Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Email Newsletter Signup

Facebook Linkedin Twitter
Blog > Author: Brian Jones

Author: Brian Jones

Why Early-Stage Investors Need to Understand Synthetic Biology

Posted on by Brian Jones
Karl Schmieder, MS/MFA and CEO of messagingLAB

There’s a bio-revolution happening, and it’s called Synthetic Biology. That was the take-home message of Karl Schmieder, MS/MFA and CEO of messagingLAB, a life sciences strategy and communications firm, in his fascinating presentation to Golden Seeds members.

“We really are entering the age of engineered, living machines”, said Schmieder, who is also the co-author of a book on the topic called What’s Your Bio Strategy? Preparing Your Business for Synthetic Biology.

In his talk, Schmieder provided some key background knowledge on the potential of Synthetic Biology, as well as an interesting peek into the future of the industry.

Let’s take a look at what he had to say about this transformational field and the opportunities it presents to investors.

Synthetic Biology Gets Real

Modern biotechnology has been around for almost 40 years. It’s incredible to think of how far the industry has developed during this time. As Schmieder said in his Golden Seeds talk, when the computer industry was that old, it still relied on those eight-inch, 80 KB floppy disks.

Right now, biotech is a nearly $350 billion industry which accounts for almost three percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.

However, when most people think of biotech, what immediately comes to mind is pharmaceuticals. While pharma is certainly a big part, investors who believe that biotech is limited to pharma are missing bigger, less risky opportunities.

Humans are great engineers and can build incredible things. But what we can do pales in comparison to nature, a force that can create the tiniest of microorganisms, the tallest of trees, and the incredible complexity and variety of human beings.

At its most basic, synthetic biology taps into nature’s great, almost unlimited potential. It’s all about manipulating DNA to engineer biological end-products. And, because biology exists in every environment on the planet — there is life everywhere, after all — the sky’s the limit as we get better at reading and writing it and investigate new ways to use it.

A Market on the Move

Synthetic biology has the potential to completely reinvent virtually every industry that uses chemicals and minerals to manufacture anything.

The “right-now” uses of synthetic biology are already far-reaching. There are mundane but critical ones, such as using natural organisms to create enzymes that allow detergents to work better in cold water or make the process of dyeing clothing less water-intensive. Then there are the science-fiction-sounding applications like producing silk by brewing yeast, or “growing” leather without the cow. Synthetic biology has clearly already made its mark and is becoming more and more innovative.

What’s more, even as these far-out uses become reality, synthetic biology is also making biotechnology more accessible. An innovation that may have required an advanced science degree and hundreds of millions of dollars to accomplish even just 20 years ago, can now take a few hours in a co-op lab space and hundreds of dollars, and in many cases can be outsourced.

And, innovations such as lower-cost, briefcase-sized labs and pipette robots that you can take with you are rapidly improving the ease, accessibility, and cost of scientific experimentation.

What this all means is that savvy investors who understand the transformative power of synthetic biology are faced with unlimited opportunity.

These are a few major, overlapping categories of synthetic biology that are particularly interesting:

Organism and bio-circuit design: If you have an idea for a product, instead of building a lab or renting space and hiring lab personnel, you simply outsource your work to synthetic biology specialists. These companies can design organisms, scale up production and even optimize your supply chain.

Bio-fabrication: Instead of getting products from nature and animals, you can actually grow the cells that will manufacture the product. For example, instead of needing cows to make leather — which can cause pollution and require constant care — you grow leather directly in the lab.

Cellular agriculture: This includes creating protein without having to raise animals, as well as other methods to reduce the environmental impact of “raising” food.

Information storage: The most efficient storage system on earth isn’t flash or solid-state memory, it’s DNA. Right now, DNA drives can store 1 Terabyte of information. They aren’t yet as fast as a hard drive, but the industry is innovating rapidly.

The environment: It’s no secret that remediating the environment — cleaning up plastics and slowing climate change — is one of the biggest challenges that humans face. Synthetic biology is stepping up to help solve these problems. For example, one company uses methane to create truly biodegradable plastic, solving two problems at once.

Learn more

There are some great synthetic biology resources and events that can help you get up to speed.

Perhaps the best place to start is by reading Schmieder’s book, What’s Your Bio Strategy? Preparing Your Business for Synthetic Biology. It provides all the basics and background, while giving relatable, real-world scenarios and advice for investors.

Once you’ve done that, look into events like the Biodesign Challenge Summit and Biofabricate, both in New York, the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition and New Harvest conference in Boston, and the annual SynBioBeta conference in San Francisco. Or network at NewBioCity, in New York City to meet synthetic biology entrepreneurs.

Finally, find a community lab in your area. The first in the world was Genspace in Brooklyn, NY. Now there are hundreds, all over the globe. They operate on a subscription model and often offer classes and provide resources to help you learn more about the industry.

Golden Seeds is following the trend of synthetic biology with great interest — might it be the fifth industrial revolution?

Learn more about Golden Seeds.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Fran Dunaway, CEO & Co-Founder at TomboyX

Posted on by Brian Jones
Fran Dunaway, CEO & Co-Founder atTomboyX

Fran Dunaway started TomboyX after coming up empty handed while looking for the perfect shirt. The company was an instant hit, with its comfortable, gender-neutral clothing and undergarments resonating especially well with the LGBTQ community. They’ve since been named one of Inc Magazine’s 5000 fastest growing companies and continue to see 2x growth year over year.

Golden Seeds’ Peggy Wallace sat down with Fran to discuss her company’s journey from Kickstarter campaign to raising more than $25 million to date.

PW: Tell us about the origins of your company.

