Ventures

In this episode of Ventures we look at the response to COVID-19 by teams involved with emergency preparedness and innovation at University of Washington (UW) Medicine in Seattle. We also discuss the need and options available for startups to collaborate with UW Medicine to help - not only with COVID-19 relief - but with general medtech and telehealth innovation to provide better care for patients in a post-COVID-19 world. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-9 for detailed notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.    My guests this week are Danica Little (Director of Preparedness at UW Medicine, https://www.linkedin.com/in/danica-little-mha-6b998a2b/), Dmitry Levin (see below for is current three roles: https://cardiology.uw.edu/research/center-cardiovascular-innovation-ccvi), and Dr. Robert Sweet (Urology professor and doctor, Executive Director of WISH - WWAMI Institute for Simulation in Healthcare - https://www.washington.edu/urology/people/robert-sweet/)  6:29 - How did Danica and UW Medicine first respond/act upon the news that COVID-19 was going to be a serious threat in the US? 15:50 - What was information flow like to Danica and her team in the early days? How reliable was it? 18:29 - What was the story of Rob getting involved with the innovation response at UW?24:08 - How was Rob and his team able to organize themselves so quickly to rapidly prototype new innovations at the beginning of the pandemic? 27:50 - What was Dimitri’s story of getting involved in the innovation group? 31:47 - Rob explains on how they focused the group on rapid prototyping and small-scale manufacturing32:50 - How was the innovation team identifying the problems to address and what products to focus their work on? 38:48 - How did collaboration across campus and UW medicine in particular work? 43:20 - Rob commenting about their collaboration with Cornell in NYC. 44:26 - Danica commenting about the burn rate at the height (in April) of going through 3000 gowns per day. 50:17 - Danica commenting on the relationship with Microsoft to build reporting systems. 53:38 - What sort of things are Danica and her team focusing on moving into the fall and winter?55:47 - Rob & Danica commenting on the future of telehealth, the needs today, and reimbursement details.1:00:50 - Dimitri commenting on pre-procedural models in XR, which is another layer to the telehealth space. 1:01:57 - What telehealth platforms are clinicians at UW medicine using? How do external companies become approved? How is UW responding to new innovation in the overall market?1:03:30 - How can Medical Assistants, Physician Assistants, interns, and new equipment/devices be a part of the future of telehealth? 1:05:10 - Brief comments regarding the science of the virus as it relates to urology and cardiology. 1:08:35 - Rob plugging the need and opportunity for external teams to partner with the simulation training center and innovation groups at the University of Washington.  1:09:37 - What types of simulation opportunities and scenarios are available? 1:11:55 - Dimitri commenting on device development and putting them in tissue models with realistic disease patterns for testing. 1:13:58 - Rob commenting on a grant they won recently regarding direct 3D-print soft materials with electronic sensors embe

In this episode of Ventures we explore the world of impact investing & social entrepreneurship to help the poorest of the poor around the globe. We hear and discuss the founding story of Global Brigades, the world’s largest student-led movement for global health (approximately one in five medical students today have gone on a Brigade). We also hear the launch announcement of Eskala, a for-profit company with an ambitious (and believable) 20-year plan to help end poverty for 18 million people. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-8 for detailed notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. My guests this week are Steve Atamian (Co-Founder of Global Brigades :: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenatamian/) and seasoned impact investor/advisor/attorney Brian Howe (Managing Director of Wyttmab & Venture Partner at Prota Ventures :: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briankhowe/), and we cover the following: 1:55 - Brian’s intro and journey from law school into the social impact space, starting a community hub, and advising social impact founders reaching people globally. 8:30 - Steve’s story from school, to Deloitte, to starting and scaling Global Brigades. 20:00 - Talking about the different sides of the supply/demand with Global Brigades and the “bridge” they form between students and local communities in the countries they serve. 25:58 - How does Brian advise someone who is considering social impact entrepreneurship in terms of thinking about for-profit vs. non-profit, company structure, etc.. 31:27 - Using “relationships first” as a heuristic for deciding how to structure things later, what were the early relationships that mattered for Global Brigades as they were starting and deciding how to structure themselves? 34:10 - How does donor money flow and support happen? Where does the money go? 41:34 - What was the process of scaling Global Brigades like?48:42 - The importance of listening to understand needs. 50:12 - What are the common stories like for the pre-med students that go on Brigades? What do they do?58:04 - Example of a new social enterprise being formed when a new water system is created, like a public utility. 58:55 - How does Brian advise, structurally, nonprofits who are considering forming for-profits? 1:04:00 - The story of the new for-profit Global Brigades is spinning out. 1:11:55 - What does the regulatory landscape look like in the countries that Global Brigades serve regarding banks?1:14:28 - What advice does Steve have for budding social entrepreneurs / investors considering new ways to innovate and help out globally? 1:17:08 - What advice does Brian have for budding social entrepreneurs / investors considering new ways to innovate and help out globally?1:21:16 - The need for innovation for things like more affordable latrines.  1:22:00 - Side story of Fledge investing in a founder that launched The Obama Stove in Africa, and how that enterprise was/is an important model for social entrepreneurs leveraging local talent and resources. 1:26:20 - Where can people find out more about Brian and Steve online and contact them? https://www.globalbrigades.org/ // steve@globalbrigades.org // https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenatamian/ // https://www.linkedin.com/in/briankhowe/ 

