Susan Conover, Consultant & Founder - “LuminDX – AI for Skin”

In the final episode of the podcast I, Sal Daher, review important lessons I learned in seven years of interviews and decades of investing. In my voice and in the voice of my guests, I recapitulate the discoveries most salient to me and invite listeners to find their own nuggets in the sound archive which will remain available on Apple Podcasts and other platforms. AngelInvestBoston.com will have 250 episode pages with sound, notes, and in most cases, annotated transcripts.

I’ll be publishing new content at Substack.com focused on keeping fit as we age. You can find me there under Sal Daher or under Aging Fit. Startups will show up occasionally. Here’s a link to the Substack:

Sal Daher's Substack - Aging Fit

Thanks for listening.

Highlights:

• ·      Lesson 1: Company-Specific Risk – The Bad & The Good – Why It Matters in Startup Investing
• ·      Lesson 2A: “You know nothing, Jon Snow” – The Need for Tight Risk Control
• ·      Lesson 2B: “You Know Nothing, Jon Snow” – Whence a Real 400X Return
• ·      Lesson 3A: What to Look for in a Startup? What to Look for in a Founding Team?
• ·      Lesson 3B: The Most Significant Results from Ed Roberts’ Research
• ·      Lesson 4A: It’s Important Not to Keep Your Idea Secret but to Talk to Many People About It
• ·      Lesson 4B: The Google Problem – Why Founders Should Be Open About their Ideas
• ·      Lesson 3B Recapitulated: Robust Finding: Larger Teams Do Better; Startups Tend to Have Teams that Are Too Small
• ·      Lesson 5A: Focus, Focus, Focus
• ·      Lesson 5B: Focus, Focus, Focus
• ·      Lesson 6: Take the Money & Run
• ·      Lesson 7:  It’s a Long Way from the Lab to the Clinic
• ·      Why I Am Ending the Podcast – Archive Available – See You at Substack.com

    Guest: Sal Daher 

    Topics: angel investing strategies, co-founders, biotech, exits, pivots, partnerships with strategics

Lessons Learned is a compilation of hard-won lessons in angel investing. They come from my podcast interviews over these seven years as well as from my three decades of angel investing. Hints on how to build your portfolio, how to eliminate sure losers and other practical advice will be offered in the voice of my guests and in my own voice. Sorry that the release of the episode is delayed until Friday 12/29 due to personal matters and this year's Christmas calendar. Thanks for listening.

Aging Fit Substack: Learn More

Repeat life science entrepreneur Tom Weldon is now taking on aging. He is commercializing a compound to extend health span developed at a prominent institution. Composed of substances generally considered as safe by the FDA, the formula has shown impressive results in mice and, to date, in one human, Tom himself. Intriguing chat with a dynamic founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

• Sal Daher Introduces Tom Weldon
• What Problem Rejuvant Addresses
• "... Then the first time the combination is not additive, take it out. That's a process that would probably take a year or two, but it ensures that you'll have an optimal result. Or, you can buy Rejuvant, because we did all that work already..."
• "... if you decide that you'd like to try Rejuvant and you go on subscription, we give you a free DNA methylation test at time zero and then we give you another one after six months, which is included in the cost ... They're different and they have different algorithms. All of them except two that I'm aware of, one of which is what we provide, requires your current chronologic age as an input..."
• "... It was actually discovered by Steve Horvath and he developed the first biologic clock ... Your DNA is damaged every second that you're alive. Prior to puberty, your body does an exceptional job of repairing all of that. However, after that, it starts to decline..."
• "... Is there any evidence that repair is actually at work? How do we know that it's not just removing the methyl molecule from the DNA, and you have damaged the DNA that's just not methylated?..."
• "... How long have you been on Rejuvant?..."
• How Tom Became an Entrepreneur
• "... This company had this trajectory and now it's just gone Chapter 7 recently. That is the tough side of these life science technology companies because the technology moves so fast..."
• "... very difficult space. What I have seen in the medical device space, these 510k pathway devices where there is an existing predicate device, and then you can design something which is, no worse and perhaps much better than the predicate device..."
• Advice to the Audience

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, founding story

Aging Fit Substack: Learn More

Life science board member and advisor Paul Hartung is back with wise tips on how to fund your biotech startup in these had times. Listen or read below.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

• Paul Hartung, Experienced Biotech Board Member & Advisor
• Paul Hartung Closed a Financing in the Midst of the Last Recession
• Seek Out the Right Grant Funding, Watch Expenses
• Pitch Contests Don’t Provide Much Money but Can Spotlight Your Startup
• Peer-Reviewed Publications Can Raise Visibility of Life Science Startups
• Look Outside Your Area, Consider Syndication Across Angel Groups
• Watch Out for Funds That Can’t Make Good on Term Sheets – It Happens More than You Think
• Be Upfront About Your Future Funding Plans
• “The nature of the investors change. For each stage of financing what you want to do is make sure that you identify who the lead investor is. Very important.”
• Lead Investors
• Summation
• About Strategic Investors

Topics: biotech, fundraising, raising money

Aging Fit Substack: Learn More

In my fourth decade of angel investing, I’m happy with my investments but regret having put them in my IRAs. Here are pros and cons of having illiquid, operationally complex and hard-to-value assets in IRAs.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