FD: The company started after I was unable to find a button up shirt made for a woman’s body. My then girlfriend, now wife, Naomi, and I decided to make our own as a side project. We launched a Kickstarter campaign and successfully raised $76,000. Soon after, we started hearing the same struggle and complaints from people around the world. It became apparent that we had an opportunity to which we should pay attention. After several requests, we set out to make a comfortable boxer brief that would fit every body type.

From the beginning, inclusivity was important to us. We didn’t start out as a gender-neutral apparel brand, but that has turned into our sweet spot. Timing is everything and we hit that at exactly the right time. As such, TomboyX has been able to expand from underwear to loungewear, swimwear, sleepwear and accessories.

PW: How has your background in previous jobs, such as your work with political messaging, helped you build TomboyX?

FD: I was a partner in a media strategies firm and produced political ads for Democratic candidates and campaigns around the U.S. I’ve also been an active member in the Human Rights Campaign and was part of the original steering committee. We brought Howard Dean to the Board of Governors dinner one year, signing him a week before he became wildly popular.

I remember saying to Naomi during the Kickstarter campaign, “The energy and excitement around this brand is like Howard Dean fervor.” It was palpable. We realized we had not only an opportunity, but a responsibility.

PW: Why do you think TomboyX successfully captured today’s zeitgeist?

FD: Timing is everything. We happened to launch during a time in which the whole notion of tomboy, gender neutrality and #metoo was coming to the forefront. We are delighted to be a brand that reflects the energy of today’s climate and the work this generation is doing to move the needle.

PW: What market need are you solving, and how is your approach different from how others have addressed this need?

FD: When we started, we saw a need in a few categories, like athletes wearing our clothing under their uniforms, firefighters who strip down to prepare to go fight a fire, or people in the medical industry who want something comfortable to wear when they change out of their scrubs. They feel much more comfortable and confident doing these things wearing boxer briefs that fit their bodies well.

We also find that a lot of companies treat the LGBTQ and plus size communities differently or ignore them entirely. We didn’t want to have a separate plus size category or cause the subtle shaming that comes with that. We’ve stepped into a white space of the fashion industry that has been ignored for a while.

PW: What challenges have you encountered along the way? How have you overcome them?

FD: One of the hardest challenges was raising money, especially as female entrepreneurs who are disrupting their space. It was an uphill battle to educate potential investors about what’s wrong with traditional retail brands and to find people that believed in our vision. In the end, we wound up with great investors who understand that we aren’t necessarily a niche brand.

PW: What’s coming up next for your company? Any big milestones on the horizon?

FD: Until recently, we’ve been lean and have stayed largely under the radar because we haven’t had the resources to push it as far as we could. We just closed our series B round of financing, so we’ll be focusing on growing our team, our technology and brand awareness.

PW: What advice do you have for early-stage founders about raising money, growing a team, fostering company culture or other issues you’ve had to address?

FD: It’s important to find a great mentor early on: someone who has been in the space and knows the pitfalls, trials, and tribulations. A mentor can provide positive reinforcement during your incredibly challenging, difficult entrepreneurship journey.

PW: Tell us about your experience with Golden Seeds.

FD: Golden Seeds came at a critical time for us on our fundraising journey and we were delighted to have them join us. They have been a great champion of the brand and provided incredible networking opportunities as well.

Learn more about Golden Seeds’ vision.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Minna Song, Co-Founder of MeetElise

Posted on by Brian Jones
Minna Song, Co-Founder of MeetElise

Wanting to create a company with lasting positive impact, Minna Song co-founded MeetElise, the first company to tackle rising housing costs with artificial intelligence. She now boasts major real estate players like AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential as both customers and investors.

Golden Seeds’ Managing Partner Jo Ann Corkran has become an advisor and sits on its board of directors. The two sat down together to discuss Song’s path to success and the future of the groundbreaking company.

JC: Tell us about the origins of your company.

MS: My co-founder, Tony Stoyanov, and I were coming off the heels of starting a company in the social media advertising space and quickly learned it was not a problem we felt strong devotion to solving. We wanted to create a company that would have a positive impact and the potential to affect every person, so we looked at the fundamental human needs: food, water and shelter. Ultimately, we saw the most opportunity in shelter and decided to learn about the housing industry’s inefficiencies. I got an administrative job at a brokerage firm to experience the real estate industry. While working there, I discovered that slow human communication caused most of the bottlenecks for renters finding a new home. My cofounder and I decided to use our backgrounds in software engineering and artificial intelligence (AI) to create a platform that could eliminate these bottlenecks and make conversations more efficient. MeetElise was born.

JC: What market need are you solving, and how is your approach different from how others have addressed this need?

MS: Our mission is to make housing more affordable by reducing property management costs. Despite being one of the most important industries, real estate can be late to adopt new technologies. The majority of current tools are built around setting reminders for people to complete certain tasks. MeetElise solves problems with automation versus just nudging humans to take care of them.

For example, people hate following up with leads, but it’s one of the most important activities in any sales process. When someone is renting an apartment and forgets to reply to an email from the leasing office, most industry tech tools focus on delivering an alert to the leasing agent to send a follow-up note. It doesn’t complete the task but rather provides the agent with yet another notification. In comparison, MeetElise uses AI to send a personalized follow-up note to the potential renter automatically, freeing up time for the leasing agent to focus on other priorities.

JC: What challenges have you encountered along the way? How have you overcome them?

MS: It’s been a challenge to convince property management companies to change their processes because it’s a risk for companies to try new and different ways of operating versus getting better at their current methods. But, ultimately, it can provide a bigger payoff. In AI, we call this the explore vs. exploit tradeoff. Real estate is a pretty conservative industry and big players tend to choose to exploit what they already know. However, we’ve found that leveraging case studies with metrics helps us make our case. Providing real data around how MeetElise can benefit their company gives our potential customers concrete and quantifiable evidence, which makes it easier for them to make a decision.

