business growth

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Episode 75 -blockchain, equity crowdfunding and democratizing access to capital for startups with Gaby katsnelson

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Terri talks to Gaby Katsnelson about equity crowdfunding, why SMBX is built on a private Etherium network, and the importance of democratizing fundraising. 

Who is Gabrielle Katsnelson?  

Gabrielle Katsnelson is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of SMBX. She has a decade of financial accounting, strategy, and operations experience; including: managing the loan portfolio of the Artists Community Federal Credit Union; the restricted royalty funds of TuneCore, a digital distributor of music; and architecting financial infrastructure for countless startups and SMBs.   

  
Dedicated to creating a surplus ecosystem, Gabrielle believes that giving SMBs access to capital while creating an engaging and empowering investing experience for people is the means.    

Show Highlights 

  • Terri and Gaby talk about how they met at a Draper University blockchain pitch day and gravitated towards each other over common interests 

  • Gaby shared her journey from accounting into biotech in New York and ultimately into FinTech in San Francisco in early 2017 

  • Gaby met her co-founder of SMBX at one of the crypto, blockchain and ICO meetups she went to; he was always asking the interesting questions.  

  • Their company, SMBX is built on a private Etherium network and takes advantage of Title III of the JOBS Act to help small businesses issue bonds so that investors can invest in businesses they are interested in providing a secondary market for investors.   

  • Gaby and Terri talk about where blockchain is from a maturity perspective and the future of blockchain.  

  • Gaby explains equity crowdfunding and the differences between Title II, Title III and Title IV. Terri and Gaby talk about using crowdfunding to democratize funding and how we are still in early days.   

  • If Gaby could wave a magic wand to change something in this world, she would change mindset and personal responsibility for your own mindset.   

 Terri’s Key Takeaway 

It is important to maintain a sense of fun.  It doesn’t have to be so serious all of the time.   

References in the Podcast 

 Contact 

Gabrielle can be reached via email gabrielle@thesmbx.com; Twitter: @gabykatsnelson and through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-katsnelson-6a73958/. 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

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Episode 74- Joanne Wilson's journey into angel investing 12 years ago, what she looks for in startups, and how she helps them reach their goals.

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Terri talks to Joanne Wilson about her journey into angel investing 12 years ago, what she looks for in startups, and how she helps them reach their goals.  

Who is Joanne Wilson?  

Joanne Wilson is a New York City based investor and has had many careers. She started out in retail, eventually moving to the wholesale arena. She then transitioned to the media side of the technology world, before once again reinventing herself as an investor. She is currently an active angel investor with a portfolio of over 90 companies such as Food52, Sweeten, Vengo, Nestio, Shippabo, Flip, Clutter, and Union Station. She has been involved in numerous real estate transactions from beginning to end and continues to make investments in that world. Joanne is an investor in a few restaurants in the New York area.  

In addition to these endeavors, Joanne has been involved in various education projects and has served as chairperson at Hot Bread Kitchen, a non-profit committed to increasing access to the culinary industry for woman and minority entrepreneurs. She currently sits on the board of The Highline and is the co-chair of Path Forward. 

Joanne has maintained her blog, www.gothamgal.com for 15 years and has recently taken her talents to the airwaves on her podcast, "Positively Gotham Gal". She loves to bake, cook, throw a good party, travel, read, collect art, do the crossword and stay on top of what's happening around the globe and in NYC. 

Joanne believes her most successful venture is being married to her best friend, Fred, and raising their three kids Jessica, Emily and Josh   

Show Highlights 

  • Joanne shares her journey into angel investing and how she is able to see things coming down the pike 

  • Joanne talks about what she invests in and how her investing has changed over the last 12 years 

  • Joanne comments on some of her investments that are undercapitalized and the frustration she has around getting other investors excited about the startups and the founders.   

  • She looks for tenacious, smart, scrappy people as founders who can articulate their vision from now until what it can be.   

  • In, 70% of the companies she’s invested in, Joanne was the first money into the companies. Joanne talks about how she works with her founders to get access to capital and resources and help them build their businesses.   

  • Joanne and Terri talk about various different funding mechanisms and getting access to capital. 

  • If Joanne could wave a magic wand, she would change the animosity in society that people have towards each other.  She would make sure everyone has healthcare, a roof over their heads, food on the table, and access to education.  With these fundamental needs met, she believes that they may have better caring for their fellow man.   

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

It’s difficult to be a generalist as an angel investor; it’s better to choose a vertical that is most interesting to you and become familiar with the space.   

References in the Podcast 

Contact 

Joanne can be reached through her website https://gothamgal.com/.   

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

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Episode 73 - How To Survive The Turbulence As A Founder Of A Small Company In A Big Market

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Terri talks to Laura Fleet about how a personal experience gave her the idea and inspiration to start SendaRide and that she is both loving the roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship and challenged every day.   