One of the most common questions in the startup space is how to find a technical co-founder to design and build your product. In this episode of Ventures, we discuss in depth both how to become a great startup CTO and to find one in your network. We also talk about the founding story of Stix (https://stix.golf/), a new golf brand focused on middle-market, stylish clubs for the casual golfer. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-7 for detailed notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. My guest this week is Gabe Coyne (Co-Founder & CEO of Stix and General Partner at Prota Ventures) and we cover the following: 2:00 - Gabe intro, his journey of becoming a designer/developer/entrepreneur, co-founding a technology startup, and starting a new golf brand. 14:30 - What advice does Gabe have for young creative people - e.g. out of high school - considering how to educate themselves in design and software development? 23:00 - What was the journey like co-founding Influence Mobile? What were the different stages like of being a CTO of a growing startup? 31:20 - How can a non-technical founder find a technical founder?  What is the best way to find and screen for a CTO of a brand new startup?  34:26 - How should a non-technical founder think about the spectrum of finding a hero “unicorn” developer (like Gabe) to hiring a shop to build it all? 37:20 - Why startups fail (i.e. founder/team conflict)38:09 - How do you get into a position where you can become an “angel developer” and work for equity in a bunch of different startups? 41:45 - The Stix founding story, early validation, market positioning, etc..46:55 - Where can people find out more about Gabe & Stix? https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabecoyne/ and https://stix.golf/ 

In this episode of Ventures we look at the founding story of Kickstarter and discuss how to support and advise founders that are bringing new companies to life. We discuss specifically the challenges facing founders selling tangible goods in the COVID-19 era and how online resources and communities can be leveraged to optimize success in this difficult market landscape. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-6 for detailed notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. My guests this week are Charles Adler (Kickstarter/Lost Arts) and Wilson Fong (Prota Ventures) and we cover the following: 2:25 - Charles intro, beginning part of his life/entrepreneurial journey. 6:25 - Wilson intro, a few highlights of his entrepreneurial journey 12:10 - Was Charles always entrepreneurial (e.g. growing up) or did the arch toward that career path come later in life? 18:30 - Similar question for Wilson. He shares about his influences and bent toward entrepreneurship along the way and honing of the craft/practice.21:50 - Charles follows up regarding side-projects that fuel entrepreneurship, creative empowerment, and/or turn into more significant ventures (sharing the story after leaving Kickstarter to now)25:30 - The Kickstarter story - how it got started32:25 - The technology/code behind Kickstarter - how did three co-founders go about getting their application built and live?37:00 - Importance of business, creative, and technology roles in early tech startups. 39:30 - How did the Kickstarter co-founders go about compensating software engineers in the early days to get the product built? 44:30 - Throughout his career, how has Wilson seen the interplay of the different roles needed to get startups off the ground? What works and what doesn’t work? 48:20 - How is Charles thinking about founder/entrepreneurial empowerment now?56:10 - Obviously there are challenging times ahead in light of the pandemic, but it potentially impacts founders building art/tangible goods more than others. What advice do you have of these founders? How is the landscape changing? 1:03:15 - How is Wilson thinking about proceeding in this pandemic area with regard to his entrepreneurialism pursuits? What changes?1:07:05 - Lost Arts’ recent pivot 1:09:40 - What advice does Charles have for founders building art/tangible goods in an entrepreneurial fashion in this season? 1:12:00 - The importance of doing more node connection in our networks, especially in light of this pandemic season. And coming prepared - with your homework done - as you ask questions of your network.1:12:40 - How is Wilson thinking about the rest of 2020, the landscape, work/life balance, etc... 1:14:50 - What lenses/approaches are Charles using to approach the rest of this year, given the pandemic? 1:18:10 - Where can people find Charles/Wilson online to follow up? https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilsonfong/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesadler/ 

