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In today’s episode of Ventures I had the honor of interviewing Omari Salisbury (https://twitter.com/Omarisal) about his journey as an entrepreneur in the international media space, his company Converge Media (https://www.whereweconverge.com/), their unique spotlight in Seattle, and their new campaign NoExcusesJobs (https://NoExcusesJobs.com) in collaboration with Prota Ventures (https://www.protaventures.com).  Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-20 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:   2:41 - Omari intro / background / what he’s up to at Converge Media.4:49 - When did Omari know that entrepreneurship was in his DNA?9:40 - What kind of work did Omari do while he was a teenager into his early 20s? 17:14 - How did Omari end up doing radio and media in the Middle East and Africa?  23:12 - Importance of life experience that facilitates people from all over the world to be successful entrepreneurs in the USA, and more about Omari’s experiences abroad and locally in Seattle. 29:40 - What motivates Omari to be genuinely interested in people and the truth? Where did this drive of curiosity come from?37:25 - A discussion about biases and prejudices. How does Omari listen and learn? How should we collectively listen and learn? 45:58 - From Omari’s perspective, what’s his general thoughts on DE&I efforts globally and overcoming biases?52:07 - What is the vision and mission of Converge Media? How are Omari and his team executing toward that vision/mission? 57:56 - A discussion about https://NoExcusesJobs.com // Why Omari is launching a campaign to help people of color land living-wage jobs. 1:02:39 - Final words from Omari to entrepreneurs and investors. 1:11:52 - How can people practically help out Omari and Converge? https://www.whereweconverge.com/donate 1:14:15 - Is Converge currently taking on sponsors? (Yes, and Omari talks about what that relationship can look like), 

In this episode of Ventures, I discuss with my guests Spencer Graham (https://twitter.com/spengrah) and Tony Little (https://twitter.com/DrTonyLittle) the past, present, and future of blockchain technologies and Web 3.0. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-18 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:    1:59 - Tony intro, including his new job at https://www.prescryptive.com/ 2:38 - Spencer intro, Web 3.0 product manager. 3:50 - Tee-up about exploring the narratives of blockchain, starting first with explaining what blockchain is.11:00 - How would Tony talk about the story of blockchain from its origin to today? 17:00 - A quick caveat from Spencer about the problem of narratives. 17:56 - How would Spencer talk about the story of blockchain from its origin to today? 22:17 - What’s up with DeFi (Decentralized Finance? Why has it been all the rage the last couple of years? 25:00 - Blockchain ecosystem today similar to the “primordial soup” in biology that gave birth to life. The “experiments” happening today are like that early environment, and time will tell what comes out of it and evolves.26:36 - Transition from the infrastructure narrative into products. What prevents someone from borrowing money in the DeFi space and running away with it? 29:52 - Why would someone borrow ~$1k by putting up something like $1.5k in collateral? What is the engine that makes DeFi go right now?31:55 - What other products in the DeFi space are catching Spencer’s interest? (discussing risk management products)  34:59 - What’s up with yield farming and COMP’s governance protocol? (see also https://www.coindesk.com/defi-yield-farming-comp-token-explained) 39:44 - Recapping yield farming and the ability to potentially make more money from owning these tokens in the future. 42:06 - How active is yield farming now in DeFi? Is it a zero-sum game? 43:39 - What “net new” types of products can blockchain enable? (discussion around identity, shared governance, company ownership, and the future of work)50:30 - Perhaps blockchains simply enable existing products/protocols to be scaled? (Will’s example of chaining internet through neighbors in mountain/valley environments, and a reminder that technology reduces cost and/or increases convenience)53:50 - Blockchains as “scaling trust”. 55:38 - What is “trustless” then? Do we really mean “scaling trust” ?  An extreme minimization of trust? What are we trusting in with regard to the blockchain tech and ecosystem? 57:33 - What is Web 3.0? (A discussion of Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and the sharing of costs, ownership, and outcomes of ventures at the infrastructure and application level in Web 3.0. “Putting communities back in control”) 1:00:51 - Discussion of Filecoin / IPFS - and The Graph - as examples of new Web 3.0 stack components.1:02:55 - Discussion of identity, “directory”, and consent. 1:04:30 - Discussion of Web 1/2/3 transitions as an expansion of protocols and interfaces with those protocols. 1:05:08 - How do Tony and Spencer think about the future of blockchain? What excites them? 

