.
In December of 2017 Savran Was Operating with Essential Components Handmade in the Lab – In October 2021 the Main Components Are Produced by a Vendor
Early Technology Was Used in a Major Clinical Trial at Indiana University School of Medicine and Significantly Improved the Ability to Predict Recurrence of a Breast Cancer
The Existing Technology for Capturing Circulating Tumor Cells Is Not Scalable – Savran’s Tech Is Amenable to Scale
Strategic Players in Prenatal Diagnostics Are Interested in Sequencing the Cells Captured – Savran Is Uniquely Positioned to Provide That Ability
The Basic Technology Is Like a Kitchen, the Different Assays Are Like What’s Being Prepared in the Kitchen
Savran Has Recruited a Capable and Involved Board
Sal Daher Summarizes Savran’s Progress in the Last Four Years

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Sponsored by:

Purdue University entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

In December of 2017 I interviewed Çağrı Savran, Ph.D. about plans for his startup in which I had just invested. Almost four years later I interviewed him again to review the progress of the company which is changing the way breast cancer is followed up after treatment.

Highlights:

Update on the Original Interview with Çağrı Savran, Ph.D.
In December of 2017 Savran Was Operating with Essential Components Handmade in the Lab – In October 2021 the Main Components Are Produced by a Vendor
Early Technology Was Used in a Major Clinical Trial at Indiana University School of Medicine and Significantly Improved Prediction of Recurrence of a Breast Cancer
The Existing Technology for Capturing Circulating Tumor Cells Is Not Scalable – Savran’s Tech Is Amenable to Scale
Strategic Players in Prenatal Diagnostics Are Interested in Sequencing the Cells Captured – Savran Is Uniquely Positioned to Provide That Ability
The Basic Technology Is Like a Kitchen, the Different Assays Are Like What’s Being Prepared in the Kitchen
Savran Has Recruited a Capable and Involved Board
Sal Daher Summarizes Savran’s Progress in the Last Four Years

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Sponsored by:

Purdue University Entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson

AI wiz, founder and angel investor Gil Syswerda on building algorithms and companies. This episode focuses on Gil’s biography and his startups. It’s the first in-studio interview since spring 2020. We had a blast!

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Gil Syswerda, Founder and Super Angel
Gil Syswerda Lucked into a Great High School – Built His Own Calculator
"Computer programming. What is that?"
“Because programming a computer for the first time you have this machine that just does whatever you tell it to do. The power is just indescribable. It just seems like the possibilities are unlimited.”
Selling Cutco Knives to Pay the Rent – Learned to Sell
“...I taught myself programming on that computer at Calvin College...”
“When I wasn't at a place working, I would just fly to a city where I had friends and hang out with them. I just literally lived nowhere for a year.”
Gil Meets His Wife Carol - They’ve Been Married 38 Years Now
“One day I was at my job as a programmer, the next day I'm in class.”
Animation Toolkit Was a Flop Because It Was Too Much of a Niche Product
“The target audience is miniscule. We just didn't realize it. It was the classic mistake. If we build it, they will come.”
Genetic Algorithms: A Lesson from Evolutionary Biology
Gil Syswerda Gets into Hot Water with His Advisor by Being a Know It All
BBN Labs – Gil Syswerda Wrote Seminal Papers in AI that Are Still Frequently Cited
“What I really wanted was a job where I could use genetic algorithms and the only place on the planet that I could find that did anything of the kind was BBN Labs...”
“I tried every way I could think of to get a ride in an F-14 but I never succeeded.”
“Just because you're the CEO doesn't mean you have complete decision authority.”
Optimax Systems Was Bootstrapped by the Founders – Had Revenue Right Away
Raised Money to Cover Working Capital – Michael Mark Invested
Pitch for Pater Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson
“...created a machine for making scheduling systems and user manuals.”
“We did not want to try to perpetuate the engagement with a customer by doing consulting...”
Optimax Systems Followed Its Business Plan; Never Pivoted
Shell Oil’s Tank Farm Broke Opitmax’s Optimization Algorithm
Built a Scheduling System for the Mayo Clinic, Made the Mistake of Thinking Mass General Would Buy It Too
“It was a very rapid four-year run to get an acquisition offer from i2 Technologies. We beat them in every single sales situation.”
Optimax’s Revenues Had a Direct Positive Impact on i2 Technologies’ Earnings
What Gil Syswerda Did After Leaving i2 – Travel the World + Race Cars
The Big Lesson for Startups from Being a Race Car Driver
Gil Syswerda’s Management Workflow at Optimax Systems
Gil Syswerda Believes in Putting Boards to Work
“...instead of becoming a professional race car driver, I decided to go back to my roots and build another hammer. Again, it's based on genetic algorithms...”
“Machine Insight was to correct a really big tactical error that we made with Optimax Systems.”
“I didn't even have to finish the presentation and they're already sold.”
More Gil Syswerda to Come in Future Episodes

Topics: software, robotics / AI, product, selling, management, boards, co-founders

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Sponsored by:

Purdue University Entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson

Medical records are way less informative to doctors than patients imagine. Electronic health records (EHRs) have failed to deliver on their promise to improve health care for forty years. Ryan Hess, founder of Connective Health, means to change that. I invited digital health founder Martín Aboitiz to co-host this valuable interview with me.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Co-Host Martín Aboitiz & Guest Ryan Hess, Founder of Connective Health
Connective Health Aims to Deliver to Primary Care Physicians What Electronic Health Records Have Promised for Forty Years
Ryan Hess Tells Us About What Surescripts Does
Martín Aboitiz Introduces His Startup, Healthjump
The Pillars on Which Ryan Hess’ Work Rests
Connective Health Seeks to Provide the Primary Care Physician with a Complete Picture of Where the Patient Has Been and What Care Has Been Received
“Even the basic information is helpful with behavioral health patients, because those are the ones that typically have been to multiple locations and the patient may not remember every place that they've been to...”
The Potential Uses for Healthjump’s Data Lake of 80 Million Patient Records
Healthjump Is Focused on Discovering Things About Patients in the Aggregate; Connective Health Works to Provide Such Useful Information When It Applies to an Individual Patient Being Seen by a Physician
The Information has to Be in the Doctors Workflow & Has to Be Timely and Relevant
“How do we get them to trust it?”
“What protects you as a startup from just being blown up because somehow your algorithm missed something?"
The Role of Independent Review Boards
How Not to Do It: Practice Fusion Being Paid by Purdue Pharma to Recommend Oxycodone for Back Pain
Healthjump Makes Money by Solving Interoperability Problems Between Electronic Health Record Systems
Connective Health Aims to Get Paid for Lowering the Cost to Payors of Providing Care to Behavioral Health Patients
How Much Volume Connective Health Needs to Break Even
Regulatory and Legal Changes that May Help Connective Health
Martín Aboitiz Believes Industry Over-Estimates the Technological Difficulties of Sharing Data
Ryan Hess Points to Basic Difficulties Such as Identifying a Patient Across EHRs
Institutional Investors Have a Hard Time Understanding Digital Health Due to Dizzying Number of Moving Parts
“If there's been some really very impressive exits for companies in certain areas, all of a sudden, the limited partners are all excited about companies in this space, and venture capitalists are going to be raising funds to invest in companies in this particular space...”
Virtual Health Is a Lot Easier to Understand than EHR-Based Digital Health
Ryan Hess Is Targeting Behavioral Health Because Payors See It Driving One Third of their Total Spend

Topics: software, product, fundraising

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A curious but orderly mind prepared to take advantage of serendipity has taken Adam de Sola Pool on a remarkable journey during his career.

His father, Ithiel de Sola Pool, the brilliant political scientist (look up Six Degrees of Separation or Convergence) took young Adam to many different countries. These travels sparked in Adam an interest in geography which led to a job on Wall Street. From Salomon Brothers he went to the EBRD to restructure companies emerging from communism. This grew into setting up Central Europe’s first cleantech fund which produced excellent results. Now Adam is an investor and advisor in the Boston area; much respected for his fresh approach to building young companies.

Topics covered in this charming interview include:

Adam de Sola Pool Bio
From Geography Major at University of Chicago to Wall Street
From Salomon Brothers to the EBRD
Adam Poole Has a Chance Encounter in the Bathroom & Gets a New Job
Overheated Factories in Poland
Adam Pool Discovers that Local Businesses Can Be Extremely Profitable
How Adam de Sola Pool Got into Angel Investing
Adam Pool Compares & Contrasts Angel Groups in Boston
Adam Pool Talks About Squadle, a Promising Startup Just Added to His Portfolio
Adam Pool Looks for a Defensible Market Position in the Startups in Which He Invests
Adam Pool’s Favorite Pivot
Adam Pool’s Approach to “Inoculating” Startups Against Risk
Adam Pool’s Poetic Statement of the Need for Founders to Give Way to Managers as the Company Grows

Topics: cleantech, founding story, angel investing strategies, portfolio, returns

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Podcast Sponsored by:

Purdue University's Entrepreneurship Center
Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson

Greg Raiz founded app-building colossus Raizlabs and sold it in 2017. He’s now the head of Techstars Boston and has big ideas in mind. Be you founder or angel, listen to this luminous interview for practical advice and inspiration on building startups.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Greg Raiz, Founder of Raizlabs, the App-building Colossus and Head of Techstars Boston
Founding Story of Raizlabs
“As soon as engineering starts to implement, they learn things, they discover things through the process of implementation that impact the design.”
Steve Job’s Launch of the iPhone Galvanized Greg Raiz to Build Apps for the New Device
RunKeeper Put Raizlabs on the Map, Then Came Rue La La
The importance of Focus on Building a Brand
“I think a lot of early-stage founders, they tried to boil the ocean.”
“Amazon's master plan may have been to dominate e-commerce but in their first several years of Amazon's history, the only thing they did was sell books.”
“Founders really need to think about the long-term growth and trajectory of their business and what elements are okay to outsource.”
Raizlabs Was Sold in 2017, This Intensified Greg’s Angel Investing – Why Raizlabs Ran an Accelerator
Fintech Startup Own Up Grew Out of Raizlabs’ Accelerator and Has Gone on to a Series B Round
Greg Raiz’s Big Ideas for Techstars Boston: (1) Save Lives, (2) Save the Planet and (3) Improve How We Work and Live
Sal’s Story Illustrating How Our Lives Have Improved Since the 1980s
“It's funny we sometimes don't reflect on how fast society and technology can change the day-to-day of interactions.”
Techstars Boston Is Leaning into the Coming Decade of Biotech
“I think biotech and medical specifically, Boston has one of the hottest markets, if not the hottest markets for many of those technologies.”
“...we have an incredible Fintech sector. We have an incredible robotic sector. We have incredible 3D printing sector...”
Sal Daher Talks About One of the Big Differences between Biotech Investing and Software Investing
Sal Daher Expresses a Need to Train Angels in Biotech Investing
“I want to accelerate companies that are really important and meaningful and I expect to get a capital return to allow me to do more of that.”
Check Out Greg Raiz’s YouTube Channel – Half Ideas
What Are Half Ideas?
YouTube Is the Number 2 Search Engine
It’s Hard to View or Listen to One’s Early Content
How Greg Raiz Discovered Computer Programming
The Vast Horizons of Software
How Bad User Interfaces Create Inequality
PURE GOLD: Greg Raiz’s Parting Advice to Angels & Founders

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Want to get rich and to pass money to your kids? Listen closely to Howard Stevenson. Here’s condensed wisdom from the heart of the investing world delivered with dry humor and charm. Professor Stevenson was a co-founder of storied Baupost Group and helped hire its legendary manager Seth Klarman. He began the study of entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School and eventually became HBS’ biggest fundraiser.

His book “Wealth & Families” gives invaluable advice on how to make money and keep enough of it to hand down to the generations. My personal favorite is illustrated by this quote from the interview:

“Whereas, some of my colleagues were going off consulting ... They were making a lot of money every day, and they go their XKE [Jaguar XKE, a coveted sports car of the era] quite quickly. I went off to places like Lima, Ohio, and I was paid $300 a day, but I got 1% of the company.”

Howard Stevenson was forgoing high current income, and consumption, for the ability to own promising assets that would build his wealth in the long term. This approach contributed to Professor Stevenson becoming rich enough to need a family office to manage his money.

iTunes Page for the Podcast Where You Can Review and Subscribe

The topics covered in this dynamic conversation include:

Howard Stevenson Bio
How Howard Stevenson Started His Career
Fear of the “Velvet Rut” Causes Howard Stevenson to Leave a Tenured Position at Harvard Business School
Howard Stevenson: “A lot of people are fairly miserable in their job, but they fear change more than they look for the optionality that comes in change.”
After a Sojourn in Entrepreneurship & Real Estate, Howard Stevenson Was Lured back to HBS
Sal Daher: “There are not a lot of people that would turn down tenured positions at The Harvard Business School…” Howard Stevenson replies: “That's sad. I'm a trustee at Olin College, and they have no tenure. It's amazing what that does, because people are there voluntarily.”
Howard Stevenson on Building Wealth: “I've always been experimental, because I don't believe I understand and can predict the future. By the way, when you look that the facts, very few people can.”
Howard Stevenson’s 400x Investment in a Company with a “Stupid Business Plan”
Howard Stevenson’s Four Criteria for Investing
Howard Stevenson’s Portfolio Returns; Warren Buffett-Like
Howard Stevenson on whether Entrepreneurship Can Be Taught
Howard Stevenson’s Definition of Entrepreneurship
The Best Due Diligence Is Time
How Baupost Got Started and How Investing Wizard Seth Klarman Was Hired
How Howard Stevenson Shops for Cars
Howard Stevenson’s Advice for How Young People Can Build Wealth
Mitt Romney & a Young Colleague on Spending
Why You Should Review this Podcast on iTunes – It Really Helps Us iTunes Page for the Podcast Where You Can Review and Subscribe
"Most of the wealthy people I know, are better at making money than managing it."
Howard Stevenson’s Journey in Investing Began by Reading Graham, Dodd & Cottle in 1961
"I was smart that I recognized the quality of the people. But, whether it was coming out at 2X or 400X, wasn't in my control."
Talking to Your Kids About Money

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Sponsors:

Purdue University Entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Thrice-exited founder Jon Hirschtick of SolidWorks and Onshape fame, talks about the promise of cloud-based technologies and how to build successful businesses in the space. Jon’s a good sport and a fun guest.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Jon Hirschtick, Founder of SolidWorks and Onshape
“...the problem we were solving with Onshape is around the use of CAD, Computer-Aided-Design t”
“...I had a year off and I could see the emergence of cloud technologies and I thought back to the problems I had seen users having.”
“...Onshape is the Google Docs of CAD...SolidWorks was the Microsoft Word of Onshape. What came before SolidWorks was like the Wang Word Processor of CAD.”
“...Marc Andreessen, he was an investor in Onshape”
It Was hard to Raise Money for SolidWorks but Its Success Made It Easy to Get Onshape Funded
Jon Hirschtick Was on the Famous MIT Blackjack Team
SolidWorks Was Jon’s Idea of Taking Computer-Aided Design from Specialized Work Stations to Desktop PCs
Jon Hirschtick Proved All the Naysayers Wrong on SolidWorks
Why Jon Hirschtick Thinks Boston Is a Great Place to Start a CAD Company
New York’s Unlikely Rise as a Startup Hub
“...Boston city government is not perfect but...compared to San Francisco and...New York City, we're models of efficiency, we're Singapore.”
Jon Hirschtick Thinks There’s Room for Improvement in Massachusetts’ Non-Compete Law
How Cloud-based Technologies Drive Innovation
The Way Data Is Organized Is Archaic, It’s Trying to Emulate Paper Records
The Cloud Shatters Barriers Imposed by Paper Emulation, Making Fast Iteration and Communication Possible
Saying Goodbye to Version Control
Jon Hirschtick’s Most Important Factors of Success by Founders
Jon Hirschtick: “...it's easier than ever to start a company and harder than ever to build a great business.”

Topics: founding stories, fundraising, software, venture funding

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Sponsors:

Purdue University Entrepreneurship
Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson
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Ty Danco is an outlier in a population of outliers. His interests are varied and pursued passionately. He’s founded two fintech companies, he’s invested in a gazillion startups and he’s been a hugely generous advisor to companies, in fact the chief advisor at Techstars. Oh, I forgot to mention he’s an Olympian and also deeply involved with crypto-currencies. In this really meaty interview, Ty and I covered a wide range of topics. He explained his ideas in his affably quirky way. This was a super fun conversation.

Quotes:

"Danco, why are you here? You're a marketing guy." And I said that I was here to see Lever Brothers and he goes, "You idiot, you signed up for Lehman Brothers."

