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How did she do it? A Q&A with Holly Rockweiler, CEO and Co-Founder of Madorra

Posted on by Brian Jones

Holly Rockweiler is a woman on a mission, and it’s an ambitious one: improving women’s health. Specifically, she wants to enhance the quality of life for the countless post-menopausal women and breast-cancer survivors who suffer from vaginal dryness. For decades, hormonal therapy has been the only truly effective treatment, but it’s one that many women can’t or won’t use. Her company, Madorra, aims to offer a non-pharmaceutical alternative using an innovative, in-home medical device.

Holly, CEO and co-founder, recently spoke with our team about Madorra’s start, its challenges and progress, and the lessons it can offer other entrepreneurs. William Whitaker, MD, Managing Director and Co-Chair of the Healthcare Sector Group at Golden Seeds, led the due diligence process for Golden Seeds’ investment in Madorra.

HR: After working as a biomedical engineer for a number of years, I became a Stanford Biodesign Fellow. The Stanford Biodesign program teaches medical device innovation in a very hands-on way. Madorra wouldn’t exist if not for that program, and it enabled us to become who we are today.

The program teaches students how to understand problems, how to frame them in new ways and how to decide which ones to work on. It provided unfettered access to Stanford Hospital, and one of the many problems we found was that women with vaginal dryness were looking for a solution other than hormonal replacement therapy (HRT). This has been the gold standard treatment for vaginal dryness for the past four or five decades, but a growing number of women don’t want to take hormones because of the risk profile associated with them or can’t take them because of their health histories.

Realizing there are a lot of women who would welcome an effective alternative to HRT, we spent a year on due diligence, interviewing patients and healthcare providers. With a lot of research under our belts, my Biodesign team and I then started Madorra in 2014.

Holly Rockweiler

HR: We’re addressing the need for non-pharmaceutical treatments for vaginal atrophy. So far, the primary alternative to HRT has been over-the-counter lubricants and moisturizers, which aren’t very effective. There are also laser treatments designed to make structural changes to vaginal tissue in the same way they’re used to reduce wrinkles. This is an in-office procedure that hasn’t yet received FDA approval.

Our product differs in that it’s a device designed for in-home use. It uses therapeutic ultrasound to increase the vaginal temperature, stimulating blood flow and natural lubrication. We’re in the process of running clinical studies and seeking FDA approval.

HR: As with most startups, the biggest challenge has been funding. In some ways, it’s a little harder in our space, as there has been a taboo about discussing the topic and less activity than in some other segments. That’s starting to change.

Through persistence, we’ve found investors who see the potential in the women’s intimate health market. We were also fortunate to get grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, along with some internal Stanford grants. The tide is starting to turn, and we’re seeing more interest in the field of “femtech.” I prefer to call it women’s health, but I’m grateful there’s a hashtag and a language we can use to talk about this.

HR: We’re currently conducting a pilot study in Australia that’s almost fully enrolled, and we eagerly await those results. FDA approval is a slow process, but we’re working toward it.

HR: I’d remind them to stay focused and keep their eyes on the prize, but don’t look too far uphill. It’s easy to get discouraged. Surround yourself with people who are excited and passionate about your mission, and they’ll buoy you up when the roller coaster is on a downswing.

Ultimately this is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, even on the days when it’s difficult. Remind yourself why you’re doing this when the going gets tough — and it will. I’ve got a file named: “Read this when you’re down.” It contains comments from participants in our trials about how meaningful this product has been to them. That means the world.

HR: Most of our connections are West Coast-based, so it’s been very helpful to get involved with Golden Seeds’ chapters across the country. Golden Seeds has attracted a diverse group of people in all areas, and we’ve made connections where previously we didn’t have any. For example, one investor, a gynecologist who’s done research in similar fields, has been very helpful in building out our scientific advisory board.

Golden Seeds is helping us get the word out so women know they are not alone with this problem and that we are doing the R&D to bring them the product they’re hoping for. There’s no reason for them to suffer in silence. Talk to your friends, talk to your doctor. We want to start the dialog.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Jayna Sheats, CTO of Terecircuits

Posted on by Brian Jones
Jayna Sheats, Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University, CTO of Terecircuits Corp.

Electronics will never look the same again, thanks to Terecircuits. This startup has developed a process that completely transforms the landscape for electronics manufacturing, resulting in smaller, thinner and lighter devices, with faster and less expensive design cycles. It’s the brainchild of Jayna Sheats, Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University, and CTO of Terecircuits Corp., who worked in industrial R&D and technical business development for more than 30 years.

Jayna recently spoke with Iris Fujiura, the Golden Seeds deal leader for this investment, about her experiences as a technologist dealing with the financial and business needs of a startup. They also discussed the pivotal role that Golden Seeds has played in jump-starting Terecircuits into the future.

JS: I started this business after I left HP Labs following its merger with Compaq. I wasn’t comfortable with the bureaucracy and where things were going. Though my research there had contributed to some nice technological successes, I wanted to have more of an individual impact. I had ideas about what could be done to foster the Internet of Things — the spread of Internet technology into everyday life. I stumbled around a bit as an entrepreneur and then came up with this technology: a new way to place microelectronic objects to facilitate mass production.

JS: Micro LED displays have many advantages, but one very major disadvantage: placement of the light emitting parts on a backplane. The traditional pick and place machine, which uses a robot arm to move components from one place to another, runs into trouble when objects are very small or there are a large number of them. That’s the situation with micro LED displays. Instead of having an LED as a backlight behind liquid crystals, they require an LED at every pixel — millions of them.

