Founders Couch

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This episode, we welcome Michael Broughton! Michael is a USC student on a leave of absence and cofounder of Perch, a free app that allows users to build their credit through recurring expenses such as rent, Netflix and Hulu. Coming from a military family of nine, Michael started the company out of some personal experience and in the early days of the company conducted thousands of user interviews to validate the need. So far, Perch has launched on the iOS App Store and is available for download here. They recently raised a $2.5M seed round and are backed by Village Capital, Citi, SoftBank, Concrete Rose Capital and Marcy Venture Partners.

We talk Perch's founding days, what goes into a great pitch, and what it's like being backed by Jay-Z and so many incredible others.

Today, we have Shreyas Parab! Shreyas is a junior at Stanford and co-founder of Angle Global, an online education platform with the goal of teaching the world English. So far, Angle Global has struck a partnership with one of China’s largest spelling bees to provide technology to their 5 million students and have been working in collaboration with several education companies across Canada and the United States .

But this isn’t Shreyas’ first business. When Shreyas was a freshman in high school, he cofounded Spell for Success, another educational tool used by spellers across the country to train, and was the winner of Diamond Challenge, the world’s top entrepreneurship competition for high school students. And before that, he founded the tie business NovelTie, making him the “Tie Guy” of the Greater Philadelphia Area. Through NovelTie, he has sold thousands of ties across the country and became a supplier to Walmart.

What are the top 3 lessons Shreyas has taken away from his biz endeavors? What does he mean by "package your ties?" How was Diamond Challenge monumental to his entrepreneurial journey?

Welcome to Season 4 of the Founders Couch! This episode, I'm joined by the wonderful Frederick Daso, senior Forbes contributor who writes on college entrepreneurship. We interview the stellar John Peurifoy. John is currently the co-founder of Floating Point Group (FPG), a 14 person cryptocurrency trading infrastructure venture-backed startup. He grew up in Springfield, Missouri and graduated MIT with a double major in Physics and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. At MIT, his research focused on using AI tools to solve inverse design problems in physics. He holds 2 patents for novel neural network architectures, and has published in “Science Advances," ICML, and NIPS. Earlier in 2020, FPG raised a $2 million seed round from AngelList founder Naval Ravikant, Steve Kokinos, Seabury Global Markets, and BoxOne ventures. John is an active alumni with MIT and is known for his unique footwear apparel. 

We talk crypto, what it's like to be a student founder, and having to decide between pursuing a PhD and running a company. Make sure to listen until the end to hear a special something... what Fred and I personally think student founders need to know. And, check out Fred's Forbes article on John & FPG from last April here.

What were some of the growth tactics Ishan used? What were the technical fires he learned the most from? 

Ishan Gandhi is a Stanford sophomore studying Computer Science and on a leave of absence. Hailing from London, he is the cofounder of Lighthouse, an Xfund-backed startup "bringing serendipity into social" that's currently in public beta. In his first year at Stanford, Ishan spent his spare time building Link - a viral matchmaking platform that had a staggering 2,400 of Stanford's 7,000 undergrads sign up within just 4 days of being online. 

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Why are user interviews so important when building a product that's not for yourself? What are some clever tactics? And how do you balance staying true to your vision vs. taking feedback?

Ayushi Sinha joins us on the couch today! Ayushi is a recent Princeton grad who studied Computer Science and received a certificate in Cognitive Science. Hailing from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Ayushi was the founder of several ventures during her time in college. She co-founded the startup WellPower, a vertically integrated Uber for water filtration and distribution in East Africa. She also co-founded Princeton’s first student-led VC, Prospect Student Ventures, to invest in student founders and teach core concepts of venture capital. She is currently an incoming member of the Product team at Nines, a startup bringing AI to radiology diagnostics and backed by Accel and 8VC.

We welcome Tejasvi Desai! Tejasvi is a Johns Hopkins senior who studies Biomedical Engineering. Hailing from Pleasanton, California, Tejasvi is the cofounder of Relavo (https://relavomedical.com/), a medical device venture preventing infections in home dialysis. So far, they’ve developed a working prototype, verified the efficacy of their disinfection method, and participated in renowned accelerators such as MassChallenge Boston and MedTech Innovator. They have won over $650,000 in non-dilutive funding and are currently raising a pre-seed round. We discuss: What are the unique aspects of transitioning from class project to real startup? How is a medical device MVP different from a software MVP? Why is it important to de-risk different facets of your business? Subscribe to Founders Couch wherever you get your podcasts.

How did Protect3d come to be? And how does Tim approach selling to customers that might be less likely to adopt new tech? 

Tim is a recent Duke grad who studied Mechanical Engineering. Hailing from Dallas, TX, he is the cofounder and CTO of Protect3d (https://www.protect3dpads.com/), a startup that leverages 3D technology to create anatomical precise protective devices for athletics. So far, they’ve created products for 9 total athletic programs and 90+ athletes across the country, as well as an iOS app to be used by athletic trainers to capture 3D scans from an iPad. They have won 3 grants so far, highlighted by the 2020 NFL 1st and Future Grand Prize for Innovations in Athlete Health and Player Safety, and have also closed a pre-seed round of fundraising from friends and family.

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How did a high school football star turn into a startup entrepreneur? And how did he go about raising funding with respect to his product timeline?

Today, we welcome Robbie Felton on the couch! Robbie is a recent Brown student, on a leave of absence, who studied Public Health. Hailing from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Robbie was a high school football star who got recruited to Brown. His junior year, he decided to take a break from football and pursue entrepreneurship. Robbie is the cofounder and CEO of Intus Care (https://intuscare.com/), which is empowering long-term care providers through data to deliver more effective care to older adults. So far, they’ve built partnerships with health plans and organizations in multiple states working with thousands of patients. They recently raised $500K in seed funding from Equal Opportunity Ventures and were winners of both MassChallenge and the Brown Venture Prize.

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