Tacos and Tech Podcast (Neal Bloom)

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

Promote the show: 

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

5/6 

Fintech founders debrief

Cool Companies debrief

Yembo partners with Atlas Vans

Logistics tech density and CEO gathering

New CEO for Quidel

Escient pharmaceuticals acquired by $750M

Endera Motors $6m raise

NuFund Hits Investment Milestone with 100th Startup

Events - For full list - check The Social Coyote

Nearshoring SD/TJ Event - May 8

SD Angel Conference - May 9

SD Founders Hike - May 10

In today’s tech driven environment, service-based businesses need access to the tech tools to help them meet customers’ needs. Roland Ligtenberg, Co-Founder and SVP of Growth and Innovation at Housecall Pro provides an overview of how his company has grown to be a leader in businesses digitization, which is especially important during the pandemic. Housecall Pro controls the scheduling, automated marketing, and invoice dispatching for all home service professionals across plumbing, electrical, carpet cleaning, HVAC, housekeeping, handyman, window cleaning, locksmith, and many other industries. The business management app includes  QuickBooks Desktop & Online integration, scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, text notifications, payment processing, marketing, online booking, and more. 

Listen in as Neal Bloom chats with Roland about the software behind Housecall Pro and its role in San Diego’s tech ecosystem. 

Roland spent his childhood in the Silicon Valley surrounded by a tech oriented family and community. From here, he graduated from UC San Diego with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He then lived in Cabo for a few years, did some research, and built a few businesses from the ground up. After graduating in 2008, he started his own business consulting firm. He then transitioned to working with software development kits at Qualcomm, where he met his current team for Housecall Pro. 

The original concept of Housecall Pro was like an Uber for home services, in that Roland and his team aimed to create a product connecting homeowners to professionals in the area. Within a year, he and his team designed the app (called Pro Tools at the time) and launched it in 2015. 

Going all in for a business is terrifying for any new entrepreneur, so the process of building a company from scratch and quitting previous jobs differed for everyone. Roland described the notion as a “leap of faith” and emphasized the importance of surrounding oneself with a community of like-minded, goal-oriented individuals who make the experience worth it.

Roland shares essential pivots the company had to make over the years. As a SaaS (Software-as-a-service) company, Housecall Pro acted as its own “Geek Squad” and engineers initially. Soon they realized that in order to increase revenue and expand the team’s skill set, the company needed to increase the price of the product and hire more professionals as the value of the company grew. 

All startups endure different stages of development, with each stage teaching new lessons. Roland understood how vital the daily efforts of each department (e.g. engineering, computer science, sales) are and emphasized the importance of transparency within the company. Maintaining a positive environment and highlighting the skills of each team member increases employee retention, contribution, and overall positivity. 

With COVID-19, Housecall Pro has actually seen a boom in business due to the increase in people working from home. Roland describes various developments the company made to keep up with the changing times, including expanding marketing outreach. They even introduced a daily news segment, which eventually transitioned into their very own podcast. 

Going forward, Roland underscores the importance of being flexible in these unprecedented times. As for Housecall Pro, the company is currently looking to build its culture and is hiring, so if interested, check out the website for more information. 

Roland’s favorite local tacos: Oscar’s Mexican Seafood, burritos at Los Dos Pedros, and Taco Surf

Connect with Roland:

LinkedIn

Keep up with Housecall Pro:

Website: https://www.housecallpro.com/

LinkedIn

Facebook: @housecallpro

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

Promote the show: 

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

4/8

Biolinq raise

Natilus - Interlock participating in their latest round

Defense tech ecosystem

Harpoon defense tech meetup debrief

Alterome Therapeutics raises $132M Series B

Splash raise $4.5m

Tide Rock acquires CABLENET Aerospace

Events - For full list - check The Social Coyote

SaaS Diego – Fundraising for your SaaS Startup April 9

Welcome to SD Virtual Gathering - April 19

TechCon SoCal May 24

Founders Hike May 10

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

Promote the show: 

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

7/24

Fundings

$1B in VC funding for Q2

Athletic Brewing raises $50 at a $800m valuation

Term Labs raises $5.5m Seed

Kandji raises another $100M

Element Biosciences raises a $277m Series D

Kratos new hypersonic vehicle takes flight

Fashionphile is launching a Coronado pop-up this summer in Coronado

Eli Lily inks a deal with Radionics that could be worth $1B

Novartis is shutting down their SD office and cutting 100 jobs

An’s Gelato is #1 Gelato in the U.S.

Events – For full list – check The Social Coyote

Event debrief - Carlsbad Life In Action Tech Gathering - July 16, next one Sept 23

Cheryl Goodman’s new book launch - July 26

Listen in to our interview with Cheryl here

Carlsbad Life in Action Cleantech Gathering - Aug 5

SD EDC Summer Bash - Aug 22

TEDxSanDiegoWomen - Aug 28

Interlock’s event calendar - look for what’s public and what’s private that we’re involved in

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

Women Who Code San Diego is an international non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. Women currently represent less than 30% of the technology industry in the United States. WWC’s mission is to provide a community for female tech professionals with resources and support. This week’s Tacos and Tech Podcast features Jillian Moore, Luisa Giuffrida, and Mikyla DeWitt, co-directors of the local chapter.

Jillian is a Senior Software Engineer at PlayStation in San Diego, and was one of the first engineers asked to create the Women Who Code San Diego chapter in 2017. Luisa, former Manager of Online Development at PlayStation, was also part of the company’s team of female leaders to start this community group. She currently works at Amazon as a Software Development Manager. Mikyla is a Senior Software Developer at Mosaic.tech, and became actively involved after coming to WWC San Diego’s launch in 2017. The co-directors all shared the same passion: finding a tech group focusing on and empowering women. Their perseverance led to a successful community group for women technologists to support and learn from one another.

Since its launch, the organization has grown, providing many experiences and events such as monthly meetups, workshops, networking sessions, coding nights, and more. To support WWC, actively attend and support their events and encourage fellow women colleagues to attend and gain resources. If you are interested in reaching out, contact them through email at sandiego@womenwhocode.com or join their meetup group. 