“So, I took a leave of absence from school, and Wharton let me make up my remaining credits over the summer, and so I tried doing all three things at the same time. It was a success on paper, I did make the 84 [Olympic] team, I did complete the MBA, I did work at Lehman Brothers, but in truth I was overwhelmed, I did everything badly.

I ended up breaking my heel and didn't compete in Sarajevo. I learned nothing in my last classes at school and I was just lost and floundering my first year on Wall Street. So, there's a pretty obvious lesson there about the need to focus and my inability to multi-task. That's maybe why they say focus on one metric that matters, don't try to do five balls in the air at once.”

Topics covered include:

Ty Danco’s Bio
How Ty Danco Stated His Career – Lehman Brothers vs. Lever Brothers – Olympic Team
"Danco, why are you here? You're a marketing guy." And I said that I was here to see Lever Brothers and he goes, "You idiot, you signed up for Lehman Brothers."
Ty Danco Doing Too Much
Ty Danco and the Importance of Focus
Ty Danco on the Cover of Sports Illustrated
Ty Danco Moves from New York City to Burlington, Vermont
Ty Danco Discovers that, Thanks to Michael Bloomberg, It Was Possible to Do Investing in Vermont
Ty Danco Founds His First Startup - eSecLending
Ty Danco Recalls Wall Street Misogyny of the Past – Women Found a Haven in Hugely Complex CMO Deals
Ty Danco’s Company is Hit by the Crash of 2008
Sal Daher Asks for you to Review the Podcast on iTunes – It Really Helps!
Why Ty Danco’s Second Startup Failed
Ty Danco’s Angel Investments
Ty Danco Thinks Crypto-currencies Are Worthy Alternative Investments
Ty Danco Believes One Can Eliminate Many Losers - But at a Cost
Ty Danco’s Philosophy of Angel Investing
Why Mass Medical Angels Is the Only Angel Group Ty Danco Attends
Why Ty Danco Does Not Invest Based on Cold Calls
Ty Danco Reveals the Secret of Getting into Techstars
Ty Danco Likes VCs Involved in Every Deal, Why?
“Virtually all of my deals, 99% of the deals come not from me directly stumbling over something, but from a lead from my network.”
Boston Angel Pantheon: Michael Mark, Joe Caruso and Jean Hammond
What Are ICOs and Why should VCs be Scared of Them?
Some of Ty Danco’s Favorite Startups
Ty Danco’s Categorization of Mentoring Styles
What Sets Accelerators Apart in Ty Danco’s Estimation
Ty Danco Takes a Page from Manu Kumar in Starting His Next Venture

Topics: fintech, crypto, angel investing strategies, techstars

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson

Born out of COVID in 2020, TBD Angels is Boston’s newest angel group. In its first seventeen months it has already invested in forty startups. Members David Chang and Yael deCapo spoke about what TBD offers startups and investors.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Yael deCapo and David Chang of TBD Angels
TBD Angel’s Process is Real-Time Not Batch
“We try to match their velocity, which is pretty hard to do, but we occasionally succeed at that.”
“There is a tool-based voting that if enough members vote that they're interested in hearing a pitch, we have an automatic way to schedule that pitch.”
TBD Angels Invests via a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
“It's a little bit of an experiment from our standpoint. We started this group in the middle of a pandemic, the beginning of 2020.”
Sal Daher Thanks Matt Fates for Introducing Him to TBD Angels
In Seventeen Months, TBD Angels Has Invested in 40 Companies
Choice of Startups Is Driven by Member Interest and Not by Rigid Criteria
Sal Daher Introduces His Effort to Help Angels Invest in Life-Science Startups
Sal Daher Credits the Research of Jeff Behrens, PhD on Biotech Funding
“...I think it's a great value to the founders also, that they have that broader reach and it's not so siloed...”
Sal Daher Continues to Be Involved with Walnut Ventures Which Has a Lot of AI Expertise
TBD Angels Has Investors and Startups from Across the Country
The Singular Opportunity of Purdue University and Its 500 Professors of Engineering
AOA Diagnostics - Addressing Ovarian Cancer, a Silent Killer of Women
Kytopen - Scalable Production of Gene Therapies
How TBD Angels Connected with AOA Diagnostics
Brief Bios of David Chang and Yael deCapo
What Moved Yael deCapo to Write Her First Angel Check
David Chang and His Interest in Student Entrepreneurship
Boston as the World’s Bazaar of Biotech Talent
“...over a third of the CEOs that we've funded are women over a third, I believe are also people of color...”

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech, robotics / AI

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This podcast is brought to you by Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

While in prep school Matt Singer performed at a religious ceremony and became fascinated with the impact his music had on the congregants. This fascination led Matt Singer to major in music at Yale, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude, and to think of how to make a life in music. Matt hit the streets soon after graduating to start his music business. For ten years he built Dawn Treader Production with marquee names such as Paul McCartney, James Earl Jones and the New York Philharmonic. Relying on the emotional connection possible on TV, he sold the CDs he produced by the tens of thousands on QVC. In 2007 he joined co-founder Amanda Eilian, in starting a company that is now changing the way large enterprises communicate with their customers and employees via video. Videolicious makes it easy for employees to produce polished videos personalized to particular clients that make emotional connections. The platform is now used by 4,000,000 users in 100 countries, it’s even taught at 90 schools of journalism. Backed by Amazon and VC money, this startup is poised for continued growth.

This is the story of someone who followed what seems to be an impractical passion but managed to create something that is useful to large numbers of paying customers. Listen to this candid and introspective conversation with a young man who thinks deeply but acts practically. In particular, I liked what he had to say about how founders can prepare their psyche for the arduous journey of building their startup:

“It turns out that anything that you accomplish in life actually brings a crush of responsibility, so you really just have to enjoy the journey because there is no magic carpet ride of happiness that comes with any accomplishment.”

HERE ARE THE TOPICS COVERED AND SOME QUOTES: ","url":"https://vimeo.com/321825305","width":640,"height":360,"providerName":"Vimeo","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/764632209_640.jpg","resolvedBy":"vimeo"}" data-block-type="32"> " data-provider-name="Vimeo"> * Matt Singer Bio * Matt Singer Actively Looks for a Way to Turn His Passion for Music into a Living, and Succeeds * The Story of The Talk Market Which Became Videolicious * How Matt Connected with his Great Co-founder, Amanda Eilian * What Videolicious Does Today * Sal Daher Reads a Review from Listener ChangDS and Ask Listeners to Leave a Review on iTunes * The Pivot that Turned The Talk Market into Videolicious * The Vision Stayed the Same, the Implementation Changed * Great Point about Finding Your Focus * “From the perspective of entrepreneurs, I think it's just good to note that you can have a vision but there are a lot of choices along the way in terms of who should you really sell to.” * Videolicious is Taught at 90 Schools of Journalism – It’s Becoming Ingrained * Instead of a Sales Binder Videolicious Allows You to Send Your Customer a Compelling Personalized Video * “Video is becoming the standard way that people create content.” * Videolicious’ Board Has Been Very Supportive – They’ve Been Amenable to Reasoned Arguments * “Yeah, you've heard that theme of focus, focus, focus, but exactly what that means is not always super clear.” * "Wow. What do I need not only just to get in the door, but also to keep them forever?" * How Matt Singer Got Amazon as an Early Investor in His Company * How Videolicious’ VC Backers Help with More than Money * The Interesting Route Videolicious Took to VC Funding * The Path Ahead for Videolicious – Making Video Creation Ever Easier & More Effective * Matt Singer’s Three Bits of Advice for New Founders * “Definitely finding a great co-founder is important… someone that you can really work with… work through thick and thin, because there's going to be ups and downs constantly and so it's great to have someone that can support you and you can support them.” * “…thinking through the entire lifecycle of your customer from the acquisition to renewal.” * Having a Long-term View Is Crucial in Selling to Enterprise Customers * Because Everybody Works from Home, Videolicious Looks for Self-starters * ” I do find that being able to tell the story and the vision is a good way to attract talent.” * Other Startups That Matt Singer Admires – Companies That Make Using their Product Super Easy * What Matt Singer Has in Common with C.S. Lewis * “…most technology is pretty disruptive for your average employee. It's different than what they're used to doing. That's what you have to contend with as a startup, you assume that's a big jump, even if your product in the isolation is easy.” * Matt Singer’s Parting Thoughts – A Truly Valuable Observation * “It turns out that anything that you accomplish in life actually brings a crush of responsibility, so you really just have to enjoy the journey because there is no magic carpet ride of happiness that comes with any accomplishment.”

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson

Brad Feld and Dave Jilk bring the wisdom of modernity's most unsettling thinker to entrepreneurship. Like the ancient Stoics, Nietzsche has much to add to the thought of people disrupting existing assumptions today. Brief excerpts from Nietzsche are paired with essays from founders who grapple with the ideas in question.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Brad Feld, Co-Founder of Techstars
The Entrepreneur’s Weekly Nietzsche: A Book for Disruptors by Dave Jilk & Brad Feld
“…for every two lines of Nietzsche, there's probably two pages of Brad Feld and another entrepreneur talking about something really important.”
“…I thought I knew something about Nietzsche, and pretty much everything I knew about Nietzsche was wrong.”
“…Nietzsche was a Nazi.” - "Don't believe everything you hear about Nietzsche."
Nietzsche’s Sister and Literary Executor Was Indeed a Nazi Who Tried to Co-opt Her Brother’s Thoughts into Nazism
“Dave [Jilk] and I met at MIT, we've been friends since college. I met him on the first day of college.”
Product Placement for Toscanini’s Ice Cream in Cambridge 
Dave Jilk Is the One Who First Became Hooked on Nietzsche
Brad Fled and Dave Jilk Edited Quotes from Open-source Translations of Nietzsche’s Works to Make Them Intelligible to 21st Century Readers
LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Who Read Philosophy at Oxford, Wrote the Foreword
“…page one would be the title page and would say The Venture Playbook, and the next 299 pages would be blank.”
“The power of being an entrepreneur is finding your own way.”
Nietzsche and Mentor Whiplash
Silent Killers
Fake It Before You Make – Bad & Good
"If thou gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee."
Sal Daher Talks About Sponsor Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson
Brad Feld on Angel Investing
“…of the 40 investments, 20 of them were zeros, 20 failed. Three of them were worth each more than a hundred times my money.”
One of Brad Feld’s 100X Investments Was Harmonix (Guitar Hero)
“…recognize that being an entrepreneur…will be more successful for you if you view it as a life journey rather than a single company.”
“Don't ask people to be your mentor. Do things for those people that engage you with their world…”
Brad Feld on Biotech: “…life sciences is so big…picking a couple of areas or types of companies, where you can start to build both expertise and real networking...an understanding of what's real and what's not real”
Adam Grant’s Give and Take

Topics: co-founder, management, Techstars, software, returns, angel investing strategies

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Bettina Hein is the founder of Pixability, one of the fastest-growing companies in Massachusetts. She was also co-founder of SVOX, a profitable Swiss startup sold to Nuance Communications for $125MM. This record may make her success seem easier to achieve than it was. Bettina Hein overcame numerous obstacles to justify the sobriquet “Fearless Founder”. Learn from her as I did. She is an exemplar of resilience, grace under fire and plain common sense. She also has much to teach us about how a startup might best raise money. Whenever I ask angel investors about a remarkable pivot by a founder, there’s a good chance Bettina’s name will come up. Don’t miss this charming and instructive conversation with a star founder.

Here are topics and quotes from the interview:

Bettina Hein Bio
How Bettina Hein Found Her Entrepreneurial Path in Life
Bettina Hein Used to Write Computer Programs in Fourth Grade but Did Not Learn to Code in College; Why?
Professors Discouraged Bettina Hein from Pursuing a Career in the Sciences
“If I had to go back, I would probably get an undergraduate degree in either electrical engineering or computer science.”
“I think I wanted to be an entrepreneur very early on. There's just that example that was set in my family. There's no one in my family that has had a nine to five job ever, except my brother…”
Bettina Hein Founds an Entrepreneurship Initiative for Students at her University Called Start, that Leads her to Brains-to-Venture, Which Connects Her with Her co-founders in SVOX
SVOX Has a $125 MM Exit to Nuance Communications
Bettina Hein Starts Pixability – Looked for Co-founders But Could Not Find Any Willing Takers – How She made Being a Solo Founder Work
Pixability’s Storied Pivots
“We help large brands and their agencies place their video advertising and optimize it on YouTube, and we've expanded to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.”
How Pixability’s Platform Impacts the Viewing Public
“Consumers like it better, and brands get more out of it.”
Sal Daher Reads an iTunes Review from HealthTech617 – Asks You to Leave a Review on iTunes
Bettina Hein’s Advice on Fundraising for a Startup
Bettina Hein on How Things Change Once a Startup Gets Venture Funding
Bettina Hein Thinks Founders Are Scared of Having a Board So They Miss out on a Lot
“Many beginning entrepreneurs are scared of having a board. They fear the meddling in their business. They fear that people will force decisions on them, on the board. I have not seen that ever happen.”
“For me, often times the exercise of preparing for a board meeting is almost more important than the board meeting itself because it allows me to really think through the narrative of the company.”
Bettina Hein’s Way of Balancing Work & Family
Bettina Hein on Fundraising While Pregnant
Bettina Hein on Marketing Technology’s Crowded Landscape

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, pivot, venture funding, boards, co-founders, raising money

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Repeat biotech founder Todd Zion on SmartCells (acquired by Merck for $500MM) and his current venture Akston Bio which is doing cool things with proteins. Todd has valuable insights on VC funding, angel investing and founding teams. This interview’s a peach!

Intro of Todd Zion, PhD Co-Founder of SmartCells (Merck) and Akston Bio
Todd Zion Was Fascinated by the Potential of Polymers to Do Powerful Things
Smart Drug Delivery – Making Insulin Adapt to Blood Glucose Levels
“…then got bitten by the bug, like I said, of the entrepreneurial spirit that runs quite strong through MIT.”
“…with SmartCells, we made a conscious effort to build a company that could be capital efficient and achieve what angels want out of an investment…”
Jeff Behrens’ Experience at Siamab Is Discussed
Todd Zion Is Leery of Raising Big Money Because It Raises Costs
“…you should always be betting on the jockey and not necessarily the horse.”
“Sometimes you may throw out really good ideas, due to a lack of resources.”
“…anyone with ten million spends the last million better than the first nine.”
“...in a venture-funded world, there's a huge amount of price inflation.”
“…if anyone wants a job at Akston, you can get a covered garage parking in the winter.”
Akston’s Basic Technology: Coupling a Protein to an Antibody to Enhance the Function of the Protein
Reversing the Body’s Autoimmune Response to Insulin Which Causes Type 1 Diabetes.
The Importance of a GMP (good manufacturing practices) Facility of Your Own
Creating an Ultra Long-Acting Insulin for Dogs & Cats
Akston Pivoted to Making a Protein-Based COVID Vaccine
From the Design of the Molecule to Human Trials Took Only 11 Months
Advantages of Protein-Based Vaccines: Easy to Make, Easy to Store and Contain No Genetic Components
Akston’s Protein-Based Vaccine Is Expected to Be as Effective as J&J’s
Parting Thoughts from Todd Zion
If It’s Easy and Obvious You’re Probably Doing It Wrong
Advice Applies to Angel Investors as Well
Making Money Is Important But, You Need Deeper Motivation or You’ll Quit
Repeat Founding Teams Can Be Really Powerful – The Blues Brothers

Topics: biotech, partnerships with strategics, venture capital, co-founders, angel investing strategies

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Sponsored by Peter fasse, patent attorney: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Angel investor Paul Silva has an idea about how to help startups after they exit accelerators. Launch413 is taking the friction out of getting and giving advice to founders. Great chat with a fun guest who is also a listener.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Angel Investor Paul Silva
“…because they're a first-time founder, so they're going to make all the first-timer mistakes. We don't want to pay the tuition bill for them to learn, right?”
“…a lot of great founders out there that don't…have access to those things, and so angels…say no because they're inexperienced. That drove me nuts. That was the problem that inspired Launch413.”
“…providing each of our entrepreneurs a virtual C-suite of executive coaches.”
“…we get compensation…through a royalty sharing agreement with the entrepreneurs. We don't take any equity.”
413 Portfolio Startup IgnitePost Greatly Improves Responses to Sales Calls
413 Portfolio Startup Apprentiscope Takes the Friction Out of Hiring Interns
Super Angel Jay Batson’s Back Story and Revenue Based Finance
Sal’s Portfolio Company AceUp Makes Coaching Easy for Large Enterprises
Sal Daher Asks Paul Silva About Ways to Back Early-Stage Biotech Startups
Eric Ries’ Podcast Out of the Crisis
Sal’s Critique of Syndications – Paul Silva’s Response
QSM Diagnostics – Doing a Lot with Modest Funding
Savran Tech., Purdue Company with Ultra-Rare Cell Technology
Waseem Daher of Pilot on Why You Can’t Have Too Many Angels
“As an angel, I love that my money is helping do all the things, but I really want to do more. I want to help.”
Paul Silva Brainstorms Ways to Help Purdue Connect with Angels
“There's a huge gap in what happens after the entrepreneur launches the company.”
“He joined a group of these angel investors in New England where they ride in their motorcycle and they listen to angel pitches in different towns in New England”

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In 2013*, my brother-in-law Martin Aboitiz sat in my dining room and sketched out a business he planned to start. I thought “majnun” which is Arabic for crazy! How would this guy who had built software companies in Argentina found a startup to help Americans have better access to their healthcare data? But I underestimated his resourcefulness and titanic tenacity. Four years later, Healthjump is at cashflow break even and has 7.5 million patients in its data warehouse. I’m glad because I have some real money riding on Martin’s company.