It’s just not practical for a robot arm to handle that.

We developed a new technology that’s a much more efficient way to place these millions of tiny components. I realized a long time ago that you have to be at least 10 times better than the competition or your new technology won’t make it. With micro LED displays, there’s no other solution right now that comes close to ours. We’re much cheaper, faster and more efficient. So this market offers us an ideal entry point, and we think this is where it will be adopted first. But long term, this technology can be used with any kind of chip, on any kind of circuit board or substrate.

JS: There have been tech challenges, of course, but we have clever people working here and they’ve solved these problems pretty quickly. One of the biggest challenges is financing. The investment world has shifted away from hardware and process tech investment and toward software and internet businesses. That’s made it hard to secure money to get to the demonstration stage. Potential investors want to see what they’re funding, so you need to demonstrate your technology — and that takes money.

By collaborating with universities and academic scientists, we’ve minimized the need for expensive infrastructure and gained access to government grants. We were also lucky enough to find a CEO, Wayne Rickard, who excels at fundraising. His presentation skills and personal credibility brought in a lot of our early money.

One caveat I’d offer based on past experience: Be careful about the investors you decide to work with. At a previous company, our investors pulled the plug for reasons many of us considered unwise. So make sure you’re teaming up with the right partners before you take the money.

JS: Finding the right co-founder is critical because you’ll work closely, and the quality of your partnership can make or break your company. In high-tech sectors, you need a business person to complement the technologist. Coming out of a lab research environment, I didn’t know how to find the right person and do human due diligence. Through networking, I found Wayne, who’s been the perfect match.

Company culture should be a priority right from the start because early hires define your culture. The more people you have, the harder it is to change your culture. It’s important to hire people who will foster the kind of environment you want.

JS: We’re close to being able to demonstrate the basic operations of our process in a way that makes it tangible for strategic partners. Though the process is still too primitive for commercialization, we believe it’s enough to convince them to help us develop the technology further. We want to prove the concept and show this repeatability, then have our partners commercialize it using their own engineers and resources. It’s a bit of a challenge to define our company and put boundaries around it: We’ve developed an aid to the manufacturing process, but we’re not a hardware company and we don’t want to be in the business of manufacturing displays.

JS: It has been fantastic and I’ve enjoyed the process. Golden Seeds has the best, most extensive due diligence process of any firm we’ve encountered. They have a deep technical expertise which elicited a strong understanding of the risk and the technology. It also led to thorough but very fair questions. We knew if we could get through that process, we’d have it made. The experience truly shaped our financial strategy, so it’s no wonder Golden Seeds remains our largest investor and a valued resource.

Lessons From the Last Recession and How to Prepare For the Uncertain Times Ahead

Posted on by Brian Jones

We currently find ourselves in an unprecedented time full of uncertainty, fear and confusion.

Now classified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, COVID-19 cases have been reported in all U.S. states and in 152 countries across the globe. As a result, global markets are plummeting. Oil is below $30 a barrel. The Fed is slashing interest rates and the pandemic-related unemployment rate is hovering around 20% and will likely continue to grow as businesses are forced to shutter. Financially speaking, things look quite bleak.

But we’ve been here before and we survived it. During the previous recession, which lasted from 2007 to 2009, many institutions fell into crisis. Real estate and other markets that were typically accepted as reliable investments instead turned into a tailspin, and it was a difficult time for everyone. In the aftermath of a world that felt upside-down, we, as investors, and our companies learned plenty of hard lessons. Since the world now faces a similar squeeze, we hope to offer smoother navigation through these rough waters.

Recovery today could require a different course; however, there are some valuable lessons that can still apply.

Our 2008 recession playbook

At Golden Seeds, even before the global pandemic, we felt we might eventually deal with a different type of recession cycle that would be based more on inflationary forces as the increasing climate danger and its associated costs are starting to play out across every level of our economy. Tariffs have been inflationary to businesses and consumers. We felt that we’re continuing to see 2008-like conditions with the growing deficit, as well as extremely high-debt burdens on consumers. Instead we have been hit with a Black Swan event in the form of the global pandemic and its staggering toll on humanity and our global economies.

Thinking back to 2008, our Wall Street backgrounds instilled awareness and concern for the impending recession early on. We issued early warnings to our small group of companies at that time. We did not see this one coming.

Preparing for the 2020 uncertainty and beyond

Based on the struggles and successes we witnessed from the last financial crisis, there are several steps people can take. How should startups work with investors and stakeholders? What effect will a downturn have on the future roadmap? The following are some steps for young companies to take for more resilience:

Watch your cash. Even if you have a term sheet, things can change rapidly now. Companies have to be incredibly careful and cut spending if sales aren’t at a steady level. In 2008, we saw two VC term sheets break, each about $3 or $4 million. In one case, the company never recovered, and the other had a very difficult time before making it through until the end.

Be transparent with investors. They can provide the guidance the company needs to sustain; after all, they’re likely the ones who will hang on once this downturn passes. Our companies that maintained good communication with us were more likely to receive financial support in a down market.

Adjust your mindset. Companies that were forced to watch their burn rates to survive a downturn can struggle a bit to get back to a fast-growth mindset when the capital starts flowing again. As board members and investors who have seen such cycles, it’s key for us to help young companies navigate this.

Understand your vendors’ financial viability. Companies must make these efforts; we witnessed companies that relied on suppliers or vendors who themselves were unable to fulfill orders, which can cause setbacks and other negative ripple effects. For example, we saw consumer product companies that received purchase orders from larger retailers only to discover that they were cancelled or considerably cut back because of the recession.