JC: What is coming up next for your company? Any big milestones on the horizon?

MS: Our goal is to make AI the status quo in real estate. We’re exploring the ways that state-of-the-art AI can be used to make all property management processes more efficient, beyond the leasing process and initial move-in. We want to enable property managers to immediately service their tenants from the moment they first inquire to when they move out. MeetElise will help schedule viewings, automatically follow up, and answer maintenance requests to make the entire process more efficient and less expensive. We’re also hiring a sales team to help get the word out about MeetElise and how AI can benefit the real estate industry.

JC: What advice do you have for early-stage founders about raising money, growing a team, fostering company culture or other issues you’ve had to address?

MS: My biggest piece of advice for anyone starting a company is to know that everything is a process, and you need to put in the hard work to constantly improve each process. Every time that you pitch a potential investor, launch a new feature or interview a new hire, take a step back to evaluate what went well and what didn’t go well so that you don’t make the same mistake on the next pitch or launch or interview. Keep doing that over and over until you get the best version of that process. If you’re not getting better, you’re just going to fall behind.

JC: Tell us about your experience with Golden Seeds. How has the Golden Seeds network been helpful to you?

MS: First of all, Jo Ann, we greatly value our relationship with you as an investor, trusted advisor and board member. Especially because we are first-time founders, you’ve challenged us with hard questions that helped us understand what’s best for our business. You’ve guided us through how Golden Seeds makes decisions, who to include in funding rounds, and how to choose the best partners for our growing company. In addition, Golden Seeds has very deep ties in the real estate industry, which has helped us with networking. This week alone, we had introductions to five different multifamily real estate companies. Our network continues to grow with potential leads as a result of Golden Seeds’ support.

How Entrepreneurs Can Turn Investors into Champions

Posted on by Brian Jones

Fundraising takes hard work and a lot of time. So, it is no surprise that once the checks clear, entrepreneurs are eager to get back to building their businesses. Their investors want that, too. However, once the money is in the bank, some entrepreneurs may forego building stronger, broader and deeper relationships with investors by skimping on communications.

The entrepreneur thinks she has saved time, but the truth of the matter is that they have likely missed introductions, business opportunities, talent referrals and the opportunity to expand an enthusiastic future funding base.

Ongoing communications should be thought of as a powerful tool for turning investors into champions of your company and of you.

The Power of Proactive Communications

Two of the first companies I funded as part of Golden Seeds opened my eyes to the power of proactive investor engagement.

As a new member, I took for granted the financial reports that arrived like clockwork. I read the email updates on financial and business drivers, participated in the regularly offered calls and lunches with the CEOs. I listened to my fellow angels ask a lot of smart questions, make suggestions and respond to specific management requests with introductions and candidate referrals. I found myself more confidently able to talk up the companies outside of Golden Seeds and noticed growing buzz about both companies within our network. When the time came for subsequent funding rounds, new Golden Seeds names appeared. While the CEOs were hitting their milestones successfully, they also astutely built their brand and an expanding base of champions.

Then I noticed that some of my later funded companies didn’t communicate much at all. It took a while for me to realize this, as I was preoccupied with the good communicators!

I am much more confident and positive about the companies that are strong communicators than the others. They have a greater share of mind because I hear from them more often. As a result, I naturally look for opportunities to discuss these companies with colleagues and friends who might have an interest in referring potential customers or investing in them.

Information Rights Are Only the Beginning

Golden Seeds, and most institutional investors, will typically require information rights from funded companies, which are formalized in the investment documents. In simple terms, information rights require the companies to share basic financial results with their investors periodically, usually every quarter. If you invest in a company as a group, one of the advantages is that the group can negotiate for these rights if they are investing a meaningful sum in the company. Sometimes angels invest individually with no bargaining power. Bottom line, information rights are extremely valuable, but not always obtained.

On the flip side, entrepreneurs should not mistake a quarterly distribution of basic financials for an effective investor engagement or communications strategy. The starting point to engage investors is a regular sharing of information about company developments, what is working and what is not.

Candor and consistency of content and timing are key. Following is a suggested investor package that that helps you get the most out of your investor communications:

  • Trending income statements, balance sheets
  • Trending financial and business drivers
  • Client pipeline update (for B2B businesses)
  • Updates on key non-financial areas like talent, marketing, vendors and technology
  • Fundraising outlook
  • Solicitation of questions and input from investors
  • Investor “asks” to help the company

Standardizing the package and data set makes updating efficient. Quarterly or monthly distributions are the most effective in maintaining investor engagement. It is always helpful to include a brief narrative and tell investors ways they can help the company, such as with hiring efforts or obtaining key introductions.

Entrepreneurs can get substantially more by supplementing distributions with live investor calls or meetings. Some companies do a quarterly call, and others hold them ad hoc. Other companies extend invitations to all investors, while others hold meetings with a smaller group. However structured, there is no substitute for live interaction between CEOs and investors.

Successful Leaders = Good Communicators

I am a director of four public companies, two of whom send out monthly updates to the board from their CEOs. The other two CEOs send out frequent ad hoc communications. In all four cases, these communication routines evolved as an efficient way to fill the information gap between board meetings and to minimize surprises.

Successful CEOs know that honest and frequent communications go a long way in maintaining the support of important stakeholders.

Capitalize on Angel Generosity

In addition to seeking good financial returns, angels tend to bring strong qualitative motives to decisions about which companies and entrepreneurs to back — wanting to invest in women, confidence in the leader herself, a desire to invest alongside people they like or admire, personal interest in an industry or product niche, a theme that resonates.

These drivers combine to make most angels eager to open up their networks and use their social capital to help their companies. But time, attention and social capital are precious. It takes knowledge and conversation for someone to have an “a-ha!” moment about a potential strong match that inspires them to take action.

