Angel Invest Boston

Tivan Amour, Repeat Founder - Growth Rider

Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/ Tivan Amour, repeat founder, bristles with energy but is also capable of contemplation. He is a growth hacker familiar with the Socratic Dialogue. He is hugely ambitious yet generous with the less fortunate.  It was great fun interviewing him and he taught me a bunch of things. Among these were the real value of Techstars to founders and some pointers on growing a customer base. Here is...

Bill Arnold, Ben Littauer & Sal Daher, CFA - What Angels Do

Bill Arnold of Purdue University’s innovation center asked me to put together a panel discussion about what makes Boston’s startup ecosystem so strong and how these lessons might translate to other places. Naturally I invited my angel investing buddy Ben Littauer to participate and we had a productive chat which gives founders, and prospective angels, a valuable glimpse into how angel investing works.

David Chang, Repeat Founder and Angel, Ex-PayPal and Goldman Sachs

Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish and Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/ David Chang seems to have a lifetime of achievement behind him. Six startup exits, stints with TripAdvisor, PayPal and Goldman Sachs as well as close connections in the world of VCs give David a most informed perspective on startups. In this candid and instructive interview, David highlights the dos and don’ts of tech startups in clear and engaging prose. He provides a wealth of suggest...

Raza Shaikh, Founder, Angel and Podcaster

Sponsored by Peter Fasse of Fish and Richardson, Top Patent Attorney: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/ A successful founder who has become a respected angel investor in Boston, Raza Shaikh is a pleasure to speak to and to learn from. Raza also has a podcast called On Boards which is great for people who are on boards or would like to be. Highlights: Sal Daher Introduces Raza Shaikh, Founder, Angel & Podcaster “I started angel investing actually on AngelList a bunch of years back...

Jay Batson - Open Source Dude

Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/ Jay Batson is an angel investor’s angel investor. He’s the kind of guy who people like me, and lots of other people, go to ask really tough questions about angel investing. And, he always has really thoughtful ideas. Whenever I’m puzzling over something, I reach out to Jay. If I can get 10 minutes of his time it’s really precious. I really recommend this relaunch of my first interview wit...

Joe Falcão, CFO and Employee #5 at Thrasio

Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/ Joe Falcão is the CFO of Boston-based unicorn Thrasio. Learn the secrets of this uniquely successful startup. Retrace my friend’s exciting journey which started in Kenya and led to Boston via Brazil and other interesting places. Highlights: Sal Daher Introduces Joe Falcão, CFO & #5 Employee at Boston-based Unicorn Thrasio “Always be open to meet people.” “…we are playing within the...

José Falcão, Chefe de Finanças da Thrasio

Patrocinado pelo Peter Fasse, advogado de patentes da Fish & Richardson: https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/   José Falcão, Chefe de Finanças da Thrasio explica o que motiva esta companhia que adquire comércios na Amazon.com. Falamos também sobre a jornada de sua vida pela Africa, Asia e o Brasil.

Arrigo Bodda, International Angel Investor

Sponsored by Peter Fasse, Prominent Patent Attorney at Fish & Richardson (https://www.fr.com/team/j-peter-fasse/) Growing up in Northern Italy, Arrigo Bodda dreamed of becoming an architect. He chose instead to study law, a handy pre-requisite for a career in human resources in a country where staffing involves a lot of legal work. His corporate career neatly coincided with the emergence of the European Union, a phenomenon that deeply influenced his work and life. After much success in the...

Bill Hetzel - Clean Tech Exec and Angel Investor - Startup Success in Maine

Podcast Sponsored by Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson Dropping prices for solar panels sank many American clean tech companies. PIKA Energy, however, was able to benefit from the trend by innovating. Generac acquired them in 2019 because of their uniquely efficient home energy storage system. Bill Hetzel, former COO, tells the compelling story of this Maine Angel (and Sal)-backed success and more. Highlights: Sal Daher Introduces Bill Hetzel, Clean Tech Exec & Angel Investor “The orig...