In this episode, Alexandra Skillman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexskillman/) shares her extensive knowledge in the world of PR for an entrepreneurial audience. We discuss at length PR considerations for startup founders regarding go-to-market strategies, overall marketing plans, working with journalists, reaching out to influencers, and avoiding common mistakes.Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-17 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:    2:02 - Alex intro, background, and journey into public relations 7:32 - More details about Alex’s time at the Walt Disney Company and working with Aaron Sorkin, Sean Connery, and others.15:13 - Alex’s time in the Bay Area working in both entertainment and startups23:16 - Leaving Electronic Arts and working for a global PR firm 27:07 - The story of Alex launching her own PR business29:52 - How Alex started acquiring clients 34:23 - At what point in a founder’s journey should they consider hiring a PR firm / publicist? 41:10 - What is a Butter Twist and what are Stix golf clubs? https://www.bttrkitchen.com/ // http://stix.golf/ 43:48 - More about the details about how a PR person can get products featured by journalists and influencers. 47:33 - What business models make sense for PR? How would B2B SaaS companies, for example, make use of PR? 49:38 - What should founders expect from an ongoing relationship with a PR firm/person, on a month-to-month and year-to-year basis? (e.g. “Newsjacking”) 53:40 - How should teams use a press release (or not) ?56:30 - Information about embargos and the timing of press releases across media outlets.1:01:40 - What advice does Alex have for founders considering hiring a PR person/firm. 1:07:30 - “PR isn’t dead” // Advice for founders who may think that PR isn’t effective. 1:14:23 - PR can be an important part of startup validation, since journalists and influencers have a unique perspective. (PR can also lead to important pivots). 1:16:02 - Where can people find Alex online? https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexskillman/ // https://twitter.com/typeamarketing 

In this episode of Ventures I had the honor of interviewing executive coach Shandel Sutherland (https://www.shandelgroup.com/) about topics including organizational effectiveness, personal/team wiring and communication, the “why” behind a company, and setup work that is necessary for teams to be maximally efficient. Establishing clarity is one of the hardest jobs as an entrepreneur and business leader, and in this episode we get a front-row seat into how a 20-yr coaching veteran helps founders and their teams be amazing. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-16 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following: 2:16 - Shandel intro, background into how and why she got into coaching4:00 - How she started her coaching business (founding story). 5:22 - Landing her first handful of customers, how did she position herself to customers? What was the value proposition? 8:07 - Fighting against the hustle/fake-it-until-you-make it culture that founders often think they need to espouse at the expense of their personal life and mental health. 11:23 - At what point did Shandel’s business scale from serving individuals to serving teams? 14:45 - Will’s experience of - and Shandel’s commentary on - how interpersonal relationship conflict and miscommunication can lead to operational inefficiency in a company. (And how trust between people is either growing or shrinking but never staying the same; it takes work).16:34 - About Shandel Group and the origin story of the name.  18:55 - What are the assessments that her group does at the beginning of an engagement? Can founders/executives do those on their own? 23:44 - When you are in a situation where you aren’t self aware, what do you do? How do you become aware? 27:44 - Coaching frameworks, a bit of Will’s story being coached, and what does the coaching framework typically look like for an executive? 30:24 - Personal retreats (when/how) and truth-telling from coach to client. 37:14 - Talking through the five dysfunctions of a team (Lencinoi). 44:32 - Mental health for founders, and what founders listening in need to hear as they are feeling convicted from this conversation. 48:38 - Why does miscommunication happen amongst teams? 53:33 - Talking through purpose, values, vision, mission, and why all the pre-work before you get to the particulars is necessary (and can create low-drama, high-functioning teams). For details, see: https://www.shandelgroup.com/thrive 1:07:44 - What should founders look for when choosing a coach to hire? What are the things to watch out for? 1:09:54 - Will’s high-level takeaways from this episode (given that Shandel always ends her coaching calls with takeaways). :)