Be pragmatic about your product. It’s important for companies to determine whether their products or services are “nice to have” or “have to have.” In a financial crisis, customers will likely hold off on ordering the “nice to have” items or services.

And what actions should investors take in such a rocky environment? How will they be able to spot the organizations that will outlast the hard times?

As the first generation of female angel investors, we were the first to experience angel investing in a recession. At the time, we had only been investing for a few years and still didn’t fully understand how to differentiate between a company that would have otherwise performed badly — regardless of the impending recession — versus a company that could have likely weathered the storm. Here are a few tips we think will help investors form a game plan:

Enlist seasoned expertise. We could have used a team member or a mentor that had faced economic struggle in the past to avoid certain pitfalls that cropped up with the recession. We relied on our Wall Street expertise to make the best calls we could with the information at hand, but the stall in global activity was uncharted territory for everyone.

Stick with true leaders. You need CEOs who are determined to stay alive and come up with survival plans. They need tenacity and persistence. Without those characteristics, they’re never going to make it through.

Look for transparent companies. The teams that stay upfront with investors and maintain transparency will help everyone plan accordingly, particularly when things aren’t going well.

Recessions aren’t all bad — here’s why

Recessions and uncertainty can be scary, as we are currently experiencing. But not everything has to be negative. In some ways, these environments force the companies to become real businesses and focus on breaking even, which can lead to some hard decisions. When talent becomes available during these cycles, good CEOs can really benefit from great hires.

Additionally, the landscape can really ignite innovation around the world. The downturn proved to be a great time for innovation — social media was basically born during the recession. People had the time (perhaps, unfortunately because of layoffs) to seek out their passion projects. Universities all around the world launched incubation hubs for entrepreneurship.

For anyone building an enduring company, this downturn is probably not the last they will see. The mark of a great company is one that has self-awareness about its position in the overall cycle. Each crisis is a real test of grit and resilience. For the ones that can withstand, there are new opportunities for inspiration, pivots and innovation.

Bridging the Gaps: How to Cope with Five Generations in Today’s Workplace

Posted on by Brian Jones
Loretta McCarthy and Dr. Joanna Massey

For the first time ever, we have five generations in the workplace, ranging in age from 18 to 85 or more. This generational clash can lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding, but it also presents opportunities. To survive and thrive, we must adapt to the changing workplace. Though humans are hardwired to resist change, individuals and companies can learn to adapt and turn the differences between generations into fuel for innovation, creativity and growth.

That was the message from Dr. Joanna Massey, an experienced C-suite communications executive and Board Director specializing in brand management and organizational culture. She is also a corporate speaker and author of the upcoming book, “Culture Shock: Surviving Five Generations in One Workplace” and she gave a sneak peek at the contents of the book to Golden Seeds members at a recent event.

The age range in today’s workplace is unprecedented, because people are living and working longer, so Gen X, Baby Boomer and Silent Generation workers are all still in the workforce. At the same time, young employees are entering the job market in huge numbers. Millennials, who currently range in age from 24 to 39, are the single-largest segment in the workforce today. Generation Z — ages 10 to 23 years old — are just starting to enter the workforce, widening the workforce’s age range even more.

Younger employees are transforming the workplace, affecting levels of change not seen since the hippie counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. Dr. Massey’s overall message was that different perspectives on life and work between younger and older employees can lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding, but there are solutions.

Members of each age group have had different experiences that shaped their attitudes and behaviors. With each generation, we see a rise in college graduates, working women and liberal political views, and a decline in the percentage who are Caucasian, Christian and married at a young age. In other words, the U.S. population is becoming better educated and more diverse in race, ethnicity and gender identification, as well as religious and political beliefs.

Often, we describe generations with broad generalizations that are informative, though not universally true of everyone:

● The Silent Generation, born from 1928–1945, has a reputation for conformity and civic-mindedness.

● The Baby Boomers, born from 1946–1964, identify themselves by what they do for a living and are goal-driven, disciplined and competitive.

● Generation X, born from 1965–1980, is one of the smallest generations. Nicknamed America’s middle child, because they are sandwiched between two larger generations — the Baby Boomers and Millennials — Gen Xers are known for being flexible. They can adapt to changes ushered in by Millennials and Gen Z, while also acting as a bridge between the oldest and youngest employees.

● Generation Y (better known as Millennials), born from 1981–1996, are the largest generation in the workplace. They expect to move up quickly, but they sometimes find themselves stuck in mid-tier jobs because Boomers aren’t retiring. Older generations have criticized them for “lacking drive,” but Dr. Massey encourages people to reframe their thinking around that moniker. Millennials don’t lack drive; their parents taught them to seek a healthy work/life balance, so the older generations need to understand that they taught these young adults to have different priorities.

● Generation Z, born from 1997–2010, is the largest generation in U.S. and the most diverse. In addition, they have only known a world that is digitally connected, and many are addicted to technology and social media. They’re extremely entrepreneurial.

The major differences among these age groups can lead to misunderstandings. Both sides in an argument may have valid points but view things through different lenses. This is why Dr. Massey says it’s helpful to consider the generational background when negotiating conflict in the workplace. It’s also important for managers to avoid overcorrecting for minor issues.

The solution is not to assign blame, but to change the way we view each other. Change isn’t easy because the brain is hardwired to resist it. But thanks to neuroplasticity, the brain is also capable of learning, which means we can retrain ourselves to react differently.

