Myoung Kang

One of my proudest moments as an investor occurred today as Alaffia Health announced its series A because it shows how the Aperture® Venture Capital vision of multi-level, multi-generational #impactinvesting is succeeding in the marketplace. Here’s the model in its most basic form : ✅As diverse fund managers with meaningful capital to allocate, we are changing the VC landscape every day just by doing our day jobs. ✅As Black/Brown investors with ~40 years experience collectively, Aperture GPs have access to talent /excellence that others do not, so our portfolio *organically* is more inclusive by race, gender and geography even while optimizing for financial outcomes (all about the alpha). ✅Our most successful portco’s are using financial #innovation to solve market problems that impact underrepresented demographics and underserved communities. Alaffia Health is a shining example of the impact portion of our overall fund thesis, and we couldn’t be prouder of TJ Ademiluyi and Adun Akanni, MPH, PMP - the dynamic brother-sister founder duo whose vision we have steadfastly supported on their journey. Congratulations to TJ and Adun from William Crowder and myself, as well as the whole Aperture team- Marjorie King Philip McKenzie Yves Louis-Jacques Tanvi Lal Michelle Dhansinghani Lisha Bell Katie Kelly Amy Chung Cindy Chong, CFA Brian Fernandes-Halloran Monroe France Jayden Pantel Darren Herman Evan Wladis Neal Triplett Thomas Scriven Peter Ammon Irina Bit-Babik Tim Milanich Rob Rahbari

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Today, I was reminded of two remarkably prescient 1997 ACM, Association for Computing Machinery presentations: the first by Nathan Myhrvold and the second by Bran Ferran. If you are not a member of the ACM - I highly recommend joining. Nathan Myhrvold The future of software, the software industry, and Windows '47 https://lnkd.in/egMwYty Bran Ferran How IT will transform the experience of telling and listening to stories https://lnkd.in/gqF7C7TK

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#hiring If anyone knows an awesome engineer that would be interested in joining an emerging #AI company doing important work in #healthcare, please drop me a line! Andy AI is backed by General Catalyst, YCombinator, Greater Ventures, and others, and they’re looking to hire a full stack engineer (US based) who's excited about using AI to improve healthcare and reduce nurse burnout. Andy is AI software that automates clinical documentation for nurses who do home visits. A nurse makes an audio recording of the visit and Andy automatically generates a form that usually takes nurses 90 minutes to complete. Nurses love the product because it potentially saves them 15 hours of charting a week! The founders previously built healthcare AI at Google Health and Apple, and are now building their vision to transform home health. More about Andy AI: https://with-andy.com/ Nurses love it: https://lnkd.in/g9XqZrUq #GenAI #digitalhealth #hiring #engineers #healthtech

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Yesterday, Underscore Partner Lily Lyman joined TechCrunch Early Stage to share tactical advice on how founders can effectively build relationships with the right investors. Importantly, she shares the nuance between the "nurture phase" and the "actively raising phase" of fundraising. Turns out fundraising has a lot of parallels to the 2000s romcom "He's Just Not That Into You" - So we were sure to have some fun drawing out the similarities! Explore the deck here by swiping right *pun intended*:

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Today, Two Chairs announces $72M of new funding to continue building a world where everyone has access to exceptional mental health care. Since late 2017, when Maveron led the Two Chairs Series A, the need for mental health services has grown considerably as our society has become lonelier and more isolated than ever. At the same time, our culture’s willingness to openly acknowledge these challenges is greater than ever. Sadly, the rapid growth of Two Chairs affirms the fact that our society is in desperate need of better mental health support. Two Chairs has built a business that believes clinical quality is the defining characteristic of success. Alex Katz has always emphasized the paramountcy of measurement-based clinical outcomes, which the team works tirelessly to achieve. In the process, Two Chairs has illustrated that embracing the ‘move fast and break things’ mentality doesn’t always work. Instead, Two Chairs opted for a different approach: they went slow to go fast. They built a proprietary algorithm that matches patients with the perfect therapist at the onset and hired a team of W2 clinicians oriented toward providing the highest quality care available. Even as the Two Chairs team has grown, their culture has remained small. This has enabled more intimate relationships within the team and between clients and clinicians. Reflecting on this milestone brings me back to the founding of Maveron and the values we hold dear. In 1998, my friend Howard Schultz and I founded Maveron to help entrepreneurs build companies that improve the lives of everyday people—their employees and their customers. There is perhaps no better example of this than Two Chairs. *** Thank you to TechCrunch's Marina Temkin, CFA for the great write-up. https://tcrn.ch/4aMt7yG