My guest this week (John Biggs, https://twitter.com/johnbiggs, https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndbiggs/) is an entrepreneur, writer, and technologist. He was the east coast editor at TechCrunch for fifteen years, was an editor at Coindesk, and is currently the Editor in Chief at Gizmodo. In this conversation we dive into a wide range of topics including 5G, the future of work, blockchains, recommended books, John’s entrepreneurial ventures, his new book (Get Funded), previous books (https://johnbiggsbooks.com/), and practical advice for entrepreneurs.  Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-15 to watch via video, for detailed notes, and for links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. In this episode we cover the following: 1:55 - John intro, technologist, entrepreneur, and writer.2:17 - About John’s time at TechCrunch3:00 - Advice that John has for people who have an idea for a startup5:19 - John’s own personal journey entering the world of being a writer6:55 - His journey diving intro entrepreneurship himself (a cryptocurrency-based remittance system). 9:16 - John’s overall take on the crypto world and it’s future 11:11 - More entrepreneurial stories from John’s career, learnings for entrepreneurs, and details about his more current projects.13:22 - What technology stack does John recommend for founders who want to build their own software startups. 14:49 - About John’s new book Get Funded. 17:24 - Thoughts on crowdfunding, the overall landscape, and practical advice for founders considering it.20:47 - Advice for writers starting their career23:08 - Thoughts on tech trends and topics that are interesting to John, especially AI in journalism and graphene. 24:55 - Thoughts on 5G, is it real or overhyped (or both?)26:16 - Future of Work: Is the work-from-home shift in light of the pandemic a good or bad thing for society in general? 27:37 - History and entrepreneurial journey of each of John’s books. (https://johnbiggsbooks.com/) 29:40 - What are serverless architectures and why are they getting so much attention today? 31:40 - What books does John recommend for founders? (Negotiating books: Getting to Yes, Pitch Anything, Never Split the Difference, -- And History books to understand how major decisions have been made in war and politics. Also, Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson) 33:42 - Advice for people interested in lots of different things who are being told to focus. 36:39 - What questions is John thinking about and most curious about right now? 38:42 - Is there a glimmer of hope regarding meaningful content out there that people are paying for? 40:00 - Where can people learn more about John and find him online? https://twitter.com/johnbiggs // https://johnbiggsbooks.com/

This week I’m excited to share an in-depth conversation with Troy Henikoff  (https://www.linkedin.com/in/troyhenikoff/, https://www.mathventurepartners.com/ ) about his entrepreneurial story and path into startup investing. Troy is one of the most amazing and inspiring people I know. I first met him when I moved to Chicago in the mid-2010s, and his generosity, enthusiasm, and support for founders has been consistently admirable and contagious. After an extended introduction where he shares his story, we walk through practical validation, execution, and funding advice for early stage founders. Be sure to visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-14 for detailed more notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following: 2:12 - Extended Troy intro: his journey as an entrepreneur, starting and selling multiple companies, working for his acquirers, angel investing in new companies, starting a fund (Firestarter Fund) and accelerator (Excelerate Labs), teaming up with Techstars, and ultimately starting MATH Venture Partners.26:20 - What fuels Troy’s “Give First” ethic? Many who have worked with him over the years have noticed his exceptional and inspiring generosity, where did that come from? What’s behind that? 30:21 - Going back to Troy’s early companies, once he noticed a semblance of Product-Market Fit, how did Troy navigate the dance between managing growth and product? 40:20 - What advice does Troy have for someone who has a day job and has an idea for a startup? (Check out the Jobs to Be Done and Clayton Christensen Milkshake, specifically this short video)45:25 - In the startup landscape, is “Business to Business” (B2B), “Consumer” (B2C), and “Marketplaces” roughly the broad categories out there, and how do entrepreneurs know whether their startup in each model is “validated”? (It’s an art form, and “it depends”, but a key thing to look for is engagement)51:03 - How should entrepreneurs with a validated idea - or idea they think is validated - go about the process of practically building the product? 55:54 - What advice does Troy have for founders looking for a technical co-founder? 1:00:40 - When a founder finds a potential technical co-founder, how should they practically engage? What are the first steps? How do they set up clear communication and expectations? 1:08:22 - How should founders think about fundraising? Who are the players and what are the stages? 1:13:25 - A word on financial modeling and the importance for founders to build one (Troy and I co-wrote an article series here on Financial modeling, including a practical example).1:17:53 - Where can people find out more about Troy, MATH Venture Partners, and the videos he’s put together? https://www.mathventurepartners.com/ 

