From Idea to Impact: Creating a $20 Million Fund During Crisis w/ Mike Moradi, Cortado Ventures

𝐎𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐝𝐨 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 $𝟐𝟎𝐌 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 - how did this happen?

This week’s episode features Mike Moradi, one of the GPs of Cortado Ventures, also the co-founder and also a portfolio company CEO, the CEO of Sensulin, where the company Sensulin is developing a glucose responsive insulin which will drastically reduce the number of injections diabetes patients will have to take.

Our conversation is wide ranging from how he first got the entrepreneurial bug, which landed him a $10 million exit at 25 years old, to then leading $10 million in six weeks for Cortado’s fund one, and what's broken in America's health care system.

TIMESTAMPS / KEY TAKEAWAYS

0:00 - Intro

2:17 - Growing up with diversity and the entrepreneurial bug

5:26 - The culture and diversity scene in mid-continent America; Oklahoma VS Bay Area

8:52 - From dentistry to failing first company, then landed a $10 million exit at 25 years old

11:35 - The key to successful exit and ‘superpower’ as a serial entrepreneur

13:14 - Addressing diabetes and insulin: building Sensulin

18:23 - Challenges as the CEO of Sensulin

20:52 - Where life sciences is today: innovation and it’s consequences; AI and healthcare

24:24 - Why is healthcare broken in America?

25:40 - James Rogers; incentive structures between different stakeholders 

28:19 - Advice to entrepreneurs building B2B SaaS company; be the clock maker

29:34 - Cortado Ventures: raising $10 million in six weeks during pandamic

32:05 - Reason behind Cortado fund I success; the room for innovation In times of great disruption

34:29 - What makes a good fund? Common mistakes made by fund managers

39:24 - Takeaways from both sides of the table: GP for Cortado Ventures and CEO of Sensulin

41:56 - Billion Dollar Questions 

About Mike Moradi

Mike Moradi is an American biochemist, entrepreneur and diabetes advocate. Mike is a co-founder / CEO of Sensulin, a company that strives to provide a once-a-day solution for type I/II diabetics. He has founded or helped establish more than a dozen nanotechnology and biotechnology companies.

MORE ABOUT MIKE:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemoradi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Moradi

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