Their favorite local tacos:

Jillian: Robert’s Jalapenos

Mikyla: Birria El Rey

Luisa: Lolita’s Mexican Food 

Connect with them:

Jillian Moore

Luisa Giuffrida

Mikyla DeWitt

Learn more about Women Who Code

Website: https://www.womenwhocode.com/sandiego 

Facebook: @WWCodeSanDiego 

Twitter: @WWCodesandiego

Instagram: @wwcodesandiego

LinkedIn

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business & Cox Edge for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Jon gives an overview of what Vessel is [02:59]

• Jon shares how he started his first business [07:11]

• Jon recalls his first business, building an e-commerce site, and how it’s different from Vessel [12:54] 

• Jon talks about the shift from having a bad cash flow business to having a successful one, how he applied the marketing techniques he learned to his website, and “growth hacking”

• What made Jon stay as an entrepreneur even after having two successful companies already? [20:33]

• Jon talks about venture and bootstrapping and why he prefers the former [25:14]

• Jon shares his thoughts on going hardware versus software  [27:15]

• Jon talks about the founding story of Vessel [29:04]

• Jon shares how they decide what products or services to add for Vessel, and lessons he learned along the way [33:57]

• Jon talks about their recently launched 2.0, new tests, and Vessel Flex [36:11]

• What are Vessel’s future plans? [38:40]

• Jon shares his favorite taco spots, Barrio Star, Cocina De Barrio, El Agave, and King and Queen Cantina [40:45]

Follow Jon

LinkedIn

Vessel Health

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

Check out our Tacos and Tech Tacos Database to learn where our local SD entrepreneurs and leaders satisfy their taco crave! 

Nicole Carr is the CFO of Measurabl, a software platform that enables owners and operators of real estate to measure, manage, and report non-financial ESG data, such as energy, water, and waste consumption data.

Nicole grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a known beer city. She went on to attend University of Colorado Boulder, studying accounting and playing volleyball for the Buffaloes. After spending four years in Boulder, Nicole moved to Denver to begin her career working for KPMG, one of the “big four” accounting firms. A few years passed and Nicole felt burnt out in her public accounting role, so she began working for one of her best clients, Realty Income, a San Diego public company. There, she spent about six years with that company, working in financial roles.    

During her time at Realty Income, Nicole became more familiar with ESG (Environmental Social Governance) and realized she wanted to make it a bigger part of her career. She stumbled upon Measurabl while flipping through a long list of San Diego companies and it happened to be the only business she dogeared, so she knew she had to get in touch with the team. A year later, Nicole is leading the company’s financial division. Listen to the rest of her story.

Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Nicole’s favorites

Tacos - Karina’s Seafood in Mission Hills

Beer - Tart and sour beers at Modern Times

Coffee - Influx in Golden Hill

Keep up with Measurabl on social media:

Instagram & Twitter: @Measurabl

Facebook

LinkedIn

Did you know our host Neal worked on the Space Shuttle before he became an entrepreneur? The infinite depth and futuristic existence of outer space intrigues most everyone, especially those who find themselves fascinated with the research behind the unknown. Tech Coast Angels San Diego president Caitlin Wege is no exception, as from a young age, she found herself being amazed by the intricacies of space and the work put into researching it. 

In this episode, Neal and Caitlin chat about manned space and the investable space opportunities with members of TCA San Diego. Tune in to geek out about everything from space junk to rocket engines and nano satellites.

2:22 Caitlin introduces Neal, who discusses his extensive background as a systems engineer for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne from 2008 to 2013. Neal goes on to talk about how he primarily dealt with the business aspect of rocket launches, as he was in charge of building a plan for future launches. During this time, he took part in 12 Space Shuttle launches and about 130 engine tests. 

7:31 After they retired the Space Shuttle, Neal continued to work, but most of the company’s staff was laid off. Neal, who was 25 years old at the time,  partnered with his coworker, Adam Markowitz, to help engineers market themselves for employment. That project evolved into  a company called Portfolium, a software company that was sold for $34 million in 2019. This venture was Neal’s first step into becoming involved in the San Diego startup scene.

8:48 Neal runs through the main engine details of the Space Shuttle, which is 14 feet long, 8 feet in width, and 8,000 pounds in weight, making it the same size as a fighter jet engine, but producing 10 times the thrust.

11:34 Neal details the intensive launch sequence required to send seven people into space. 

13:56 Neal discusses manned space history. The first shuttle was created in 1969, with its manned launch in 1981. Going forward, SpaceX was founded in 2002 and had its first manned launch this year. In addition, the Artemis Program holds the goal of landing the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024. SpaceX and Boeing have contracts to ”taxi” people and supplies to the Space Station, primarily for scientific purposes and experimentation on human development and such. 

16:30 Neal discusses the politics of space. Contrary to popular belief, NASA has a small $20 billion budget. While this may seem like a significant amount, a single aircraft carrier costs $13 billion. NASA’s budget is not only spent researching space, but also researching on earth, contributing towards diplomatic relations through science collaboration with other countries such as Japan, Russia, etc, and impacting the greater humanity. Private companies such as SpaceX are able to effectively utilize their government funding by vertically integrating, ultimately cutting their costs significantly. 

21:31 Neal talks about the future of space and investment opportunities. Currently, private companies like SpaceX have been able to use large NASA contracts to develop rockets used for man missions as well as private endeavors. In terms of investments, Neal believes there is huge growth potential for space in areas such as satellites, in-space propulsion, in-space GPS, energy utilization, and radiation protection. 

23:10 Neal answers questions from TCA members on topics such as tech transfer between the US military and NASA, space assets, and radiation protection in space.

30:56 Neal discusses more investments in space. One example is Rocketlab, a newer company building full rockets to raise money for the ecosystem around satellites. Also, SpaceX, who’s  first raise was $60 million, has  raised a total of $3.2 billion over 18 years, with the entire company now being valued at $33 billion. (Update since recording: SpaceX raised an additional $1 billion recently and is now valued at $46 billion).

38:45 Space debris is discussed. It burns up upon entering the atmosphere, but because there is a large quantity of it, some of it doesn’t burn and can cause complications. Due to the fact that debris is made up of aluminum (weak magnetic force), it’s difficult to catch debris flying at 20,000 mph, so while we have infrastructure to make satellites, there is a significant need for something to clean up and collect space debris. 

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Keep up with Tech Coast Angels:

Website: https://www.techcoastangels.com/

Linkedin

Twitter: @tcasandiego

1. Apple expands SD footprint with new 67-acre campus in Rancho Bernardo

2. Brius Technologies wants to give you the perfect smile

3. Persephone Biosciences, startup focused on microbiome-based therapeutics lands $15M in seed funding

4. Nuvee and SDGE power Cajon Valley Schools buses and they power back at night

5. Cari Health is battling the opioid crisis through its wearable device

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

Promote the show: 

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

1/19/2024

News

ShieldAI increased $500m funding!

Johnson & Johnson acquires Ambrx Biopharma for $2B

TuSimple shuts down US ops

Local breweries are growing again

Novo Brazil Brewing Company open Mission Valley location

New Amazon robotics-powered sorting center opens in Otay Mesa

Events - For full list - check The Social Coyote

Out of town happy hour by Lenny’s Newsletter - Jan. 23

Investing in Macroeconomic Trends - Jan. 23

The REC Ribbon Cutting - Jan. 24

AgX Gathering - Jan. 30

SD Founders Hike & Plunge - Feb 2

Meet Sergey Sundukovskiy Co-founder, CTO, and CPO of Raken - a field management solution for the construction industry. Tune in to hear all about Sergey's journey from Ukraine to UCSD and his career path to entrepreneurship. Have you ever met someone who has never eaten a taco? Listen to Sergey's story! Thanks to Cox Business for their support of the local startup ecosystem.