Listen to this lighthearted but informative interview. It was inspired, in part, by an excellent meal shared by the interlocutors the night before which included an outstanding paella (see photo) and some delightful wines. We talked healthcare, pivots, angel investing homeruns and flops and many other matters.

(I said 2003 in the podcast by mistake)

Topics covered include:

Sal Daher’s Intro for the Relaunch
Martin Aboitiz Bio
Martin Aboitiz Gets Started in His Career
Lessons from Working in a World Bank-funded Project in the Philippines
Lessons from Doing Business in Argentina
How Did Martin Discover He Wanted to Be an Entrepreneur?
Martin Aboitiz’s Advice about Dealing with Failure – Really Good Stuff!
Martin Aboitiz’ First Startup – Intermedia
Martin Aboitiz Sets Up an Informal Incubator for Argentine Startups
Martin Aboitiz Founds Healthjump in 2013 to Make Medical Records More Accessible to the Patient
Problem: Healthcare Data is Sitting in Silos and People Don’t Have Access
Healthjump’s Pivot
Saber & Amadeus as Analogues
“Now in healthcare it's different because what we're seeing right now is the equivalent of the Hyatt across the street buying the bed and breakfast. That did not happen in travel but it's happening in healthcare.”
Lack of Healthcare Record Interoperability Is Pushing Consolidation to an Absurd Extreme
Healthjump is Helping Make Electronic Health Records (EHR) Software More Interoperable
Seven and a Half Million Patient Records Now Reside in Healthjump’s Data Warehouse
As More Practices Use Healthjump to Understand Their Data the Number of Patients Who Can Use Healthjump to Access their Records Grows – Network Effect
Healthjump is at Cashflow Breakeven
Martin Aboitiz Starts Angel Investing – Three Homeruns in a Row – Thought Angel Investing Was Easy
Martin’s Favorite Pivot Story - Twitter
Argentina as a Place to Build a Startup – OLX & Mercado Libre

Topics: founding story, pivot, product, angel investing strategies, returns

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Purdue is going all out to be Innovation U. Professor Wayne Chen and I spoke of the various initiatives to that end including evaluating faculty on the patents they get and what startups they found.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Professor Wayne Chen Who Leads Innovation at Purdue’s School of Engineering
Initiatives Afoot at Purdue to Get Technology Out of the Lab and Into Society
Sal Talks About How Çağrı Savran, a Purdue Professor Was Helped in Founding Savran Technologies
Applying Machine Learning to Determine the Best Management Strategies
The Value of Machine Learning: “…you hit something that the typical human cannot see, that's where your opportunity space, right?”
Purdue School of Engineering Now Being Evaluated on Value of Patents and Starting Companies
“…"No, I'm not a CEO material," we find you a CEO.”
Purdue Is Making Big Investments in Creating Spaces to Connect with Industry
Pitch for Peter Passe, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson
How Angel Groups Work
Purdue University Is Geographically Isolated – Seeking to Connect with Startup Hubs
The Increasing Possibilities of Virtual Connections Post- Corona
“…the disciplines in which Purdue is strong are closer with the investor community in Boston than they are with Silicon Valley…”
Why Sal Daher, CFA Is Now Investing Only in the Life Sciences
Sal’s Biotech Investing Screen
Sal Invites Listeners to Provide Ideas as to How Life Science Companies Can Best Be Supported
The National Science Foundation Is Now Emphasizing Taking Scientific Discovery to Commercialization
Purdue Is Also Supporting Student Entrepreneurship
Wayne Chen’s Closing Thoughts

Topics: university relations, raising money, discovering entrepreneurship, management, robotics / AI

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Federico Cismondi, co-founder of Sal’s portfolio company doDoc, is back on the podcast to talk about the company’s acquisition and the lessons he learned from the initial raise to the exit. A charming and instructive conversation with a thoughtful founder.

Why Getting the Best Patent Advice is Indispensable
Sal Daher Introduces Federico Cismondi, Co-Founder of doDoc Which Was Recently Acquired
The Problem that doDoc Solves
“This is the platform for those people who need workarounds because Google Docs just doesn't cut it for them, or Microsoft Word…”
Federico, as CEO, Learned He Needed to Delegate More
doDocs Pivot from Academic Clients to Pharmaceutical Clients
doDoc’s Near-Death Experience and What Federico Learned from It
doDoc Was Initially Built with Unsuitable Technology - Making a Dog Meow
Entrepreneurship in Portugal - What Argentina and Portugal Have in Common
How the Exit Came About
“...we try to create settings for people to share their ideas, to present them and to run with them. Sometimes they don't even need the validation from a supervisor...in order to run with that idea…”
Federico Cismondi Spoke with 1000 people to Get 24 Investors for doDoc
Spending More Time with His Co-Founder Than with His Wife
Federico Cismondi’s Parting Advice to Founders

Topics: co-founders, management, exits, culture, Techstars, software

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Join Sal's Syndicate: Click Here

Two brilliant scholarship kids became friends at Georgia Tech and went on to found a company that could change the world. This is the story of Matthew Stellmaker and Keith Hearon and of the good chemistry manifested in their friendship and in the creation of new polymers friendly to people and nature.

The idea came to Matthew when he was working at a large company that produces 50,000 tons of citrus waste per year. His friend Keith thought that he could do something interesting with the citrus rinds so Matthew got the company to fund the research into creating a use for this natural material.

These two young founders display remarkable self-knowledge and reveal discoveries in the art of founding companies that could help other founders, technical or not. It’s a valuable conversation that includes the following topics:

Keith Hearon Bio
Matthew Stellmaker Bio
Keith Hearon Views Himself as an Entrepreneur Who Uses Science to Commercialize Valuable Products – Inspired by Ken Gall, Founder & Inventor
How Keith & Mathew Became Friends
How to Find a Job in Architecture in a Down Market
Challenge of Langer Lab Further Energized Keith Hearon
How Poly6 Got Started
How Poly6 Zeroed in on its First Use Case
How Poly6 Zeroed in on its First Use Case
How Being Co-founders Changed Their Friendship
Should You Found a Company with Your Friend?
The Risks of Moonlighting
The Care & Feeding of Advisors – Busy People Generous with Their Time
Other Startups Matthew & Keith Admire

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

To Join Sal's Syndicate: Click Here

A terrible error in a lab led Tim Spong to start a company to improve the reliability and efficiency of pathology labs; big industry players are noticing. This interview was part of my due diligence on Tim’s startup, VistaPath Bio. Subsequently, I invested in the company.

Highlights include:

Sal Daher Introduces Tim Spong, Co-Founder of VistaPath Bio
“Fast forward a hundred years, even if you walked into some of the best labs in the country, it's still a room full of people cutting tissue and staining tissue and sitting over jars.”
“…VistaPath is really aiming to do is build the next generation pathology lab using automation, AI, advanced imaging practices, and then put that into every lab in the world…”
“The rest of the time and a lot of the costs is spent in these labs, in histology labs, making the slides so that a pathologist can render a diagnosis.”
The Horror Story that Motivates Tim Spong to Improve the Lab Sample Workflow
How Tim Spong Connected with His Co-founder Ben Burley
“When I decided to actually quit my job and do it, it was really with him. We made that leap together. Like I said, he is amazing. I couldn't imagine getting this far without him.”
VistaPath Has Had to Overcome Investors’ Lack of Interest in Pathology
VistaPath Has a Smart Benchtop for Grossing of Samples that Is Equipped with Cameras to Reduce Error and Automate the Process
VistaPath Business Model
“What we wanted to do with our business model is make our product something that anybody could have, any lab could afford…”
“…our initial evaluations, we're already seeing that we're more accurate than humans, much faster than humans.”
“We really strove and worked a long time to make our products something that someone can take out of a box, plug into a lab, it's an easy-to-use interface, and they can use it as part of their workflow immediately.”
Sal Daher Is Considering Making an Investment in VistaPath Bio
Sal Daher Invites Accredited Investors to Join His Syndicate List
Tim’s Entrepreneurial Journey
Tim Spong Met His Wife at a Pathology Lab
Tim Spong Credits Advisors for Helping Him Decide to Become a Founder
“Some people have led us to some of our best advisors and investors were investors that actually turned us down.”
Tim Spong Encourages Industry Experts to Start Companies to Solve the Problems they See First-Hand

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Sal's Syndicate List: Click to Join

Writing software never seemed like work to young Ham Lord. In high school and then in college, coding is what got him rolling with his other courses; he loved it. This passion, and the happy coincidence of being at the right place (Brown University) at the right time (early 1980s) led to a brilliantly productive career in computing and entrepreneurship.

Ham’s early work in computer graphics would eventually lead to innovation in applying 3D imaging to the creation of new molecules. Later he helped build software with applications in medicine, oil & gas exploration and engineering analysis. He even did work that presaged today’s drone technology.

After 16 years as a software engineer and entrepreneur, Ham cashed in his chips and began a hugely consequential career as one of Boston’s super angel investors. He was the engine behind the relaunch of Launchpad, one of the country’s most respected angel groups. In a frank and accessible interview, Ham discusses the workings of this group, talks about companies that excite him and addresses current trends in the ambit of angel investing.

Topics covered include:

Ham Lord Bio
Ham Lord Discovers His Love of Computer Programming
How Ham Lord Connected with His First Job After Brown
Building a New Display for the F-14 Navy Jet
Why Ham Lord Founded His First Startup
AVS Rises from the Ashes of Stellar
Ham Lord’s Transition from Software Development to Marketing
After 16 Years Building Startups Ham Lord Takes a Sabbatical Year & Starts Investing
Ham Lord Discovers Angel Investing
Ham Lord Relaunches Launchpad
Ham Lord & Christopher Mirabile Get Together
What Does Ham Lord Look for in a Startup?
The Ones That Got Away
Ham Lord’s Favorite Pivot Story
Ham Lord & Cambridge Trust
Ham Lord Talks About Launchpads’ Early-stage Track, the Catalyst Program
Two Companies in the Machine Learning Space – Netra.io & Smartvid.io
Seraf-investors.com & Seraf Compass
Trends: Professionalization of Angel Investing & the Angel Capital Association

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Sal's Syndicate List: Click to Join

4,000 people per year die in the US from uncontrolled epilepsy, many of them young. Vivek Ganesh and Jay Shah started Neurava to build sensors and algorithms to prevent such deaths. Here’s my chat with these doctoral candidates from Purdue trying to bring their tech from the lab to the market.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Vivek Ganesh and Jay Shah of Neurava
“looking to develop a wearable device for epilepsy patients at risk for sudden unexpected death”
The 40% of Epilepsy Patients with Uncontrolled Epilepsy Are at Risk of Sudden Death
People Who Die from Uncontrolled Epilepsy Tend to Be Young
The Neurava Algorithm and Device Are Meant to Detect SUDEP as It’s Occurring So the Patient Can Get Help
Neurava Has Top Advisors on the Technology and on the Clinical Aspects
Neurava Is Hoping to Test Its Devices on Patients at Epilepsy Monitoring Units
Patients Whose Epilepsy Is Still Uncontrolled After the Administration of Three or More Drugs Are Referred to Surgery
Another Strategy to Control Epilepsy Is the Implantation of “Pacemakers” for the Brain
Patients with Uncontrolled Epilepsy Have to Wait Months to Get into an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
Founders’ Entrepreneurial Journey
“My grandfather used to have a toothbrush factory out in India…”
“Epilepsy and SUDEP in specific is one area where there really wasn't anything that people are using.”
“Our relationship is very strong; we work very well together.”
People with Uncontrolled Epilepsy Should Reach out to Neurava.org
Closing Thoughts from Vivek Ganesh and Jay Shah

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Ed Roberts started the scholarly study of startups. Learn from this brilliant academic pioneer and seasoned investor in Sohu.com and HubSpot about the keys to success in founding a tech company. Along the way you will be entertained and charmed by his most engaging narrative style.

He grew up in working-class Chelsea, Massachusetts. At Chelsea High, he received preparation that would allow him to explore the academic delights offered by MIT’s curriculum.

Four MIT degrees later he was on the faculty at MIT’s Sloan School of Management studying the impact of NASA’s research on the economy. From there it was a short hop to founding the study of tech startups. He also co-founded two successful companies, including Meditech. His course on entrepreneurship incubated Beijing's Sohu.com and Boston's HubSpot. Ed Roberts was an early investor in both.

The oft-cited result that companies founded by MIT alums generate revenues equivalent to the 10th largest economy in the world is one of the products of his scholarship. He also delves into his work on the optimal composition of founding teams.

Among the many topics covered in this bravura interview are:

Ed Roberts Bio
High School in Working-class Town of Chelsea Thoroughly Prepared Ed Roberts for Success at MIT
Sound Preparation from Chelsea High Allowed Ed Roberts to Explore the MIT Curriculum
Ed Roberts Meets Jay Forrester, Co-inventor of the Core Memory and Founder of System Dynamics
Research into Entrepreneurship Springs from NASA Project to Measure Impact of Its Technology
Ed Roberts Starts His First Company, Pugh-Roberts Associates
MIT Faculty Form Consulting Firms, MIT Grads Form Product Companies
Ed Roberts Founds Meditech
Engineers Debate the Need for a Marketing Person on the Meditech Team – Hired the Only Marketing Person They Knew
Sal Daher’s Pitch for Listeners to Give Back by Reviewing the Podcast on iTunes and Telling Others About It
The Most Significant Results from Ed Roberts’ Research
It’s Important Not to Keep Your Idea Secret but to Talk to Many People About It
Eric von Hippel & User Innovation
Ideas Are Overvalued – Person Who Has It Gets Too Much Credit – Pivots Are the Norm – Nobody Remembers All the Pivots – Example: Founders of HubSpot
Ed Roberts Invests in Founders, Not Ideas
Charles Zhang & the Founding of Sohu.com – Ed Roberts Was Surprised Charles Zhang Wanted to Return to China – Amazing Story!
“I’ve always focused on ground zero companies. I do not regard a ground zero company as a frightening and risky thing. I regard it as the place to be because that’s where the fun is, that’s where you can have impact and, to me, if you’ve passed my test, that you’re passionate, you’re dedicated, you’re trying to do something that seems worthwhile, you’re smart, you’re open. I’m going to be able to relate to you. Then, I don’t see it as a risky thing”.
Data on PhDs as Founders?
Why Are MIT Students & Alums So Likely to Invest in Startups?
30% of MIT Alumni Go to Work for a Startup – Of Those 25% Go on to Found Their Own Company – Those Companies Outperform the Market
Second Companies Outperform First Companies; Third Outperform Second – Studies of Universities as Sources of Innovation – Chuck Easley Did Similar Study at Stanford

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Italy, an advanced country of 60 million people, gets 20 times less startup money than Boston. My angel investing buddy Arrigo Bodda thinks there’s ample room for growth. He is working with 42N, a consultancy focused on bringing Italian startups to the US. At the junction of design and cleantech, Italy has intriguing things to offer.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Arrigo Bodda, Angel Investor
Arrigo’s Startups: TireTutor, the Marketplace for Buyers of Tires
TireTutor Connects Buyers with Independent Local Suppliers
The Startup Scene in Italy Is Beginning to Develop
com, a Marketplace for Design Items
Sal’s Italian Designer Office Chair
The 42N Initiative to Mentor Italian Startups
Room to Grow: Boston & Cambridge Get 20X the Startup Funding of All Italy
“This hunger to succeed is not something that is unique to the United States.”
com: Design Objects the Generate Solar Power
“What if your sculpture could charge your Tesla?”
42N Is Working with Cleantech Open Accelerator to Find Italian Startups
Black Soldier Fleas to Break Down Organic Waste in the Home
20 to 1 Weight Reduction for Organic Refuse
Self-Adjusting Ecosystem of Black Soldier Fleas in a Small Form Factor
42N Plans to Work with Startups and Private Companies
Acquired a Producer of Plant-Based Protein in Latvia
Becoming an Advisor as a Prelude to Investing

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The family of Wan Li Zhu emigrated to America seeking new opportunities. Wan Li benefited from high-quality public education at Bronx High School of Science and went on to a perfect grade-point average at MIT. He studied under renowned quant wiz Andrew Lo and was poised for a career on Wall Street but was lured away by the prospect of hands-on responsibility for product features at Microsoft. After a prodigiously successful stint, during which he was involved in building and marketing Dynamics CRM, Microsoft’s fastest-growing product, he went to Harvard Business School. From HBS he was recruited by early-stage VC firm Fairhaven Capital.