Peter Fasse, Patent Attorney and Angel Investor - Patents 101

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Peter Fasse comes from a family of patent attorneys. He is a highly respected partner at Fish & Richardson, the storied Boston-based (now global) firm that represented Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers. Peter’s work continues that tradition by representing some of the leading technological innovators of today. Peter also invests as an angel in technology companies. In this practical and accessible conversation ...

Meng Deng, PhD and Karen Wurster - Convert Fat to Cure Diabetes

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join What if an injection could cure your diabetes? Meng Deng, PhD and Karen Wurster were on the podcast to talk about Adipo Therapeutics’ ambitious plan to remake the metabolism of diabetic people. Informative and accessible. Highlights include: Sal Daher Introduces the Founder and the CEO of Adipo Therapeutics “…we're talking about having too much white fat and not enough brown fat.” “…transform that energy-storing white fat into ene...

Frank Ferguson - Practical Dreamer

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Frank Ferguson had a knack for building companies. He headed Bose at a time of rapid growth and built Curriculum Associates into a great success. Frank Ferguson’s angel investing was unusual in that he invested in just a few startups but lavished support on those few. The results were great. Frank was active well into his nineties but passed away recently; this relaunch of an interview I recorded with him is a memorial for his life of ac...

Matt Breen, Founder - Rahoo Baby

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join The hardships faced by parents of babies with developmental problems led Matt Breen and his co-founder / fiancée, Erica Costa, both pediatric occupational therapists, to start Rahoo Baby to make it easier for parents to support their baby’s development.Their first product is now at buybuy BABY and Target. A fun chat with a down-to earth founder. Highlights: Sal Daher Introduces Matt Breen, Founder of Rahoo Baby “…how acutely aware p...

Nick Zeckets - Growing Revenue

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate List: Click to Join Founder and revenue consultant Nick Zeckets and I discussed his first startup and what he learned from it. Then we talked about the best ways for startups to build revenues. Instructive and inspiring. Highlights include: Sal Introduces Nick Zeckets, Founder & Revenue Consultant What Quadwrangle Does "What is already out there that I can make better? I don't want to replace it, at least not on day one." “…first and foremost,...

Kristen Overly - Life Science Financing

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate List: Click to Join Kristen Overly works as management consultant and is a leader at MIT Life Science Angels. Kristen and I discussed various aspects of the funding of life science startups. She, like me, is intrigued by the opportunities in what Jeff Behrens called the scrappy biotechs in his doctoral thesis. Highlights include: Sal Daher Introduces Kristen Overly of MIT Life Science Angels & Back Bay Advisors “…MITLifeSciAngels.com. And we look fo...

Chuck Donnelly and Julie Morrison - SaaS for Pre-Clinical Trials

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate List: Click to Join RockStep Solutions improves efficiency by 70% according to one client. This is why the startup is getting word of mouth traffic from clients running in vivo drug trials. Founders Chuck Donnelly and Julie Morrison tell their story and share valuable wisdom about this intersection of software and bio. Highlights include: Sal Daher Introduces Chuck Donnelly and Julie Morrison, the Founders of RockStep Solutions RockStep Provides a...

Entrepreneurs Journey - Ham Lord - C Mirabile - Joe Mandato

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate List: Click to Join Launchpad, Boston’s leading angel group, has published a polished collection of stories that illustrate the success and failure of their portfolio companies over two decades. It is titled “The Entrepreneur’s Journey”. Listen to my interview of authors Ham Lord, Christopher Mirabile and Joe Mandato to learn more about this valuable resource for angels and founders. Highlights from the interview: Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson Sponsors...

Ham Lord and Christopher Mirabile - Winning Collaboration

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join The collaboration of Ham Lord and Christopher Mirabile, two of Boston’s most consequential super angels, is widely admired. Its most visible fruit is the success of Launchpad Venture Group, which they manage together. In the relaunch of this revealing interview, they let us in on how this winning collaboration came to be and what keeps it productive as it approaches the end of its first decade. Christopher Mirabile and Ham Lord are alr...