Alessandra Lezama is the founder & CEO of TOOTRIS, a tech-enabled service provider that connects parents with childcare providers.

As a single mother, Alessandra struggled finding proper childcare for her son, who was young at the time. He had a near-death experience that would be difficult for any mother to forget. 

Early in Alessandra’s career, she was a Montessori teacher who then switched over to tech, where she ultimately found her calling. Her new venture, TOOTRIS sits at the intersection of her background in early childhood education and her passion for building tech companies.

Tune in as Alessandra shares how her new startup, TOOTRIS, aims to transform the antiquated childcare industry with modern tech.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Alessandra’s favorite local tacos:

Tacos El Gordo

Connect with Alessandra: 

LinkedIn

Keep up with TOOTRIS: 

Website: https://tootris.com/

LinkedIn

Twitter: @tootrisondemand

Instagram: @tootris

Facebook: @tootrisondemandchildcare

Meet Dan Hendricks, North County resident since 2002, a retired Navy Captain who specialized in nuclear engineering, and is the Founder of Open Source Maker Labs (OSML). OSML is an innovation lab for makers and developers of new products. Once retired, he began working with his kids and their high school’s robotics clubs where he quickly realized there are a lot of energetic people out there who didn’t have a way to connect or build. And so OSML was born. The favorite phrase and criteria for new projects at OSML is “we’ve never done this before”, which demonstrates the lab’s vision for innovation. Listen in as he describes all the capabilities of OSML to help build new inventions and technologies in North County.

Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support of the local startup ecosystem through their support of this episode. 

Meet Samantha Urban, CEO of Urban Translations and an all around inspiring founder in tech. Urban Translations, which translates paper menus into interactive experiences and languages.

Originally from Ventura County, Samantha grew up in the 80’s when tech was still a new thing, and seeing women in tech was rare. At the age of 10 she bought a computer running on Windows 3.1, the tech bug bit her, and she’s been chasing it ever since. After studying Computer Science, she worked in the U.S. Patent Office and MyYearbook.com, where she saw her first exit, and then with Stuzo before starting her own computer, Urban Translations.

So, how did she get into the hospitality industry? Much of her family works in hospitality so she has a unique perspective. But what really drove her to create her latest software, Urban Translations was a trip to Brazil. Listen in to hear the founding story.

Samantha finds that San Diegans are much more genuine and the culture fits how she wants to build her company and she’s been able to find her people. She’s a naturally fast-paced person and she appreciates the balance that the calmness and peacefulness of San Diego brings. Most people in San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are not born there. Each of these cities is very distinct and have their own culture, and it’s that culture that attracts the kind of people who fit in there. San Diego has her people.

So what’s next for Urban Translations? Samantha was thrilled to announce that they have been working with Samsung and are now working with Google. There is so much more that Urban Translation can do and Google and Samsung see this and want to collaborate on initiatives the hospitality industry hasn’t yet seen.  Listen to the full podcast to hear more!

Best taco spot - This has been an easy answer for most guests, but surprisingly, Samantha doesn’t have one. Instead, she dropped a crazy cool announcement - HEAR IT HERE FIRST - Her desire is for everyone to have a good experience while dining out and for restaurants to make good money.  We are what we eat and when we feed it good and organic products, we all become healthier. She learned this first-hand. Samantha has a passion for quality food and wants for restaurants to give us better food. Any restaurant with organic foods, good oils, etc. is eligible to get free software, service, and tablets if they serve better food. There will be a vetting process, and she wants to get at least one in 2018. If you know of a restaurant that could qualify, connect them with Samantha!

Eventually she wants to expand this offer to hotels and resorts all over.

And if you’re a San Diego company that offers healthy food, contact her for advertising opportunities within the Urban Translations platform.

Best beer - Although she doesn’t drink anymore, her favorite was Modern Times.

Best coffee- Modern Times as well. OB Garden Cafe, who are making good waves for organic options and also has outdoor/indoor seating and yoga on the roof.

You can find Samantha and Urban Translations on Twitter, on Facebook, Instgram, and LinkedIn as Urban Translations.

Ty Smith, the founder and CEO of CommSafe AI and retired Navy SEAL, has always seen himself as a protector of people. That’s why he launched CommSafe AI - a technology company that focuses on conflict and violence prevention in the workplace, while promoting diversity and inclusion. Through its first-to-market AI tool, the startup plans to help companies fight against bullying, harassment, aggression, Title IX offenses and other toxic communications, which costs US workplaces roughly $528 billion a year.   

Ty, who grew up in East St. Louis, Ill., found himself in San Diego following a dream to join the Navy. He first served in Sardinia, Italy as both a translator and military police officer, and almost stayed there to pursue higher education at the University of Rome. But, following 9/11, he pursued Navy SEAL training in Coronado where he served for 15 years. He retired in 2016, intending to work for the FBI with a new MBA in hand from USC Marshall School of Business. 

Although he planned to wait about 10 years to pursue his own business, the 2015 San Bernardino shooting brought on conversations about how employers can prevent and prepare for similar situations. This encouraged Ty to create a training company, teaching clients how to prepare for active shootings and prevent workplace violence. 

In the last five years, his highly specialized team has put a lot of effort towards listening to customer demands, and Ty accredits the company’s evolution and pivoting to these conversations. In 2020, the company took the leap to becoming solely a tech-enabled company focused on analyzing toxic communication between employees using AI.

CommSafe AI’s tool analyzes communication in real time and flags toxic messages – similar to the algorithm of an email spam filter – that would threaten the integrity of a safe communication space or violate shared company values. The software tracks tone, meaning that the algorithms can semantically tell if the tone of a message is insulting by analyzing word choice and word patterns.

In addition to alerting management of an issue, CommSafe AI also provides “next step” recommendations. For example, the system would suggest customized coaching for well-meaning employees to help them increase their communication awareness and sensitivity.

The company is currently beta testing its AI tool with select customers, with a plan to introduce the technology commercially later this year.

Listen in as Ty talks with host Neal Bloom about his entrepreneurship experience and the company’s plans for the upcoming year.

Ty’s favorite local tacos: Don Panchos in Imperial Beach

Connect with Ty Smith:

LinkedIn

Keep up with Comm Safe AI:

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook: @CommSafeAI

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Stanley Kim is the Co-Founder & CEO of WinSanTor, a biotech company focused on developing pharmaceutical solutions to peripheral neuropathy.