The firm, known for its expertise in web security and digital advertising, now sees promise in various applications of artificial intelligence starting with self-driving technology. Wan Li is deeply engaged in bringing on the next generation of winning investments at Fairhaven Capital. Despite a busy professional life, Wan Li Zhu has found time to advise startups and to co-found MIT Angels in Boston. I learned a ton from my conversation with this wise, yet unassuming early-stage VC and angel.

HERE'S A LIST OF THE TOPICS COVERED:

Wan Li Zhu Bio
Studied with MIT Professor Andrew Lo – Used Natural Language Processing to Assess Market Sentiment
Why Wan Li Zhu Went to Microsoft – Three Years at MS – Shipped Three Versions of the Product
Wan Li Zhu Connects with Fairhaven Capital through HBS Resume Book
Fairhaven Capital Is Thesis-driven – Attentive to Market Trends that Could Create Large Opportunities
How the Fairhaven Capital Portfolio Is Doing
What Wan Li Zhu Looks for in a Startup Investment
Experienced Founders Can Actually Time Markets
TVision Came Via MIT Angels – Measuring Engagement of TV Viewers
AirFox – Enabling Wireless Carriers to Offer More Affordable Data Plans
MIT Angels Company PathAI’s Deep Learning System Is Better at Detecting Tumor Cells than Human Pathologists
Latch – Enterprise-grade Keyless Access System for Apartment Buildings
The Investment Wan Li Zhu Regrets Not Making
Wise VC Wan Li Zhu Continues to Be Very Bullish on AI

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson, Patent Attorney: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Austin-based super angel Hall Martin has an intriguing approach to investing in technology startups that can benefit investors and founders. He’s also done quite a bit of equity crowdfunding. This interview was rich in lessons for me. I recommend you listen.

“…my conclusion after looking at it 20 years, it's not that I'm investing in the wrong deals. I'm investing with the wrong deal structure.”

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Hall Martin, Super Angel from Texas
“Put my money in. In about six months, lost all of it. I started to realize this is harder than it looks and decided I needed to join a group to invest in, rather than do it by myself.”
“In Austin, we didn't have an angel network until about 2006. When they started it, I was the first member to sign up for it.”
“We got about 5 million invested in 20 deals and got a 40x return out of one of the deals.”
“We were in the home of Whole Foods. We started accelerator incubator and we started doing angel investing as well into food and beverage deals, mostly.”
“I found is that it's very hard to make a return in angel investing. You're in these deals a long time.”
"Half the deals that are coming through here are good businesses, but they're not really venture businesses. They're not going to sell for 40 or 50x."
“I came up with a model called Define the Exit, where I came up with my own term sheet, I discovered that was a key factor of success with angel investing is you don't sign someone else's term sheet; you sign your own.”
Built in Option to Exit at Year Three
“When they go on to market-rate salaries, what they're basically saying is we're not eating ramen noodles anymore, we're going to take our exit out of the salary. You, unfortunately, are not on the payroll, and you don't get that choice.”
“Seven years later, they exit the business and there was a 50% return to the investors. Well, 50% after 10 years is about a 4% IRR. It's really not much of anything. I went back and looked at it. I estimate this executive team took out about $7 million worth of salaries over those years…”
“If the C team is going on the payroll exit, I'm right there with you.”
Define the Exit versus Revenue-Based Finance
“My experience has been, so far that 70% want you to leave all the money in and 30% want you to take all the money out because they want the equity back.”
“…if in three years I have a choice of pulling 3x my money out, the dynamic is very different.”
“It's also a Facilities Management A What it is, is we get access to the bank account and to the accounting system. Every month, we go in and pull out the information rights that are owed to the investors and we send it to the investors.”
“…my conclusion after looking at it 20 years, it's not that I'm investing in the wrong deals. I'm investing with the wrong deal structure.”
Crowdfunding: “The rule of thumb in that world is you're going to spend 20% of your fundraise on marketing. There's a real expense.”
“I think a fair number of angel groups I see are moving to later stage to move out of the way of that [crowdfunding]. Some are moving into starting their own funds or going into a syndicate model where they can get carry from those who invest.”
Scrappy Biotechs: QSM Diagnostics & Hillside BioSciences
CSIdentity: Hall Martin’s 40X Exit
Parting Wisdom from Hall Martin, Super Angel
“For every million dollars you want to raise, it'll take you one calendar year to raise it. It's the rule.”

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Tivan Amour, repeat founder, bristles with energy but is also capable of contemplation. He is a growth hacker familiar with the Socratic Dialogue. He is hugely ambitious yet generous with the less fortunate. It was great fun interviewing him and he taught me a bunch of things. Among these were the real value of Techstars to founders and some pointers on growing a customer base.

Here is a list of the topics covered:

Tivan Amour Bio
What Effect Did Working for AT&T While Still in College Have in Tivan’s Life?
Tivan as a Product Manager at Abercrombie & Fitch
Tivan Starts His First Company
Tivan Decides Boston Is Just Right for Him
What Tivan Learned from Volunteering at BUILD
How Tivan Structures His Day
Tivan’s First Company Pivots
Genesis of Fortified Bike – New Way to Market to Bike Shops – Cutting Out Distributors
Fortified Bike Goes into Techstars
The Real Value of Techstars to the Founder
Changing Co-founders
com Has Won Plaudits from Experts for Its Efficacy – Tivan’s Advice on Building a Website

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Bill Arnold of Purdue University’s innovation center asked me to put together a panel discussion about what makes Boston’s startup ecosystem so strong and how these lessons might translate to other places. Naturally I invited my angel investing buddy Ben Littauer to participate and we had a productive chat which gives founders, and prospective angels, a valuable glimpse into how angel investing works.

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish and Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

David Chang seems to have a lifetime of achievement behind him. Six startup exits, stints with TripAdvisor, PayPal and Goldman Sachs as well as close connections in the world of VCs give David a most informed perspective on startups. In this candid and instructive interview, David highlights the dos and don’ts of tech startups in clear and engaging prose. He provides a wealth of suggestions on how to approach markets and technologies.

He immigrated to America from Taiwan as a child and grew up on Long Island. David Chang distinguished himself in computer science as an undergrad at Cornell. Later on he attended Harvard Business School after seven years on Wall Street.

Topics covered in this interview include:

David Chang Bio
Came to US from Taiwan with His Family at Age 3 – Grew Up on Long Island
Job Market Tight in 1992 – 38 Rejection Letters – 2 Job Offers – Wall Street vs. Silicon Valley
Applied to Harvard Business School Thrice - Third Time Lucky – Stays in Boston Working at a Small Startup
Dumb Luck Had Brought Him to a Phenomenal Company - edocs
Co-founds Mobicious – Just in Time for Financial Crisis
Quits Fulltime Stable Job – Decides to Start Company – Daughter Is Born – All in One Weekend!
Mobicious Sells for Pennies on the Dollar – Thought Would Never Work in Tech Again – Lands in Where, a Company into Location Awareness – David Beisel of NextView Ventures
Decision to Sell Where to PayPal
Genesis of Where Angel Fund
David Chang’s Biggest Failure as a Startup Operator – Lacked Focus on First Startup – Guardrail to Guardrail
The Role of Thrift in Startups
How David Chang Came to Make His First Angel Investment
Great Startups David Chang Passed On
Why Is David Chang Not a Full-time VC?
David Chang’s Advice to Startups Raising Money
Be Clear About What’s Your Basecamp and What’s Your Summit
What David Chang Looks for In a Founding Team
David Chang’s Favorite Pivot – TripAdvisor Stumbles upon the Idea of Doing Reviews
Startups David Chang Is Excited About
Nightmare Mistakes Founders Make
How Do Founders Decide to Raise Another Round or Shut Down? The Value of Knowing Your Place in the Market You Serve

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse of Fish and Richardson, Top Patent Attorney: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

A successful founder who has become a respected angel investor in Boston, Raza Shaikh is a pleasure to speak to and to learn from. Raza also has a podcast called On Boards which is great for people who are on boards or would like to be.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Raza Shaikh, Founder, Angel & Podcaster
“I started angel investing actually on AngelList a bunch of years back and realized that that's a little hands-off and you don't connect with the companies for real.”
Sal Daher Speaks Up for Syndicate Investing
Raza Shaikh’s Favorite Startups: MentorWorks the Income Sharing Agreements Platform
“…the founder, Karthik, is a professor at Northeastern and a Launchpad member, but knowing the higher education space, he really thought that there was an opportunity for an alternative to student loans…”
Raza Shaikh’s Favorite Startups: KUVA Is a 10X Cheaper Way to Find Gas Leaks
Raza Shaikh’s Favorite Startups: RaySecur Uses Millimeter Waves to Scan Incoming for Hazards
Raza Shaikh Talks About His Fund: Beacon Venture Partners
Sal Daher Talks About Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson Who Sponsors the Podcast
Raza Shaikh Bootstraps His First Startup, and His Second
What Motivated Raza to Found His First Company
Raza’s First Angel Investment
Raza Shaikh’s Parting Thoughts
Raul Rosa’s Startup, PodSpot

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Jay Batson is an angel investor’s angel investor. He’s the kind of guy who people like me, and lots of other people, go to ask really tough questions about angel investing. And, he always has really thoughtful ideas. Whenever I’m puzzling over something, I reach out to Jay. If I can get 10 minutes of his time it’s really precious. I really recommend this relaunch of my first interview with Jay Batson.

It is rare to hear reports from the frontiers of technology expressed so lucidly and accessibly by a real insider. This gem of an interview rewards the listener with Jay’s sensible and eloquently expressed explanations of the pitfalls of building products and companies. Jay recounts how angel investing taught him things he wishes he had known as a founder. He closes with wise words to recent college grads thinking of founding a startup.

Jay Batson started out as a land man helping oil and gas explorers secure drilling rights. Computerizing part of his work led to his first startup. This made him realize that he loved technology. He would eventually embody this passion for tech in the founding of two venture-backed companies which brought significant innovation by way of the open source movement.

Here are some of the topics included in this podcast:

Sal Daher’s Intro: “Jay Batson is an angel investor’s angel investor.”
Jay Batson Bio
Born to a Family of Entrepreneurs – Land Man Studying Law at Night – Tech Founder
Jay Batson Exits first Startup – Learns UNIX & C - Heads to Job with BBN in Boston – Massively Parallel Computing
Jay Batson Goes from Engineering to Product Management
At Forrester Research, Jay Batson Foresaw some of the Internet’s Potential
Desktop Internet Phone – Pingtel – SIP – Bits of Code We still Use Today
The Story of Acquia
Open Source Primer
Jay Batson Gets into Angel Investing
What Jay Batson Looks for In a Startup
What Jay Batson Has Learned from Being an Angel Investor
Technique Jay Batson Uses in Mentoring Startups
What Do Startups Most Frequently Not Do Well?
Jay Batson Relates the Story of Pingtel’s Pivot
Jay Batson’s Eloquent Statement of the Value of a Working Board of Directors
Jay Batson’s Advice to Recent College Grads Thinking of Founding a Company

Topics: software, product, management, exits, boards, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

Joe Falcão is the CFO of Boston-based unicorn Thrasio. Learn the secrets of this uniquely successful startup. Retrace my friend’s exciting journey which started in Kenya and led to Boston via Brazil and other interesting places.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Joe Falcão, CFO & #5 Employee at Boston-based Unicorn Thrasio
“Always be open to meet people.”
“…we are playing within the Amazon ecosystem by acquiring Amazon third-party sellers.”
“…what we are buying is basically a proven customer experience and a proven supply chain that they can use in our platform and build in scale.”
“…from that point, onward it becomes very time-consuming or capital onerous for them to grow and scale. And that's a sweet spot where Thrasio can acquire these companies.”
“And we want to make sure that they feel pride in what we are growing and helping them out.”
“…we've got a unicorn status in the summer.”
“…what we want to do is provide awesome products for the customers.”
“One other element I will suggest for the founders of companies is to understand their numbers, the flow very well. How the company makes money, the business model.”
“…create a strong relationship with investors, because investors can help you.”
“Your mom may be more interested in your success, but your investors are second, a very close second.”
“…doing the right thing and build up strong trust and relationships. That's the cornerstone of everything I do.”
“Vasco da Gama went to India, and that was the startup of 500 years ago.”
“…every company I joined, I tried to pick up a corner of the company, which had problems that needed to be fixed.”
How Joe Met His Wife Cheryl on a Trip to India

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Patrocinado pelo Peter Fasse, advogado de patentes da Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/

José Falcão, Chefe de Finanças da Thrasio explica o que motiva esta companhia que adquire comércios na Amazon.com. Falamos também sobre a jornada de sua vida pela Africa, Asia e o Brasil.

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Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Prominent Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson (https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/)

Growing up in Northern Italy, Arrigo Bodda dreamed of becoming an architect. He chose instead to study law, a handy pre-requisite for a career in human resources in a country where staffing involves a lot of legal work. His corporate career neatly coincided with the emergence of the European Union, a phenomenon that deeply influenced his work and life. After much success in the executive suites of global enterprises, Arrigo now has the opportunity to pursue his passion for design and architecture as an angel investor with Walnut Venture Associates and as an entrepreneur.

In this lighthearted interview, Arrigo shares some of the valuable wisdom gained in navigating large multinational enterprises across cultures and across disciplines. He offers valuable suggestions for founders of startups seeking to do business with multinational companies. He also provides an appealing model of finding the right balance between following your passions and making concessions to reality.

Topics discussed in this podcast include:

Sal Daher’s Intro of International Angel Investor Arrigo Bodda
Arrigo Bodda Bio
Living & Working in Europe vs. in the United States
The Secrets of Successful Cross-cultural Relations in the Workplace
How Arrigo Bodda found His Career Path – Deep Wisdom on Career Development from an HR Specialist
“The suggestion that I have for everyone that is listening now, and that they are thinking where I should make my first move, my recommendation is make your first move in a place where the people around you are better than you.”
European Union 2.0
Tips for Startups Navigating Huge Multinationals
The Value of an MBA from IMD
Starting a Company in Thailand
What Kind of Companies Arrigo Bodda Likes to Invest In
What Does Arrigo Bodda Look for in a Founding Team?
Don’t Invest in Startups Alone – Join a Group, It will Save you Money & Be More Fun than Investing Alone

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Podcast Sponsored by Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson

Dropping prices for solar panels sank many American clean tech companies. PIKA Energy, however, was able to benefit from the trend by innovating. Generac acquired them in 2019 because of their uniquely efficient home energy storage system. Bill Hetzel, former COO, tells the compelling story of this Maine Angel (and Sal)-backed success and more.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Bill Hetzel, Clean Tech Exec & Angel Investor
“The original idea behind Pika Energy was to make the world's lowest cost, highest efficiency home/residential wind turbine.”
“His wind turbines sold for around $10,000. They were sized to power part of your home.”
“Every year, as we developed our wind turbine, the price of solar dropped faster, and that means one thing to a startup, pivot.”
“…one of the great things about Pika Energy…were these power electronics and the power electronics we had had a special capability. It meant that each part of the system controlled itself without some fancy engineer coming in and programming it.”
“You mean you had a more elegant design than Elon Musk's design?”
“Well, our batteries, too, didn't come in one big, five-person carry Powerwall-sized monolith. Our models came part by part and you built them on-site for the battery as well. A solar installer felt very comfortable.”
“The business community in Maine is really human-scale... I mean, you can get to know everybody and it's very supportive. I've invested in three Maine”
“I just got on the phone and I called up Ben [Ben Polito, co-founder of PIKA] and said, "I'm interested in learning more about your company." Ben and Joshua, who are like all good entrepreneurs, were willing to open up their network.”
“Pika Energy stood out as it was a small, but a seriously well-run company. Did things well, took care of investor money. It was serious about that.”
“I think one of Pika's big strengths was the ability to listen to advice, and Ben Polito, the CEO, was really good at this.”
Excellent Monthly Reporting to Investors Made Follow-On Rounds Much Easier
“And we cycled and got better with each cycle.”
“We got better at what we did and that made a huge difference when we were ready to pivot because we already had a foundation of business processes, and so our pivot wasn't the entire company.”
“We showed them [Generac] a demonstration of our product and they were just thrilled. They'd been working on it in-house to build it themselves. They had looked at competitors and they were sophisticated enough and far enough along in their own investigation of this that they recognized our patented power electronics were special.”
Angel Investing in Maine – A Strong Statewide Ecosystem
“Maine Angels tend to go out of their way to support the company, not just in terms of money, but also in terms of advice, connections, providing all of the resources that the companies need.”
Eighty Percent of Success Is Showing Up During a Maine Snow Storm
ORONO Spectral Solutions – Highly Efficient Water Screening
HighByte – Making Information from the Industrial Floor Easily Available for Analysis
Junora – Tech for Depositing Thin Film of Different Elements on Architectural Materials
VETRO – Mapping Optical Fiber Networks
“…I can say that there's a certain pride that Maine has, and the Maine Angels have that same feeling and it makes for a really close-knit community. It's really a joy to work with this group of people.”