Most founders don’t pay enough attention to foundational branding processes, which often results in customer confusion, off-putting names/visuals, and/or an untimely death for new startups. In this episode, we dive into many aspects of branding a startup, from naming and competitive positioning to visual design and personas/values, including specific recommendations for designing a logo, mockups, and prototypes. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-5 for detailed notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. My guests this week are brand strategist Elisabeth Hass and visual designer Natalie Grummer, and we cover the following topics: 5:45 - Exploring Natalie’s early creative pursuits7:20 - Story of Natalie’s photography business, ideation, branding/design, customer acquisition techniques, evolving of the brand, etc… 13:40 - Synchrony between communications strategy, visuals, and business aspects such as the financial model, anchored in values/vision/mission. 14:20 - What is a Digital Nomad? Why did Elisabeth decide to become one? 15:44 - How long does Elisabeth typically stay in an area as she travels around? 16:45 - Elisabeth talks about her new venture, Chariot. 19:20 - How did Elisabeth decide on the name, brand strategy, and visuals for “Chariot” 21:30 - Using Tarot Cards and Archetypes as tools to help with brand formation. 25:10 - How does Natalie come up with such amazing visuals for a brand?  29:40 - What is the process of coming up with a brand strategy, name, logo, visuals, etc…? How do Elisabeth and Natalie advise founders who have an idea and are curious how to translate that into a brand? 33:55 - What are the dangers/pitfalls for founders that neglect thoughtful brand strategy?37:25 - Recap of the process of brand strategy, naming, etc… and more discussion on competitive landscape analysis. 39:20 - How does Elisabeth help tee up brand foundations/strategy so visual designers such as Natalie can bring visual elements to life?41:15 - Question for Natalie: What kinds of brand tee-ups/guides are helpful when beginning to work on the visuals? What’s not helpful? 43:00 - Elisabeth highlights the importance of thoughtful research for brand strategy, else it can be too easy to produce generic/pithy guidelines that aren’t helpful for 43:40 - What is the process of producing visuals given thoughtful brand guidelines? What kind of training is needed?48:20 - What advice does Elisabeth have for teenagers considering a career in entrepreneurial creative arts / brand strategy? 50:55 - Where in the brand formation process does “naming” come in most efficiently?  What is that process like? 55:30 - Is coming up with a name needed before it’s possible to create visuals?58:00 - Describing the process using specific examples of this podcast, Ventures, and a new newsletter/publishing platform called Satchel.  59:45 - What was the brand strategy process for Satchel? 1:01:40 - How did Natalie then take the name/brand strategy for Satchel and turn it into visuals? 1:05:15 - On a personal level, what is fun and/or meaningful for Elisabeth and Natalie about the work that they do?1:07:10 - Where can people find out more about Elisabeth and Natalie and their work?  https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliegrummer/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-hass/

Especially in light of the pandemic, many parents are wondering how to supplement or replace traditional schooling for their children this fall. In this episode of Ventures, we explore the landscape of home education and practical opportunities for both parents and startups to approach the space. You can watch this episode via video here. My guests this week are experienced home educators Abby Wahl and Sarah Little, and we cover the following topics: 2:10 - Sarah intro, journey into homeschooling three children, teaching overseas, co-founding an elementary school, etc.. 9:55 - Abby intro and her path into homeschooling five children, exploring approaches/curricula, navigating four cases of dyslexia, and discovering the setup that works for her family. 22:20 - How did Sarah approach the different homeschooling approaches/curricula when she first began?26:20 - How have children been educated throughout history? What changed in the 19th and early 20th century? 33:25 - Noting the unfortunate differences and inequality between how wealthy people educate their children differently than the rest of humanity.35:50 - How did Abby approach the different homeschooling approaches/curricula when she first began? What does it look like today? 41:50 - Noting the book Range by David Epstein.43:45 - Why/how did Abby incorporate Charlotte Mason approaches into her homeschooling practices? What did/does that look like?47:20 - What Sarah’s journey into Charlotte Mason philosophies looked like.57:10 - Will’s mental model of education (1) base subjects (reading, writing, athematic, logic, and computer science), (2) subject studies (from history, geography, botany, algebra, etc..), and (3) reading tons of biographies, historical accounts, non-fiction, fiction, etc… to explore the stories and glue everything together. 59:00 - the “read, digest/meditate, then create” approach1:00:00 - commentary on the neo-classical philosophy of scoping grammar school years to primarily teaching facts/memorization/etc… 1:01:56 - commentary on the challenges of (and need for) logic as a part of education today1:04:45 - What should people considering homeschooling for the fall in light of the pandemic be thinking about? What resources do Sarah/Abby recommend? What are some gotchas to watch out for? What sorts of things do they recommend specifically for grade school, middle school, and high school? 1:21:30 - How do you ensure homeschooled kids are socially well-adjusted, have high emotional intelligence, etc… ?1:25:30 - The “elephant in the room” regarding the anti-social (and mentally unhealthy) nature of most teenagers these days being addicted to their phones and social media. 1:25:50 - How do deal with screen time, and whether to worry about kids not being up to speed on all the various cultural references. 1:26:40 - What tech startups out there are noteworthy from Abby’s perspective in the homeschooling space? What tech startup(s) should be built? (see below links)1:31:05 - Encouragement for parents considering jumping into homeschooling either temporarily or more for the long haul. 1:34:11 - Find out more about classical homeschooling education by checking out a podcast that Abby is a co-host of called Scholé SistersFor links to the full list of resources, visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-4