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Some midweek wisdom from Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham, on why startups shouldn't stress over competitors. According to Graham, based on Y Combinator's extensive data set, few of their startups are actually killed by competitors. He compares the protection a startup has against competitors to the vastness of space, emphasising that the market is large enough for multiple players to thrive. Graham's analogy likens encountering a competitor to suddenly finding another runner in your race lane - the best course of action? “It’s sort of like if you’re running the hundred meters and suddenly a lane appears with another runner in it. What should you do? Run as fast as you can, just like you presumably were.” #Startups #Competition #Entrepreneurship #wearehiring

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Employee terminations: they're a topic no one wants to discuss but that every company has to navigate. Thankfully, Melanie Naranjo and wonderful Ethena advisor (& Gusto's former People Leader) Jess Yuen are tackling this tricky topic for the next Ethena webinar. Register if you want to learn more about these topics: How to pressure test whether or not termination is the right course of action Best practices for communicating termination decisions How to minimize risk and choose the best course of action when things get tricky Critical pitfalls to avoid

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Last week, I sat down with Vator to discuss AI applications in the workforce, and how founders in key industries like Healthtech, Fintech, and supply chain can apply AI in meaningful ways to reduce friction in day-to-day life. We have literally seen a usable, value-generating case of artificial intelligence inside pretty much every major vertical that exists in the last year or so, but many people are still not using AI to its full advantage. At Forum Ventures, we see thousands of B2B AI companies a quarter, and we are increasingly bullish on AI-powered verticalization. Read on to learn more about some of the exciting AI applications we see founders utilizing, the nuances we consider when finding great founders across diverse industries, and the importance of founder-market fit. https://lnkd.in/gh-hDSSG

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Exciting news from Monica Chopra, Jeffrey De Flavio, MD, Samantha Adelberg, and the rest of the Auxa Health team as they officially announce their $5.2M Seed round. The team's deep industry expertise and drive for change have led them to solve critical infrastructural friction to providing quality healthcare and adoption of value-based care. Auxa's AI benefit navigation platform is simplifying the complexities of healthcare by streamlining all of the fragmented and siloed data and information to make it actionable in real-time for healthcare organizations. For the 70% of Americans who aren't getting access to the health and social care benefits they deserve, Auxa's solution will be pivotal in enabling equitable care. We're thrilled to partner with co-investors Zeal Capital Partners, AlleyCorp, Laconia, and Chaac Ventures on this journey and look to share many more milestones ahead. Cc K50 Ventures, Ryan Bloomer, Daniel Vásquez, Nick Talwar, Stefanie Ng https://lnkd.in/dPDY7-Db

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An interesting article below, that demonstrates out how San Diego is punching above its weight.  And how Connect's strategy and execution over time, contintues to be central to that success. The article describes the current state of the market in Seattle.  (And i love Seattle.) It's a market that we tend to track with relative to venture fundings.  They used to kick our butts, we outraised them each of the last three years.  This despite the fact they have 3x as many funds there, and 9x the amount of resident capital there. (per pitchbook) Some key takeaways:  * They continue to compare themselves to SIlicon Valley. Instead, we leverage our proximity. *They whine there's not enough local investors (see note above - they have more than us). We bring over 200 VCs to SD annually! * They say founders are not connected with one another. We bring CEOs together regularly, in a variety of ways - private dinners and through our Springboard program. * They say they need to elevate their image on a national & international stage. Why we created and continue to build Five.Ten.Thirty (aka Inno Day).  * And the last paragraph - they need to concentrate on making their region a great place to live. Our mantra: "It's about Better, not Bigger." (See XEO, TL Fund). THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT. WE ARE ON A MISSION TOGETHER!!!  (Comments, whining, suggestions on SD always welcome.) https://lnkd.in/g6Rq_f2Y

