Alex de la Fuente

Let's talk for a minute about how Harbor compares to Nanit on pricing. Ultimately, Harbor comes with a 10" tablet and beats every other product on functionality many times over... but here are a few points on pricing. Nanit offers two tiers (as of spring 2024) at $120 or $300 per year PER CHILD. If you have two children in their premium tier you're looking at nearly TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS across two years! Harbor has one flat membership per household. For just one child, Harbor is just $33 more across two years than Nanit's camera, floor stand, and Memories plan. It comes with a dedicated 10" tablet and a level of reliability, security, and quality that no WiFi camera app based system can match.

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Today was a big win for consumer health, with Flo Health Inc.'s valuation at $1 billion. We're hearing talk about the market becoming frothy again, but I’d argue—without seeing the detailed financials—that this valuation could be entirely warranted. Flo has built an impressive business, with 5 million paid subscribers and 70 million monthly active users. At $60 per year for users to access the product, this business has hundreds of millions in revenue and plenty of room to grow. It's increasingly clear to me that innovators focused on healthcare have been wildly underestimating consumer business models for years, believing that patients would only opt for solutions covered by their health plans and prescribed or recommended by their doctors. That thesis needs updating, particularly given high deductible plans and soaring co-pays. Innovators building solutions that users genuinely love will win - even in healthcare. These businesses also have the potential to move into B2B channels, which is far easier to do when you have an engaged, loyal user base. I expect we’ll see many more consumer health businesses “pop” in the years to come, further proving that consumers are ready and willing to pay for such solutions. We're watching closely at Cherish Kudos to the team at Flo for this impressive milestone. Lainie Muller Charlotte Yeh Aashima Gupta Avanlee Christine Esther Dyson Alexandra Drane Jessica Kamada Vin Gupta, MD MPA Asheesh Saksena Paul Crnkovich Josh Kampel Steve Chazin Lee Wagner #agingwithattitude #independentliving #consumerdrivencare

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Create Health Ventures Launches Inaugural $21M Fund for Early-Stage Digital Health Startups  Create Health Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage digital health companies, has closed its debut fund, raising $21 million, surpassing its initial target. Launched in 2024, Create Health Ventures is based in Austin, TX, and Chicago, IL. The firm focuses on technologies that enhance healthcare access, improve patient experiences, and deliver value across payers, providers, and pharmaceutical companies. *Its primary focus includes:   1. Payer-Facing Technologies: Solutions that improve member experiences, enable seamless data and workflow integration, and scale technology across geographies.   2. Clinical Trial Enablement: Tools to help pharmaceutical companies recruit and retain participants for late-stage clinical trials as demand increases. *Founders and Approach:   Create Health Ventures was co-founded by Emma Cartmell and Amit Aysola, healthcare veterans with over 45 years of combined experience. They bring operational expertise, regulatory insight, and an extensive network to portfolio companies. The firm exclusively invests in startups led by healthcare industry founders, leveraging its unique value-added platform for scaling businesses.  *The platform includes: - Business development support   - Access to executive coaches   - Connections to healthcare leaders   - Cross-selling opportunities among portfolio companies  *Key Quotes by GPs:  - Emma Cartmell: “Founders from the healthcare industry understand the challenges and opportunities to improve patient outcomes. Supporting them is the most impactful way we can positively transform healthcare.”   - Amit Aysola: “Payers and pharmaceutical companies are driving demand for connected, scalable solutions, and we are investing in companies to meet these needs.”  *Investments and Impact:  The firm has made five investments so far and partners with foundations, impact investors, and strategic healthcare veterans to mentor portfolio companies.  *Portfolio CEO Feedback:   - Dr. Chip Grant (Watershed Health): “Create Health Ventures has been invaluable in scaling operations and fundraising.”   - Shara Cohen (Carallel): “They are the most collaborative and active investor team I’ve worked with.”   - Neil Batlivala (Pair Team): “They’ve helped us manage growth and reach underserved communities.” If you are experiencing difficulties in raising fresh capital and would require warm introductions to new LPs, contact G+QUANT     ▶ Please use G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks, or send your inquiry directly to [email protected] #VentureCapital #DigitalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #Startups #ClinicalTrials #PatientCare #HealthTech #HealthEquity #CreateHealthVentures