Christopher Mirabile - Angel with a Plan

Mike Singer, MD/PhD - Polymath Founder

Patrick Rivelli, Founder and Angel Investor - How to Invest In Biotech

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Repeat biotech founder and angel investor Patrick Rivelli talks about his career and about how to approach the daunting challenge of investing in biotech as an angel.  Family considerations drove several of Patrick Rivelli’s career choices but did not prevent him from having brilliant triumphs. Success as a consultant was followed by success as an executive. This led him to found his first company and to fund another startup. The most e...

Brian Mahon, Investor and Advisor - Expert DOJO

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Expert Dojo is the international accelerator based in Southern California. Founder Brian Mahon and team look for great founders with profitable businesses that can grow. Brian’s a delightfully articulate guest. Don’t miss this outstanding interview. Highlights: Sal Daher Introduces Brian Mahon of Expert Dojo, the International Accelerator in Southern California “…we’ll invest as easily and as happily in Boston, as we will do in Bosn...

Ed Belove, Founder and Angel Investor

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Ed Belove is a very active angel investor. He's a successful founder in software and hardware. Just a very thoughtful person. Very, very smart, very observant, very committed. Founders would be very lucky to have Ed Belove in their corner. I really enjoyed this interview, which I recorded in the first season of the podcast. And it is a very, very meaty interview. Full of interesting stories. For example, helping build Lotus with Mitch Kapor an...

John Harthorne, VC - Why Invest Now?

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join MassChallenge founder and VC John Harthorne thinks now is the best time ever to invest in seed-stage companies. Listen to learn why. Highlights include: Sal Daher Interviews John Harthorne, VC on “Why Invest Now?” Sal Daher Gives a Shout Out to Çağrı Savran for Introducing John Harthorne, VC Sal Daher Introduces John Harthorne Who Founded MassChallenge and Is Now Raising a Venture Fund “…we haven't seen an opportunity like this ...

SQZ's IPO bears out Armon Sharei's vision of empowering cells to change lives.

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate List: Click to Join SQZ's successful IPO validates the vision laid out by Armon Sharei, PhD in this interview recorded two years ago. In accessible language, this genius founder explains the approach that has big strategic players excited. SQZ is the model I have in mind when I invest in biotech companies. Find out why.  Armon Sharei wants to train our immune system to fight cancer. We hear a lot of claims like this, however when a mega-pharmaceutica...

Senan Ebrahim, Founder - Hikma Health

The disrupted life of refugees keeps them from having good medical records. Med student Senan Ebrahim decided to do something about it and succeeded. Listen to the story of Hikma Health and of its promising founder. Senan Ebrahim grew up in Silicon Valley but he experienced the Syrian refugee crisis via his grandmother. When he became interested in the problem of refugee health his initial solution was laughably unsuited to real life. Contact with health care workers serving the refugee po...

Beth Marcus - Startup Doc

There's no guest quite like Beth Marcus. She's founded a bunch of companies and has learned tons from it. I recommend this interview to founders and those who are thinking about becoming founders.  

Wade Lange - Startups at Purdue

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Purdue wants to be Startup U. They are already the #3 university in the US for producing startups, right behind MIT and Columbia. One of my favorite companies, Savran Technologies, came out of Purdue.  I spoke with Wade Lange of Purdue Foundry, responsible for promoting startups at Purdue. Several interesting Purdue startups were discussed. Highlights: Sal Daher Welcomes Listeners and Introduces Wade Lange from Purdue Foundry Wade L...

Jeff Behrens, PhD - Why You're Wrong About Biotech Funding

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Jeff Behren's doctoral dissertation suggests that life science startups are not funded the way we all think. Listen to our discussion of his work and learn why he believes we have to revise what is taught to founders about raising money. Highlights: Sal Daher Welcomes Jeff Behrens Back on the Podcast to Discuss His Findings on Biotech Funding “We published papers. We had a world class SAB, and ultimately, we sold these drugs. So, du...

Eilon Shalev - Elphi: Hacking Mortgages

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Mortgage origination is a massive business deeply stuck in the past. Proof: in 2020 it still takes an average of 45 days to approve a mortgage. Israeli founder Eilon Shalev and his buddies from MIT Sloan School aim to change all that with their startup Elphi. Highlights: Sal Daher Welcomes Listeners & Introduces Eilon Shalev of Elphi What Elphi Does The Non-Linearity of Mortgage Applications Is a Huge Problem – Average Time to App...