In this episode of Ventures we dive into the horrors of human trafficking within the sex trade, specifically in and around the greater Seattle area. We look at one group’s efforts (REST - Real Escape from the Sex Trade) to combat the problem by providing a suite of services, working closely with law enforcement, and ensuring all people being trafficked understand they are worthy of love. We also dive deep into how REST got started, and how the relationship between the executive director and board chair is an important story to learn from for any for-profit or nonprofit founder team. You can watch this episode via video here.My guests are Amanda Hightower (REST Executive Director) and Brent Turner (REST Board Chair). Full show notes can be found here; a few highlights are detailed below: 3:56 - Amanda background, journey before and intro REST6:58 - Late night outreach? What is it? Who was Amanda doing it with? 9:29 - What is the interaction experience like with women and men Amanda was reaching out to on the street? 21:15 - How did Brent’s journey intersect with Amanda’s? What compelled Brent to get into the work of fighting human trafficking? 27:33 - Amanda describing how she wasn’t sure she had what it took to be a non-profit executive director, but Brent’s encouragement was a game-changer. 29:25 - After the meeting at the pizza restaurant, where did the story go from there? Amanda continues, describing the formation of the heart and vision/mission behind REST. 36:21 - What was the landscape of the space and services in the Seattle area in the late 2000s? How many people were being bought/sold for sex regularly? 37:59 - Has the problem in the Seattle area grown, decreased, or stayed the same in the last ten years? 39:15 - How has REST worked with law enforcement during the last ten years?43:55 - Law enforcement working with REST to have a place to take victims rather than to the jails, which helps convict traffickers because their victims can be found to testify. 49:35 - Where is REST today? What services are available? 57:15 - What kind of impact is REST seeing? What kind of numbers does REST track? 1:00:47 - Almost 200 people leaving the life for more than 1yr via REST services is amazing (!), what do the numbers look like for people leaving for shorter stints / coming in and out of the life? Is it possible to track that effectively?  1:04:35 - How is REST planning to scale and/or help other organizations spin up to help fight against sex trafficking? 1:07:18 - What would you say to people watching/listening who are thinking about spinning up an organization to fight sex trafficking?1:09:10 - What advice does Brent have to those in positions to help support future executive directors of nonprofits in this space?1:17:13 - What advice does Brent have for people considering whether to form a nonprofit or for-profit to get after social impact? 1:20:03 - Amanda, what has been helpful about Brent’s involvement with REST? What do the actions of a good board chair look like? 1:31:32 - What kinds of things has Brent done - or do board chairs do - that is not helpful? 1:33:42 - Brent comments about his experience growing into the role as a board chair of REST and seeking advice from a mentor.1:37:20 - What are the future plans for REST? 