When seeking to understand someone else, apply the generational lens. What was going on in the world when they were growing up and what lessons were they taught when they entered the workforce? This will have a lot to do with their opinions about work today.

Businesses can learn from organizations that are successfully integrating younger generations into a traditional workplace. Here are some tips based on their experiences:

● Focus on workplace well-being more than material benefits.

● Engage employees by providing meaningful opportunities on key projects. Workplace mobility and professional growth will reduce job hopping.

● Groom younger employees for leadership roles by giving them responsibility to suit their high levels of education and training.

● Allow flexible working conditions such as flex time, working at home and parental leave. Employees will be more focused and productive when not worried about their personal life.

● Make sure you have the most updated technology systems.

● Communicate clearly and often because transparency is key. Share as much as you can even if it’s not a lot.

● Promote reverse mentoring. Have younger employees help older ones with technology and youth culture. It ensures younger employees are valued and older employees continue to learn.

● Be fair about compensation. Employees are aware of pay scales as that information is often available online.

● Be intentional about diversity and inclusion.

Today’s workplace is vastly different, and in some ways much more challenging, than it was decades ago. But if we approach those challenges with an open mind and constructive attitude, we can make the workplace better than ever.

Dr. Massey is President & CEO of JDMA Inc., a communications consulting firm that advises clients on managing global brand reputation with an emphasis on communicating externally and internally with Millennial and Gen Z employees, consumers and investors.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Lauren West, COO of Consortia Health

Posted on by Brian Jones
Lauren West, Chief Operating Officer at Consortia Health

Just because a medical problem is common and treatable, doesn’t mean it gets the attention it deserves. This was the case with pelvic floor disorders, which can cause a wealth of chronic health issues. Consortia Health & Wellness was founded to treat these issues and, “to help women and men of all ages regain pelvic strength, control and confidence.”

Lauren West joined the company over a year ago as Chief Operating Officer. During her time with the organization, she’s been helping Consortia Health expand to more markets, develop its app, and grow its partnerships. Lauren recently got together with Laura Baldwin, Managing Director of Golden Seeds to discuss the challenges Consortia Health faces, how it’s overcoming them and what’s next.

LB: Tell us about the origins of your company.

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

The name Consortia Health really gets at what is different about us. A consortium is a partnership, and that really is our business model. We partner with a variety of different providers to address pelvic floor disorders. We partner with physicians, senior living communities and hospital-based medicine, as well. And, of course, we consider ourselves partners to our patients. Partnering with a variety of entities in the marketplace is really a differentiator.

We have a unique business model, which is a turnkey approach to address a large, underserved component of healthcare providers’ client base: patients suffering from pelvic floor disorders. We provide the clinicians, the appointments and the equipment so providers don’t need to focus on those elements.

Then, on the treatment side, we see approximately a 98% symptom improvement in our patient population. We are proud of that and it resonates with our team members, because they get that instant feedback about a patient’s improved quality of life. That is super rewarding for us as a leadership team, but also for our clinicians in the field.

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

We do this through a variety of platforms. We started in the physician office space, but we have grown to providing this service in hospital settings and senior living facilities, as well. We have also launched a Consortia Health app to help us provide the service directly to consumers — to reach them when they are not able to access a clinic. The app provides a format so that when patients leave the exam room, they can now access tools and information at home. The app is available on iOS and Android platforms through the app stores.

Of course, there have been challenges around the app as well. Specifically, continuing to build and grow the app. We continue to look for partners to work with us on the app including vendors who want to place their products on our e-commerce site or to advertise on the site. Our goal is to leverage the app as a platform to bring devices, supplies and eventually therapy options directly to consumers. Our vision of what that can be over the next year or more is really exciting.

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

We also continue to rapidly expand in the senior health and wellness arena. We are excited about a relationship with a very large national vendor in the space that operates both independent and assisted living facilities nationwide.

We are continuing to grow our footprint and expanding in physician partnerships, as well. We have a presence in nine states now, which is very exciting for us.

LB: 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?

As you grow as a company, the next step is putting the structure behind that, so you have a good corporate culture, a clear mission and values that people can invest in personally and feel connected to. We spent a good deal of time working on all those things, and for early stage founders those are key areas to think through: Why are you doing what you’re doing? What are your corporate values? How do you promote those as you grow and scale?

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

We have also gained some great feedback and recommendations for how we should scale, which we have digested and synthesized to meet our objectives and goals. Having those resources, and people willing to give advice to a growing company, is greatly appreciated.

 

Learn about Golden Seeds work.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Amanda Drobnis, CEO and Co-Founder of Hilltop Biosciences, Inc.

Posted on by Brian Jones
Amanda Drobnis, CEO and Co-Founder of Hilltop Biosciences, Inc.

It’s everyone’s dream to go to work every day to do what we truly love. Amanda Drobnis, CEO and Co-Founder of Hilltop Biosciences, Inc., is one of the persistent few who has put in the work to make this happen.

For Amanda, Hilltop BioSciences combines her love of both horses and business. She created and grew a company that aims to improve the lives of equines through regenerative medicine. Laura Davis and Lori Langenhagen, who were Golden Seeds’ lead investors in the due diligence for this company, talked with Amanda about the science behind Hilltop BioSciences, the challenges she faced and how Golden Seeds has helped along the way.

LD and LL: Tell us about the origins of Hilltop BioSciences.

About one year later a friend’s horse had an injury to its hind leg that was not responding to standard treatment. This made me realize there was an opportunity to bring this regenerative matrix product into the veterinary community.