Stanley graduated from UC Berkeley after studying genetics, but after realizing he had no desire to work in a lab or go to med school, he went to go work for a law firm and became an IP attorney. Eventually, Stanley landed an IP attorney role at San Diego’s Salk Institute, a top biology institution.

There, Stanley played a pivotal role in starting numerous companies, including Emotient, a company specializing in machine perception, which was eventually acquired by Apple; Emotient’s technology later went on to become the basis for Apple’s facial recognition feature. Then, in 2011, Stanley was approached by a group of scientists to pursue a branch of science that seemed to hold the solution to peripheral neuropathy, a debilitating disease that targets 15-20 million Americans every year. His team’s solution is the first of its kind--an anomaly in the diabetic industry that only provides pain management drugs. 

Tune in as Stanley joins host Neal Bloom and guest co-host Darin Anderson, co-founder and CEO of NXT Robotics, to discuss his journey as a serial entrepreneur in the San Diego tech scene.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Stanley’s favorite local tacos:

Lucha Libre and Taco Stand 

Connect with Stanley: 

LinkedIn

Keep up with WinSanTor: 

https://winsantor.com/

LinkedIn

Facebook: @winsantorinc

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Heather gives an overview of what StoryFile is [02:21]
• How did Heather find herself in the tech field? How did she come up with the business idea for StoryFile? [03:15]
• Heather talks about the journey to making her business idea happen [07:13]
• How did Heather find the right people to work with for her business?[11:55]
• Heather talks about the tech side of her business and how things worked out from a technology ownership perspective [13:58]
• Heather shares the uses of their services and technology [17:08]
• Heather talks about their latest technologies, including having their own natural language processing system [22:03]
• Heather talks about finding talents and how StoryFile can ba be an avenue in doing so [24:33]
• Heather explains what StorFile’s living albums is [27:02]
• Why did Heather give up her role as CEO to become CVO? [28:56]
• Heather shares her favorite taco spots, El Coyote and Escuela Taqueria [31:50]

Follow Heather online

LinkedIn

StoryFile

Website | LinkedIn

Companion Medical is a diabetes medical device company that offers a smart insulin pen system to help patients take proper insulin doses at the right time. The company’s product, InPen, was the first to be FDA-approved, and revolutionized the medical device industry. 

In this week’s podcast, Neal is joined by Sean Saint, founder and CEO of Companion Medical, who shares his entrepreneurial journey. Tech Coast Angel investor Justin Jue also makes a special appearance as co-host, and talks about how he made his very first investment in Companion Medical during their early stages. 

Sean graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a mechanical engineering degree, and became involved in the medical device technology field as an engineer for Medtronic. He appreciated that he could do what he was skilled at and also have a significant impact helping others. He eventually moved to San Diego to work for diabetes management companies like Dexcom and Tandem, and stayed in the area ever since.

Although he was heavily focused on developing ways to treat diabetes, Sean did not fully understand the complications of the disease until he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes himself. He realized that automated insulin pumps are good devices, but are inefficient if they are not used by the patients themselves. With a changed perspective, he took it on himself to develop better technology for people to actually use. 

After thinking of an idea for a smart insulin pen, Sean began to research for a smart pen company to work with. However, he was unable to find one, and it became clear that if he wanted to do this, he would have to take a leap of faith and do it himself. He started Companion Medical in 2013, and held on to his personal mantra, “Never Stop Talking,”— always bringing conversations and lunch meetings back to his vision for the startup. Through his consistent effort, he was eventually able to meet Justin in a TCA pitch, securing much-needed funds for Companion Medical’s early days. 

Companion Medical faced many challenges being the first novel product in the market, having to convince investors that the work they were doing was feasible and important. Although large pharmaceutical companies with resources were interested in creating a similar device, Sean’s startup had the advantage of being quick and flexible, and with his first-hand experience with diabetes, the personal motivation and urge to truly create a product to improve people’s lives. 

Listen in to hear Sean’s growth as an entrepreneur through Companion Medical and its recent acquisition by Medtronic, an opportunity to gradually expand in the diabetes management field. 

Their favorite local tacos:

Sean: Local taco place in Tecate (South of border in Mexico)

Justin: Don Bravo in La Jolla

Connect with Sean and Justin on LinkedIn:

Sean Saint

Justin Jue

Learn more about Companion Medical Here:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram: @myinpen

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech. Every Friday at 12:30pm Pacific on Clubhouse and now we record them for you to enjoy as well. Find these episodes on Freshbrewedtech.com and favorite podcast player for Tacos and Tech Podcast

I’m Neal Bloom, entrepreneur, investor, and community builder.

Fred: I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of SD Founders substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

6/02/23:

• Measurabl - $93m raise

• The TJ Tech Boom 

• George Hotz’s Tiny Corp $5.1M 

• Pureboost raises $2.8M
  
  

Events:

• 1st Mondays - 250 tickets as of Thursday

• Founders Hike - June 7

• Summer Social by Connect - June 17th

• EvoNexus Demo Day - June 30th

Subscribe to stay on top of events

Read deep dives into startups in San Diego on SD Founders Substack

3/21/23:

SD Companies Making Acquisitions

• Trust & Will
• Aptera
• MaxLinear
• ResMed
• ClickUp
• Cloudbeds - whistle

Future stories

• SVB
  
• Fabric8 Labs 
  
• JMI new fund 11 of $2.4B
  
• Latest FBT newsletter

• Neal introduces Tom and Allen [01:54]
• Tom gives an overview of what Loyal Foundry is [02:22]
• Allen and Tom talk about their background and career trajectory [03:03]
• Why did Tom and Allen pivot out of VC during the early 2000s? [06:52]
• Tom shares why he's interested in mobile tech, particularly in mobile apps [08:29]
• On how iPhone changed the mobile game [10:25]
• Tom talks about his startup company Verve, what it was like being the CEO, what made him decide to sell it, and how the company is doing now [11:36]
• Allen talks about his connection with Tom, and what their team is currently focusing on [13:47]
• Tom shares how the app market is doing today, including the current changes and trends they have noticed [15:28]
• Tom talks about what he hates about ad tech, why they like the ad market and what they’re doing to help publishers and developers [16:52]
• Allen talks about what it’s like experiencing selling and buying apps [19:53]
• Allen shares the factors they're looking for from developers such as good category and high ratings and engagement [22:01]
• Tom shares the difference between Apple Store and Google Play, and what makes Apple Store better in terms of accepting apps [23:17]
• Tom shares how they get information and insights of the apps they're interested in [24:01]
• Tom and Allen share their favorite taco spots in San Diego, Rudy's Taco Shop [28:56]

Follow Tom online

LinkedIn

Follow Allen online

LinkedIn

Loyal Foundry: Website | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News 

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

My co-host of this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years and now he covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter.

