Angel Invest Boston

Still in his forties, 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

It is rare that we 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  Batson’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: 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

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: 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    

Christopher Mirabile is an angel with a plan. This super angel wants to make angel investing more professional and methodical. He comes to this aspiration by way of being a consultant, a corporate lawyer and a CFO of a successful tech company. He is co-managing director of Launchpad Venture Group and sits on numerous boards. He has co-founded Seraf, a platform for tracking angel investments and helping angels become better informed. He is an engaging and thought-provoking interlocutor. Do not miss this energetic interview which includes the following topics: Christopher Mirabile Bio From English Major to Junior Management Consultant and, Eventually, a Corporate Lawyer Law Firm to Tech Company, First as Chief Counsel, Ultimately as CFO Taking the Company Public Turbulent IPO Leads to Decision to Become an Investor Rather Than an Operator What Christopher Mirabile Looks for in a Startup Christopher Mirabile’s Favorite Pivots: Pixability, Powerhouse Dynamics and Vela Systems Christopher Mirabile’s Informative Columns and Posts Boston Has the Best Ecosystem for Angel Investing: “I've seen a lot of angel investing, and, as far as I'm concerned, there's no city in the world I would rather invest in than Boston”. The Angel Treaty – Angel Syndication – Collaborative Culture of Angel Investing Christopher Mirabile on the Value of a Board to an Early-Stage Company “I'm to the point now where if I run into a team that I otherwise like and I get any sense of hesitancy about building a board, that's a huge red flag for me”. Episode Transcript with Subject Headings Available at: Link to Angel Invest Boston Podcast Episode Pages  

Peter Fasse has patents in his blood. He 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: 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  

Gong Ke came to America at age 13 with little English. Yet, barely a decade later she had graduated in computer science from MIT and was working at one of America’s iconic startups. Later she started her own consumer company which achieved impressive growth. While doing all this she also married and had three children. Google and Harvard Business School followed. She now works full time at Trip Advisor while sharing her business building experience with others at Mass Challenge, the Wily Network and Tech Stars. This remarkably dynamic young woman narrated compelling stories to illustrate her hard-won lessons. She provided three sterling bits of advice to founders, delved into what makes immigrants so successful as entrepreneurs and presented an excellent example of strategic thought in her career planning. Among the topics covered were: Gong Ke Gouldstone Bio Gong Ke Gouldstone at Akamai – 9/11 Happens – Danny Lewin Tragedy Inspires a Lot of People Hard to Raise Money for Tech Startup due to NASDAQ Crash – Decides to Do Bubble Tea Startup MIT Grad Selling Tea; Parents Are Horrified! Learned a Lot Working Behind the Counter – Degrees Don’t Matter – Listening to the Customer Is What Matters Gong Ke Gouldstone’s Startup Was Profitable on Day 1 Amy Chua, alias Tiger Mom, “Triple Package” Gong Ke Gouldstone’s Advice to Founders – (1) Know Why You Are Doing It & (2) Don’t Be Afraid to Talk to Everyone About It Motivation for Being a Founder – “Unleash Your Inner Company” by John Chisholm – Best Treatment of the Subject Gong Ke Gouldstone Goes to Google to Learn What It’s Like to Work for a Big Company Gong Ke Quits Google to Go to Harvard Business School Gong Ke Goes to Her Current Position at Trip Advisor – The Other Side of the Table from Google Is an MBA Necessary for Entrepreneurship? Wily Network Boston vs. Bay Area as a Place to Start a Company Gong Ke Gouldstone’s Favorite Founders