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Check out the first episode of Balderton Capital's new video series, "What's Next," where deep tech entrepreneurs share their experiences developing innovative technologies that have the potential to impact millions of lives. In the debut episode, James Wise interviews Alex Kendall, founder of Wayve, who recently announced their impressive $1bn Series C fundraise. Don't miss this insightful conversation on the future of tech! #BaldertonCapital #WhatsNext #DeepTech #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #TechLeadership

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We are thrilled to announce that LD Talent has been featured as a resource for the portfolio companies of 1517! This is a testimony to the hard work and dedication of our team in providing exceptional tech talent to growing businesses. A special shout-out goes to Danielle at 1517, who played an instrumental role in facilitating the listing of LD Talent as a recommended resource for 1517 companies. Our network has significantly expanded since the inception of this deal, and we continue to strive towards offering top-tier engineering skills to entrepreneurs and startups. As we celebrate this achievement, we want to thank our clients, whose valuable feedback continues to drive our growth and success. Here's what some of our clients have to say about our services: Our experience with LD Talent has been second to none. The level of expertise and professionalism within their network of engineers has been a game-changer for our business. Partnering with LD Talent has allowed us to scale our development efforts efficiently and with confidence. For more insight into our journey with 1517 and other notable funds, visit our blog post detailing how LD Talent became a go-to resource for portfolio companies: https://lnkd.in/dmiadKDg #LDTalent #TechTalent #EngineeringExcellence #StartupGrowth #1517Fund #ClientTestimonials #ProfessionalNetwork #StartupResources #TechIndustry #Innovation #PartnershipSuccess

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Yesterday, Sword Health announced a new funding round at a $3B valuation and introduced Phoenix, their new AI care specialist. On our latest Vital Signs, Nikhil Krishnan and I sat down with Virgílio (“V”) Bento, the Founder and CEO of Sword, to learn more about Phoenix, the evolution and key decisions behind Sword’s success, keys to employer sales and more. Some highlights: ⚡ An overview of Phoenix V explains that the number one problem in healthcare is patient engagement, which is why Sword aimed to make its AI solution as human-like as possible, enabling it to converse with and adapt to each patient. During a session, it can measure the patient’s movements, identify errors, and suggest areas of improvement. V emphasizes Phoenix as a co-pilot – while the AI supports human experts and helps scale their capabilities, it still follows care plans and requires human approval for clinical decisions. Sword plans to release this solution in a staged fashion, and V expects that every care model eventually should be disrupted with this approach. ⚡ Structuring an organization for growth When Sword plans to expand into another condition, it hires a strong generalist and provides them with $1 million to put together a team and reach product-market fit (PMF) in 12 months. V aims to replicate the scarcity mindset of launching a new startup. After 12 months, solutions that reach PMF receive more funding for expansion, while those that don’t are stopped. ⚡ Breaking in & building trust with customers When selling to employers and health plans, V highlights that there are only two types of solutions that can scale: those that allow customers to save money, and those that enable them to make more money. Sword focuses on the former through improving the quality of care. V also discusses how within the past 2-3 years, the benefits ecosystem has increasingly focused on driving cost efficiencies, meaning solutions have to prove ROI. Sword takes two approaches to do so: 1) contractually guaranteeing savings, and 2) having independent 3rd parties evaluate their ROI. ⚡ An early, game-changing decision When Sword first started, their vision was to develop technology for PT teams to use in their clinics. But, when they began running pilots, a lot of clinicians complained. These results raised a concern: if our product wasn’t working well in controlled environments such as clinics, then how would it work in uncontrolled environments such as homes? However, V recognized that offering the solution direct to patients at home would work. Even with its imperfections, it was still a better alternative than having patients travel to clinics, leading the company to bet on an entirely new focus. A really great conversation to learn more about Sword’s exciting trajectory! Listen to our full episode below: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3X9txM0 Apple: https://apple.co/4c8blGC