Who is Laura Fleet?  

 

Laura Fleet is a leading expert in health care and regulatory law, having represented health insurers, providers and hospital systems for more than twenty years. Her professional career as legal counsel, lobbyist and Executive Director for numerous non-profit Associations in the health care sector has given her a unique perspective into our health care delivery system. Having successfully identified an opportunity to bridge one of the many gaps, she launched and Co-Founded SendaRide. 
 
During her career she has continually been at the frontline of our ever-evolving healthcare delivery system, shaping and interpreting the laws that providers, insurers and hospitals operate within. She is identified as an industry expert and thrives on solving the many problems the healthcare industry faces – whether regulatory, legal, legislative or implementation.  

Show Highlights 

  • Laura talks about her company, SendaRide, and why she started the company.   

  • Laura continues to talk about being a smaller player in a bigger market, her go to market strategy and differentiating factors.  

  • Laura has become very comfortable with the word ‘pivot’ and being uncomfortable.   SendaRide started as a B2C LLC and is now a B2B Delaware Corp.  

  • Laura has become comfortable with being the face and brand of SendaRide.   

  • Laura’s favorite founder resource is her network of female founders who have gone before her, and investor resources who are willing to make introductions and be available to answer questions and bounce around ideas.   

  • Laura was accepted into Springboard and shared what she is looking to get out of the time with her advisory group.   

  • Laura has been surprised by how much she is enjoying being a founder of a startup and the variety of skillsets she has developed over her time as CEO.   

  •  If Laura had a magic wand, she would make chocolate and champagne have no calories and carbs.  She would also have people stop in their tracks and not make judgments and not look at stereotypes when they make decisions.   

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

Don’t become a founder because it’s cool; you have to be 100% committed.   

References in the Podcast 

 

 Contact 

Laura can be reached through LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-brookins-fleet-49aa9a54/ and via email at Laura.Fleet@SendaRide.com.   

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

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Episode 72 - How to improve funding for women entrepreneurs as an angel investor

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Terri talks to Nancy Hayes about how she operates as an angel investor, her advisory style, and why she is focused on female led businesses.

Who is Nancy Hayes?


Nancy Hayes is an active angel investor focused on women-led companies. She has invested in 22 companies and serves as advisor to entrepreneurs and as a management consultant and coach to executives in for-profit and nonprofit corporations.

Nancy left the IBM Corporation, where she was a senior executive, to become CEO of the STARBRIGHT Foundation, an innovative nonprofit organization that used technology and media to help seriously ill children and subsequently was President and CEO of WISE Senior Services, a social services agency which served frail elderly and disabled adults.

Nancy was named Dean of the College of Business at San Francisco State University in 2005 and after six years in that role, was CFO and Chief Administrative Officer of the university for 2 years.

In 2013, Nancy cofounded MoolaHoop, a rewards-based crowdfunding site for women with small businesses.

She was Managing Director of the Silicon Valley chapter of Golden Seeds, a national angel group that invests in women-led companies, for over 3 years.

Nancy has an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Chicago and resides in San Francisco.

Show Highlights

  • Nancy shares her journey into angel investing after helping women with small businesses and seeing the funding challenges.

  • Nancy talks about various financing options available including revenue-based financing and the statistics around the number of companies started each day.

  • Angels join groups to minimize risk.

  • Terri and Nancy talk about the ways in which women can (and should) become active angel investors. Spoiler: just jump in and do it.

  • Nancy talks about her value in advising startups and her favorite investments.

  • Nancy would wave a magic wand to get advice and mentorship to more female founders earlier.


Terri’s Key Takeaway

As women, we think we need to take one more class or get one more degree but with angel investing, we just need to get started.


References in the Podcast


Contact

Nancy can be reached by email at nancy@nkhgroup.com, via Twitter at @nancyhayes and through LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/nancyhayes2.

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

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Episode 71- An unusual and circuitous path to becoming an angel investor with Alicia Castillo Holley

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Terri talks to Alicia Castillo about her circuitous path into angel investing that started in a rural town in Venezuela that has landed her in Silicon Valley and how her global experience has made her realize how important it is for us to acknowledge that we, as people, are more similar than we are different.

Who is Alicia Castillo?


Alicia Castillo Holley is an international expert in creating wealth and is passionate about prosperity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. She is an active angel investor and the creator of the 10-week online program called Women Get Funded.

Alicia’s career started as a young scientist and professor on Agronomy before becoming involved in product development for a Bayer-Shell joint venture and eventually turning into an entrepreneur and angel investor.

As an entrepreneur, she has started nine companies -successfully exiting from five of them- and two non-for-profit. She played a pivotal role in the development of the entrepreneurial curriculum and the Venture Capital industry in Chile, where she lived between 1996 and 2002. She has also consulted, mentored, or coached hundreds of entrepreneurs worldwide, is a prolific author and speaker, and pushes academic institutions to reinvent business education.