In this episode of Ventures we examine the origin story of Lead Honestly, a web-based software platform designed to help managers have better one-on-one meetings with their direct reports. My guests Shay Howe (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayhowe/) and Darby Frey (https://www.linkedin.com/in/darbyfrey/) have a frank and open conversation about starting a side business, balancing family life and their day jobs, transitioning from builder to manager, validating their startup idea, holding to values when setting pricing, and advice for entrepreneurs.Importantly, Shay and Darby are two of the people I respect most in the world when it comes to being “product people”; i.e. those with smart and relentless focus on the customer and the ability to translate that focus into a world-class (and lean-startup friendly) product and consumer experience.  Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-13 for detailed notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following: 3:54 - What does Darby do, day-to-day, in his day job? 6:04 - What does Shay do, day-to-day, in this day job? 9:31 - When did Darby start writing code?11:08 - Shay’s shout-out to Darby on being an entrepreneurially minded engineer, i.e. shipping value to customers. 12:24 - Will’s story of watching a master's thesis from someone very excited about optimizing an algorithm (and why these kinds of people are important/needed, but they are often different than an engineer wired to be customer-minded). 13:02 - How did Darby transition from writing code to becoming a manager? 15:09 - What advice would Darby have for an early stage startup CTO looking to hire their first engineer? 17:20 - What is the origin story of Lead Honestly? 22:52 - How did Shay/Darby go about testing/validating the idea to decide to give it a go?27:00 - Once initially validated, how did Shay/Darby go about growing the company and juggling the day jobs, family life, etc…  30:38 - Darby highlights the importance of using their own product 32:00 - Shay highlights that the origin story was born out of a real problem that both Shay and Darby experienced themselves. 37:35 - Darby emphasizes their holistic approach to focusing on the customer problem and building/iterating features from that perspective. 38:20 - What should an “idea person” do who isn’t technical or a “product person” go about building a company from scratch? 45:08 - The importance of Product-Market Fit, Founder-Product Fit, and Channel-Product Fit. 46:17 - Tips for validating an idea that overcomes (understandable) biases. (Check out the book: The Mom Test)52:43 - How did Shay and Darby balance their product vision and feedback from early customers that might point in a different direction? 56:10 - Once you know you “have something” - how do you go about actually building the product? What are the nuts and bolts of the build process? 1:02:22 - What is the vision for the short-to-medium future of Lead Honestly? 1:05:55 - Where does Lead Honestly fit in the spectrum of Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), and marketplaces for software startups? 1:11:50 - Final words to entrepreneurs and early stage investors listening in, especially founders trying to juggle a day job and a side business.

In this episode we cover the full spectrum of an amazing startup story: Patrick’s original idea, recruiting a team, landing his first customers, getting into an accelerator (Techstars), raising a $1.2 million seed round, and being acquired by ServiceNow. Overall, the purpose of this show (Ventures) is to educate and inspire a new generation of venture builders and investors. In this episode, we dive deep into a variety of strategies and tactics that are important for founders to consider. My guests today are Patrick Lowndes (https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricklowndes/) and Brian Geihsler (https://www.linkedin.com/in/briangeihsler/), co-founders of VendorHawk (acquired by ServiceNow in 2018)Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-12 for full notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following (this is an abbreviated list): 3:55 - The origin story of VendorHawk8:22 - Work with the early Prota Ventures crew and support for Patrick to focus on selling the idea to potential customers with wireframes/mockups. 10:25 - Intentionality on writing down and testing hypotheses with wireframes/mockups, and eventually quick MVP demos of the business concept.12:06 - How exactly did Patrick successfully sell contracts with wireframes? What strategies/tactics did he use? 16:04 - Key hypothesis: is this enough of a pain point that customers would pay money for it?16:26 - What was the problem that Patrick/Brian were solving? What was the value proposition that the first handful of customers were sold on?18:25 - How did Patrick navigate his way into an organization in order to meet a decision-maker?20:21 - What was Brian thinking about during the time when Patrick was landing the initial customers? 26:50 - Importance of worldview and value alignment, especially amongst co-founders, and why investors should look for it in early stage companies. 28:44 - The story of scaling the company even more, getting into Techstars, and raising seed money. 30:30 - Help from the Seattle community, mentors, and other founders. Closing their seed round 70 days after demo day.32:00 - The story of hiring software engineers, an early sales team, and scaling a business while navigating family life as founders, having a new baby, etc… 33:12 - At what point did Patrick quit his day job? 34:37 - At what point did Brian quit his day job? 35:12 - What aspects of an accelerator - and Techstars in particular - make it most helpful for founders? 36:40 - What did Patrick/Brian and their team do after being seed funded? How did they scale? How did they architect their product roadmap and company operations? 41:40 - How did they build a B2B software sales team? 50:32 - What was Brian learning during the scaling process? How did he think about building the best possible engineering team and operations processes? 52:14 - How to successfully sell customers when you can’t build all the features they need right away? 54:47 - Where did those conversations with Corp Dev end up? What is the story behind selling VendorHawk to ServiceNow?  1:00:06 - How did Brian/Patrick navigate telling their team about the company sale? How did they set expectations with their acquirer about what the team merging in would look like?1:03:06 - What did things look like after the acquisition? What did the team do? How did it go?