It ended up taking us about five years, and exploring a lot of different paths, to finally make a product, beta test it, and build a company that was ready to go look for funding. We officially launched and incorporated as Hilltop Biosciences in 2018. Currently, we focus on horses but we plan to expand our treatment to dogs and cats, as well.

LD and LL: What market need are you solving, and how is your approach different from others in the field?

Often equine veterinarians don’t have the luxury of a permanent clinic, they’re usually on the road visiting patients. But the current regenerative therapies on the market require specialized equipment or very low temperature freezing. We’ve worked to create a solution that can be stored and transported at room temperature. Our regenerative matrix is in an injectable or membrane form and works for a variety of veterinary indications. Additionally, this modernized therapeutic helps heal injuries quickly with minimal scar tissue, reduced inflammation and minimal chance of infection.

LD and LL: What challenges have you encountered while building the company and how have you overcome them?

Once we identified our need, and confirmed that our idea works, the next challenge was finding the funding to move forward and commercialize our product. Finding funding was difficult, but once we had a beta product and could show that our veterinarians were interested in using it, it was a little bit easier. It was also challenging to figure out what kind of funding we wanted. When we settled on angel funding, I quickly realized how fortunate I am to live in Boston because there are so many opportunities for entrepreneurs within the community.

We took advantage of The Capital Network, which provides seminars and classes about how to build your business to help you prepare for angel funding. At the end of the classes, you are introduced to various angel investors within the community. Those introductions led me to mentors who then introduced me to all sorts of people in the industry. That’s really how I started to grow and get funding.

LD and LL: What’s coming up next for Hilltop Biosciences?

After that, we’ll be working to have our first few products out of the testing phase and available for sale in the next month or two. So we have a big commercialization push coming up that we’re preparing for.

In early 2020, we’ll be looking for funding again, and then we’ll be entering the canine market sometime after that, which is really exciting.

LD and LL: What advice do you have for early stage founders?

Also, be open to learning and be open to change. I don’t mean you should be open to changing your entire business idea, but sometimes you need to change how you approach it, and that’s really important. For example, we started with an idea that was fully thought out for our veterinary community, but it wasn’t fully thought out for our angel community. We needed to build the business slightly differently to get the angel community interested.

LD and LL: How has your experience with Golden Seeds and their network been helpful to you?

Golden Seeds also introduced me to a variety of other angels — not necessarily even within the organization, but all throughout the community. That was really helpful. It helped get my name out there and got the momentum going when we were looking for that first round of funding.

Learn about Golden Seeds work.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Jennifer Ernst, CEO of Tivic Health

Posted on by Brian Jones
Jennifer Ernst, CEO of Tivic Health

Anyone who suffers from allergies knows that sinus pain can make you quite miserable. Jennifer Ernst, CEO of Tivic Health, noticed that medical treatment was focused more on deadly diseases than on ailments that are making people suffer every day — like allergies. Seeing these gaps in treatment of many kinds of allergies — which affect millions of people — inspired her to bring evidence-based medicine to help solve the problem. The result is Tivic Health’s ClearUP, which offers a new way to treat sinus pain through gentle microcurrents.

Jennifer has a history of developing new products and markets in the technology space, starting at Xerox PARC and later at Thin Film Electronics ASA. In this Q&A, Jennifer chatted with Gwen Edwards, Managing Director of Golden Seeds, about how Tivic Health got started, challenges faced along the way, and offered some advice to early stage startups that are just getting off the ground.

GE: Tell us about the origins of your company.

Sinus cold and allergy treatments are a huge market. With millions of people suffering, over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals are a $130 billion segment. Yet, we still saw gaps in treatment. The only thing recommended for regular sinus health maintenance is flushing your nose with saltwater. John’s invention represented a fundamental breakthrough that could improve the lives of millions of people who suffer from sinus conditions.

We started the business on Sept. 16, 2016. It took some soul searching, but at one point we looked at each other and I said, “It would be irresponsible not to try.” Some family and friends invested, we completed our FDA strategy, filed provisional patents and from there we just kept building. Three years later, we have completed clinical studies, secured FDA clearance, built a high-quality core team and brought a product to the market.

Coincidentally, we began shipping Sept. 16, 2019, exactly three years to the day from filing incorporation paperwork.

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

Our product is FDA cleared for use on sinus pain associated with allergic rhinitis, and we’re working on getting approval for congestion. We also recently received our CE Mark allowance for “temporary relief of sinus pain, pressure and congestion.”

Sinus pain has a significant impact on quality of life, and unfortunately there haven’t been any good treatment options. This inability to treat sinus pain (or atypical facial pain) is also a pain point for physicians. Surgery can’t do anything because it’s related to the swelling of the tissue, and treatment options are primarily pharmaceutical. In fact, 13% of patients are prescribed opioids (though that is changing)!

So, we are new in this category and set up as a daily use product for one of the most pervasive chronic conditions. ClearUP® Sinus Pain Relief is a simple-to-use, home-use product that someone glides along the cheek, nose and browbone in a guided fashion. The device delivers a tiny amount of electrical stimulation in a proprietary waveform.

In a double-blind, controlled study, ClearUP had a fast-acting effect, and over 70% of people in the four-week, at-home study showed reduction in symptom severity and frequency. We’re showing fast-acting effects for a portion of users, efficacy as strong as the leading pharmaceutical on the market (Flonase) and no significant side effects. There’s not a single pharmaceutical that can make these claims.