Philanthropically, she supports organizations that foster education, social entrepreneurship and prevent and turn domestic violence into harmony. A global trotter, she has visited over 100 countries, and has lived in Venezuela, Chile, Australia, Denmark, Switzerland, and the US and currently resides in Menlo Park.

Show Highlights

  • Alicia shares her journey into angel investing. Her journey started in a socialist household in a rural town in Venezuela and took her to all parts of the world.

  • Terri and Alicia talk about bias and chemistry in decision making.

  • Alicia talks about how she operates as an angel investor, what areas she focuses on and the characteristics of the founders she looks to back.

  • Alicia talks about her 10-week, online program called Women Get Funded to educate women on how to get their companies funded.

  • If Alicia could wave a magic wand to change something in the world, she would change war. She would get people to realize that we are more similar than different.

  • Alicia’s favorite founder resources include two of her books How to Fund Your Million Dollar Idea, The Ten Unwealthy Habits and Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.


Terri’s Key Takeaway

It’s important to build channels of trust regardless of gender.


References in the Podcast



Contact

Alicia can be reached on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciacastilloholley/ or through her website http://www.aliciacastilloholley.com/.

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 60 - IT compliance and IT strategy consulting for biotech, medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies with Terri

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Terri talks with Jacqueline about her work consulting with biotech, medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies providing IT strategy and IT compliance services.     

Show Highlights 

  • Terri and Jacqueline start out with some discussion about end of school year and the beginning of summertime.   

  • Terri talks about her consulting work with Solutions2Projects and that she is still consulting, despite a recent comment by someone that they didn’t realize she was consulting.   

  • Terri started her consulting company, Solutions2Projects, 13 years ago.   

  • Terri does higher level IT strategic and compliance work within biotech, medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies.  This has included IT strategy, IT compliance, IT system selection, IT project management, and vendor audits within life sciences companies.  

  • Terri works with companies that have 30-300 people, moving towards or in Phase III clinical trials and/or getting ready for market approval and commercialization.  Terri likes to come in during Phase II to help the companies plan out their IT strategies in advance of when they need the systems in alignment with their corporate strategies.   

  • Terri talks about how biotech companies outsource certain systems and processes early on and then later decide to bring in house and how the planning for this should be aligned with the corporate strategy.  

  • Terri talks about computer validation and 21 CFR Part 11 (electronic records / electronic signatures) in an FDA regulated industry.   

  • Terri works with systems and processes across an organization including clinical, regulatory, quality, financial, manufacturing, distribution, quality, HR, payroll, budgeting, business performance management, lab systems, etc.    

  • Terri is a business person who understands technology and compliance.  Solutions2Projects’ value is in considering business, technology, and compliance requirements and needs.  

  • Terri talks about the importance of data integrity in life sciences and how we use computer validation to demonstrate data integrity and control over the data and the systems.  

  • Terri talks about the challenges associated with the introduction of SaaS in life sciences.  

  • Jacqueline asked Terri about her first system selection and validation.  Terri talks about how she fell into life sciences a year after the 21 CFR Part 11 regulation was released (1997) and her first implementation and validation of JD Edwards at Coulter Pharmaceuticals following GAMP4.  GAMP5 has since been released and computer validation has evolved over the last 20 years.  

  • Terri is a believer in taking a risk-based approach to computer validation and tailoring to each company’s risk tolerance and approach to the system.  

  • Computer validation is all about defining what you want, testing to confirm you got what you wanted, training people to effectively use the system in a consistent manner, and then maintaining the system in a controlled manner.  To Terri, this makes good business sense.  

  • Terri talks about the evolution of computer validation and some project and client stories.  

  • Terri talks about GDPR.  

  • Terri shares her concerns about potential litigation in the life sciences space between SaaS companies and life sciences companies because of computer validation and potential exclusion of data from regulatory submissions or complete response letters. She is starting to see more warning letters and 483’s around data integrity.   

  • Terri talks about blockchain in the life sciences space.   

  • Solutions2Projects is ideally suited for situations where this is an internal lead or project manager and Terri provides guidance, structure, and templates to help them with their processes.  Terri can help guide the business through the changes related to the new system implementations.   

  • Terri has some project managers she likes to work with whereby she plans the project and then they are able to manage the projects with high level advisory and guidance from Terri.  

  • Everything comes down to process and technology.  Terri’s favorite part of her work is to aligning corporate strategy with the system strategy.  When she can help life sciences companies see systems as business enablers and meet compliance requirements she is a happy camper.   

 

References in the Podcast 

 

Contact 

Jacqueline can be reached through her website at https://www.jacquelinesteenhuis.com/ or via Twitter at @andYoureaGirl.  

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.