Entrepreneurs invest their hearts and souls in their businesses. A modest but disciplined investment in communications and engagement can turn investors into champions of you and your business.

Learn more about how women entrepreneurs are achieving success with Golden Seeds.

Tips for Successfully Serving on a Startup Board

Posted on by Brian Jones

In a recent blog, I looked at why a strong board of directors is important to a startup’s success and what to consider when assembling yours. There’s a flipside to this. As a business leader, you have expertise running a company, market familiarity, valuable connections and more. Your professional experience could be just what a startup needs.

As the Spencer Stuart U.S. Board Index points out, the makeup of boards is changing. S&P 500 companies are bringing in directors with fresh skills and points of views. We’ve witnessed it at Golden Seeds. Our investors have held more than 100 board and board observer positions in companies that have received investment from Golden Seeds, 90 of those held by women.

It’s a good trend to see. Yet, while being asked to join a board can be flattering, exciting and even offer new opportunities, it’s a big commitment. You need to understand what you’re getting into and how you fit the needs of the company.

The following tips can help you make the most of your board appointment, onboard successfully and perform your duties effectively.

Are You Ready?

Gail Hoffman, a board member of Groupize, a Golden Seeds company that develops technology for corporations to efficiently manage events and meetings, noted: “Board members are often coaches and mentors to management of early-stage companies, providing guidance in countless ways.”

As a board member, you are fully aware of the many challenges of getting a company off the ground. You want to make sure you add value. So, know what’s required of you and determine if you’ve really got the bandwidth to do this at this time. If not now, you may be able to consider it in the future — better to do this right, when you’re able to truly have an impact that will enhance that company and your reputation.

That said, remember that a board seat is usually for a period of two to six years. For new companies, meetings are frequent and throughout the year. You may need to travel, and perhaps lead a committee. When there’s a crisis, you’ll need to drop everything, and that will happen. Remember, these are often small companies that have many ups and downs. They rely heavily on their board members. Small companies need close guidance.

This is just the start. It is important to study the basics of board governance to understand all your fiduciary duties and take a course, if possible. This will help you grasp the obligations and whether being on a board is a commitment you’ll be able to do justice.

Protect and Prepare

Joining a board can potentially bring personal risk. Ensure the company has directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance. If legal action is brought against the board or management, this is important protection.

Become familiar with director-related documentation like protective provisions, voting agreements, bylaws and committee structures. You’ll be involved in decision making and you’ll want to be certain that all actions are in accordance with the documents.

Further, realize you might not always agree with a company’s actions, and that you may know investors who have contrary opinions. That said, be prepared to act in accordance with your role as a director. You need to act as a fiduciary for all shareholders — that’s where your ultimate interest and loyalty must be.

Understand Your Duties

Boards usually have an odd number of members to avoid reaching an impasse when it comes to voting. A five-director model could include the founder, CEO, two investors and an independent director. The latter usually has particular expertise the company needs. Boards need to have fulsome conversations and can hopefully reach consensus on all or most matters.

If you’re on the board of a funded startup, know that you need an exit to provide returns. Boards for these companies need to be focused on positioning the entity as an attractive acquisition or IPO candidate. This is done by meeting relevant milestones and metrics and building a fundamentally sound business.

Keep in mind that goal, and further, that you’re not there to run the company. You’re there to advise the leaders so it’s important to maintain the higher level view — guide strategy, review financials, develop measurable goals. Know your place and don’t get caught up in management minutia.

The Board Journey

Sheri Anderson, a long-time board member for children “edutainment” company, Little Passports, recently said: “You never know what opportunities and challenges a company may have, but serving on the board allows you to take the journey along with the entrepreneurs.”

If you’ve been offered a board position and can truly commit — you’ve done your due diligence and are aligned with the role — go for it!

It’s an exciting role and a real rush to have a hand in a successful startup. And make no mistake, you’ll build your reputation, skills, expertise and networking connections throughout it all.

I can assure you that you’ll never be bored on a board — and you’ll always grow.

Learn more about how women entrepreneurs are achieving success with Golden Seeds.

4 Ways a Great Board of Directors Can Springboard Startup Success

Posted on by Brian Jones

When you’re trying to get your startup off the ground, it can be all too easy to get caught up in those immediate day-to-day tasks — important and not-so-important. What should your sales strategy look like? How will you ship your product to meet a deadline? Where will you put the table in the conference room?

With so much work that’s pressing, it can be easy to lose sight of big-picture items that might not seem so time sensitive, but ultimately can ensure that your company is successful. One of the most important of these challenges is choosing your board and making the most of it.

Enlisting a strong board of directors is one of the most important things you can do to help your company succeed. Your board members often have a large contacts list and can introduce you to other investors and influencers or potential customers. They have a deep talent of experience to share in areas from sales, strategy and finance to social media, marketing and public relations. And let’s face it, they’re often people who would be too expensive — or generally unavailable — for you to hire outright.

How do you select a board that will provide all these benefits?

Here are four things that we’ve found are critical to keep in mind when designing and recruiting a board that’ll help your company achieve its goals.

Independence

Your board could include members of your company and investors (if you have them). That only makes sense, after all, as you all have a vested interest in how the company performs. In fact, these two groups should make up the majority of your board.

It’s important, however, to include at least one director who is independent. They have no relationship with your company — monetary or otherwise — so they can be completely objective.

For this role, try to find someone whose areas of expertise expand your company’s strengths and provide depth where you might be a little short. Often the independent director is someone with vast industry knowledge and high-level operational experience. Beyond that, think of characteristics that match anyone you would want to work with: trustworthy and well-respected in their industry, a person who fits with your company’s goals and culture.