Matt Fates, VC & Angel Investor

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Tech VC Matt Fates of Ascent Venture Partners talks about his portfolio and his investing career and ponders becoming more active as an angel investor. A frank and informative conversation with a delightful guest. Highlights: Sal Daher Welcomes Listeners & Introduces Matt Fates, Venture Capitalist Matt Fate’s VC Portfolio: Connected2Fiber “The power of connectivity is becoming strategic again as most of your software applications ...

David Glazer - Biotech Deal Wiz

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Unlike software startups that can scale with minimal resources, biotech startups need frequently to rely on collaborations with big strategic players to get to scale. This is an interview with one of the top attorneys in arranging such deals, David Glazer of Morgan Lewis. I learned much from David; I hope you will too. Highlights: Sal Daher Introduces David Glazer of Morgan Lewis, the Biotech Deal Wiz Why Collaborations with Strategic Partne...

Fred Bamber - Tech VC Becomes an Angel

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here As a venture capitalist Fred Bamber helped build such successful companies as Interleaf, Q1 Labs and Volt Server. Now working as an angel investor Fred is invested such exciting companies as SQZ Biotech, Pixability, ViralGains and Streamroot (exited). In his self-effacing and modest way, Fred reveals deep wisdom gained from 75 investments in his career as a VC.  Topics include: Fred Bamber Finds His Career Path  Avoiding the Military Draft L...

Derek Canton, Founder and CEO - Paerpay: Contactless Pay at the Table"

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Young founder Derek Canton was obsessed with making restaurant payments frictionless. COVID scrambled his product plans but opened up a huge opportunity to provide contactless payment. Throughout lockdown Paerpay has gotten traction for its text-driven payment system which is a perfect fit for the times. Highlights: Sal Introduces Founder Derek Canton of Paerpay What Paerpay Does How Paerpay Makes Money The Competition is Device-Centr...

Ben Littauer, Founder and Angel Investor - #1 Fundraising Mistake

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Ben Littauer travelled an unlikely path from philosophy to communications technology. He brings to life the exciting turns in his careers as founder and angel investor.  In his light-hearted style, Ben provides a thoughtful tour of Boston’s angel scene in this episode that ranges over many topics including equity crowdfunding.  In particular, he explains what leads founders to make the worst fund-raising mistake of all. The philosopher’s...

Klaudyne Hong, Founder - AI Improving Clinical Outcomes

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click to Subscribe The sense of purpose and focus that led Klaudyne Hong to do her PhD at MIT in two years helped her turn a chance comment during a fly-fishing trip into a groundbreaking startup. Peach IntelliHealth is building AI for acute medical care. Her project was seeded by the Government of Singapore where she found great help in building her data set. She’s now seeking FDA approval. Highlights include: Sal Daher Introduces Klaudyne Hong, P...

Alex Sakatos, PhD - Founder of Ancilia

Join Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Microbiologist Alex Sakatos felt strongly that valuable science was not making it from the lab to the clinic. This led her to start Ancilia which is finding ways to protect good bacteria in our gut from attack by viruses. A great chat about an exciting field in biotech. Highlights from our interview: Sal Daher Introduces Alex Sakatos, PhD Ancilia is Creating Ways to Protect Healthy Gut Bacteria from the Viruses That Can Attack Them “...

Ralph Wagner, Angel Investor and Founder - Flunk Calculus, Ace Life

Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Ralph Wagner recalls his journey of self-discovery that led from failure in engineering to incandescent success in marketing and sales. The man who could not do calculus or write code excelled at identifying and exploiting opportunities created by computer technology. In this interview one sees that Ralph’s captivating personality is firmly ballasted by good sense and common decency. It is made evident how his interest in people was vital to the...

Amanda Drobnis and Jess McLear - Duet for Founder and Board Member

Sal Daher's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Vets have known for a century that injecting extract from fetal tissue helps wounds heal faster However, the procedures required were arduous. Hilltop Bio is taking the hassles out of this time-tested therapy and creating a new revenue stream for clinics. Amanda Drobnis, founder and Jess McLear, board member update us on the company's progress. Interview highlights include: Sal Daher Introduces Amanda Drobnis and Jessica McLear What Hilltop...