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

We’ve bucked conventional wisdom in a lot of ways. Medical innovation has been largely focused on the things that can kill you, while often ignoring the conditions that make people’s lives miserable.

Investments in medical technology are often driven by large reimbursement opportunities rather than large intrinsic markets. When I looked at this market, though, products are primarily OTC and 40% of sufferers aren’t even seeing a doctor. Then I looked at electrical therapies and saw many were struggling to secure any form of reimbursement.

We decided to focus on bringing evidence-based, microcurrent to mass underserved populations. Thus, ClearUP Sinus Pain Relief — an OTC medical device — was born.

I was really surprised given the size of the market, the scale and the margins that the classic healthtech investors had a challenge seeing the opportunity. Health investors were used to seeing reimbursement as the business model. We can make a strong business case on a non-reimbursed basis. I eventually realized that funds have raised their money on models that have succeeded in the past, but we’re charting new territory. So, we had to work new angles. In fact, many of our early investors suffered from allergies, tried the product and loved it. This summer, we had a large investment from a group of ENT physicians.

As far as other challenges, the CE Mark presents both opportunity and challenges. With both CE Mark and FDA Clearance, we are positioned for global expansion in over 190 countries, even though we’re still on our Series Seed funding. Getting us positioned to take advantage of that opportunity, while not over-extending the team, will be a balancing act.

There are some big trends that bolster our growth potential. One is the consumerization of healthcare — we all know that we have much more of a stake in researching our own therapies and investigating our own outcomes. Our direct-to-consumer model, supported by physician education, fits the current healthcare model in the U.S.

Another is the explosive growth of bioelectronic medicine. It was recently declared by McKinsey to be an under appreciated, multi-billion dollar segment, and the peripheral nerve stimulation applications are forecast to grow at 35% CAGR over the next five years.

The third is growing rate of sinus and allergy diseases associated with climate change and pollution levels. This market is not going away any time soon.

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

GE: 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?

This is my second time around. I was CEO of a U.S. subsidiary and took it from eight people to a half-billion market cap in less than five years. Milestones and execution were everything.

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

For more wisdom like this from other incredible female leaders, follow Golden Seeds’ blog.

The Right Climate in So Many Ways: Arizona Chapter of Golden Seeds

Posted on by Brian Jones

Arizona is hot these days — and we’re not just talking about the temperature.

The Grand Canyon State is recognized as one of the fastest growing states in the nation. That makes it a perfect fit for Golden Seeds, which has been identifying and funding women-led companies throughout the U.S. for the past 15 years.

A number of reasons make Arizona attractive for women entrepreneurs and angel investors. For starters, it’s one of the top 5 states for population growth, job growth and income growth. It also has the third largest labor pool in the West.

“I have been encouraging Golden Seeds to launch a chapter in Arizona and am thrilled to see this new partnership with our dynamic, women-led businesses,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. “Phoenix is America’s fastest growing city and home to so many strong entrepreneurs, so we are a great place for Golden Seeds to invest.”

Arizona has created the right climate for scalable business, and that’s paying off. “Investors clearly see the potential,” said Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, the state’s leading economic development organization.

We at Golden Seeds are excited to become a part of the state’s success story.

Arizona is being recognized for its innovation

There’s an obvious reason for the expansion: Arizona’s economic climate is renowned for being robust and business friendly. The state offers aggressive tax credits and incentives, programs designed to increase capital and a minimalist regulatory approach.

In fact, Arizona is ranked among the top 10 most tax-friendly states in the nation, according to a recent State-by-State Guide to Taxes released by Kiplinger.

That’s attracting business. “So far this year, Phoenix has raised $661 million in VC funding — more than double its 2015 total of $290 million,” Watson said, citing statistics from data and research company Pitchbook.

A strong focus on innovation is a major factor. In 2018, Arizona was the first state to implement a regulatory fintech sandbox — a legal framework that allows startups to test their products for up to two years before they have to apply for a formal license. The state launched a second initiative, PropTech Sandbox, earlier this year.

Arizona State University (ASU) and Mayo Clinic have partnered to develop an $80 million Health Futures Center, which will house startup companies in ASU’s MedTech Accelerator.

A relentless pursuit of innovation and technology

Companies are committed to enabling success by connecting the region’s legacy businesses with emerging disruptors. Greater Phoenix is supporting innovation through applied research centers such as WearTech Center, which launched in 2019, with the mission to develop wearable technology solutions that improve quality of life and human performance.

Recently, business and community leaders broke ground on the Sahuarita Advanced Manufacturing and Technology Center, which will support small business innovation and technology development in Southern Arizona.

The Arizona Commerce Authority is investing in the state as part of its mission to grow and strengthen Arizona’s economy. Among other things, it sponsors the Arizona Innovation Challenge, a technology commercialization competition that awards $150,000 in grants to up to 10 companies, twice a year, for a total of $3 million annually.

Further, AZBio has teamed up with two foundations to raise a $200 million endowment to support the commercialization of healthcare innovations developed by area researchers and entrepreneurs.

Then there’s Coplex, which brings together industry experts, entrepreneurs and corporate innovators to solve big industry problems using technology. Coplex has helped launch more than 300 startups, and since 2017, it has assisted more than 50 startups with its $150,000 nine-month venture builder program.

The talent pipeline is strong

A strong talent pipeline is critical to the success of all these ventures, and the state’s educational institutions are equipped to fill that need.