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Peter Fasse comes from a family of patent attorneys. He is a highly respected partner at Fish & Richardson, the storied Boston-based (now global) firm that represented Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers. Peter’s work continues that tradition by representing some of the leading technological innovators of today. Peter also invests as an angel in technology companies. In this practical and accessible conversation he revealed valuable insights and resources for founders and investors in technology companies. He also relayed some interesting and instructive stories of intellectual property success and calamity.

Among the topics covered were:

Introduction by Sal Daher of the Interview with Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney
Peter Fasse Bio
Young Cornell Grad in Textiles & Fabrics Becomes Patent Office Examiner
Peter Fasse’s Practice
In What Areas Is it Important to Have Patents and Why?
Software Patents, Why Have Them and Why Not?
Supreme Court Taking Harsh Views on Patents
Patent Attorney Horror Stories – Theft, Suicide, Rogue Wave, Bear Mauling & Hasty Firing
How Institutions Can Claim Intellectual Property of Employees
Freedom to Operate – Should Be a Big Concern for Tech Startup Founders & Investors
“There's a common misconception that if you have a patent on something, that it allows you to practice and commercialize that invention, but that's not true.”
Different Levels of Freedom to Operate Analysis
Two Extreme Freedom to Operate Cases & Outcomes
Strong IP Position a Vital Ingredient in Sale of Tech Startups
Mass Tech Transfer Center (MTTC) Is a Great Resource for Technology Startups
Transcytos & SQZ Biotech
Most Patents Are Not Commercially Viable, But Fish & Richardson Has a Special Package for Highly Promising Startups – Fish Steps
Unsolicited Client Testimonial for Peter Fasse!
Why Investing Through a Vehicle Rather than Directly Can Make Sense
Trade Secrets – Formula for Coca Cola
Trademarks – Frequently Overlooked
Trouble with Chinese Partners – Capital Controls & Theft of Intellectual Property

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What if an injection could cure your diabetes? Meng Deng, PhD and Karen Wurster were on the podcast to talk about Adipo Therapeutics’ ambitious plan to remake the metabolism of diabetic people. Informative and accessible.

Highlights include:

Sal Daher Introduces the Founder and the CEO of Adipo Therapeutics
“…we're talking about having too much white fat and not enough brown fat.”
“…transform that energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat.”
“…a nanoparticle that you inject into the white fat and it converts the white fat into brown fat…”
“…you can eat the same amount and continue to lose weight.”
“…because the sizes are so small that the particles are easily uptaken by the fat cells…”
Adipo Will Need Five to Six Million Dollars in Funding to Get to a Deal with a Strategic Player
“…it's a large market that has a proven, well understood regulatory pathway.”
Purdue’s Entrepreneurial Infrastructure Was Vital to Getting Adipo Off the Ground, According to Founder Meng Deng, PhD
The Podcast Is Sponsored by Pater Fasse of Fish & Richardson
Karen Wurster Took Early Retirement at Eli Lilly and Was Looking for an Entrepreneurial Activity

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Frank Ferguson had a knack for building companies. He headed Bose at a time of rapid growth and built Curriculum Associates into a great success. Frank Ferguson’s angel investing was unusual in that he invested in just a few startups but lavished support on those few. The results were great. Frank was active well into his nineties but passed away recently; this relaunch of an interview I recorded with him is a memorial for his life of achievement and passion. It’s loaded with lessons for angels and founders. Rest in peace, Frank Ferguson.

My favorite observation from the conversation with Frank Fergusson neatly encapsulates his recipe for success as an investor:

“You can get sucked in and fall in love with a lot of things, but then you have to ask, "Are these the guys who can actually make it happen?” What are the odds that these guys can keep together, not fight, get over it, be successful, run things correctly, not fall in love with their own things so much that they lose track of the financial realities of the business? Can they sell?”

Click Here to read the transcript of the interview.

TOPICS DISCUSSED INCLUDE:

Yes, That Bose Corporation!
Curriculum Associates, Which Frank Ferguson Built, Continues to Be Hugely Successful
Scraping Chicken Droppings in an Iowa Farm
From Iowa State University to Teheran Courtesy of Syracuse University & the US State Department
Frank Ferguson Thinks about Business School at MIT or Harvard Thanks to a Friendly Psychologist
With an MIT Sloan MBA in Hand, Frank Ferguson Goes to Work at Baird Atomic Near Harvard Square
Frank Ferguson Meets his Co-founders at Curriculum Associates Just as He Starts Work at the Bose Corporation
Frank Ferguson Invests $80,000 in Today’s Dollars in Curriculum Associates Circa 1959 - Money Saved through Frugal Living in Iran
How Frank Ferguson Connected with Amar Bose, Founder of the Bose Corporation
Frank Ferguson Invests in the Bose Corporation
Amar Bose Invites Frank Ferguson to Be President of the Bose Corporation in 1969
Frank Ferguson Moonlighted at Curriculum Associates while Running the Bose Corporation
Frank Ferguson Left the Bose Corporation When it Was Experiencing Growth of 70% per Year to Get Curriculum Associates off the Ground
Amar Bose, Brilliant but Difficult at Times
Frank Ferguson Succeeds in Educational Publishing, a Notoriously Tough Business, by Finding a Niche – Differentiated Instruction
Curriculum Associates Succeeds but Discord Arises Over the Purchase of a Water Cooler!
Competition Gets Rough in the World of Educational Publishing
Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Succeeds by Measuring Progress of Individual Student to Help
Teachers Better Support Students – Teacher Training a Pivotal Element of i-Ready’s Success
Before Teacher Training Was Required i-Ready Saw No Gains – With Teacher Training Student Gains Are Dramatic!
Ugly Truth – Fifth-grade Teacher Has Three to Five Year Grade Span in Her Classroom
Lev Vygotsky, Seneca The Younger & Andrew Bell of Madras College – “By Teaching We Learn”
“Talk to Me Baby – How You Can Support Young Children’s Language Development” by Betty Bardige
Visionary Entrepreneurs Need to Hire Grunts Who Are Really Good at Execution – Frank Ferguson Was the Grunt & Amar Bose Was the Visionary
How Amar Bose Hired the Smartest of the Smartest for the Bose Corporation
Family with 11 Children Uses the Madras Method Whereby the Elder Learn by Teaching the Younger
Sign Up at AngelInvestBoston.com to Hear About Upcoming Free, In-person Events – do Review Us on iTunes
Frank Ferguson, Practical & Involved Philanthropist – Lionheart Foundation – Robin Casarjian
Frank Ferguson Does Nothing in Half Measures – Elon Musk Would Approve
Frank Ferguson - Angel Investor in the Bose Corporation and Curriculum Associates – Participated in the Baird Atomic IPO
Hugh Stoddard, Father & Son, Piali De & Senscio Systems
Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman, “Thinking Fast & Slow”, “Nudge” by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler
Frank Ferguson Connects with Will Graylin, Invests in Loop Pay Now Samsung Pay
Will Graylin and ONvocal
Frank Ferguson’s Approach to Angel Investing – Invests Where He Finds the People and Technologies Compelling – Few Enough Companies So He Can Make a Real Difference
People Come up with Great Ideas, Great Markets but Sometimes Forget that there Is Friction in the World
Lessons from Iran for Angel Investors

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The hardships faced by parents of babies with developmental problems led Matt Breen and his co-founder / fiancée, Erica Costa, both pediatric occupational therapists, to start Rahoo Baby to make it easier for parents to support their baby’s development.Their first product is now at buybuy BABY and Target. A fun chat with a down-to earth founder.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Matt Breen, Founder of Rahoo Baby
“…how acutely aware parents have become about how important brain development is from birth to three years old…”
“…something's happened to them or they've just fallen behind in one category of development.”
“…he's not rolling independently at five months old, but quite literally within two minutes of this session starting with this baby, by implementing just the most simple fundamental therapy technique, this baby was rolling over independently from his back to his belly once, twice, three times.”
“We can be curating education for parents that gives them the ability to help their own baby reach these developmental milestones…”
“…not only is tummy time important for strengthening, but it also reduces pressure on the back off the baby's head.”
“The way it supports tummy time is because it makes far more engaging for the baby and the parent together.”
“We are in buybuy BABY which is the number one premium baby wear We're launching with Target in just a couple of months.”
“One of those advisors… he has hands-on experience in this industry working directly with factories, overseas, going all the way from the design phase to the supply chain phase, to your own warehouse.”
“…we're really going after is building a brand that's really synonymous with early childhood development, early childhood well-being…”
“We want parents to feel comfortable around this idea that their baby is working towards developmental milestones.”
“We're trying to make sure that all parents can have access to these tools, this information that sparks early childhood development.”
“We know the bumps in the road where babies tend to stumble developmentally.”
Matt’s Co-Founder Is His Fiancée
“Erica and I together, we are a really, really strong team, but separate. We wouldn't have had any success so far, I'm sure of that.”
Matt Breen Points to Valuable Advice from Ed Belove

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Founder and revenue consultant Nick Zeckets and I discussed his first startup and what he learned from it. Then we talked about the best ways for startups to build revenues. Instructive and inspiring.

Highlights include:

Sal Introduces Nick Zeckets, Founder & Revenue Consultant
What Quadwrangle Does
"What is already out there that I can make better? I don't want to replace it, at least not on day one."
“…first and foremost, and I heard it 1,000 times and I never really got it, but it was to fall in love with the problem and not the solution.”
“The sales process was there… the product wasn't ready.”
“Oftentimes, it's just like any good advisor, it's just asking some really concrete questions.”
“Because everything's a referral economy at this point.”
“Her trick was that she was the most methodical person you could imagine… Bottom line was that she had a sales process.”
“…the founder's out there doing the selling. The founder is the one picking up the cash. And it is almost impossible… to templatize that passion.”
“…remarkably common amongst startups is a real... In small companies in general, is a lack of belief in their own value.”
“there's a lot of this stuff that between software and freelancers and on-demand services, you can look like an absolute marketing juggernaut.”
“And otherwise, these on-demand services are incredible. It just doesn't cost that much, and so I love modeling that out for companies.”
“…I was a fairly prolific hustler in high school, and even in elementary school.”
“…if we shine a light on the bad stuff as soon as we can identify that we've got bad stuff, it's going to kill that mold.”
“Follow the process.”
“Again, it's the truth will set you free in all things.”

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Highlights include:

Sal Introduces K. Woodman-Maynard, Creator of The Great Gatsby Graphic Novel
“Color is gorgeous. The drawings are extremely expressive and interesting… the style of the period is displayed.”
“…I think it's a good way to get people who might not otherwise read The Great Gatsby, the prose book, interested.”
Cashflow from a Graphic Novel Is Inconsistent – Good to Have Steady Income from Graphic Design
“…it was very painful for me to cut out specific lines, because I love those lines.”
“I'm in complete agreement that you shouldn't dismiss somebody's whole life's work just based on certain philosophies. It's a balance.”
“…it started by a very intense deep reading of the text…”
“The whole book took about 1500 hours. That's actively time tracked hours.”
“…the first thing for a beginner that they need to know is that they can do it. You can make a living as a graphic artist.”
“I was encouraged to go into architecture because that was considered to be more stable for artists. I'm so glad I didn't, because I graduated college in 2008.”
“One thing that's been key for me has been diversifying my income. I have income from graphic novels. I have income from graphic design work, from illustration.”
“I think it's an important thing for yourself as a graphic artist to be able to pivot and to be able to work in different ways.”
“…finding good mentors. That's something that I would encourage your niece to do.”
“Going to Harvard has really helped me with asking stupid questions.”
“You can be a good business person and also be good at your craft.”
“The Great Gatsby was a commercial flop at the time that it was published.”
“He was making a huge amount. He would just spend it before he even got it, which is the direct opposite of me.”
“…a captive audience of troops who read The Great Gatsby and then returned and spread the word about it.”
“I'm wondering what's going to happen once the vaccine is out. Will we experience another Roaring Twenties in a different way?”
“I do the Pomodoro method. …You work for 25 minutes; you take 5 minutes off. Then every two hours, you take a half an hour break.”
“In high school, we had to take career placement tests. I had equal likelihood artist and military officer.”
The Importance of Story Telling
Addressing Mental Health Issues with Kids via Comics: TKAMI.org
“I decided not to go into architecture because it wasn't my calling. Also, because I could see that it wouldn't be good for my mental health.”
“It's just gorgeous. I highly recommend this work.”

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Kristen Overly works as management consultant and is a leader at MIT Life Science Angels. Kristen and I discussed various aspects of the funding of life science startups. She, like me, is intrigued by the opportunities in what Jeff Behrens called the scrappy biotechs in his doctoral thesis. Highlights include:

Sal Daher Introduces Kristen Overly of MIT Life Science Angels & Back Bay Advisors
“…MITLifeSciAngels.com. And we look for companies that have some sort of affiliation with MIT, whether that's a founder or a board member or maybe a scientific founder or maybe the technology came out of MIT.”
“Who's invited to the [MIT Life Science Angels] meetings as potential investors?”
“…. I remember it was kind of in the beginning times of Rubius Therapeutics because that was a similar-ish platform play to Remora.”
“I suspect he had a hard time raising money, not having had a Ph.D. He's a brilliant guy, he could have done it but in the life sciences, it's almost like joining a holy priesthood or something. You have to have your Ph.D.”
“… the increase in the number of SPACs recently. I think it just shows how different the life sciences industry is from the tech.”
“…you just have to believe in the people, sign a blank cheque and hope that they can do their jobs right.”
“But still the [SPAC] model is untested…. Acquisitions are hard. Most acquisitions fail…”
“So basically 97% of the funding go to either life science companies that are created by the venture capital firms themselves or companies that have some kind of a star player, right?”
“…when I was at MIT, I found myself frustrated because there were so many amazing technologies just kind of stuck in a lab.”
“The number of scrappy biotechs is about to skyrocket.”
“And there's a lot of not great AI technologies. People are just taking the open-source code and applying it and calling it a product and starting a company and getting money.”
An Intro to Radio Pharmaceuticals
“…my senior year, I got a really bad concussion, freak accident.”
“Yeah, it was the hardest decision I had ever had to make in my life to take the year off at school. I mean, I was on this set path since I was born.”
I'm passionate about is that only about two percent of all VC funds overall go to female founded companies.

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RockStep Solutions improves efficiency by 70% according to one client. This is why the startup is getting word of mouth traffic from clients running in vivo drug trials. Founders Chuck Donnelly and Julie Morrison tell their story and share valuable wisdom about this intersection of software and bio.