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

News 10/31

Stocktoberfest, SDSW & health tech event debrief

Fundings

Wildfire Series B - $16M

Serenity EHS - $5.5M

Grant funding for Algensis, Cellibre, Onego for bioindustrials

Nuclear power making a comeback and General Atomic’s fusion tech aims to benefit

New CFO at SOCi

mPower lands Airbus deal to solar-power satellites

Breakthrough Properties

Events – For full list – check The Social Coyote

SD Founders Hike - Nov 1

EyepopAI & Fresh Brewed Tech Vision Tech Workshop - Nov 5

Tech The Halls - Dec 6

TechCon SoCal - Jan 17-18

Ashok Kamal is the Executive Director of Tech Coast Angels (TCA) San Diego, one of the largest and most active angel investment groups in the country.

Originally from the east coast, Ashok grew up in Boston, where he later attended Boston University. At 21 years old, Ashok moved to New York City to pursue entrepreneurship. Hw founded businesses there and immersed himself in the local startup scene. In 2015, after spending 15 years in the big apple, he finally made his way out to the west coast. A visit to his friend in San Diego is what sparked his idea to move to the sunny city, and he’s never looked back.

Ashok’s first taste of the San Diego startup scene was at Startup San Diego’s Convergence event, which happens to be where he first met our host, Neal.

This is a special episode because School of Rap, which was co-founded by Ashok, helped us come up with a new Tacos & Tech theme song that encompasses all we love about San Diego and the local startup scene. Give it a listen and let us know what you think! http://theschoolofrap.com/ 

Listen in to hear all about his experience transitioning from being an entrepreneur to becoming an investor, and get the scoop on his favorite local tacos.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Ashok’s local favorites:

Tacos: Fish tacos at Blue Water Seafood in Little Italy

Keep up with Ashok: 

Twitter: @AK_LaunchLeader

Ashok’s LinkedIn

Keep up with Tech Coast Angels: 

Facebook: @TCASanDiego

Twitter: @TCASanDiego

Instagram: @TCASanDiego

https://tcasandiego.com/

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Marty gives an overview of Always AI [02:18]
• How did Marty end up in the tech industry? [03:53]
• Marty talks about what it was like working for Blackberry and being in the telecom space [05:38]
• Marty shares how he turned his idea for alwaysAI into reality[06:43]
• When did Steven and Marty meet? [07:39]
• Steven talks about what Longley Capital does and what drew them to alwaysAI [09:52]
• Marty shares the trends he's been observing and why San Diego is a great location for alwaysAI [12:12]
• What are the feedbacks they have gotten from their users and community? [14:39]
• Marty explains the earliest stage of a startup that comes into the free model and how they grow alongside [15:50]
• Steven and Marty share some actual use cases they were surprised to see [16:52]
• Marty and Steven share their favorite tacos spots, Las Olas and El Pescador [19:15]

Follow Marty online

LinkedIn

Always AI

Website | LinkedIn

Follow Steven online

LinkedIn

Longley Capital

Website | LinkedIn

• • *This article was pretty weak.. We can have a conversation instead?*

• Michael Farrell: ResMed

• Steve Mollenkopf: Qualcomm

• Kevin Sayer: Dexcom

• Sheila Gujrathi: Gossamer Bio

• Francis deSouza: Illumina

• Amit Munshi: Arena Pharmaceuticals

• Charles Baum: Mirati Therapeutics

• Jeffrey Martin: Sempra

• John Higgins: Ligand Pharmaceuticals

• Gregory Garrabrants: Axos Financial

• Some details:

• Pop Quiz

1. 1. 1. Name split of met to woman
      2. Top 3 companies
      3. Do you think they all had shareholder value generation? 
   2. 1 female CEO on the list
   3. 6/10 had positive shareholder value
   4. 6 biotech (counting Dexcom)
   5. 1 energy 
   6. 1 FinTech
   1. You might have seen the viral photos
   2. Beautiful Amazon facility 
   3. In the middle of Tijuana, Mexico
   4. This is not a facility to serve the booming population in the region
   5. Unless you mean booming US population across the boarder
      1. Close to the ports of LA and LB -- which handle 40% of all container imports into the US
   6. Inland Empire has been the most crucial site for Amazon's delivery network. 
   7. So why is this facility here? 
      1. Though that does come into play
   8. This is not a result of cheap labor
      1. In the US
      2. 3.3 miles away
   9. This facility is actually serving the Amazons newest facility in Otay Mesa
      1. V expensive fo For e-commerce companies 
   10. Trump's trade war, there has been a total increase of about $200 billion in tariffs from China. 
       1. Take them apart
       2. Then bring them over the boarder in 
          1. allow the duty-free import of goods up to $800.
          2. In tote bags
       3. Exploiting an Obama rule loophole
   11. This facility is designed to ship goods from China -> Mexico
       1. Some are mandatory OT 60 hr a week in order to get around these tariffs
   12. Sure this does add jobs
   13. Makes you wonder….
   14. Definitely seems like Tech can innovate much quicker than GOV can regulate
2. What’s actually going on with Amazon’s new facility across the border

1. TakeLessons acquisition by Microsoft
   1. Founded in 2006
   2. Raised $19M from Crosslink and more. Haven’t raised since 2014
   3. Were always a favorite stop on the SD Startup Crawl from the early days of Startup Week since 2013
   4. We had them on the podcast recently, so listen to the founding story from CEO Steven Cox

Fundings

1. Tiled - $13.7M Series A - content generation platform
2. Plantible Foods - $20.5M Series A - platform for developing plant-based proteins
3. Grolltex - $1.5M Note - graphene production
4. Nanocellect - $20M - cell analysis platform
5. Powur - $3.7M plus more from crowdfunding
   1. Check this rap by the CEO at their recent shareholder meeting

Acquisition

1. Chosen Food by Butterfly Equity
2. RevCult by OwnBackup - salesforce ecosystem
3. TakeLessons by Microsoft

Find us on twitter / Linkedin: @NealBloom & JonahPeake

And find this news and more at FreshBrewedTech.com

This Week in SD Tech:

• ClickUp Launching New Ad Campaign During Super Bowl LVI | San Diego Business Journal
• Qualcomm Expands in Auto Sector | San Diego Business Journal
• Callaway, Port Officials Ink Exclusive Negotiating Agreement for New Harbor Island Topgolf Location | San Diego Business Journal
• New San Diego firm nabs $75M for specialized microscopes that could aid in treatment of diseases - The San Diego Union-Tribune
• Life science developer buys Costa Verde Center near UTC to complete 'mega campus' - The San Diego Union-Tribune
• This San Diegan helps entrepreneurs sell their businesses

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

Matt Ellis is CEO of Measurabl, the world’s leading ESG software for commercial real estate. Measurabl helps companies collect and report investment grade ESG performance using its platform, helping the real estate community identify green buildings and invest money better. 