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Catch another episode of This Week in Startups where Upfront Managing Partner Mark Suster interviews Max Altman and Ben Braverman, two of the three co-founders of Saga Ventures. With Saga’s new $125 million fund, the trio talk about: ➡ Fundraising challenges the co-founders faced as a first-time fund and the playbook of how referrals can be the best leads for increasing the chances of success ➡ Nuances of determining a fund size to maintain competitive advantages in deal strategies ➡ Ben’s learnings from working with Ryan Peterson at Flexport as well as Max’s experience and unique advantages working with his brothers Jack and Sam Here's a short clip below about the attributes of successful founders that they look for, including those willing to take unconventional risks 👇

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Our revamped newsletter, The Angle by Angular Ventures, officially launched today! We hope this new format will make it easier to read, share, and subscribe. Back to it, in this week's column, Gil Dibner covered the spirit of risk-taking that inspired Angular to venture into unusual spaces. While, of course, we invest in AI and SaaS, as of late, we have been investing in more and more contrarian spaces - from quantum, to spacetech, to energy, etc. in search of the supposedly impossible - the truly contrarian. Read the full column via the link.

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Another large funding round in the virtual behavioral health space. It's interesting to note Talkiatry's focus on a physician-centric care model with W-2 providers, as opposed to most of the other players who are delivering care with 1099 mid-level therapists. However, it's still not clear to me how they are measuring care quality and outcomes, which is the foundation of true value-based care.

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Looking forward to discussing how changing demographics and culture norms are affecting investment opportunities in longevity, health and well-being at The Care Summit today Alongside Cake Ventures' Monique Woodard, Ziegler's Dan Hermann, Oak HC/FT's Billy Deitch and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jennifer Edwards, we’ll dive into the trends shaping how we are investing in the space: - Last year marked one of the most significant social and economic moments in modern times: The number of older adults—those aged 50 and over- surpassed the number of children under the age of 15 for the first time. - In 2020 the 50 plus population contributed $45 trillion to global GDP, or 34% of the total. That equates to about 3x the revenue of the world’s 100 highest- earning companies in 2020. - The U.S. population grew by 24.5 million from 2010 to 2022, and Hispanics accounted for 53% of this increase – a greater share than any other racial or ethnic group. - Women around the world and across all ages drive 64% of consumer spending

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We love seeing founders be able to keep their equity and take advantage of non-dilutive funding sources⚒️. We're excited to collaborate with Stacy Chin, PhD leader of KeepYourEquity.co, who has secured over $15M in SBIR/STTR grants for startups across various sectors. She's written a guest blog post sharing her insights on navigating the competitive landscape of grant funding 💰. Some highlights: ❇️ Understanding SBIR/STTR: A lifeline for startups, offering up to $2 million in non-dilutive funding! ⏺️ Learning how to overcome hurdles and capitalize on the golden opportunity. ❇️ Gaining essential tips on outlining your go-to-market strategy, choosing the right program, and preparing thoroughly. ⏺️ Benefiting from Stacy Chin's 10+ years of grant writing experience and her extensive track record in securing funding for startups. Read More in the blog post linked in the comment below 👇🏾 #SBIR #STTR #GrantFunding #StartupSuccess #SmallBusiness #KeepYourEquityCo #ShayCPA #cpafirm #techaccountants #startupaccountants #techstartup #techcompany #nondilutivefunding

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