• Investing in Startups via an IRA Can Be Burdensome, Here’s Why
• How I came to Have so Much of my Net Worth in my IRAs
• Thank You Citibank for Encouraging a Young Banker to Save
• Thank You Bob Smith for Allowing Me to Fish When the Fish Were Running
• Why The Fish Are Not Running Any More
• “Some weeks I spend half my time dealing with IRA-related paperwork. I have many better things to do with my life.”
• The Initial Investment Is a Lot of Work for Everyone Involved
• Corporate Actions Guarantee Constant Attention to the IRA Is Required
• Then There Are the Required Annual Valuations
• It Gets Worse!
• The Upside of Investing in Startups from the IRAs
• Conclusion

Topics: angel investing strategies

Aging Fit Substack: Learn More

Raul Rosa, artist, musician, and sound engineer, discusses his work with the Angel Invest Boston Podcast, some of his favorite interviews, and his own startup, Podspot.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

• Sal Daher Introduces Raul Rosa
• Raul's Favorite Interviews
• Fortified Bike
• Howard Stevenson
• PodSpot
• Wistia
• Piction Health
• Savran Technologies
• Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, COVID, robotics/AI

Aging Fit Substack: Learn More

Katharine Woodman-Maynard has for seven years created a gorgeous and enduring graphic manifestation of this podcast on the web. I am fortunate to have this gifted artist enhancing my work with her talent and wisdom. She returns to talk about her favorite interviews, to share her journey as a professional artist and to offer valuable advice for those starting out.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights: 

• Sal Daher Introduces Katharine Woodman-Maynard
• Katharine's Perspective of Startups
• "... I'm very grateful to you for having connected me with Drew Madson, who founded Readlee. Tell a little bit of the story. How did you connect with Drew?..."
• EndeavorOTC
• "... I found it fascinating in the interview that Eddie talked about how it was actually shown in trials to be more effective for adults than it was for children..."
• "... Human interaction resets us, brings us back to normalcy because if we're off on our own, we go batty..."
• Katharine's Professional Artistic Journey
• Sticking to a Schedule
• "... Once you can learn self-compassion for yourself and realize you're human and you make mistakes and not waste so much energy on being negative and hard, I think you're a lot freer to, advance in your career because you're not so hard on yourself..."
• Advice to the Audience

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, ed tech, platform

Aging Fit Substack: Learn More

Ethan Pierce’s startup Adaptive Reader makes great literature accessible to kids not reading at grade level. Harnessing generative AI with sophisticated prompts and quality control by humans creates compelling texts based on the classics. Ethan and his co-founder even have a promising business model. Great chat!

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

• Sal Daher Introduces Ethan Pierce
• Adaptive Reader and What it is Solving
• "... It's much better if they have this contact with the author, albeit in a structure that's simplified. After all, we're always reading Dante in the translation. We're reading Homer in the translation. It doesn't make it any less compelling..."
• Teachers' Opinions of Adaptive Reader
• "... That controversy, the conversation, the passion around helping these students read is really important and that's why we've been really grounded in research here and these conversations with these experts. I think talking to these teachers, the biggest challenge that they face is just getting kids to read at all..."
• Ethan's Entrepreneurial Journey
• Palette
• How Adaptive Reader Came About
• How Can Listener's Participate in Adaptive Reader

Topics: discovering entrepreneurship, product, robotics/AI

Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Brian Denenberg is an angel investor, company advisor, and co-founder. Here, he discusses some of the companies he has been involved with, including Fairmarkit, Tive, and his work at Venture Lane Studio helping startups grow sales.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

• Sal Daher Introduces Brian Denenberg
• Fairmarkit
• How Fairmarkit Was Started
• Tive
• Inbound vs Outbound Marketing
• "... What Tive did, he innovated a tracker that goes on shipments, and it could go anywhere in the world, and it could not just tell you where the shipment was. It could tell you the condition of the shipment..."
• "... Scientists don't know the huge difference that exists between the lab and the clinic and industry. There's a massive gap and they think that something that works in the lab will work in a clinic or an industry very easily, but it mostly does not..."
• Venture Lane Studio
• "... We call it a studio. It gives us the flexibility to work in different ways. The best way to think of it is like an accelerator. It's really bespoke. We take three to four companies at a time. We're not looking to doing big cohorts..."
• Cedience
• CIRT
• Qase
• Brian's Background
• How Brian Got into Startups
• Advice to the Audience

Topics: angel investing strategies, biotech, discovering entrepreneurship

Angel Scale Biotech: Learn More

Brian Freeman, MD, co-founded Energesis to help overweight people lose weight by growing their energy-burning brown fat. Experiments in mice have shown this approach works with GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy in accentuating weight loss. Great chat with a compelling repeat founder.

Sponsored by Purdue University entrepreneurship and Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish and Richardson.

Highlights:

• Sal Daher Introduces Brian Freeman
• Energesis: The Problem it's Solving
• "... What we're doing is we're acting on those cells and basically nudging them to make more mature brown fat cells, so that the mass of the brown fat cells increases..."
• "... That's pretty much it. We're trying to recapitulate cold exposure in a pill. That's right..."
• "... one of the issues with weight loss due to, let's call it caloric restriction ... The body doesn't take it lightly because we've evolved not to starve, right? ... The normal physiologic response to that is to reduce metabolic rate. That makes it harder and harder to lose weight as your weight goes down, and it makes it very difficult to keep that weight off..."
• Further Thoughts on Energesis
• Brian's Entrepreneurial Journey
• "... What if you could magically make everybody in America lean overnight, think of what that would do to healthcare costs. It would be reduced by at least two-thirds..."

Topics: biotech, discovering entrepreneurship, product, founding story