Joe Selvaggi, Entrepreneur and Podcaster - "HubWonk"

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate List: Click to Join Joe Selvaggi, entrepreneur and podcaster straddles the worlds of business and policy in his podcast HubWonk, one of two podcasts from Boston’s Pioneer Institute. Joe and I talked about compelling interviews of founders and how they relate to the work of the free-market think tank. Fun & Instructive. Highlights include: Sal Daher’s Introduction of Joseph Selvaggi The Pioneer Institute and Entrepreneurship Joe Selvaggi’s Business – P...

Michael Mark, Super Angel Investor and Founder - Best Pivots Ever

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Super angel investor Michael Mark tells fascinating stories that take us from the precocious founding of his first startup straight out of MIT to his being a highly-prized investor in hundreds of startups today. The narratives are interwoven with valuable lessons on how tech startups are built in Boston's vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. They include entertaining observations of subjects ranging from comedians to co-founders. Some of the most i...

Jenny Ro, PhD, Founder and CEO - AI Connecting Humans

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Curious Reactor, the AI built by founder Jenny Ro, PhD, helps participants at life science conferences figure out who to meet. It's only the first step in a promising road map. Loved the chat with this compelling founder.

Gillian Isabelle - COVID-19 Update

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Founder Gillian Isabelle, Ph.D. returns to give us an update on how her startup Enlivity is navigating the COVID crisis. Here is Gillian's origin story: Gillian Isabelle's Full Interview

Sonal Singh & Jim Peraino - Co-Founders of Spatiometrics

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join An MBA and an architect who got together as co-founders at MIT to build software that helps designers make decisions based on numbers and science. Spatiometrics is now helping to make offices COVID-resistant. During the interview we discussed the company's founding story, its workflow and how they are helping with back to work planning. 

Episode 100 - 20 Lessons from 100 Episodes

Join Sal's Syndicate: Click Here To celebrate our 100th episode, Raul Rosa and I curated snippets from various interviews that illustrate particularly valuable lessons in entrepreneurship. Below you will find a list of the full episodes next to the name of the guest cited. Starting at the launch of the 100th episode it will also be possible to search for content on https://angelinvestboston.com based on a list of topics, some of which  I list below. Focus: Michael Mark – Click to List...

Lais Fonseca, Founder and CEO - Precavida

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here  Brazilian patients struggle to access specialized medical care. Precavida, which just graduated from Techstars Boston, is addressing this problem. Here is my interview with founder Lais Fonseca.

Brian Megill, Host Events

Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Events platform Host Events confronts going virtual with COVID-19. I also talked to Brian Megill about his entrepreneurial journey.

Tivan Amour, Founder and CEO - "A Clever Pivot"

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Link to Syndicate Page Trying to create a bike startup, repeat founder Tivan Amour builds a texting tool that quickly outgrows the original business and is then launched as an independent company. Listen to the founding story of Tone (tonemessaging.com) and how it’s allowing brands to speak directly to customers. A great chat with one of my favorite founders. Highlights include: Sal Daher Introduces Tivan Amour, Founder of Tone How Tone / Save My Sal...

Tivan Amour, Founder and CEO - Text Like a Human

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Link to Syndicate Page Trying to create a bike startup, repeat founder Tivan Amour builds a texting tool that quickly outgrows the original business and is then launched as an independent company. Listen to the founding story of Tone (tonemessaging.com) and how it’s allowing brands to speak directly to customers. A great chat with one of my favorite founders. Highlights include: Sal Daher Introduces Tivan Amour, Founder of Tone How Tone / Save My Sal...

COVID-19 - Artur Souza, Founder of Adopets - From the Slums of Brazil to Founding a Startup in Boston

Join Sal's Syndicate: Click to Join Born in a Brazilian slum, Artur Souza has founded a promising startup in Boston. His experience with the complexity of adopting his dog led to the creation of Adopets, a platform to facilitate pet adoption. The surge in pet adoption caused by COVID-19 has opened up opportunities for this inspiring founder.