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Hey Nashville Founder and Funder friends: StartupNash is hosting events! We are having a happy hour during the week of #3686, and I want you to come. This event is for high-growth founders in Nashville launching something new (or an interest in newly launched startups)! Founders should expect to meet peer connections. Let me share a bit more. - Startup founders have a lonely road. It's important to make/invest in professional friendships. - 3686 is a great time to share new things you're working on/launching. - We practice peer mentorship (founder knowledge sharing) every day in StartupNash. - We are bringing our community experience to life with this ongoing event. There is a mix of founders and funders already signed up. Those attending 3686 can attend the conference happy hour, then StartupNash in East Nashville, then LaunchTN's after-party. It'll be a busy day but we can do it! I'll be attending every event. How you can help: - Share this event with a founder new to town - Be open to knowledge-sharing with founders - StartupNash is seeking sponsorships for our founder events in the future Details here: https://lu.ma/03h7wpei

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Have been spending a ton of time in the hot fill sauces & dry rubs space of recent, and found the Blues Hog Barbecue brand while digging into the BBQ sauce landscape on Keychain - was shocked to see how fast they grew this past year. Pretty cool background - the platform was originally founded by BBQ Hall of Famer (who knew), Bill Arnold, and ultimately run by Tim Scheer, another BBQ legend. Since then, Blues Hog has been growing like crazy and had a massive breakout this past year, growing 100-200% YoY, and will do tens of millions of dollars this year alone which underscores how exciting that growth rate is. The brand was originally sold in glass mason jars, but naturally pivoted in 2021 to easy-to-use squeeze bottles as they made their way into grocery chains. The most interesting thing to me about this brand though is the team’s focus on hardware stores, like Ace Hardware Corporation, as a core distribution channel. Targeting barbecue enthusiasts at the point of purchase for grills and related equipment is super smart and love the creative advantage. This strategy enhances product visibility in a specialized setting where customers are already in a BBQ mindset, differentiating the brand from those competing in traditional grocery stores. It also leverages the reputation and customer trust associated with hardware retailers, aligning Blues Hog with quality and expertise in the grilling community. I have always thought chasing after more niche, enthusiast audiences is a space that still felt rather untapped in the CPG realm. BBQ sauce isn’t niche, but leveraging hardware store shoppers (somewhat niche) is a rad and unique distro idea. Is anyone building a CPG product marketed toward more niche communities like truck drivers or motocross enthusiasts?

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It's Podcast Tuesday! Episode #236 Today I'm chatting with Eric McHugh☀️🌙President of SHOPX web3 ecommerce, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Dataing and AI-powered matchmaking "Creativity, it's just a bunch of free flow." New Podcast Alert! Dive into the world of creativity, pivoting, and gratitude with our latest episode! In this episode, we explore how creativity is your ultimate superpower – the more you flex it, the more you win! We chat about the art of pivoting and how it's all about harnessing your creativity to navigate change seamlessly. Ever experienced that magical FLOW state? Our guest shares their first memory of being in the zone and how it changed the game for them. Plus, we delve into the power of gratitude – because attitude really is everything! Let's cultivate that attitude of gratitude together. But wait, there's more! We're all about authenticity and finding your creative frequency. Tune in as we encourage you to embrace your unique self and unlock your creative potential! Ready to unleash your creativity and win at life? Hit play now and join the conversation! https://lnkd.in/gpFP7mCK #SustainingCreativity #SustainingCreativityPodcast #EverydayCreativity #CreativeEveryday #CreativeLife #CreativeLiving #CreativityWins #PivotWithPurpose #GratitudeAttitude #AuthenticSelf #CreativeFrequency #CreativeConversations

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Key to successful early stage startup? 1. Consistent communication 2. Honesty and transparency Early stage is one of the most difficult times to build because everyone is new to each other and you're under enormous time pressures and strain to get to the first benchmarks. So teams that can communicate frequently, honestly and openly, even about uncomfortable topics, win. Plain and simple.

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I'm officially launching my new business today: Early Stage Labs. We help Seed and Series A startups level up with fractional execs in finance + growth. If you need the horsepower and execution of an experienced operator but don't want to add heavy FTE burn to your runway, I'd love to see if we can support you. We have been quietly building in 2024 and are up to 11 CFOs and 5 growth folks on the team. We can't wait to roll up our sleeves and get into it. Learn more about what we're doing here: https://lnkd.in/eddDSWCn -- I was out on a walk with my wife back in 2018. I had been running a bootstrapped startup for a few years and was talking to her about a pivot we were making. She asked me what it was that I loved about the business I was building. Simple question, but I paused and had to spend a few days thinking about it. I remember coming back to her and telling her how much I love the art and the act of creating something from nothing. How it’s difficult and nuanced and sometimes even feels impossible. But how - when you get it right - man, it can feel like magic. I’ve built and sold a few businesses since then. We sold our last one to Healthline in 2021. I then jumped to the other side of the table and I’ve been the General Partner of a seed-stage venture fund since 2022. I love deals. I love getting into the hard and dirty parts of a business that can really move the needle. And I love delighting customers. I’m a scrappy, gritty founder who loves finding high impact + low burn ways to move businesses forward, and I think I’ve found that here. I think we’re really doing that for our customers. Early Stage Labs is a love letter, of sorts, to this beautiful, treacherous, wondrous world of startups that I’ve - for some strange f’ing reason - made my home over the last two decades. Here’s to the ride.