Diversity

By now, this shouldn’t come as a shock: diversity within executive teams, including boards, leads to better financial performance. But don’t take our word for it. McKinsey’s groundbreaking delivering through diversity research shows that companies in the top quartile of diversity, measured by gender, cultural and ethnic criteria, outperformed other companies in financial metrics like profitability and likelihood of outperforming margins.

As you’re choosing the best people for your board, keep these stats in mind. Having representation parity brings different viewpoints and different ideas, which ultimately leads to better financial performance.

You’re in this together

You’re hoping the relationship you have with your board members is a long, mutually beneficial one. Creating strong, productive working relationships and maintaining them will go a long way toward making your company successful.

This means open, candid, and regular communication. Determine how often you’ll meet as a board — startups often choose monthly or bi-monthly meetings in the beginning and move to quarterly meetings later — but make sure you keep board members updated on changes and new information between meetings to avoid surprises and build those relationships.

Focus on the end-game

Your goal is to get the maximum return on your investment for your investors. Your equity holders’ financial reward is dependent on a successful exit, so be sure to focus on the end-game.

Make it a point to align with your board members as much as possible throughout the life of the company. Achieving this alignment may mean accepting advice based on the experience of board members who have steered companies through difficult marketplaces. This isn’t always easy. It may require changes that don’t match your vision, a shift in funding priorities or even a change in management. But the goal is that this alignment will help lead to optimum return.

A strong board will appreciate your goals and help you reach them, but you need to make board members a priority. Listen to their advice, use them as a sounding board and value their support.

Learn more about how women entrepreneurs are achieving success with Golden Seeds.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Sharelle Klaus, CEO and Founder at DRY Soda Company

Posted on by Brian Jones
Sharelle Klaus, CEO and Founder at DRY Soda Company

As a busy mom, she wasn’t going to let a lack of wine or cocktails stop her from having a great beverage. So, she crafted a clean, carbonated, celebratory drink, minus the alcohol. Now she and her all-female executive team are creating a new beverage category.

Golden Seeds’ Peggy Wallace discussed with Sharelle Klaus how her company is taking over celebratory occasions with non-alcoholic sparkling beverages.

PW: Tell us about the origins of your company.

SK: I love celebrating. Being out with friends, connecting over a meal or celebrating the wins in life has been my thing. But 14 years ago, I had four incredible children under the age of seven and didn’t feel like drinking fit as part of my lifestyle. The catch is, I still wanted to feel a part of the party, raise a toast and treat myself. So, I got to work in my own kitchen, creating bubbly drinks with clean, botanical flavors and  Sparkling was born. I wanted a drink that would pair as perfectly as wine with food, but almost more unique, elevating botanical flavors like lavender and cucumber.

Feel free to pinch me, because here I am 14 years later with a nationally recognized brand that is available in over 10,000 locations in North America, working with an incredible team of all-female leaders, and elevating what non-alcoholic drinks can be from an afterthought to an experience.

PW: What market need are you solving, and how is your approach different from the way others have addressed this need?

SK: This year, alcohol sales in the US are down for the third year in a row. Americans are drinking less and less, which is creating an opportunity for non-alcoholic celebration beverages. We are working to fill that space with a product that was created with adults in mind. We think that design and intention matters. Our botanical flavors, short and simple ingredient lists (four ingredients), and Non-GMO verification are table stakes, but we work to elevate flavor over sweetness and believe design matters. For example, we put a tremendous amount of effort into our brand and packaging, so each bottle feels like its own celebration. We work with some amazing artists on our bottles. We sell single 12-ounce bottles that are glass and also offer celebration bottles that are 750ml.

PW: What challenges have you encountered along way? How have you overcome them?

SK: Building a business is hard. Period. Of course, the beverage industry comes with its own complexities from giant players, to an ultra-competitive landscape, to being crazy fragmented. It is also a quickly evolving marketplace and figuring out how to be true to your purpose and be responsive to the market causes friction.

I’ve learned two huge lessons:

1) DRY is who it is because it has a clear vision and mission. We are fanatical about our purpose and do not sway from it. For instance, we were created to be a non-alcoholic option, but during my first sales meeting, a bartender wanted to use it as a mixer. Soon we had a cult-like following of mixologists. We started to market ourselves as a mixer but that is not what we are and while it is great people want to use us this way, we got off our own message by chasing an opportunity. If you are resource-restrained from a marketing standpoint, stay focused on what you’re trying to get done with your target consumers, so that you don’t spread yourself too thin.

2) People make it work. The right talent will help you problem solve, which is important in the beverage industry. The industry is one big challenge after another, so our culture is extremely collaborative. My team is bright, creative and loves solving problems. If you are bothered by problems, you can’t work at DRY Soda Company.

PW: What’s coming up next for your company?

SK: We have two new marketing campaigns we are excited to launch in 2019 — one this summer and one focused on the holidays. The campaigns involve our entire portfolio of products and support the idea that, in social situations, non-alcoholic drinks shouldn’t be an afterthought, they should be a must-have. I am most excited about the messaging and marketing around hosting “celebration occasions” and that our 750 mL celebration bottles will have thousands of new points of distribution. This is becoming a big opportunity for us and it’s taking off. We will be extremely focused on this over the next 24 months. Of course, there is flavor innovation as well, which is always fun.

PW: What advice do you have for early-stage founders about raising money, growing a team, fostering company culture or other issues you’ve had to address?

SK: Surround yourself with talent that complements your skillset. Be aware of what you’re not good at and figure out how to find that talent. I often felt as CEO I had to have all the answers, and if I didn’t have all the answers, I couldn’t expect my team to have them. But I learned that it’s the complete opposite — it’s okay if I don’t have all the answers. That’s why I have a team.

