Angel Invest Boston

Join Sal's Syndicate: Click Here 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

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here  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.

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.

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Link to Syndicate Page 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.”

Join Sal's Syndicate: Click to Join 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. 

Sal' Investment Syndicate: Click Here 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 

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  

Join Sal's Syndicate: Click to Join 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

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

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