Arizona has one of the largest concentrations of science and technology students and graduates in the nation (ASU, University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University). In fact, ASU was named the “№1 most innovative school” in the nation for the fifth year in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

The ecosystem is strong

Golden Seeds looks forward to collaborating with Arizona’s robust investor ecosystem to fund early stage companies headed by women. Local Arizona-focused angel groups include Arizona Technology Investors (ATI), Desert Angels, Canyon Angels, Arizona Founders Fund and InvestU.

The launch of the Arizona Chapter of Golden Seeds will support the local angel investor market and provide added focus on women entrepreneurs in the area. Starting in November 2019, the chapter began its monthly Office Hours program at the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI), with the goal of mentoring up-and-coming female entrepreneurs and providing a pathway to the national Golden Seeds investor network (300+ members).

The CEI opened its business incubator focused on science and tech startups in 2013. To help prepare Arizona’s workforce for careers in biotech and life science, CEI recently announced it will open a $1.9 million CEI LabForce facility in downtown Phoenix in 2020. The organization recently received the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Center of the Year Award from the International Business Innovation Association, a global nonprofit with more than 2,200 members.

Arizona is clearly on the rise, and Golden Seeds is proud to be a part of its continuing success story. We look forward to working together to foster an even brighter future.

If you are an investor or entrepreneur who would like to learn more about our Arizona chapter, contact us at info@goldenseeds.com.

How did she do it? A Q&A with Christina Lomasney, Co-founder, President, and CEO of Modumetal

Posted on by Brian Jones
Christina Lomasney, Co-founder, President and CEO of Modumetal

A lean organization with fewer than 50 employees, Modumetal has big goals: they’re working to redefine materials and processes in the centuries-old construction industry as well as in the oil and gas, automotive, aerospace and infrastructure industries. Of course, with lofty goals come serious challenges. Leading Modumetal through these challenges is Christina Lomasney, who describes herself as the “Co-founder, President, CEO, and sometimes janitor” of the Seattle-based company.

In this discussion with Gwen Edwards, Managing Director of Golden Seeds, Christina discusses the details of what Modumetal does, the wide-ranging challenges the company has faced, how it has risen to meet them, and what advice she has for other entrepreneurs.

CL: We started the company a little over 10 years ago to address the challenges associated with using building materials for construction that are over 100 years old. Interestingly, though, we were founded as a result of a product we developed to address the challenges in up-armoring Humvees in the lead up to the Iraq war in the 2005 timeframe.

Conventional steel, which is the material of choice due to cost and performance balance, were limited in their ability to deliver a ballistic performance that’s acceptable for that type of vehicle. So we started developing tech to address that problem. We came up with manufacturing technology and a class of materials that address that particular challenge, but also many of the problems plaguing the construction and transportation industries, such as being able to produce cars that are lighter, and infrastructure and buildings that last longer. We aim to deliver materials that can last much longer than those developed at the turn of the century.

The class of materials we use are known as nano laminated alloys. So they’re layered materials and layered metals, where the layers are on the scale of nanometers — they’re very thin plies stacked up to produce bulk materials or coatings that protect things from the environment and provide structural reinforcement, and do it in a much more efficient way than a conventional homogeneous steel, for example. That’s the first part of the breakthrough.

The second part of the breakthrough was a manufacturing process — which is actually very important when dealing with industrial markets — that was cost competitive with conventional pyro, or heat-based, processes.

We developed a manufacturing process based on electricity. We can produce metals near room temperature, and do it with direct input of electricity into the process. Basically, it’s an electro-chemical process — electricity and chemistry are combined to produce this unique class of materials. So, we make these nano layers at a cost that’s competitive with conventional metals.

This is really a major breakthrough. When you think about it, the materials of construction define not only economic innovation, but also social innovations: We reflect on periods in human evolution by their materials of construction — the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Steel Age… and now the Logic Metal Age is afoot.

CL: The market need is really unique to each user of our product, and that’s one of the biggest challenges we faced early on. The tech can apply anywhere metals are used, and some places where they aren’t, so there are a lot of challenges we can solve — from light weighting vehicles, to producing engines that can run hotter, to being able to produce steel that can last longer in aggressive environments.

We recognize as an early stage company that it is not enough to say we have this tech that can apply everywhere, so we had to develop it for specific market needs.

We decided to focus on the corrosion of metals because it is very costly and affects a lot of major industrial users. In fact, it’s estimated to cost 4.1% of the gross domestic product of the U.S.! This is hundreds of billions of dollars in indirect costs every year addressing metals, and it is a multi-trillon-dollar problem globally.

We also focus specifically on the energy sector because corrosion directly correlates to economic performance.

We have a galvanizing technology, which is the most prevalent anti-corrosion system used in the world. It protects steel from the effects of corrosion, so we developed a nano-laminated galvanization, that we call NanoGal, that’s capable of out-performing traditional galvanization on the order of 30 times, at a cost that’s competitive with conventional galvanization. In oil and gas its used in nuts and bolts, and other types of connections, because those connections are both safety critical and single points of failure. So, it’s a cost issue as well as a safety issue created by corrosion.

Modumetal is unique because we deliver both increased performance and a tech that is competitive on cost.

The other unique thing is that we actually bring the tech to market through licenses, in addition to manufacturing it ourselves. We recognized that we’re competing against tech that has been around for a long time, that has a robust supply chain — especially in the energy sector. We recognize the likelihood of introducing tech to market that would easily displace that supply chain is unlikely, so we license it into the existing supply chain.

CL: The challenge is intrinsic in what we are trying to do: displace materials that have been in the market for almost a century. So, the challenges are associated with changing the status quo in industries that are very well developed, and for good reason. We’re selling into markets that are specification driven, markets that are commoditized, and markets that define what can be purchased and how it has to be made.