Highlights include:

Sal Daher Introduces Chuck Donnelly and Julie Morrison, the Founders of RockStep Solutions
RockStep Provides a SaaS Solution for a Sector of the Drug Discovery Space That Is Poorly Served by Existing Vendors
“The problem that we're solving is data chaos in drug discovery.”
“…we have one of our customers that's projecting a 70% efficiency gain.”
“We bring value to the pharmaceutical companies by speeding up that pipeline, reducing the number of errors that happen.”
“While I was at Jackson Lab… We recognized that there was this gap, if you will, that we just talked about. The NIH actually funded us.”
“One full day of my work week was designed to take all my data out of paper and put it into Excel even.”
"But they don't actually have any money." I said, "I'm not sure it matters at this point because I'm so passionate about the problem they're solving."
“I can tell you that these equity-only deals work very rarely…”
On co-founders: “You have to be aligned on your personal values because this is a marriage. In very many ways it's similar.”
“There's no question, your family is part of this company. You will not have a work-life balance.”
“Ultimately, if we don't get the pricing right, we're not going to succeed. You have to get your pricing right.”
“…they're just academic customers paying, I think our cheapest is $50 a user. Right now, in industry we're getting $1,800 per user. That's how different our pricing has scaled up.”
“We spent about a year and a half, two years, perfecting the product that we have out in our biopharmas today.”
“After a year and a half of doing that, we ended up with a product that is totally, uniquely positioned in the market…”
“…if she had gone in thinking that she already knew it and she just was trying to validate it, she would be coming in with her own biases, almost telling the people, "This is how it should be done."”
“If you have a toxic person or persons in the company, that goes through the entire company. You cannot; it will kill your company.”
“…a hire that almost tore the company apart, to be honest. It was a salesperson forced on us by an investment firm.”
“...we can teach anyone anything for the most part…But you can't really change someone's culture or their personality, their willingness to dig in.”
“First thing is that it takes a lot longer to raise capital than you might think. The other thing is that you're going to probably need more money than you think.”
Deep Wisdom on Grants: “All told we got three grants, total of 1.85 million… from the NIH. That was all great non-dilutive funding and life is good. But I would caution anybody who wants to continue living off of grants, don't do it.”
“We could have written another grant, but it's not going to be a market-driven product anymore, it's going to be a grant-driven product.”
“The market still needs to stop using paper and spreadsheets.”
“…it's hard. I spend a lot of my time raising money.”
“…our sweet spot really is the small, mid, to large biotech and global pharmaceutical companies.”
“…it feels good when you start seeing people coming to you on word of mouth.”
“…there are fires burning every day. It's overwhelming. The big mistake you can make is just trying to put every fire out because you're not going to make any progress.”
“…don't do it unless you're ready. This is the hardest thing you will ever do.”
“…manage burnout. Burnout is very real.”
“I would say another really important tip is you can't do this alone.”

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Launchpad, Boston’s leading angel group, has published a polished collection of stories that illustrate the success and failure of their portfolio companies over two decades. It is titled “The Entrepreneur’s Journey”. Listen to my interview of authors Ham Lord, Christopher Mirabile and Joe Mandato to learn more about this valuable resource for angels and founders.

Highlights from the interview:

Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson Sponsors the Angel Invest Boston Podcast
Boston’s Answer to The Three Tenors, The Three Super-Angels
“…back in 2012, started working with some of the members within Launchpad to understand why some of our companies succeeded and why some of them failed.”
“But there was something about that team that we just couldn't disengage.”
“…it was one of these software purchases ... unlike a lot of enterprise software ... that immediately paid for itself.”
“…if we had looked at Mobius and said, "No, hardware company, we're not investing," we would have lost out on an investment that ultimately is going to be a 35x return.”
“…Intuitive Surgical, where it violated every principle of venture investing. Right?”
“…it was a 10 year, 35x. That is a beautiful, beautiful investment.”
“…I could sort of hear myself in some of these stories, and I've changed the approach that I'm taking in certain areas.”
“We included as much failure as success in this book. Every theme is illustrated by both companies that got lucky and got it right, and companies that didn't.”
“…One of the challenges is the timeline. For VC, the timeline, it's so long with the biotech's and that's really become problematic.”

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The collaboration of Ham Lord and Christopher Mirabile, two of Boston’s most consequential super angels, is widely admired. Its most visible fruit is the success of Launchpad Venture Group, which they manage together. In the relaunch of this revealing interview, they let us in on how this winning collaboration came to be and what keeps it productive as it approaches the end of its first decade.

Christopher Mirabile and Ham Lord are already familiar to our listeners. Each has been interviewed individually on earlier episodes of the Angel Invest Boston Podcast. In the current episode, the two different personalities interact and give us a glimpse into what drives their working relationship.

Click here to read the full episode transcript.

TOPICS COVERED INCLUDE:

Christopher & Ham’s Remarkable Collaboration
How They Connected
Division of Labor
Lucky to Have Jody Collier as Operations Manager
Complementary Skills & Creative Tension
What They Enjoy in Working Together
What Motivates Christopher and Ham
How Christopher & Ham Differ in their Investing
Gene Gregerson, an Engineer’s Engineer & Mobius Imaging – Astonishing Feat of Entrepreneurship
Blind Spots: How Having a Partner Helps Avoid Them
Integrity in the Founding Team is Essential – Due Diligence Screens Out Frauds
Geographic Focus Makes It Possible to Add Value
Dos & Don’ts for a Winning Collaboration
How Ham and Christopher Work Things Out When Problems Arise
Co-CEOs Raise a Red Flag but Can Work
Trends Christopher & Ham See
A Business Semyon Dukach Would Like!

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Repeat biotech founder and angel investor Patrick Rivelli talks about his career and about how to approach the daunting challenge of investing in biotech as an angel.

Family considerations drove several of Patrick Rivelli’s career choices but did not prevent him from having brilliant triumphs. Success as a consultant was followed by success as an executive. This led him to found his first company and to fund another startup. The most eloquent evidence of his achievements was exiting two biotech startups in eleven years. If you are a seasoned biotech investor, I’m sure that grabbed your attention. Patrick was also instrumental in founding MIT Angels of the Bay Area and now leads the life science track at MIT Angels in Boston.

I learned a lot from this fun chat with Patrick. I hope it will be entertaining and instructive for you as well.

Note: When Sal talked about biotech booming circa 1996 he actually meant to say the internet. Biotech was still a backwater then.

TOPICS DISCUSSED INCLUDE: * Patrick Rivelli's Bio * Love Drives the Choice of Patrick Rivelli’s First Job * Family & Luck Steer One’s Career * Consulting at Bain Leads to Private Equity * Bain Paid for Sloan MBA * Work at Bain Was Different After Patrick Rivelli Graduated from Sloan * Patrick Rivelli Gets Involved in the Life Sciences – Pharma Companies Had Medical Device Businesses Then * Biology Was a Backwater in the 1990s – Then Human Genome Was Sequenced by 2003 * Consulting Was Taking a Toll on Patrick’s Family Life So He Took a Corporate Position * Patrick Rivelli Goes to Work at a Medical Device Company in 1996 – First Internet Wave Just Starting Then * Netscape IPO & “The Nudist on the Late Shift” * Target Therapeutics Is Sold – Mass Firings Ensue * Patrick Rivelli Has a Tough Period in His Career – Growth & More Self-knowledge * Patrick Rivelli Gets Involved with a Startup for the First Time * Patrick Rivelli Founds Smart Therapeutics * “…Nobody Wanted Medical Devices. Everybody Wanted Pets.com and Whatever.com” * “You Went from Nerd to Cool Dude” * Markets Always Overshoot * Boston vs. Bay Area * How Boston Has Changed Since the 1960s * Patrick Rivelli Gets Into Angel Investing * Chestnut Medical Technologies Is Acquired in 2007 * Patrick Rivelli Gets MIT Angels Moving in the Bay Area

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Expert Dojo is the international accelerator based in Southern California. Founder Brian Mahon and team look for great founders with profitable businesses that can grow. Brian’s a delightfully articulate guest. Don’t miss this outstanding interview.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Brian Mahon of Expert Dojo, the International Accelerator in Southern California
“…we’ll invest as easily and as happily in Boston, as we will do in Bosnia…”
“…we wanted to be able to give ordinary people the ability to be able to grow extraordinary companies…”
“Actually, we have 70 investments in our companies now. Being part of that journey and watching them while they're at that stage is just absolutely beautiful…”
“…I'm over in our location, which is 10,000 square-foot facility on top of the mall in Santa Monica…”
“It cost me money. So, I'm not falling for it again.”
“…we copy the people who I don't necessarily admire what they do, but I admire how they acquire users.”
AdLaunch – Squarespace for Videos
Irish Nun Stories
“This is my point about entrepreneurship. It grew here. I could reread and re-watch the movie about the great Edison and Tesla battle a hundred times because this is where virtually all of it began.”
Making Mass Spectrometry Easily Accessible
“…these people have actually built an entire machine learning algorithm that goes deep into the scans themselves, it's not looked at by the naked eye…”
“…tuberculosis is a killer, but it's a stupid killer. This should have been eradicated years ago.”
“They're fighting the mutation day by day.”
Sal Daher Does a Pitch for His Investment Syndicate
“I remember two things with my dad. The first thing is he never complained.”
“It meant that you had a beautiful office right on the corner. You made it, no matter what you were working or how many hours you were there.”
“To the investors, they are incredibly fortunate to be part of your syndicate group. This is not a solo sport.”
“Suddenly, their foosball tables are not quite such enticing as a recruitment offer because they've just fired 30% of their staff.”

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Ed Belove is a very active angel investor. He's a successful founder in software and hardware. Just a very thoughtful person. Very, very smart, very observant, very committed. Founders would be very lucky to have Ed Belove in their corner. I really enjoyed this interview, which I recorded in the first season of the podcast. And it is a very, very meaty interview. Full of interesting stories. For example, helping build Lotus with Mitch Kapor and all sorts of other things. So, it's a little bit of history of the software industry. A lot of wisdom about building a company and an introduction to just a tremendous, tremendous angel investor and person. I highly recommend the conversation with Ed Belove.

As an undergrad at Harvard, Ed Belove hung out with people at the campus radio station that liked to play with computers. This eventually led to a brilliant career that included building software products with the visionary Mitch Kapor at Lotus Development. Ed co-founded a company that greatly expanded the Apple II’s ability to communicate. The company would eventually pivot to supplying the hardware for early Internet services such as CompuServe and AOL. This successful trajectory allowed Ed to dedicate his time to building early-stage companies and doing philanthropic work. As a much sought-after angel investor, Ed puts his capital and energy to work on behalf of promising startups. If you are building a software startup, you would be well served to listen to the thoughts Ed expresses in this podcast.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE TOPICS COVERED IN OUR CONVERSATION:

Ed Belove's Bio
Data General in the Early 1970’s Was a Hotbed of Entrepreneurship – Many Startups Came Out of Data General
Software As It Was Before It Ate the World
Data General Gave Away Software to Sell Hardware
Space War Video Game on PDP-10 Computers
“Soul of a New Machine” by Tracy Kidder
Now There Is a Huge Number of Software Building Blocks That Anybody Can Put Together – This Did Not Exist in the 1970s
Telex and TWX Emulation for the Apple II – Got Around Apple II’s Inability to Multitask
Ed Belove Went to Work Lotus Development – Mitch Kapor Was a Real Visionary
Ed Belove Runs into People Who Are Still Using Lotus Agenda
WorkFlowy!
Ed Belove, Lessons from Fetchnotes – Alex Horak & Alex Schiff
“Ease of use can't be overestimated”
Interchange Online – Put the First Major Paper Online, The Washington Post – Ziff Davis
AT&T Still Had a Monopoly Mindset despite Deregulation & Divestiture – No Hurry to Make Decisions in Fast-moving Market
“The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen
“The Road Ahead” by Bill Gates, Nathan Myhrvold and Peter Rinearson
How Ed Belove Got into Angel Investing
Do Help Get the Word out About Angel Invest Boston by Leaving a Review on iTunes
What Ed Belove Looks for in a Startup
Knowing What You Don’t Know
CEOs Need to Have People to Talk to In & Out of the Startup – There Are Now Many More Resources than in the Past
CEO, Don’t “Manage” Your Board, Work with Your Board
CEO, Founder, Know Thyself
Shares, Notes and SAFEs, Oh My!

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SQZ's successful IPO validates the vision laid out by Armon Sharei, PhD in this interview recorded two years ago. In accessible language, this genius founder explains the approach that has big strategic players excited. SQZ is the model I have in mind when I invest in biotech companies. Find out why.

Armon Sharei wants to train our immune system to fight cancer. We hear a lot of claims like this, however when a mega-pharmaceutical company like Roche inks a $500 million deal to work on it, we pay attention. At age 29, Armon convinced not only Roche but gimlet-eyed VCs to back him. How did he do this? How did he go from a boy living in Iran to being one of the stars of MIT’s storied Langer Lab?

Part of Armon’s secret is the ability to explain thickly complex ideas in accessible language that does not over simplify. He is that rarest of creatures, a scientist of the first rank who speaks lucidly and acts practically. I am grateful that Armon took time out from curing cancer to share his experiences with us in this inspiring interview.

If you are a scientist thinking of founding a company or an investor thinking of investing in a biotech startup you could learn a lot by listening to this interview with Armon Sharei and then going to AngelInvestBoston.com searching under the biotech topic.

Among the topics covered are:

Armon Sharei Bio
Childhood Spent in Iran & Dubai, Finished High School in Marin County
Why Armon Sharei Wanted to Be a Scientist
Why Leave Edenic Bay Area for Purgatorial Boston?
SQZ Technology Comes from Failed Attempt to Shoot Genetic Materials into Cells
How the Idea of Starting a Company Came About
“I think one of the main examples, which is kind of the subject we've been pursuing most deeply at the company in two different projects, is the idea of telling the immune system what to target in the context of cancer”.
SQZ Technology Excels at Getting Protein Fragments into Cells – Very Promising Method of Training Our Immune System to Fight Cancer
Sal Asks Listeners to Subscribe & Review on iTunes – Podcast Has Great Guests & Sound
Biotech Fundraising Is Hard – Armon Sharei’s Advice on Fundraising
Armon Sharei Finds a Lead Investor for His Angel Round
SQZ Biotech’s Pivot from Selling their Tech as a Tool to Looking for Therapies
“…over 70 or 80% of scientists want to put stuff into cells for some reason. I think aside from looking under a microscope there's nothing that they want to do more”.
Therapy Research Is Risky, But Tool Business Was Harder Than It Looked, Besides Armon Really Wanted to Do Science
The Board Was Essential in the Pivot from Being a Tool Company to Becoming a Therapy Company
How Does a 29-Year-old Negotiate a $500 Million Deal with a Major Corporation?
Hiring the Right People Is the Most Important Thing a Founder Does, Look for Cultural Fit

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The disrupted life of refugees keeps them from having good medical records. Med student Senan Ebrahim decided to do something about it and succeeded. Listen to the story of Hikma Health and of its promising founder.

Senan Ebrahim grew up in Silicon Valley but he experienced the Syrian refugee crisis via his grandmother. When he became interested in the problem of refugee health his initial solution was laughably unsuited to real life. Contact with health care workers serving the refugee population allowed Senan to zero in on a high-impact solution that is now serving 50,000 displaced people and is set to grow.

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There's no guest quite like Beth Marcus. She's founded a bunch of companies and has learned tons from it. I recommend this interview to founders and those who are thinking about becoming founders.