Matt grew up in Tustin, California, attending UC San Diego for his undergraduate degree and went to San Diego State for his M.B.A. His father was a residential real estate agent, and was influential in guiding Matt toward real estate, encouraging him to get a real estate license and broker’s license. In 2008, he was hired by CBRE, officially starting his real estate career. He became interested in the intersection between real estate, his professional career, and sustainability, his personal interest. This led to him becoming Director of Sustainability Solutions at CBRE, in charge of creating and commercializing services around energy and sustainability. Matt saw firsthand the rise of this issue of ESG and sustainability from a mega real estate provider’s point of view and worked on tech solutions, leading to the creation of Measurabl.

Matt presented the idea of Measurabl as a business plan to CBRE, insisting on the importance of pursuing this software. The company assigned all intellectual property to him, and assisted him financially, also becoming Measurabl’s first customer. Matt also looked for help from friends and family, reuniting with fellow UCSD graduates Lance Onken and David Schumann, who were the first two full-time employees. With the help of those around him, he was able to work toward a minimum viable product and the ultimate vision of helping customers access relevant data and make it useful for personas in the real estate industry. Originally, sustainability was seen as the right thing to do, but now the real estate world sees it as a hard business imperative for success.

Listen to Matt Ellis share the founding story of Measurabl, and the policy levers and economic realities that pushed real estate owners and operators to become greener for the better. 

His favorite local tacos:

Mitch’s Seafood in San Diego

Connect with Matt:

Matt Ellis

Learn more about Measurabl:

Website: https://www.measurabl.com/ 

Facebook: @measurabl

Twitter: @measurabl

LinkedIn

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business & Cox Edge for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Jasmine Sadler is the Founder and CEO of The STEAM Collaborative, which focuses on advocacy for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education through an artistic lens. The STEAM Collaborative works with community-based organizations, informal educators, and museums to design, implement, and manage team education programs. 

Growing up in Detroit, Jasmine was always encouraged to try new things, from dance to gymnastics. She always loved math and rather excelled at it, tutoring other kids in her 8th grade algebra class. Her math journey continued as she pursued outside, informal engineering programs where she eventually stumbled upon the aerospace field. She earned her Bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering from Michigan University, and would eventually take a job as a defense contractor in Indianapolis. However, creating dangerous weapons for the military presented a moral dilemma and eventually pushed her out of the field and into another position at Solar Turbines in San Diego. 

Jasmine talks about how she always had an entrepreneurial mindset, selling candy and homemade crafts to other students. This pushed her towards an MBA at Point Loma Nazarene University. From there, she thought about what she was willing to do for free and decided on tutoring. This led to the creation of The STEAM Collaborative. 

With informal education being crucial to her career path, Jasmine wanted to open the same experience to underserved communities. With the onset of COVID-19, many schools’ math curriculums fell to the wayside, creating an opportunity for Jasmine to do more than just tutor. 

Listen in as host Neal Bloom talks with Jasmine about the impact of informal education and The STEAM Collaborative’s plans for the future, as well as her experience as a recent CONNECT ALL @ the Jacobs Center graduate. 

Jasmine’s favorite local tacos: Lupe’s in Linda Vista 

Connect with Jasmine:

LinkedIn

Book time with Jasmine

Keep up with The STEAM Collaborative:

Website: https://www.steamcollab.com/ 

LinkedIn

Facebook: @theSTEAMcollab 

Instagram: @thesteamcollab 

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Al Bsharah is VP of Product Operations at Seismic, a sales enablement platform. The show is also joined by Amy Chang, CEO of Delta Nutrassentials. Neal, Al, and Amy are all members of Tech Coast Angels, which will give you an investor perspective of the San Diego tech scene in this episode.

Al moved out to San Diego in 1998 after working as an engineer in the Detroit auto industry. He always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur and spent his time in San Diego trying to build businesses and working in other startups. Al learned some tough lessons as a solo founder and decided to pair up with a co-founder for his next venture.

In last 2016, Al joined Seismic Software, which had a headcount of 200 at the time. Three years later, the tech unicorn is pushing 900. The company has been rapidly growing for years, and even made a couple acquisitions, giving the company a presence in multiple states and countries.

Listen in to hear all about Al’s experience as both an entrepreneur and an investor, and get the scoop on his favorite local taco spot.

17:43 SD tech news recap begins. Topics include SOCi, Concert Health, and Kneron’s recent fundraising rounds; BlueNalu’s groundbreaking cell-based fish; local startup studios, like Brad Chisum’s Launch Factory; the HNC tech mafia, and more.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Al’s favorite local taco spot:

Fish tacos at The Tilted Stick in Ocean Beach

(Other than his wife’s homemade shrimp tacos, of course)

Keep up with Al: 

Twitter: @ALBsharah

Keep up with Seismic: 

Facebook: @SeismicSoftware

Twitter: @SeismicSoftware

Instagram: @SeismicSoftware

https://seismic.com/

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Valerie gives an overview of what San Diego NFT Friends is [02:35]

• Valerie talks about Red Rug Edutainment and what they do [03:05]

• How did Valerie get into the tech industry? [04:00]

• In what ways did winning an NFT from Gary Vaynerchuk help Valerie? [06:04]

• Valerie talks about when why she started doing her meetups [07:11]

• Valerie shares the background of the people that go to her meetups, and their engagement in the community [10:33]

• Did the San Diego NFT Convention bring more community members and exposure? [13:21]

• Valerie reflects on the accessibility and inclusivity of the Web3 community [15:48]

• Valerie shares how she’s finding unique ways to both educate and interact with people about Web3 [17:30]

• Valerie gives a little onboarding for people interested in going to the meetup, what they can expect, etc. [21:49]

• Valerie shares her favorite taco spots, Mariscos Jalisco and El Gordo [24:01]

Follow Valerie

LinkedIn

San Diego NFT Friends

Website | LinkedIn

Check out our Tacos and Tech Tacos Database to learn where our local SD entrepreneurs and leaders satisfy their taco crave! 

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Erin gives an overview of what Equip is [02:34]
• How did Erin end up in the telehealth tech space? [03:26]
• Erin talks about eating disorders and shortage in eating disorders providers [09:21]
• How did Erin and Kristina started their business and partnered with tech teams to build and scale it? [10:51]
• Erin shares the trends and differences she has observed from seeing clients and patients in person versus remotely [13:22]
• Erin shares why they decided to have a fully remote team even before pre-COVID [16:28]
• Erin talks about how Equip is doing now and its long-term goals [18:00]
• Erin shares her favorite taco spot, Las Olas [22:28]

Follow Erin online

LinkedIn | Instagram

Equip

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

[Talk of current happenings in the SD tech scene starts at 24:31]

Mike Krenn is the President & CEO of Connect w/ SDVG, which elevates innovators and entrepreneurs throughout their growth journey by providing educational programming, mentorship, networking events, and access to capital. 