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We are excited to share our progress in our turnaround at BODi (NYSE: BODi). We just reported our Q1 2024 financial results with: ·      Our first Free Cash Flow positive quarter since going public in 2021 ·      Our first sequential revenue growth in 2 years ·      First consecutive positive Adjusted EBITDA since going public   Our liquidity position improved by $10 million from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024. While our turnaround plan is still in the execution stage, we all have to acknowledge that after 9 months into the plan, this is incredible progress!    @Carl Daikeler, @Marc Suidan and I will be hosting the conference call will also be available to interested parties through a live and recorded webcast at https://lnkd.in/gHs8TXXj.   Q1 2024 Earnings Release: https://lnkd.in/gpfTdkKq       #Shareholdervaluecreation #DigitalFitness #DigitalHealth

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😅 How did Dan end up manufacturing large quantities of pharmaceutically optimized LSD? 1. Founder of HealthMode 2. Acquired by MindMed to become CMO 3. Run an FDA breakthrough program for LSD in anxiety Full episode in the comments 👇

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Do you know any companies that are stuck or going through a rough time? At Palm Venture Studios, we believe some companies close that don't deserve to. Our mission is to identify these hidden gems and provide the support they need to thrive. We specialize in investing in and scaling companies, leveraging our expertise to turn challenges into opportunities. If you know a company in need of a lifeline or a fresh new chapter, let's connect and explore how we can help. #BusinessGrowth #Investing #CompanyTurnaround #Founders

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When we asked CPG founders who they wanted at Founderland... Their answer was clear: People who can help them grow their business & achieve their goals. Specifically: - The top retailers - The most founder-friendly investors, and - Other founders they can learn from and share with This conversation that I'm hosting at Founderland is a perfect representation of this group, plus one BIG bonus. We're also including Joel Toledano and ChargeUp.ai which is one of my favorite tech companies that is supporting consumer brands today. They automate the retail deduction and chargeback process for brands, saving them an insane amount of time and money. Such a cool co. Excited to teach, share and connect...and get some deals done, while of course having lots of fun. Joel Toledano Jen Zeszut Kim Coffin Deb Conklin

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🚀 Proving Your Concept Before Building the Platform When launching a new tech product, it's crucial to validate your idea before investing in platform development. I recently advised an early-stage ed-tech firm on this. The founder was eager to start building, but I stressed the importance of proving key hypotheses first: 1. User Engagement: Will users engage with and benefit from the content? 2. Willingness to Pay: Are users ready to pay for this value? Alternative Approach: Create a closed Facebook or WhatsApp group. Invite users to join by paying for access to your content. This simple method can validate your concept without a fully developed platform. Also focused on the following metrics to measure the success - 1. Engagement Rate: Track active participation and content consumption within the group. 2. Conversion Rate: Measure the percentage of invited users who join and pay for the group. 3. Retention Rate: Monitor how many users stay engaged over a period of time. 4. Feedback Quality: Collect and analyze user feedback to improve your content and approach. By validating your concept early, you can ensure a successful product launch and better meet your users' needs. #StartupAdvice #LeanStartup #Validation #ProductDevelopment #Innovation

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The shift in Series A to Series B graduation rates is a stark reminder of how the startup landscape has evolved, particularly post-2020. The "sugar rush" analogy fits well—easy access to capital led to rapid growth and inflated valuations. But as interest rates have gone up and funding has become more selective, startups are now having to return to solid business fundamentals. For MedTech and FemHealth startups, the journey from Series A to Series B was never easy, even in more favorable times. Now, with the additional pressure of financial conservatism, these companies must show not only potential but tangible progress in product-market fit, regulatory paths, and revenue generation. This is where smart money, strategic partnerships, and a clear focus on health outcomes can differentiate those startups that are essential from those just chasing the next round. With venture capital taking a closer look at impact and sustainability, founders should focus on aligning with investors who understand the long-term value of innovation in healthcare. For founders currently raising, it's about knowing that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Yes, the competition is tough, but it also means there's an opportunity for those who stay nimble, pivot intelligently, and keep an eye on profitability and growth potential without sacrificing the mission. What do you think will help startups stand out the most as they aim for Series B in today's market? 🚀 Thank you Peter Walker for your incredible insights!! #MedTech #FemHealth #VCFunding #SeriesA #SeriesB #HealthInnovation #Founders