In the case of metal, the specificity applies to the composition of the metal and the exact manufacturing process. The reason for that is two fold: the industry is very mature, but also these are safety critical applications, so there is a strong need to constrain the market in its ability to purchase off brand products that don’t perform the same.

There’s little tolerance for innovation, and few processes that facilitate innovation, so the process to change a specification in an industrial market takes a long time. We actually benchmarked the industry and found that it takes on average 18 years to change a metal specification.

That is the biggest challenge we face: the length of time to get from recognizing that the product works to the point where we’re specified and customers can actually buy the product.

CL: We have been tracking our progress against achieving specification, and now that we have that, the next milestone is getting enough production capacity online. I’m happy to report that as of the fourth quarter last year, NanoGalv has been trademark specified by most major oil and gas companies.

We also recently announced a partnership with the trading arm of Toyota Tsusho’s U.S. Metals group — which is an $80 billion company — to build a facility to manufacture product for these energy sector applications, and beyond into construction and automotive.

CL: We’re still a work in progress, ourselves, of course, but I have learned that this — building a company, getting funding, and everything in between — is at times a very lonely process.

We’ve been through a whole slew of challenges, and there were times when external forces weren’t pointing toward success, but I always believed in our team and our tech. The challenges we have now are not the same from years ago, which is a sign we have continued to grow and succeed.

If you truly believe in what you’re doing, don’t ever give up. Some of the greatest successes in history have been achieved for no other reason than perseverance.

CL: Golden Seeds has been with us almost since the beginning; we have a long trajectory and relationship. Through Golden Seeds, we attracted a member for my board of directors, and we have close collaboration with investors through Golden Seeds.

We’ve had networks that have come and gone in the company, and we’ve been lucky that as we needed insight and input, the right people have rotated through our arc. Whether it’s been legal advice, R&D, or market advice, I’ve found more of those networks through Golden Seeds than any single group of people.

Learn about the work of Golden Seeds.

Gender diversity = Good business

Posted on by Brian Jones

Founders just starting a new company, or even those looking to keep more established companies successful, have a lot to consider: improving their products, hiring and keeping the best management team, how they’ll take their products to market, and hundreds of other concerns. At Golden Seeds, we believe very strongly that one of the things on the list — high on the list, in fact — has to be gender diversity. It’s certainly high on ours.

More than that, gender diversity is baked into our investment thesis; we believe it’s absolutely crucial for any company to have success. And it’s never too early to start thinking about it. After all, if you start putting a gender diversity plan into action during the earliest stages of your company, it’ll be easier to make it part of your corporate culture: You can make it an integral part of what you are building, and whom you hope to attract.

Research has proven, again and again, that gender-diverse management teams and boards of directors link directly to more success. But how? In this blog we’ll investigate a few areas where gender diversity can help your company thrive, and give you the data to back it up.

Diversity = better talent

When Gender Diversity Makes Firms More Productive, a research article by Harvard Business Review shows it clearly: diverse workplaces attract top talent.

A Glassdoor study cited in the report shows that 61% of female job candidates — and a full two-thirds of overall candidates — consider the gender diversity of an organization’s leadership team when making a job decision.

The takeaway? The best of the best prefer a diverse workplace. It follows, then, that if you want the most talented candidates to consider your company, make sure you’re actively creating a gender-diverse workplace.

Diversity = innovation

If gender diversity can help you attract and retain the best people, it only makes sense that those companies that value and curate diversity will become more innovative and create better products.

Gallup’s The Business Benefits of Gender Diversity report follows the logic to get us there. To start, it’s pretty obvious that simply ignoring half of your potential workforce across the globe is bad business (to say the least). As more and more companies recognize this, they tend to consider and hire more women at all levels, leading diversity to build on itself.

As this diversity builds, along with a greater number of leaders with diverse backgrounds and different experiences, it will lead to work environments where new and creative ideas are given true consideration, from a wider range of people.

As the report says, “Men and women have different viewpoints, ideas and market insights, which enables better problem solving, ultimately leading to superior performance at the business unit level.”

Diversity = investor value

So, gender diversity helps you hire and keep the best people, those employees who will innovate and create better products. It follows that better, more innovative products, will be good for your investors.

It seems that investors have caught onto this idea. According to HBR, they are more likely to value diverse companies highly, and the numbers back it up. Research shows that a 10% increase in gender diversity — measured by Blau’s gender diversity index, which measures the ratio of men and women at a firm — delivers about a 7% increase in a company’s market value.

The bottom line

All this is great news for those who hire gender-diverse workforces and management teams. But, high on the list of what we all really care about is the bottom line: How our company performs financially. It has to be, or else we have no business. This is where gender diversity shows its value. Simply stated, according to McKinsey’s delivering through diversity research study, companies with diverse leadership — including gender, cultural, and ethnic criteria — do better financially. They are more profitable. They are more likely to outperform their margins.

The McKinsey study’s numbers are striking. Worldwide, companies in the top quartile based on executive-level gender diversity were:

● 21% more likely to out-perform their fourth-quartile industry peers based on EBIT margin

● 27% more likely to outperform those fourth-quartile peers in longer-term value creation

We’ve recognized the value of and practiced gender diversity at Golden Seeds since Day 1 in 2005, and research continues to support this belief. As the McKinsey study says, “We found that having gender diversity on executive teams, specifically, to be consistently, positively correlated with higher profitability across geographies in our dataset.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

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

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