Mike grew up in Mountain View, at the heart of Silicon Valley. After high school, he moved out to San Diego despite his parents’ wishes for him to attend Humboldt State. Soon after making his way to sunny SD, Mike enrolled in classes at San Diego State (Go Aztecs!) to pursue his bachelor’s degree.

After graduating from college, Mike spent five years working at the San Diego Business Journal, where he learned about the local tech and startup community. Soon enough, Mike’s career began to revolve around the local tech and startup scene.

Listen in to hear how Mike Krenn got his start being involved in the local tech scene, what he’s currently doing at Connect w/ SDVG, and get the scoop on his favorite local tacos.

Listen in as Neal & Mike comment on recent news like (starting at 24:31):

ecoATM becoming private again, raising $200M

Flock Freight (previously Auptix) raising $50M

BlueNalu raising $20M

Williot, Israel- and SD-based, raising $20M

Aira’s recent acquisition

Along with upcoming events:

CDI Startup Series: The Entrepreneurial Leader Mindset - March 17

Startup78 Quarterly Meetup - March 19

March Mingle - March 25

TCA Women in Angel Investing Panel - March 31

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego startup and tech ecosystem.

Mike’s favorite tacos:

Mike’s Taco Club in Ocean Beach

Fish tacos at Mitch’s Seafood in Point Loma

Keep up with Mike:

Twitter: @mkrenn

Keep up with Connect w/ SDVG: 

Instagram: @ConnectinSD

Facebook: @SDVentureGroup

Twitter: @ConnectinSD

Connect.org 

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

Promote the show: 

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

6/27 News

A word about Brant Cooper

Industrial & Logistics Tech event debriefs

Dexcom layoffs

Illumina spins off Grail again

Unigrid raises $12m in Series A

Biotech fundings

Rapport filed for IPO

Iambic Therapeutics Raises $153M Series B

Bright Peak Therapeutics Raises $90M Series C

Events - For full list - check The Social Coyote

SDx events
SD Founder Hike - 7/12

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! 

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

My co-host in this episode is guest host Jonah Peake, who previously co-hosted with me and runs The Social Coyote newsletter, promoting events in the San Diego tech ecosystem.

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

1/24/2025

TechCon SoCal debrief

Future of Healthcare debrief

Fundings

AskTuring Seed $1M

Deep Vector Seed $1.5M

Xilo Series A $7.2M

Sonocharge Energy $23.5M

Netradyne Series D $90M

Biggest deal of 2024 - Vuori

Biggest VC fund raise of 2024 - Neos and StepStone

Howlin’ Jobs! By Career Coyote

Top clicked jobs and companies

Curated Events List – For full list – check The Social Coyote

Carlsbad Life Action Tech/Sports and Active Lifestyle Gathering - Feb 4

North County SD Startup Mixer

San Diego Cyber Group Meetup

• An overview of what Safu Sake is [02:16]
• Paul talks about his background as a physician by training and how he got into business school [03:58]
• On why Paul chose sake as the main product for his business [04:47]
• Reina gives a backstory about her background in the food and beverage industry, and how she and Paul got connected [06:18]
• How Paul and Reina tested out sake for the business virtually during a pandemic [10:17]
• Reina talks about how Safu Sake's the first to export sake in their area [13:41]
• Paul talks about the history of the brewery and how they've designed a sake that they've never done before [15:11]
• On how Paul managed to work as a doctor, go into business school, and set up his business in the middle of a pandemic [16:48]
• How did Paul and his team get Safu Sake and their product into the market [18:32]
• Paul shares Safu Sake's milestones[19:08]
• Paul shares where people can get Safu Sake [21:02]
• Can you make sake outside Japan? [21:31]
• Paul and Reina's favorite taco places, Tacos El Gordo, Wahoo's Fish Taco, South Coast Grill, and Lanea in Santa Monica, LA [25:30] 

Follow Paul online

Twitter | LinkedIn

Follow Reina online

LinkedIn

Safu Sake: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Amy Chang is an entrepreneur, angel investor, and healthcare analyst. 

Amy grew up in West Covina and attended college at UC Berkeley. After residing in the Bay Area for nearly a decade, she made her way out to sunny San Diego, a place in which Amy and her husband saw themselves having careers.

When Amy first moved to San Diego, she worked at AMN Healthcare and spent the next 14 years building a career there, eventually becoming the company’s VP of strategy and investor relations. Amy left the company and began dabbling in angel investing. She began networking and meeting other investors to learn more about becoming a better investor. 

To date, Amy has made investments in 34 companies, and has been involved with a few different angel networks, including Hera Angels and Tech Coast Angels.

Listen in to learn about Amy’s 14-year run at AMN Healthcare and how she made the transition into angel investing, as well as her favorite taco spot.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Amy’s favorite local tacos:

Fish tacos at Lahaina Beach House in Pacific Beach

The Tacos and Tech Podcast highlights the builders of companies, technologies, and the ecosystem of San Diego with a local flair for our lifestyle as well.

Meet Ashley Van Zeeland, who came to San Diego in 2008 as a postdoc scientist at Scripps Translational Science Institute and within 10 years never left a 2.5 radius mile of La Jolla/Torrey Pines. From finishing her postdoc, getting her MBA at UCSD Rady School, being the first female-led and genomics company in startup incubator EvoNexus, and acquired by cloud-first genomics unicorn Human Longevity, she has had quite the San Diego journey. She’s now advising multiple startups as she works on her next endeavor.

Ashley co-founded Cypher Genomics in 2010 with Eric Topol, Ali Torkamani, and Nik Schork while in the lab at Scripps which developed software to dramatically reduce the time required to interpret raw data produced by genome sequencing.

Cypher Genomics was acquired by Human Longevity in 2015 and she became the CTO of the company in 2016.

Ashley speaks to the strong need for technical talent in genomics: “We have four chambers of a beating heart in genomics. We need Bioinformaticians, Software Engineers, User Experience (UX), Dev Ops skill sets.”

Favorite taco spot: Oscar’s & Galaxy Taco in Pacific Beach

Favorite beer: Modern Times Fortunate Islands

Favorite coffee spot: Brick & Bell or Birdrock Coffee

Follow @Ashley_VanZ on Twitter to see what she’s working on next!