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Make sure your investors and funding partners don’t inadvertently kill your business. Beyond just putting cash into your company your funding partners need to fall into one of the three following buckets: 1. SWEET MONEY: funding that’s such a sweet deal you can’t possibly turn it down. Supportive grant programs with non-onerous funding requirements fall into this bucket. 2. SMART MONEY: people who can make connections, add legitimacy, guide you, and know how to execute investments with standard terms. Savvy angel investors and professional investors fall into this bucket. 3. SHHHHHH MONEY: silent investors who want to support you and are willing to lend a hand when asked fall into this bucket. Funding partners can create bad corporate structures, distract you from your customers, or create burdensome requirements and kill your company if you’re not careful. We’ve been very fortunate to have amazing funding partners, when I looked at why it’s so easy to work with them it’s because they fall into one of these three buckets.

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What is cap table debt & how does it hurt startup founders? Cap tables need to reflect all current and potential shareholders (which includes investors who signed a SAFE or convertible note). Because of the complexity of vesting schedules, repurchase rights, options vs. shares, the variable nature of ownership calculations with convertible instruments, etc., the simple spreadsheets used by most founders are woefully inadequate. We dive deep into the topic of cap table debt and show why founders need to stop using spreadsheets to track your startup cap table in our webinar on "Best Practices with Founder Equity and Cap Tables". You can watch a replay of this webinar here: https://lnkd.in/giHWZkWS

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🔍 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭-𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐅𝐢𝐭: 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐢𝐚'𝐬 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐞 🔍 Sequoia's Jess Lee on identifying product-market fit for early-stage startups: - Understand customers' needs deeply. - Iterate based on feedback. - Solve real problems. - Observe user engagement. - True product-market fit: Consistent user returns and recommendations. #StartupSuccess #ProductMarketFit #Entrepreneurship #CustomerFeedback #Innovation #Sequoia

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🌶️ 8 spicy hot takes about Health Tech that may land me in trouble 👇 1. If a brand name hospital charges a vendor to perform a clinical study but doesn’t buy your product (even if the results are “good”)... that is a BAD signal for your product and product <> market fit (as much as they may tell you otherwise). The market votes with its wallet. 2. Grant money is like winning a lottery ticket. It may help a health system kick start using your product, but you actually haven’t sold anything yet. If you need a grant to get into a health system (because no one would pay for it off a real budget) you should assume the initiative is permanently at-risk until proven otherwise. 3. Flashy demos and brand name VC investors might win you pilots. Subject matter expertise wins real health system partnerships. 4. Procurement processes are not a true barrier to Health Tech adoption. If your innovation is a “must-have”, procurement issues magically disappear. But if your innovation is simply a “nice-to-have”... procurement issues will suddenly appear. 5. Health systems are not anti-innovation - they are just rational actors. If your Health Tech product isn’t selling like hot cakes, it’s most likely because the market incentives are weak. 6. Most Health Tech products fail because vendors focus on building shiny Tech Features instead of Clinical Content and Workflows. No features that are empty shells ever improved a clinical outcome. 7. There are no “kingmakers” for Health Tech products. Any health system that promises you that their brand will give your product a halo effect is exaggerating their influence on the market. 8. Health Tech products that increase revenue will always be more attractive than products that improve clinical outcomes. Health systems may not say this publicly but they will admit it privately. Which of these would you agree with? Which would you disagree with? What’s one of your spicy takes?

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The most effective segments you can build in Klaviyo can only be built with data you collect directly from customers. Recently, I had the chance to learn from a brand in the sports goods space. Their product could be used by players in both baseball and softball, so one thing they did was use a post purchase survey to understand which sport their customer was playing. They then used that data to build segments for each sport, allowing them to change the imagery and messaging in emails to match. So if they played softball - show a softball instead of a baseball in the images. Conversion rates improved once they implemented this, and I have more examples. Fitness brands segmenting by activity level and fitness goals. Skincare brands segmenting by skin condition. Baby brands segmenting by # of children and child age. There is probably a set of questions for your brand that will let you build the exact segments you need to drive open and conversion rate improvements. Have you already implemented this? Would love to learn what segments you've built!

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