Angel Invest Boston

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join 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…”

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join 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.

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Subscribe 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

Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click Here 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.

Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click Here 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.”

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate List: Click to Join 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.””

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here 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. If you liked this episode subscribe in iTunes or Google Play so that new episodes will automatically appear in your player. You can find us by searching for Sal Daher or Angel Invest Boston. Do take the time to review us. Sign up at https://www.AngelInvestBoston.com if you want to be made aware of upcoming in-person events. Obviously, this is of particular interest if you are in Boston or environs. You can also follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and on Twitter @AngelInvestBOS 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

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here 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.

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join 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. 

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here 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