Angel Invest Boston

Discover angel-scale biotech: Learn More 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

Angel-scale biotech: Learn More 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

Angels helping biotech startups: Learn More 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

Opportunities in Angel-Scale Biotech: Learn More 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

The promise of angel-scale biotech: Learn More 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  

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  

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  

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

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

Angel-scale biotech is taking off: Learn More 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