The other thing that can be difficult for founders is parting ways from the original team who was there from day one, but founders have to be rigorous about making changes when it’s time. I think founders struggle with that because we are so thankful that anyone wants to help us with this dream of ours, but you owe it to the business and to your investors to make these tough decisions. It’s painful but it has to happen.

PW: Tell us about your experience with Golden Seeds. How has the Golden Seeds network been helpful to you?

SK: DRY was one of the first companies to be supported by Golden Seeds. This is such an incredible group of people who believed in me. I was a brand-new CEO and I felt like I had this amazing network from Golden Seeds. In fact, some of my original investors are still good friends of mine who I’ll reach out to and they really encourage me. I felt like Golden Seeds had my back from day one.

Over the years, Golden Seeds has grown exponentially and its bank of knowledge, resources and network are invaluable. The group’s purpose of wanting to make hardworking women into successful entrepreneurs is palpable all the time. The insights, connections, and support are delightful. I have met so many brilliant people through Golden Seeds, which I am forever grateful for.

One of the reasons that DRY Soda Company now has an all-female executive team, which is highly unusual in consumer product goods, is based off this early excitement and inspiration I received from Golden Seeds. I had always been in male-dominated industries, so Golden Seeds was my first experience being around so many brilliant women. They showed me the importance of bringing together female perspectives and how insightful and knowledgeable it can be. Now, we are the only all-female executive team in the beverage industry, and I credit Golden Seeds for that.

Interested in joining Golden Seeds? Learn about membership here.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Youyi Kitson, Co-founder and COO of Haxiot

Posted on by Brian Jones

Youyi Kitson takes learning seriously. She tested the waters of IoT carefully to identify the opportunities. She evolved her company messaging over time in order to communicate and connect with investors, while tweaking a sales process to expedite customer decision-making. And when questions needed to be asked, she didn’t hesitate, knowing the answers would help advance her efforts.

Golden Seeds’ Mary McCaffrey discussed with Youyi how she was able to bring a unique solution to the IoT marketplace that enterprises needed.

MM: Tell us about the origins of your company.

YK: We were founded in 2015 and started as a hardware-only company in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. We wanted to experiment by making and selling developer kits first. This enabled us to gain insight into where the demand was in IoT — what people were attempting to build and deploy.

It was a learning process, and as we worked with engineers, we were able to understand the issues. This also allowed us to build a very specific solution over time. We decided we’d create a software platform that would leverage our portfolio and deliver fully integrated enterprise IoT solutions.

MM: What market need are you solving, and how is your approach different from the way others have addressed this need?

YK: We specialize in a newer wireless technology called low power wide area (LPWA) which facilitates end-to-end IoT solution connectivity. It’s been around for only three or four years and answers a need that Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or cellular technology doesn’t. It has unique, cost-effective capabilities for use in IoT applications like utility meters, monitoring commercial property, tracking assets over a wide area and more.

With our solution, customers can collect real-time data from enterprise assets, systems and people, allowing immediate and precise business decision-making. We do this through an end-to-end, device-to-cloud platform that provides connectivity and data management. Basically, we do the hard work so an organization can focus on developing and managing value-added applications.

What wasn’t being addressed by competitors was the time-to-market, simplicity and scale. Our software platform consists of three parts; device, gateway management software & data normalization. Our fully integrated & secure approach enables enterprises to directly access the machine data via our rich set of APIs. Competitors typically work in only one of those areas; they’re either a software company that offers a platform service or a hardware manufacturer. Under their approach, enterprises have to purchase and integrate these separate elements.

That’s costly and takes a long time to deploy; the ROI to get the data they want is low. It’s also more work and time-consuming to scale.

Our approach provides an out-of-the box experience for enterprise customers. They tell us what data they want and how they want it, we provide a solution that’s ready to go and grow as they need. It can be integrated within weeks instead of months and less expensively. As a result, we have about 35 active customers deploying or trialing solutions, along with a tremendous sales pipeline.

MM: What challenges have you encountered along the way? How have you overcome them?

YK: Fundraising was a challenge and part of that had to do with messaging. This is complex technology. We needed to more clearly show what we do — powerfully illustrate the great value we offer — so investors from a range of industries could understand. We were able to refine our messaging so people without any deep technical background could easily comprehend and realize the potential.

Another challenge was to condense the enterprise software sales cycle, which we found was too long. We’ve evolved our selling process to move deals forward faster. The features that we build, and our offerings, are designed for quick evaluation and validation. This has enabled customers to make decisions and deploy faster.

MM: What’s coming up next for your company? Any big milestones on the horizon?

YK: We recently launched our edge computing solution. That has been well received by customers especially in the industrial automation vertical. Already, it’s caught the attention of large Fortune 500 customers; our top three ongoing deployments all are using the solution. For example, we’ve been working with a large, multi-national industrial company and are about to enter the second stage of a trial to monitor their assets in the field. We’re the first in our market segment offering this type of solution, so we’re very excited about the possibilities.

While we still have some capacity left in our current open round, we have built a solid pipeline with institutional investors due to our recent pivot into edge computing for Industrial IoT. We believe we are on target to raise series A in Q3/Q4.

MM: What advice do you have for early-stage founders about raising money, growing a team, fostering company culture?

YK: Raising money is an ongoing process and you need to learn from the experience. If we pitch to an investor and they decline, I like to ask them to share their reasoning. This helps you improve your messaging and areas of your company where there might be a weakness. Sometimes I talk to early stage founders and they’re discouraged by the process. But there are lessons to be learned from every rejection.

Particularly for seed stage companies, you have to use funds carefully and act quickly. It’s not like a big corporation where if something isn’t quite on target, you have the financial resources and time to work around problems. You have to make decisions promptly to keep the company on track.

When it comes to hiring, it’s important a candidate has that “startup spirit.” Ask what their thoughts are on working for a startup? If you see someone who has always worked for large companies, it could be a culture shock — you want to make sure new hires will fit into your team.