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Purdue wants to be Startup U. They are already the #3 university in the US for producing startups, right behind MIT and Columbia. One of my favorite companies, Savran Technologies, came out of Purdue. I spoke with Wade Lange of Purdue Foundry, responsible for promoting startups at Purdue. Several interesting Purdue startups were discussed.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Welcomes Listeners and Introduces Wade Lange from Purdue Foundry
Wade Lange Was Introduced by Çağrı Savran of “One Cell in a Billion” Fame
On Savran Tech: “It's a promising technology. I mean, it's all about capturing really, really rare cells.”
Purdue, being a Land Grant College Combines and Excellent School of Agriculture with a Top Engineering Program
“…good news for Purdue. We were ranked number three in the country in the number of startup companies in the period of 2008 to 2018 behind your own MIT and Columbia…”
“We called it Firestarter, it's a nine week-long program, pretty intense, but it really is kind of the basics of business.”
DDX Accelerator Program – All About Identifying & Removing Obstacles
“Marc Andreessen said it some years ago that software is eating the world. It actually now is biotech that's eating the world.”
Professor Phillip Low, Founder of Endocyte, Launching an Antiviral Company
SpeechVive Helps Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Communicate Reliably
Spensa Technologies Is Applying Machine Vision to Identifying Insects, Weeds and Other Problems in Agriculture
Perceive Inc. Helps Retailers Identify Patterns in Stores
Sal Daher Talks About His Investment Syndicate
Wade Lange’s Entrepreneurial Journey
“I would rather be a big fish in a small pond was my thinking. So, I joined a startup was started by a couple of faculty members, at Purdue.”
How Wade Lange Came to the Purdue Foundry
“Purdue’s President Daniels wants Purdue to be known as startup U, okay.”
Sal Daher Makes a Plug for Purdue as a Great Place to Be an Undergrad
“…my connection to Çağrı came because of my brother-in-law. My brother-in-law is a patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.”
“…founding entrepreneurs who have deep relationships with 25 other founders, 10 industry experts, and eight investors. They had double the revenue growth of founders who didn't.”
Wade Lange on the Advantages of Growing Your Startup Near Purdue

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Jeff Behren's doctoral dissertation suggests that life science startups are not funded the way we all think. Listen to our discussion of his work and learn why he believes we have to revise what is taught to founders about raising money.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Welcomes Jeff Behrens Back on the Podcast to Discuss His Findings on Biotech Funding
“We published papers. We had a world class SAB, and ultimately, we sold these drugs. So, during that, you'd think, "Well, we should be able to raise venture capital." We never could.”
The Conventional Wisdom about How Life Science Startups Are Funded
Casma Therapeutics as an Example of a Startup Born Inside a Venture Firm
“There was no Lisa and Joe… There [was] no outside founders. This was born inside the venture firm.”
Jeff’s Research Result: Only 8% of All Startups Follow Path of Angel Funding Then VC Funding
Jeff’s Research Result: For Biotech Startups, 4.5% of those that Started with Angel Money Got VC Funding
“So, it's almost like these are two distinct entrepreneurial streams that don't intermingle very much.”
Angel Investors Should Not Expect Future Rounds to Come from VCs – Should Think About How to Fund Future Rounds in the Absence of VC Money
"Well, we want to have fewer new companies and more companies that we invest longer and heavier and over time."
Jeff’s Research Result: In a Decade VC-Started Biotechs Went from Taking 20% of Funded Deals to Taking 80%
The Big Biotech VCs Don’t Take Pitches from Outside Companies Anymore
Only 3% Funding Goes to the Scrappy Biotechs Who Were Not VC-Founded or Did Not Have Famous Founders
Scrappy Biotech Startups Need to Draw a Credible Path that Does Not Include VC Funding
Corporate Venture Groups Created to Allow Big Players to Look at New Technologies
Being Funded by a Corporate VC Does Not Seem to Increase the Chances of a Venture Being Acquired
Trends Among Life-Science VCs Vary Geographically: Boston, NY vs. West Coast
“We never take pitches” – Dave Berry - Partner - Flagship Pioneering
Accelerators, Business Schools, Advisors Need to Revise their Ideas about Funding of Biotech Startups
“So, it is true that Polaris is probably... Of these companies that are doing venture creation, they're probably more balanced than the others.”
Path Dependency of Funding
“…unfortunately, great science can languish unfunded.”
Parting Thoughts from Jeff Behrens, PhD

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Mortgage origination is a massive business deeply stuck in the past. Proof: in 2020 it still takes an average of 45 days to approve a mortgage. Israeli founder Eilon Shalev and his buddies from MIT Sloan School aim to change all that with their startup Elphi.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Welcomes Listeners & Introduces Eilon Shalev of Elphi
What Elphi Does
The Non-Linearity of Mortgage Applications Is a Huge Problem – Average Time to Approval: 45 Days
“We have a paying customer and the software is live today with that lender. That lender is a non-depository mortgage lender, which means it is not a bank.”
The Current State of the Mortgage Origination Business
A Shout out to Sonal Singh of Spatio Metrics for Connecting Sal Daher and Eilon Shalev
The Founding Story of Elphi
Why University Tuition Is So Astronomically High
How Eilon Shalev Shifted His Focus from Student Financing to Mortgages
“I was obligated to just try to choose the most problematic problem I can find from that large industry and try to solve it.”
The Elphi Team
Sal Daher Plugs His Investment Syndicate
Eilon Shalev’s Entrepreneurial Journey
Parting Thoughts from Eilon Shalev
“…one of the main reasons that there was no innovation in that particular space for those particular problems is the high barriers to entry. Once you overcome those barriers to entry, you are that kid in a candy shop…”

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Tech VC Matt Fates of Ascent Venture Partners talks about his portfolio and his investing career and ponders becoming more active as an angel investor. A frank and informative conversation with a delightful guest.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Welcomes Listeners & Introduces Matt Fates, Venture Capitalist
Matt Fate’s VC Portfolio: Connected2Fiber
“The power of connectivity is becoming strategic again as most of your software applications reside outside of your four walls. The need for this intelligence, the need for this data has just become absolutely mission critical for that industry. So, they're growing rapidly.”
Vee24
“I would say Vee24 is really that next level of very professional interaction…”
Augmented Reality (AR) as a Tool for Online Engagement
Matt Fates’ and Sal Daher’s Investment in Streamroot
The VC Industry Is Focusing on Fewer & Bigger Deals – Leaving Many Interesting Companies Behind
Finding the Holy Grail
Sal Daher Makes a Pitch for His Syndicate List
“That wasn't luck. That was Ernie, my boss, telling me, "There's nothing you're going to be able to do to convince me to make another investment in this environment. It's too crazy.”
Paths to Becoming a VC
Parting Thoughts from Matt Fates

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Unlike software startups that can scale with minimal resources, biotech startups need frequently to rely on collaborations with big strategic players to get to scale. This is an interview with one of the top attorneys in arranging such deals, David Glazer of Morgan Lewis. I learned much from David; I hope you will too.

Highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces David Glazer of Morgan Lewis, the Biotech Deal Wiz
Why Collaborations with Strategic Partners Are So Necessary for Biotech Startups
Sal Connected with David by Courtesy of Armon Sharei of SQZ Biotech; David Advised SQZ on the $1.3 Billion Roche Deal
Collaborations May Last Ten or Twenty Year; Picking the Right Partner is Crucial
A Strategic Partner Can Be Immensely Valuable with Dealing with the Complexities & Cost of Getting a Compound of Technology to Market
Strategics Offer Clinical, Regulatory & Commercial Expertise Startups Lack
“You got one partner signed up and then the dominoes start to fall, it provides a validation.”
The Topics that Dominate the Discussions Between Biotech Startups and Strategic Partners
The Tradeoffs Central to the Negotiations
An Important Metric of Biotech Deals Is Elucidated
Picking Mechanisms Determine Who Takes the Lead in Which Circumstance
Reward Follows Risk in Biotech Deals
“Careful what you ask for when you're the biotech company…” – The Law of Unintended Consequences
Collaborations Can Give Startups the Capacity to Develop Their Own Internal Projects
Resources from Collaborations Can Help Startups Mature Their Tech
“I would say I spend about 50% of my time with the pharmaceutical, the strategic players, and about 50% with biotechs.”
Since They Represent both Biotechs & Strategics, Morgan Lewis Has a Good Sense of What Motivates the Players and What Deals Can Get Done
How Deals Go Awry
Sal Daher Puts in a Plug for His Syndicate List
How David Glazer Became a Biotech Deal Maker
“…then in 2000, the [tech] bubble popped and I ended up spending almost all of my time working for the pharmaceutical and biotech companies back in the day.”
How the Acquisition of One of His Clients Expanded David Glazer’s Network
Morgan Lewis Has Afforded David Glazer the Opportunity to Do Interesting Pro Bono Work
David Glazer’s Closing Advice to Biotechnology Companies Thinking About Collaborations
“…I've always found it helpful to have a champion at the pharmaceutical company who is very interested in your deal.”

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As a venture capitalist Fred Bamber helped build such successful companies as Interleaf, Q1 Labs and Volt Server. Now working as an angel investor Fred is invested such exciting companies as SQZ Biotech, Pixability, ViralGains and Streamroot (exited). In his self-effacing and modest way, Fred reveals deep wisdom gained from 75 investments in his career as a VC.

Topics include:

Fred Bamber Finds His Career Path
Avoiding the Military Draft Led Him to Work for His First Startup
Fred Bamber & Friend Found a Venture Fund – Consulting vs. Venture Capital
IPOs Then & Now
Investment in Interleaf Makes His First Fund a Success!
Two Ways of Connecting in the World of Venture Capital – Via Success & Via Failure
Several Losing Investments in Companies Seeking to Exploit the Piezoelectric Effect
Themes In Angel Investing – Investing in Brand New Fields i.e. White Spaces
‘…Oracle has a huge go-to-market cost, and engineering is a tiny bit of it.’
Technology Causing Convergence of Consumer & Enterprise Businesses
Startups with Jeff Weiss - The Perils of Being Early – Early Augmented Reality (AR)
Rich Lane & Reflection Technology – Augmented Reality-like – Projecting Text into the Eye
Progress of Technology Is Painful – “Thread Across The Ocean” by John Steele Gordon
Michael Lewis & Drama in Business – Paul English & “A Truck Full of Money”
Paul English Finds His Inner Entrepreneur after Interleaf
Robert P. Smith & “Riches Among the Ruins” – Not Made for Working In Large Companies
VCs Should Be Humble
Fred Bamber Talks About His Investment in Volt Server
Uber & Washington, D.C. Cabs
Peter Thiel’s Critique of Entrepreneurship – “We Were Promised Flying Cars and We Got 140 Characters”
SQZ Biotech & Massachusetts Materials Technology
What Fred Bamber Looks For In a Startup – Technology, Coachability, Tenacity, Openess – VC vs Angel
Startups Should Report Frequently – Reports Should Tie In to Previous Reports i.e. Close the Loop
Angel Investor Should Be Father Confessor without the Ave Marias
Bettina Hein & Pixability – Example of Determination Combined with Openess
Beth Marcus’ Test For Listening
Fred Bamber’s Suggestion of the Perfect Number of Angel Investments in a Portfolio
Why Sal Daher Is Invested In About 42 Companies
The Role of a Board of Directors – Father Confessor
Fred Bamber’s Favorite Pivot – Q1 Labs (IBM)
Fred Bamber Also Like Streamroot’s Pivots
Q1 Labs Pivot Runs Counter the Received Wisdom of Startups Needing a Narrow Focus to Succeed
“Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey A. Moore
“Why Knowledge Matters” by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

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Young founder Derek Canton was obsessed with making restaurant payments frictionless. COVID scrambled his product plans but opened up a huge opportunity to provide contactless payment. Throughout lockdown Paerpay has gotten traction for its text-driven payment system which is a perfect fit for the times.

Highlights:

Sal Introduces Founder Derek Canton of Paerpay
What Paerpay Does
How Paerpay Makes Money
The Competition is Device-Centric, Paerpay Is Software that Runs on Legacy Devices
How the Paerpay Solution Is Implemented
A Possible Collaboration with Squadle?
Derek Canton Has Ambitions Beyond the Restaurant Space for Paerpay
Sal’s Pitch for His Investment Syndicate
Derek Canton’s Discovery that He Was an Entrepreneur
Derek’s Dad Gives Him “The Talk” About Entrepreneurship
“But I tell people it's the most rewarding, most painful experience you can have, being an entrepreneur, but candidly I'm addicted to it, man. I love it.”
“…on a personal side was as simple as do what you love and if your dream doesn't scare you, it's not big enough.”
“…the first times in history where operators are thinking about contactless payments being the number one way of form of accepting payments, period, period. That's never happened before.”
“…a few months from now the world is going to be completely different. And so, for the first time in history, we have this opportunity to really help shape what that world looks like. And our tech is doing it already and it's been incredible.”
How Derek Canton Got His Co-Founder Alan Inacio – How They Seized the Opportunity for Contactless Payments Created by COVID
“…, if you are a founder and you're looking for a problem to solve, now's the perfect time to be able to do that. The world is quickly changing…”

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Ben Littauer travelled an unlikely path from philosophy to communications technology. He brings to life the exciting turns in his careers as founder and angel investor. In his light-hearted style, Ben provides a thoughtful tour of Boston’s angel scene in this episode that ranges over many topics including equity crowdfunding. In particular, he explains what leads founders to make the worst fund-raising mistake of all. The philosopher’s clarity of thought and the engineer’s practicality are in evidence.

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The sense of purpose and focus that led Klaudyne Hong to do her PhD at MIT in two years helped her turn a chance comment during a fly-fishing trip into a groundbreaking startup. Peach IntelliHealth is building AI for acute medical care. Her project was seeded by the Government of Singapore where she found great help in building her data set. She’s now seeking FDA approval.

Highlights include:

Sal Daher Introduces Klaudyne Hong, PhD, Founder of Peach Intellihealth
What Peach Intellihealth Does
Peach Intellihealth’s AI Can Predict a Patient’s Response to Treatment
The Founding Story of Peach Intellihealth
“So, if you don't remember anything about what I say today, remember the next point. It's the highlight of the show, okay? I actually caught two striped bass that morning.”
“And we started then doing a historical analysis, and we realized that our algorithms actually fit that data very nicely.”
Peach’s AI Got Regulatory Approval in Singapore – Now Replicating Pivotal Study in the U.S.
“Sepsis, by the way, is the most expensive health care condition, hospitalized condition, in the U.S.”
“If someone's going to go into cardiac arrest, and you know it several hours in advance, you can make a huge difference.”
Current Status of Peach Intellihealth
Funding for Peach Intellihealth – the Government of Singapore Came in as a Seed Investor
“I grew up in Singapore, and I left when I was relatively young. So, I was as an undergrad in California.”
Her Favorite Show “Cheers” Showed Boston in Such a Good Light that Klaudyne Chose to Apply to MIT
“…my thesis…was about controlling gene expression for gene therapy applications.”
Klaudyne’s Two-Year PhD
“I drew him a picture of this DNA that was wearing cowboy boots, and somehow told him it's all about the cowboy boot being a gene therapy vector. And somehow, he understood what I was saying. He said, "Yeah, come join me in the lab."”
Klaudyne Hong’s Entrepreneurial Journey
After J&J Klaudyne Consulted but Found It Unrewarding, Lacking Ownership – Enter Entrepreneurship
Peach Benefitted from the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Singapore that Allowed the Rapid Acquisition of Patient Data
“But I find that the larger the company, sometimes the slower things can be, because I think they call way too many meetings that you have to attend.”
“They see that you have this passion. And they see that look, if it's that crazy, why do you have so many good people embarking on this journey with you?"
“It is the most robustly supported result in the study of entrepreneurship that more co-founders, better chance of success.”
Where the AI Will Fit in the Clinic
“I also see AI in a sense of helping make informed choices about the kinds of medicine we take.”
Sal Talks About Portfolio Company Leuko
Klaudyne Hong’s Closing Comments

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Microbiologist Alex Sakatos felt strongly that valuable science was not making it from the lab to the clinic. This led her to start Ancilia which is finding ways to protect good bacteria in our gut from attack by viruses. A great chat about an exciting field in biotech.

Highlights from our interview:

Sal Daher Introduces Alex Sakatos, PhD
Ancilia is Creating Ways to Protect Healthy Gut Bacteria from the Viruses That Can Attack Them
“...these viruses could directly prevent the efficacy of bacterial therapies…”
Founding Story of Ancilia
“... we actually know very well the mechanisms by which bacteria become resistant to phages, and so we can actually directly engineer those bacteria to be resistant to our phages…”
“So yeah, a co-founder is so helpful because founding a company is very, very lonely.”
Alex Sakatos. PhD’s Decision to Become a Founder
“...I leaped from academia into entrepreneurship was because I felt that there's more potential to actually develop research into therapies that impact patients.”
“...I learned from being in academia...if you don't do it, it's not necessarily guaranteed that someone else will. So, I think that it's important for more scientists to take their work towards translation.”
Parting Wisdom from Alex Sakatos

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Ralph Wagner recalls his journey of self-discovery that led from failure in engineering to incandescent success in marketing and sales. The man who could not do calculus or write code excelled at identifying and exploiting opportunities created by computer technology. In this interview one sees that Ralph’s captivating personality is firmly ballasted by good sense and common decency. It is made evident how his interest in people was vital to the success of his many ventures.

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Vets have known for a century that injecting extract from fetal tissue helps wounds heal faster However, the procedures required were arduous. Hilltop Bio is taking the hassles out of this time-tested therapy and creating a new revenue stream for clinics. Amanda Drobnis, founder and Jess McLear, board member update us on the company's progress.

Interview highlights include:

Sal Daher Introduces Amanda Drobnis and Jessica McLear
What Hilltop Biosciences Does and What Pain Points It Addresses
How Jess McLear Came to be an Investor in Amanda Drobnis’ Company
“…they tend to be leaders. If Launchpad signs up for a deal, other angels tend to follow.”
“But what we can patent is how we collect the tissue, how we process the tissue, the methods that we're going to use the tissue for.”
“…even through COVID we've had repeat sales.”
“So, she's right on track with what she said she was going to do again on track on budget. We don't see those very often either.”
“Our big breakthrough that we've been working towards is having our room temperature regenerative therapies available that are off the shelf and ready for our vets to use.”
Jess McLear: “I kind of grew up around startups. My father has been investing in startups over 30 years, so I've grown up around startups…”
“That's an interesting collection of companies. Hilltop Biosciences, Knip Bio, 99Degrees…”
Angel Investor Jess McLear’s Advice to Founders
Angel Investor Jess McLear’s Advice to Founders about Fundraising
“Female entrepreneurs, I find it definitely takes much longer for a lot of them, which is a really sad state of affairs.”
“I can't stress that enough. My board members, Jess, and all my other board members, they really make a difference…”
“…you are always fundraising. It never ends. And when you think it's over, it's not over.”
"You also want to update the people that didn't invest, but might be on the fence because they may invest at some point too. That's one thing that a lot of people don't do."
“I salute Amanda as a really stellar founder and she's got a board, she's got a product. She keeps her investors updated. She keeps even the ones that said no updated. Well done.”