Whenever I speak with Kathryn Roy I learn something. I learned a lot when I spent an hour talking to this remarkably incisive thinker. Kathryn has advised some of the most dynamic technology companies of our time including Lotus, Kronos, Phase Forward, IBM, Computer Associates, Avid and Constant Contact. The qualities that make her ideas prized in so many executive suites were in full display during this delightful interview. Here are some quotes from our conversation. “The hardest thing about marketing and messaging is figuring out what you're not going to say.” Speaking about what she calls The Curse of Knowledge she says: “When you're steeped in a technical domain, you start talking to other people as if they have the exact same context in their heads.” Speaking about what companies should put on their websites she says: “What's really important is to let the visitor see, at a glance, what could you do for me? What problem could you solve, and do you solve it for other companies like me?” “I always tell the companies I work with: never brag about yourself. You can get a customer quote, and they can talk about you, but when you brag about yourself, it is totally discounted by prospects.” “I think that's a challenge I see in a lot of companies, because you get marketing people and they want to work on fun things. They want to work on beautiful graphics. They want to have great events. The real benefit or the most important thing that you can do is understand the customer's needs, no matter how boring they are.”   Here are the topics covered during our interview:   Kathryn Roy Bio From Math Major to Harvard MBA Early Incarnation of Artificial Intelligence – Kathryn Roy’s First Experience in a Startup – Product in Search of Market – Classic Problem Described by Geoffrey Moore Kathryn Roy Goes to a Dungeons & Dragons Company Next – Finds Her True Calling – Marketing & Behavioral Economics Not Being Cut Out for Coding Did Not Discourage Kathryn Roy – She Knew Where She Could Better Use Her Acute Powers of Reasoning Kathryn Roy Finds That There Is a Market for Her Kind of Thinking Peace Corps & BBN Planet by Accident By Teaching I Learn – Docendo Discimus – Kathryn Roy Decides to Learn More About Marketing by Teaching Marketing But Ends Up at BBN Planet Instead Phase Forward – More Open Communication with Clients Bought Time to Succeed One of Kathryn Roy’s Marketing Tricks: Give Away Something of Value to Customers Which Is Relatively Easy for You to Create – It Gets You Mindshare – Two Excellent Examples Given Marketing People Want to Work on Fun Stuff – Graphics, Events, etc. – Should Focus Instead on Boring Things that Address Customer Needs Kathryn Roy Finds a Natural Fit between Her Approach to Marketing & Consulting Angel Invest Boston Brings You Outstanding Guests like Kathryn Roy, with Professional Sound Quality, at No Cost to You and with No Commercials – Give Back by Reviewing Us in iTunes & Spreading the Word Kathryn Roy’s Three Bits of Advice for Founders One – Make Sure You Have Critical Skill Within the Founding Team – Hard to Get Otherwise Two – Narrow Your Focus to a Group of Buyers That Have Common Needs & Consider Each Other References Three – Don’t Be Seduced by Fads Founders Frequently Get Into Trouble by Not Recognizing the Differences between B2B and B2C Marketing – Taglines: Less Is More “The hardest thing about marketing and messaging is figuring out what you're not going to say.” How Kathryn Roy Became an Angel Investor What Does Kathryn Roy Look for in a Founding Team? Kathryn Roy’s Advice to Founders Hiring Marketing Teams The Curse of Knowledge Investors, Beware of Giving Advice in Areas beyond Your Expertise Messaging Mistakes If You Are a Company Under $100 Million in Value You Can’t Afford to Have People Remember More Than One Name for You Kathryn Roy Talks about Pixability’s Pivots Poly6 Narrow Its Focus 3D Data

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. During our conversation Ed Belove made mention of a document written by Alex Schiff, co-founder of Fetchnotes, a company he and I were very interested in. The link to the document can be found here: Link to Lessons Learned from Doing Fetchnotes Here are some of the topics covered in our conversation: Ed Belove 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!

How does one go from cleaning chicken droppings in Iowa to being a videographer in Iran to heading one of America’s iconic technology companies? That question only addresses half of Frank Ferguson’s adventurous career; he would eventually co-found and build a remarkably successful business in one of the toughest markets, educational publishing.  I spent a bit over an hour in conversation with this idealistic yet intensely practical doer; I could have used another two hours! In Episode 7 of the Angel Invest Boston Podcast we explored the ideas and traits that made Frank Ferguson a success on so many fronts. My favorite observation from the conversation with Frank Fergusson neatly encapsulates his homespun 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?” Below is a listing of some of the topics covered. 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 Senscio Systems Website 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 Visit Angel Invest Boston Sign Up Form and sign up to be informed of upcoming free, in-person events. A text transcript of this interview is available in the Frank Ferguson page on the Angel Invest Boston Home Page.

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’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 Graduated from Sloan Patrick 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 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 Has a Tough Period in His Career – Growth & More Self-knowledge Patrick Gets Involved with a Startup for the First Time Patrick 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 Gets Into Angel Investing Chestnut Medical Technologies Is Acquired in 2007 Patrick Gets MIT Angels Moving in the Bay Area Boston Angel Ecosystem Is Highly Collaborative Despite Some Friction Pivots Investing in Biotech vs. Non-biotech Companies – Patrick’s Crucial Calculation – Very Instructive