MM: Tell us about your experience with Golden Seeds. How has the Golden Seeds network been helpful to you?

YJ: Mary McCaffrey, Cheryl Kallem and many other GS investors from both NYC & the Dallas Chapter have been tremendous mentors to me. This is the first time as a founder that I’ve had to raise outside funding. It’s been a learning experience and they’ve helped me work very effectively with other groups.

Many Golden Seeds members have strong backgrounds and knowledge in financial areas. This is important to early stage startups because it’s easy to get wrapped up in perfecting product offerings — but you must have financial control and planning is vital. Also, Golden Seeds has been instrumental with networking; they’ve made invaluable introductions to both investors and customers.

How Did She Do It? A Q&A with Colette Courtion, CEO and Co-Founder of Joylux, named a ‘most innovative company’

Posted on by Brian Jones

How one woman’s journey into motherhood, coupled with her passion for transformational beauty products and medical devices, led to an innovative health solution for the enormous, but underserved female intimate care market.

Joylux is a FemTech company that creates innovative consumer and medical devices and products that transform women’s pelvic floor health, empowering women to live their best lives. Joylux seeks to improve vaginal health for postpartum, perimenopausal and menopausal women through its portfolio of non-invasive, at-home solutions using innovative red light, thermal energy and sonic vibration under the vSculpt and vFit brands. Joylux recently won the prestigious Luis Villalobos Award, given each year by the Angel Capital Association to the company considered the “most innovative company.”

Golden Seeds’ Jen Levy and Deb Doyle discussed with Colette how she used personal inspiration and professional experience to found a leading FemTech company.

Colette Courtion, CEO and Co-Founder of Joylux. Photo courtesy of Joylux.

JL and DD: Tell us about the origins of your company.

CC: I started Joylux from my own personal experience. When I first found out I was pregnant, I had girlfriends who shared their pregnancy experiences with me. Of course, there were some things I expected to hear — weight gain, nausea, those sorts of things — but I wasn’t expecting them to share with me that after I gave birth, I’d wet my pants when I sneezed or if I jumped up and down. No one had shared this before. I had no idea. Why was nobody talking about this? I did some research and realized that this was stress incontinence and it affects a large number of women, at least one in three women, though we suspect it’s underreported and it actually affects more like 50 percent of all women.

I also learned that there are very few options for women. Surgery may be an appropriate path for very severe cases. But, for the most part, if you didn’t have surgery, you just had to live with it or change your lifestyle to avoid these embarrassing moments.

My background is in medical aesthetics — tightening, toning and restoring facial tissue — and I had this “a-ha” moment, when I thought, “Why can’t we take this same technology and apply it to pelvic health?” That’s what led to the creation of Joylux. I was looking for a safe and non-invasive way to help women tighten and tone their pelvic floor.

JL and DD: What market need are you solving, and how is your approach different from how others have addressed this need?

CC: When I first conceived the idea of Joylux, it was specifically designed to help women suffering from stress urinary incontinence. But now that we’re in the market, the feedback we’re really hearing is that menopausal and perimenopausal women are buying our product because they’re experiencing relief in the three major issues of pelvic health — stress incontinence, vaginal dryness and pain with intercourse. In fact, we did two surveys — the first was 2,300 women and the second was more than 5,000 women — and in both cases, well over 50 percent of women say they suffer from at least one of the three issues.

When you look at the amount of money that is being spent to mask these three problems, it’s astonishing. Incontinence pads make up a $7B market in the U.S. alone. It’s believed that the sale of adult diapers will actually surpass sales of baby diapers because of our aging population. So incontinence alone is a is a massive market. Then, take a look at the market for vaginal dryness: Women spend $8 billion on hormone-replacement creams and another few billion dollars on over-the-counter lubricants.

We are the only non-invasive, multi-symptom device on the market. The limited options that are on the consumer market don’t address the tissue damage. We’re the first home-use device in the world using our patented energy-based technology. Our solution uses red light, gentle heat and sonic vibration to target all three symptoms by depositing energy into the tissue to increase collagen production and impact vascularization.

JL and DD: What challenges have you encountered along the way? How have you overcome them?

The first challenge was funding. This is a sensitive topic and talking pelvic health with investors is not easy. We live in a male-dominated funding world, so many of our potential investors are men and simply don’t understand this problem. This became a real challenge when it came to raising funds for the company, but we overcame this challenge by seeking out funding from female investors, like Golden Seeds. If the women aren’t specifically familiar with what I’m talking about, chances are they have girlfriends who are. Women want to support other women, so it’s always been a great audience for us to talk about our company.

We’ve also had marketing challenges. For our target demographic, one of the best vehicles to approach them is Facebook, but Facebook doesn’t allow ads for any products that have to do with women’s intimate health to be marketed on their platform. They allow for men’s intimate health products, such as condoms or erectile dysfunction products, under the umbrella of “family planning.” But they don’t categorize women’s intimate health products under family planning. Instead, they classify it under sexual content. This has forced us to be very clever and creative in how we talk about our product. There are so many women who are desperate that they are seeking out solutions.

JL and DD: What’s coming up next for your company? Any big milestones on the horizon?

CC: I’m happy to report that Joylux recently won the prestigious Luis Villalobos Award, given each year by the Angel Capital Association to the company considered the “most innovative company.” The Angel Capital Association is made up of more than 14,000 accredited investors, including Golden Seeds. We’re really excited about that because it validates all the hard work that our team is doing.