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Joe Selvaggi, entrepreneur and podcaster straddles the worlds of business and policy in his podcast HubWonk, one of two podcasts from Boston’s Pioneer Institute. Joe and I talked about compelling interviews of founders and how they relate to the work of the free-market think tank. Fun & Instructive.

Highlights include:

Sal Daher’s Introduction of Joseph Selvaggi
The Pioneer Institute and Entrepreneurship
Joe Selvaggi’s Business – Plaster Fun Time
“It could be easier. Our tax regime, our regulation regime." Everything has an effect on your clients, your business, your employees. You kind of become an honorary policy wonk…”
“My ingenuity, my hard work, makes you richer.”
COVID-19 Highlights the Bounty Brought to Us by Free Markets that We Take for Granted – The Fish Counter at Whole Foods
Buoy Health – HubWonk Podcast
Buoy Health’s AI Interviews Patients and Advises Them on What Type of Care to Seek & Where
Joe Selvaggi Addresses Issues Such Education and Transportation that Are Crucial to Entrepreneurs
“I just think that the retirement homes have to do a whole lot better about protecting the elderly from transmission of diseases.”
Gauss Medical – Machine Vison in the Operating Room
Joe Selvaggi Talks about His Interview with the Founder of Telehealth Firm Amwell
Joe Selvaggi’s Entrepreneurial Journey
“What I love about HubWonk and really the podcast medium is, you get to eavesdrop on a conversation with people who are really making hard decisions…”
Example of Podcast Candor: Russ Wilcox – Frank Conversation about All His Mistakes as a Founder
“To the superficiality of Twitter? Oh, no doubt. Marshall McLuhan said “the medium is the message.””

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Super angel investor Michael Mark tells fascinating stories that take us from the precocious founding of his first startup straight out of MIT to his being a highly-prized investor in hundreds of startups today. The narratives are interwoven with valuable lessons on how tech startups are built in Boston's vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. They include entertaining observations of subjects ranging from comedians to co-founders. Some of the most interesting pivots (radical changes of business plan) are elucidated. Michael’s dry wit and unassuming manner make his deep wisdom accessible to all of us.

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Topics we touched on:

The best pivots ever!
Need for focus
When to pivot
How frequently business plans work out
Hiring a CEO
Qualities of the founders
Role of luck in startups
What a board of directors can do for the startup
How Michael got started in entrepreneurship
Pixability
Exos
Loop Pay
Bettina Hein
Beth Marcus
Will Graylin
Progress Software
Cadmus
Interleaf
Netegrity
Underware

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Curious Reactor, the AI built by founder Jenny Ro, PhD, helps participants at life science conferences figure out who to meet. It's only the first step in a promising road map. Loved the chat with this compelling founder.

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An MBA and an architect who got together as co-founders at MIT to build software that helps designers make decisions based on numbers and science. Spatiometrics is now helping to make offices COVID-resistant.

During the interview we discussed the company's founding story, its workflow and how they are helping with back to work planning.

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Founder Gillian Isabelle, Ph.D. returns to give us an update on how her startup Enlivity is navigating the COVID crisis.

Here is Gillian's origin story: Gillian Isabelle's Full Interview

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To celebrate our 100th episode, Raul Rosa and I curated snippets from various interviews that illustrate particularly valuable lessons in entrepreneurship. Below you will find a list of the full episodes next to the name of the guest cited.

Starting at the launch of the 100th episode it will also be possible to search for content on https://angelinvestboston.com based on a list of topics, some of which I list below.

Focus:

Michael Mark – Click to Listen to the Complete Episode
Jean Hammond - Listen to the Complete Episode Here

Selling

Tivan Amour - Listen to His Origin Story - Listen to His Remarkable Pivot Story

Raising Money

Ben Littauer- Ben's Full Episode - Even More Ben
Alice Lewis - Alice's Full Interview - Alice's Clever COVID Pivot
Sal Daher - Sal's Origin Story - Secrets of Fundraising - More Secrets of Fundraising

Returns

Howard Stevenson - Building Your Wealth

Boards

Michael Mark - More Michael Mark
Bettina Hein - Bettina's Origin Story
Christopher Mirabile and Adam Martel - The Full Episode - Christopher Mirabile Origin Story
Joe Caruso - Joe's Origin Story - Irresistible! - Joe Caruso on Startups & COVID

Co-Founders

Ed Roberts - The Full, Glorious, 89-minute Ed Roberts Experience - Awesome!
Chuck Eesley - Chuck's Full Interview
Nell Meosky Luo and Dan Toffling - The Full Interview
Ed Goluch - Ed Goluch's Full Interview
Russ Wilcox - Russ' Origin Story

Product

Chris Savage & Brendan Schwartz - The Whole Brilliant Interview
Sam Bogoch - The Sam Bogoch Origin Story

Discovering Entrepreneurship

Gillian Isabelle - The Complete Interview with Gillian Isabelle - Compelling
Larry Sullivan - The Full Journey through Larry's Amazing Career

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Brazilian patients struggle to access specialized medical care. Precavida, which just graduated from Techstars Boston, is addressing this problem. Here is my interview with founder Lais Fonseca.

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Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here

Events platform Host Events confronts going virtual with COVID-19. I also talked to Brian Megill about his entrepreneurial journey.

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Trying to create a bike startup, repeat founder Tivan Amour builds a texting tool that quickly outgrows the original business and is then launched as an independent company. Listen to the founding story of Tone (tonemessaging.com) and how it’s allowing brands to speak directly to customers.

A great chat with one of my favorite founders.

Highlights include:

Sal Daher Introduces Tivan Amour, Founder of Tone
How Tone / Save My Sales Was Born Out of Fortified Bike
The Story of Kyle the Super Bike Salesman
Kyle Stumbles Upon the Idea of Texting Bike Clients Who Don’t Complete the Sale
Texting Proves Out as a Massive Driver of Sales
“…so, we turned that potential lost sale that would have been $750 into an actual conversion within a couple of days that was worth 50% more, right?”
Friends in e-Commerce Urged Tivan to Turn the Texting Platform into a Business
“In Techstars, one of the mantras that I think was drilled into us was to sort of be open to serendipity and do things that don't scale…”
“Lo and behold, in the first month we started getting our first couple thousand-dollar paychecks from brands that we were making tens of thousands of dollars for.”
The Texting Platform Starts Becoming More Scalable
Tivan Decides to Sell the Still-Growing and Profitable Bike Business and Focus Just on the Texting Platform
“…from those initial 50 beta customers to about 10x, so we have just under 600 customers that we do this for.”
“You have to have customers who tend to like being texted, which from what we can tell seems to be most brands that we've talked to. There's very few where customers don't enjoy the instant communication.”
“We figured out how to automate our first 25% of all messages in the platform in our first version of AI, and that was in 2019.”
“Almost 50% of the interactions are now being done by AI and the other 50% by a human agent.”
“We think that the key component here is that there's always a human readily available to make sure that the authenticity is still there…”
“…if anyone ever feels like they're talking to a chatbot with us, we missed the mark.”
“We believe that people buy from people they know, and by combining humans and the right tech, we can create that experience for every business.”
Tone’s VC Raise
“Over the last 15 years, a lot of it has become automated, so messages that you're getting from businesses are kind of preprogrammed and when you fall into a certain segment of customer, you'll just get that message.”
“What we're actually doing is creating conversations with these customers, and it feels very different than getting that marketing automation email from a business or even a marketing automation text message…”
Tone Allows for Two-Way Conversation Between the Brand and the Buyer
“Customers are going to decide how they want to engage with you, and it's up to you to leave every door and window open…”
“There's text message marketing and that's everyone, and then there's text message relationship automation, which is what we do.”
How Tivan Navigated Taking a New Business Out of an Existing Business
“…so when people call me and say, "Hey, I'm thinking about starting this hardware company or this eCommerce brand, here's the knick-knack that we sell. I know that you did a lot of manufacturing in China and would love your ideas on it." My first question is, can you think of a technology startup that you'd rather start?”
“…the biggest learning for us was how hard cash flow is in consumer brands. For us, for every $1 million that we wanted to make, we had to sink $300,000 at least in inventory, and then sit on it for six to eight months before we even got to payback.”
“We weren't necessarily the ones that should have been running a business like that, and it's great to be kind of in a supporting role that I think better fits us.”

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Born in a Brazilian slum, Artur Souza has founded a promising startup in Boston. His experience with the complexity of adopting his dog led to the creation of Adopets, a platform to facilitate pet adoption. The surge in pet adoption caused by COVID-19 has opened up opportunities for this inspiring founder.

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Meenta is the platform for sharing the use of high-end scientific equipment. Its founders, Gabor Bethlendy and Stephan Smith, are using resources they have built to help companies test employees for COVID.

You can learn more about Meenta in the following interviews:

Here is my interview of Gabor Bethlendy: https://www.angelinvestboston.com/ep-65/gabor-bethlendy-meenta

Here is my interview of Stephan Smith: https://www.angelinvestboston.com/ep-90-stephan-smith-meenta

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Sal's Investment Syndicate: Link to Sal's Syndicate

In VentureFizz, Keith Cline has created a place where great tech companies and great tech talent meet. Check it out at: https://venturefizz.com/

I had a wide-ranging interview with this most affable and informed guest, here are some highlights:

Sal Daher Introduces Keith Kline of Venture Fizz
How VentureFizz Came About
The VentureFizz Podcast Origin Story
“Yeah, the drama of building a new company is just so absorbing. Lots of stories to tell.”
Sal Talks About Listening to Keith’s Interview of Russ Wilcox of Pillar VC – The Amazing Story of E Ink
“Boston doesn't do consumer. Boston mostly does B2B technology. The internet, was basically built in Boston.”
Why Sal Got into Podcasting
Keith Cline Grew Up in Hooksett, NH and His Father Was an Entrepreneur
Why Rents Go Up
How Keith Cline Went from Doing Real Estate Tax Abatement to Human Resources in Tech
Keith and Sal Talk About Some Lean Years
Keith Cline Quits His Job and Starts His Own Recruiting Practice
Keith Cline Talks About His Content Strategy in VentureFizz
The Biggest Obstacles Keith Cline Is Facing Now
Golden Marketing Advice!
How Sal Decides in What Startup to Invest

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Sal's Investment Syndicate: Link to My Syndicates

An alum of Techstars and Shark Tank backed by Mark Cuban and Sara Blakely, Alice's Table was a promising startup. Then, the virus struck. For an events company this could have been fatal but Alice Lewis pivoted in an intriguing direction that is already showing strong traction. Hear this great story told by an inspiring founder.

Here's Alice's full-length interview: From Techstars to Shark Tank

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Techstars alum COBU has been getting traction at leading apartment buildings for its ability to build community and thus lower tenant turnover. During the lockdown, it has been a social lifeline for apartment dwellers. Founder Ben Pleat returns to the podcast to tell the story.

Listen to the founding story of COBU here: COBU: Community in Rentals

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More secrets for founders raising money. Angel investor Sal Daher has suggestions to make your raise less painful.

Highlights include:

Sal’s Intro – New Fundraising Secret at the End
Sal Daher’s Opening Statement on Funding for Startups
Angels vs. VCs
Walnut Ventures & MIT Angels
Angel Groups in Boston
Super Angel Joe Caruso and His Pet Peeve about Pitch Decks
“…if you got it flaunt it.”
“What I look for, my goal is a platform technology. Technology that's widely applicable and can be developed for peanuts.”
The Most Compelling Pitch Sal Daher Ever Heard
“…there's a danger that if you're raising, you're not building your company…”
“Get a co- The most robust result in the study of entrepreneurship is that more co-founders, better.”
“The biggest reason why startups fail, people give up.”
“With a VC, it's if you happen to fit the template, they need you. They need you so bad…”
“People are wired to listen to narratives. They're not wired to listen to strategic presentations, unless you're born to McKinsey consultants.”
“Do not have busy graphics.”
The Importance of Commitment
“An extremely important quality is to be a coachable person, to be a person who learns, okay?”
Stephen Hawking vs. Wily Loman
“Perish the thought of having co-CEOs, all right?”
“The way to get into Techstars is not to apply on the website.”
“Let me get on my tirade against cold calling. Don't cold call, okay? It is just a waste of time for everybody…”
“Do you think you're going to send a mass email and get friends? You're going to have a very sad social life if that's your approach.”
“This is a really important point. Other founders could be a tremendous resource, because you can cry on their shoulders, okay?”
One Last Fundraising Secret

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AllClear.App is the product of thirty plus tech veterans who gave their time to make it easier for people to get tested for COVID-19. Tech exec and angel investor Mark Bissell joins us to tell how he and his colleagues responded to the contagion that has paralyzed the world. Inspiring.

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“So, there's been a hole in the market for that kind of company that's going to be a great company that's not venture-scale.”

Repeat founder and super angel Jay Batson talks about his new passion: Revenue-Based Finance. He likes the possibility it opens up for startups that are great but not quite venture-scale. Learn what RBF does for founders and investors.

Highlights include:

Sal’s Intro
Jay Batson’s Bio
Acquia & Drupal
Revenue-Based Finance Is Introduced
The Debt Model vs. The Equity Model
“Well, the problem is, there's kind of a hole in the middle, because banks don't like to take risks that startups pose.”
“So, venture capital is great if your company is the kind of company that will provide large capital gains to the investor.”
“…venture investors tend to say, "Is this a company that could create a billion-dollar company?"”
…"This isn't a venture-scale company,"…
“So, there's been a hole in the market for that kind of company that's going to be a great company that's not venture-scale.”
Wistia as an Example of a Great Company that’s Not Venture-Scale
Being Venture-Scale Means You Have to Grow at All Costs
“So, the investor makes money by the entrepreneur's business generating the revenue to provide the investor the returns; the entrepreneur retains ownership of the company during the duration.”
“…your returns that you see as percentages on your money, are really going to be defined on how fast the entrepreneur repays you.”
“It's not venture-scale, but it's going to be a fine company, thank you very much, but it needs an influx of cash to help grow the go-to-market.”
“...we want RBF to be the kind of thing that's notable and well-known for something that people do in Boston.”
Sal Talks About His Investment in Gelesis
Jay Batson and Sal Discuss Various Aspects of the Current Crisis and How Startups Might Respond
“…this won't be the first time you've had to embrace the suck, you know? It's kind of part of the deal of being a founder and being an entrepreneur.”
“And then, I hate to say this, but now's the time to cut costs kind of hard and fast, and this may mean cutting some people. And that's really hard to do.”
“It's not even just snagging other companies, Sal, it's snagging customers.”
“…the things that are happening in the stock market in terms of valuations are probably going to happen to you.”

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If you’ve used an Amazon Kindle you’ve used tech pioneered by Russ Wilcox and co-founders at E Ink. Russ is now a VC who remembers well the trials of being a founder and is a deep well useful knowledge about building startups. I learned a lot.

Highlights include:

brief bio of Russ Wilcox
the founding story of E Ink
the mistake of focusing on a financing strategy rather than product development
burning $2 million per month but clients hated the product
Golden Lesson for Founders: don’t kill your company by sticking to an unrealistically high valuation; propping up valuation is self-delusion
beware liquidation preferences (jargon-free explanation)
comparison of VC funding to debt
Pillar is a seed-stage VC firm founded by people who have started companies
Pillar’s “phantom partners” are 22 startup CEOs who put money into the fund and roll up their sleeves to help
Write checks of $1 to $2 million in rounds of $3 to $4 million
Put in a lot of time and energy to support founders
Emotional support is provided by the Pillar CEO investors
Cool Portfolio Company: Kula Bio which has a really clever way to make earth-friendly fertilizer
Cool Portfolio Company: Higharc creates 3D plans for your home without needing an architect
Russ Wilcox’s wisdom on platform technologies
Sal talks about his portfolio company Akili Interactive that has a game to treat ADHD in children and invites accredited investors to join his syndicate at https://www.angelinvestboston.com/our-syndicates
What Russ learned from his post-exit world tour with his family
Golden Lesson for Founders: look for a co-founder first

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S a l ' s I n v e s t m e n t S y n d i c a t e : https://www.angelinvestboston.com/our-syndicates

Joe Caruso is treasured by tech founders for his kind support and sage advice. He's back to tell us how his startups are dealing with the COVID Crisis. Fun chat.

Here's Joe's other interview which delves into how he became involved with founders. It's one of the most popular episodes I've recorded: Link to Joe Caruso's Story

Angel Invest Boston: Recent Episodes

Sal Daher