In this episode of Ventures we dive into all-things blockchains, the state of the crypto ecosystem, the evolution of the industry (especially since 2017), the nuances between Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-State, and the suite of services that Figment Networks provides.  Guests: Lorien Gabel, Andrew Cronk, and Tony Little. You can watch the video of this episode here. This episode is both an introduction to the blockchain space (for those new), and a deep-dive into nuanced blockchain topics if you are an industry expert. Below is a condensed overview of the topics covered, visit the episode page for the full notes. 8:47 - Question: Tell us more about Figment Networks. What is the story and what is the company up to? 11:20 - Backing up and getting more high-level, what is a blockchain? 16:20 - Lorien’s comment regarding blockchains as creating digital scarcity, and Tony’s followup comment regarding blockchains providing a source of truth, and who to “reward”. 17:06 - Will’s recollection of Tony’s Harry-Potter-esque description of blockchains replicating information across nodes. 18:14 - What is Proof-of-Work? Proof-of-Stake? Why do these matter in the blockchain ecosystem? 22:02 - The three layers of blockchains: networking, consensus, and changing application state. 22:49 - Blockchains can track other state changes besides payment transactions21:20 - Tony’s comment regarding Proof-of-Work really being Proof-of-Stake indirectly within Proof-of-Work25:40 - Is “decentralization” destined to simply recreate a different form of centralization again? How important is decentralization?28:01 - What are the different components/players within the blockchain ecosystem today? 32:48 - Where does Figment Networks specifically contribute within the overall blockchain ecosystem? 36:19 - When starting up a new blockchain network, at what point should founders talk to Figment about helping out? How should founders think about the steps of building their networks? 37:40 - Staking Hub, a group for the validator community, and a place for network founders to recruit validators38:22 - Figment has been up close and personal with 15+ network launches, what are best practices for launching a network? 40:35 - Problems with so many new networks coming out of academia and theory/research backgrounds. 41:18 - What has Tony seen on this topic with regard to enterprises bringing blockchains to market (built on technology like Hyperledger)? 45:05 - Enterprise consortiums vs. projects like Libra. How do they compare? How do token economics come into play, if at all?46:59 - What are the big problems in the blockchain space? 49:59 - Why is governance participation so hard to encourage? Is there maybe not enough economic or social incentive at play in most networks? 54:38 - What problems exist currently in the blockchain ecosystem for decentralized application (dApp) developers? 58:04 - What is the Ethereum 1 to Ethereum 2 transition, and why is that important for the blockchain community? 1:11:20 - Where do you see the blockchain ecosystem heading? What sorts of things should we be looking out for in the future? How do you see Figment Networks playing a role?  1:17:40 - Livepeer as an example of how to create a utility at a lower cost using blockchains

Welcome to Ventures, a new show devoted to exploring stories of entrepreneurship, market landscapes, and problem spaces to inspire the next generation of venture builders and investors. You can watch the video of this episode at wclittle.com. In this first episode, we discuss with Dr. Jeffrey Roh, Susie Kataoka, and Dr. Tony Little the following: 2:45 - Jeff introduction, CEO of IntuitiveX5:20 - Susie introduction, CEO of Transpara Health6:50 - Tony intro, Optum, Lead Architect for Patient Experience8:18 - Jeff personal journey, as an entrepreneur / surgeon, involved in multiple startups in the life sciences. 13:50 - Question: does Jeff see many surgeons spinning out and getting involved with companies, or is that relatively rare? 15:33 - Four pillars of input in life sciences ventures - Clinical, IP, Scientific, and Business. 16:35 - Did Jeff have to work with tech transfer in a university? (Jeff tells the story of protecting his own IP, but at the cost of not being able to leverage the resources of a large organization - there are advantages and disadvantages of each approach) 19:10 - Susie’s personal journey in life sciences and entrepreneurship, family history in medicine, overseas experiences, starting and selling a retail business, and starting Transpara Health. 27:00 - Tony’s personal journey through working at a health store, med school at Bastyr, then working in technology and software development to create better patient and provider experiences in the ER (and also building internal company tools), getting involved in Will’s startup in the late 2000s, advising startups (especially in the life sciences).37:51 - Question about IntuitiveX: for entrepreneurs working to overcome barriers to building life sciences companies, how do I work with IntuitiveX? (IX now works with both founders and with larger companies, first consulting services and then can go deeper in partnership) 40:51 - Importance of medical cost transparency. How Susie and Transpara are incubating out of IntuitiveX and why now is an important time for Transpara to exist.43:20 - Susie, talking about the vision/mission of Transpara health and how the company is responding to the present pandemic to bring price clarity to PPE and help organizations such as nursing home facilities operate smartly and effectively moving forward. 53:05 - Question, how did the medical community in the US get to the place where pricing is so cryptic and confusing? (Tony discusses the background and nuances here)56:59 - Question, regarding the mandate from the White House for hospitals to publish both list prices and prices negotiated with payers, is this even feasible? Are hospitals going to comply? (Tony responded saying it comes down to interpretation and enforcement, and Susie said that most didn’t comply with the Jan 2020 order to post list prices, and it would be unlikely that many would comply with the negotiated prices for Jan 2021. Tony brought up questions around )1:01:50 - Question, what advice would you give to founders aiming to spin up new products/services in the health science industry? (Tony answered first, Susie responded at 1:03:45, and Jeff responded at 1:05:24) 1:08:49 - Question, how can viewers/listeners find Jeff/Susie/Tony online? See LinkedIn Profiles (Jeff, Susie, and Tony), and visit intuitive-x.com and transpara.health.