We’re also growing. We launched last year in the U.S., and today we are sold in more than 200 doctors’ offices in the U.S., which is great because physicians are the most knowledgeable and trusted resources on what works to help pelvic health. We’re also being sold direct-to-consumer online, and we just launched a partnership with Gwyneth Paltrow’s online marketplace, Goop. Goop has been very vocal about women’s sexual health and we’re thrilled that a figurehead as well-known and respected as Gwyneth has embraced our solution. We have other online retailers and very prestigious e-tailers who have also invited us to sell on their channels.

We’re launching consumable products this year — oils, creams and cleansers — that are geared toward vaginal health, and we have additional innovations we’re adding to our current device, such as bluetooth connectivity, which allow us to provide customization with the individual on what treatment is appropriate for them. We’re working through a 510(k) clearance with the FDA. It’s a very exciting time.

JL and DD: What advice do you have for early-stage founders about raising money, growing a team, fostering company culture or other issues you’ve had to address?

CC: First and foremost, even if you have the greatest idea, you must have a team in place to help execute it. You simply can’t do it by yourself. You have to surround yourself with people who are passionate about your company and your solution. There are many highs and lows in entrepreneurship, but there are definitely lows. You need to make sure the team you surround yourself with is prepared to take on those tough times with you.

Always have more money in the bank than you think you need. I’ve found myself in the position several times where I thought, “If we only had a little more money to take this or that to the next level.”

Networking is also an area where I wish I had spent more time. We’re setting out to make a real difference in women’s lives, and in order to truly do that, you need introductions to people in the industry to connect you to different channels or to help make introductions to companies to partner with. Networking is critical to a young company in the early days.

JL and DD: Tell us about your experience with Golden Seeds. How has the Golden Seeds network been helpful to you?

In addition to funding, Golden Seeds, as a network of angel investors, has been incredibly supportive. They understand the challenges we face and support us through them. They’ve been so helpful as we grow and scale and have made invaluable introductions to physicians, which is critical to the success of our company.

Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on angel investing and Golden Seeds companies.

Help your business become a “blowfish” with the gig economy

Posted on by Brian Jones

Golden Seeds was recently joined at a meeting by Elizabeth Eiss, Founder and CEO of ResultsResourcing, an online talent curation platform. The company curates freelance talent to help startups and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) get more done for less capital. She discussed the benefits of the “gig” economy for investors and companies to scale, accelerate time to market and use finite capital efficiently.


Loretta McCarthy, Managing Partner of Golden Seeds and Elizabeth Eiss, Founder and CEO of ResultsResourcing

What is the gig economy?

It’s a modern term referring to contract or freelance work. Everyone knows someone who works as a freelancer, or has worked with one in their job. Perhaps you’ve even done it on the side, or full time. Either way, the gig economy is here to stay. It’s grown to include an almost endless variety of services, including consulting, independent contractors, and even non-labor related online services like Airbnb, Lyft and Zipcar.

In 2017, the gig economy accounted for $3.7 billion, and over 35% of the U.S. workforce did freelance work, according to Edelman Intelligence. By 2020 it’s estimated that the number will reach 40%, and by 2027, more than 50% of workers will be doing gigs.

Elizabeth, who is also a Golden Seeds investor, doesn’t just talk to talk. She has worked and consulted extensively with entrepreneurs, and through this work, has curated and integrated a lot of gig workers. She knows both the buyer and seller sides of the equation. She believes the gig economy is key to accessing flexible, skilled talent that enables organizations to be nimble and compete bigger, on demand. The gig economy is changing the way startups and SMBs do business, for the better.

Why is this happening?

The nature of work is changing. Workers and companies value flexibility more than ever, and technology and connectivity allow people to work from anywhere. The freelancer arrangement delivers this flexibility at a lower cost for companies, and when it comes down to it, many workers and businesses simply prefer it.

Then there’s the fact that freelancers do good work. In fact, 83% of SMBs that frequently hire freelancers agree that freelancers and contractors greatly help their businesses get the job done.

“Full-time employment may not be the only solution anymore, and it’s an expensive one compared to freelance talent,” Eiss explains. “Freelancers are a great option; they’re highly abundant, highly skilled, flexible, and they’re really available anytime, anywhere.”

How can a startup or SMB use the gig economy to their advantage?

Here are four of the biggest benefits.

1. “Do what you do best, and outsource the rest.”

This quote by Peter Drucker gets to the heart of the gig economy — offload non-core work so you can attend to your core business. Or, as Eiss says, “You have to focus on what your special thing is; everything else should be on the table for outsourcing.” And startups know there’s a substantial amount of “everything else,” including administrative tasks, bookkeeping, accounting, marketing, social media, copywriting, data analytics, and even things like programming, design work, websites and IT.

2. Be nimble

Hiring someone full time is great; you have a lot of work or a big project, and that person comes in and does it. But what happens next? Oftentimes, companies hire someone without a full plan of what to do with that person after the project ends. Freelancers give you the flexibility to add expertise when you need it — and only when you need it.

3. Lower overhead and capital

Startups know that resources are at a premium. Every expense potentially takes away from something else you’re able to do. With freelancers, you get great talent with lower overhead and capital requirements, letting you stretch those valuable early stage funds.

4. Think “big”

Working with freelancers and contractors lets your company take on projects and ideas that would usually be reserved for much bigger organizations. By bringing in the right mix of targeted talent, your small company can act much bigger than it is — and accomplish things that you never thought possible. Eiss refers to this as the “blowfish effect” of the gig economy.

“A startup or early stage company may be ‘small’, but can, frankly, be big,” Eiss explains. “Because you can hire great freelance resources that augment your core team, you can be, and compete, bigger, if you put the right team around you.”

Remember, when everything is on the line — and everything is always on the line when you’re a startup — you need great talent behind you, and that talent needs to be flexible. When you have that talent, and remain nimble, you can compete in ways you never thought possible.

For more information to help your startup become a success, subscribe to our newsletter.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Terms of Use | Copyright © 2024 Golden Seeds