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Dave Feldman (@DaveKeto) and I discuss a variety of topics related to lipids, immunology, ketogenic diets, and the future of health tech. I first came across Dave’s work when I noticed my cholesterol levels (specifically LDL-C) raised significantly when fasting and/or low-carb dieting, and I found that there is a large community of people who have noticed the same phenomenon. Dave has helped pioneer efforts to formulate hypotheses around why this might be the case, and why LDL levels in our blood may be considerably more complex than we’ve been led to believe. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-11 for more detailed notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover a wide variety of topics, including: 8:02 - Introduction to basic lipidology12:50 - Introduction to the basic lipid panel17:06 - What are the likely purposes of having LDL particles stick around the bloodstream in humans for a few days? 22:06 - Description of the study where lipopolysaccharide killed mice with low LDL.23:12 - Description of why LDL undergoes endocytosis to deliver cargo to tissues around the body. 24:50 - Why are the antioxidant features of LDL important? 29:47 - Further discussion on immunology and free radicals. 32:14 - What is the purpose of oxidative stress and inflammation? 35:37 - A conversation about statins, PCSK9 inhibitors, and drug studies in general targeted at lowering LDL-C.42:08 - How do statins work to lower cholesterol? What is the mechanism? 48:00 - Why does LDL-C shoot up when fasting?50:35 - How could LDL be related to fighting COVID-19?  52:43 - Coming back to Dave’s story, what is Dave up to now? What is his most recent N=1 experiment? 59:29 - What are Dave’s hypotheses for the expected data for this most recent experiment?1:00:42 - How should low-carb dieters be thinking, generally, about inflammation and LDL? How should we think about data from people who lack LDL receptors? 1:08:05 - How should people think about the size/impact of LDL particles and their ability to “shoot holes” like beebees in vascular cell walls. 1:16:00 - Why do we care about how/why LDL particles get on the inside vascular cell walls? What does Dave think is going on when this happens?1:20:35 - What is Dave’s overall advice for people, at the end of the day, that are concerned about their elevated LDL-C when going on low-carb, high-fat diets? 1:25:33 - Why are triglyceride levels typically low in people on low-carb, high-fat diets?1:33:50 - What would Dave study right now if he had a full lab to run an experiment? 1:35:10 - What’s causing the inflammation damage on vascular cell walls in heart disease? 1:40:23 - What’s up with high susceptibility to electrolyte imbalances on low-carb diets? What are the mechanisms involved here? 1:47:25 - What opportunities exist for startups considering tackling the problem of heart disease and obesity?   1:52:49 - Where can people learn more about Dave and his work? https://cholesterolcode.com/ and https://twitter.com/daveketo and https://www.facebook.com/groups/CholesterolCode/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/LeanMassHyperResponder/ 

In this episode my guest Rachael Kim (Founder & CEO, Project Untaboo) and I discuss period equity, period health/care/education, Project Untaboo, and advice for entrepreneurs and investors considering the space of femtech and healthcare in general. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-10 for detailed notes and links to resources mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. Throughout this conversation we cover the following: 1:45 - Rachael intro, background as a young entrepreneur and data privacy expert5:07 - Principles learned from Rachael’s first business as a violin teacher 10:18 - Experience in London working in data privacy when GDPR legislation passed 16:54 - Rachael’s experiences traveling around the world and lessons learned. 22:26 - More background on the threads that came together for Rachael to start Project Untaboo; origin story. 24:05 - What was the original vision for Project Untaboo before COVID-19 hit and how did things change when the pandemic was widespread?27:29 - What are the global social justice / social impact issues surrounding period care and the need for period education? 30:17 - What options/education/innovation is happening globally? 34:15 - What stories and resources does Project Untaboo (https://www.projectuntaboo.com) have available today for people to check out?36:21 - What is “femtech” ?37:52 - What is the outlook for femtech and what is Rachael hopeful for in this industry in the future? 42:30 - What apps/services are available for period care/tracking? What does Rachael recommend? 44:11 - What research is happening in period care/science/equity? What is Racheal currenting learning/investigating? 49:17 - Where is Project Untaboo heading in the future? 52:04 - Who is Project Untaboo’s customer? 53:35 - Will it be a subscription service for consumers? 53:58 - What will the Business-to-Business (B2B) side look like? 54:40 - What advice does Racheal have for a younger audience listening in that may not have a great support system to talk about period care? 56:40 - What opportunities exist for entrepreneurs interested in innovating in femtech/period care? What new products/services would be excited for Rachael to see in this space? 59:05 - What is Period Equality / Period Equity? (Note: for a more general conversation about the difference between “equity” and “equality”, see: https://www.premiertalentpartners.com/how-equality-and-equity-are-different/ ) 1:01:25 - What final words does Rachael have for investors/founders/innovators listening and watching in? 1:03:33 - How can people help Rachael and Project Untaboo? (Learn more and sign up for their newsletter at https://www.projectuntaboo.com/ )

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.