Thanks to our sponsor Cox Business for their support of the San Diego tech community. Come out to their May 10th celebration of our tech leaders by visiting http://www.toptechexecs.com/

This Week in SD Tech:

• Local investors Section 32 and Qualcomm Ventures recently invested in Gretel AI and AmionX respectively
• Union Tribune releases list of 26 phenomenal women to know in San Diego, including many tech leaders
• SoftBank invests $400 million in activewear maker Vuori
• The Top Tech Awards recently honored many local technologists and leaders
• The largest public companies in San Diego saw major stock gains in the first half of 2021

This Week in SD Tech:

• Neal's Quarterly Report
• ClickUp
• Uber's San Diego Drivers Can Lease Teslas from Hertz in Boost for Electric Vehicles
• Longfellow Buys Nine Office Assets in San Diego for $315.4M, Plans Conversion to Life Sciences Campus

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

Promote the show: 

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

5/17 Stories

Nearshoring/Friendshoring Debrief

North County Event Debrief

SD Angel Conference Debrief

Iambic Therapeutics raised $29M

Biotech office shutdowns/layoffs

PacBio/Omniome shutting SD office

Takeda to shut down San Diego research center

UCSD Talent Foundry

Events - For full list - check The Social Coyote

Aquillius: Medical Devices Symposium May 15

Techstars San Diego: Ask Me Anything & Happy Hour May 16

SDx:HackerClub May 16

Carlsbad Biotech Gathering May 20

Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech. Every Friday at 12:30pm Pacific on Clubhouse and now we record them for you to enjoy as well. Find these episodes on Freshbrewedtech.com and favorite podcast player for Tacos and Tech Podcast

I’m Neal Bloom, entrepreneur, investor, and community builder.

Fred: I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of SD Founders substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

6/09/23:

• Mosaic Series C raise

• Debut Bio Series B raise 

Events:

• Startup San Diego AI post-event debrief

• Connect Summer Social - June 13

• Evonexus Demo Day - June 26

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

Kerri Leslie is CEO and Founder of Verity, a sustainable packaging company that offers customized metal alternatives to single-use plastic containers. Verity provides sustainable packaging solutions to brands and businesses committed to combating the plastic crisis, giving viable packaging options without compromising user experience or brand aesthetics.

Kerri grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington before coming to San Diego. After re-evaluating her aspirations of becoming a doctor, she joined Spinal Implants, a Carlsbad-based medical device startup focused on spinal implants and instrumentation. There, she was able to use her medical background to work with surgeons and make customer experience better. Kerri eventually became a technical marketing liaison between the surgeons and the company’s engineering department, working in product development and meeting customer’s needs. Wanting to focus on marketing, she left and joined Henry Schein, a global medical device manufacturer and distributor, and moved up to become Director of Marketing. 

While building up her expertise in working with medical devices, she started an all-natural deodorant company, Noniko, and came across the problem of the plastic crisis. Realizing she needed to find a safe and sustainable packaging that could be recycled, she researched but found no existing containers to meet her needs. And that’s how Verity began. She worked to design a stainless steel container for the natural deodorant product, and found there was a greater demand for sustainable packaging. By looking for a solution to her problem, she found a whole new business. 

Listen to our latest podcast with Kerri Leslie to hear more about her entrepreneurial journey in finding truly sustainable solutions for the beauty and personal care industry. 

Her favorite local tacos:

Lourdes in Encinitas

Connect with Kerri:

Kerri Leslie

Learn more about Verity:

Website: https://www.veritycase.com/ 

Facebook: @veritypackaging

Instagram: @verity.case

LinkedIn

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Kymberlee gives an overview of what she does as a speaking strategist [03:00]

• How did Kymberlee get started in public speaking? [03:35]

• Kymberlee shares how TED talks have changed people’s lives [09:54]

• Kymberlee talks about the tech company she started [11:52]

• Kymberlee shares how storytelling can help in making connections and building trust [15:44]

• How did Kymberlee master being a good coach? [19:39]

• What do coaching and Kymberlee’s day-to-day look like? [22:02]

• Kymberlee shares what she’s currently working on and her future plans [24:04]

• Kymberlee talks about one of her mantras and her annual live event [27:04]

• Kymberlee shares her favorite taco spot, Teddy's By the Sea [29:04]

Follow Kymberlee

LinkedIn | Website

Storytelling School

Website | LinkedIn

1. San Diego's Platform Science raises $115 million for connected truck fleet technology - The San Diego Union-Tribune

2. Column: Black Lives Matter put Maya's Cookies in the spotlight, and owner Maya Madsen is making it count - The San Diego Union-Tribune

3. Element Biosciences acquires Loop Genomics to add long-read tech to DNA sequencing platform | FierceBiotech

4. San Diego’s ResMed CEO: Clogged supply chains still a problem but expected to ease this summer

5. 2018 Law is Reshaping Boards by Karen Pearlman at SDBJ

Talena Handley is the Founder and CEO of Girlie Garage, an educational platform that aims to teach women about their vehicles so they feel empowered and confident on the road. Girlie Garage provides automotive consulting and online videos to help its customers solve car issues without being taken advantage of by shops. 

While growing up in Northern California, Talena was always tinkering with motorcycles, even getting her first one at the young age of four. Her grandfather used to refurbish Ford Model Ts and Volkswagen Karmann Ghias, and she would always be found in his workshop helping him. Although it was her hobby, she began to pursue auto mechanics in a more serious light after her car was stolen for the second time. Knowing that there was a stigma of women being taken advantage of for not being well-versed in cars, Talena went to mechanic school so she could learn how to help herself instead. Her education in automatics took her around the U.S. and Canada, where she worked for various race teams.

Talena added business and entrepreneurship to her list of skills while attending San Diego State University.She began to use her entrepreneurial experience and passion for automobiles for Girlie Garage, her lifelong mission to educate and help others with their personal vehicles. Her vision is to pass on her knowledge and expertise to others, and to make her business a household name. 

Listen in as host Neal Bloom talks with Talena about the impact of being actively involved in the entrepreneurial community and Girlie Garage’s plans for the future. 

Talena’s Favorite Tacos:

Fat Fish Cantina Grill in Pacific Beach

Connect with Talena on LinkedIn:

LinkedIn

Keep up with Girlie Garage Here:

Website: https://www.girliegarage.com/

LinkedIn

Facebook: @GirlieGarage1

Instagram: @girliegarage

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Neal & Brittany comment on recent news, like (starting at 16:30):

Fundings: 

Cloudbeds $82M

Gretel $3.5M

AristaMD $18M 

SD Life Changing/Startup SD - Who's Hiring Airtable

Along with upcoming events:

Meta by Acai: Startup Community Networking - April 16 (new startup emerging to serve the virtual events space)

Advancing San Diego applications open

Top Tech Awards nominations 

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego startup and tech ecosystem.

Brittany Meiling is a senior reporter at the San Diego Union-Tribune, where she writes about startups, tech, e-commerce & brick-and-mortar retail, and some biotech.

Brittany found a passion for writing in her high school days, figuring her love for reading would translate to a love for writing. She knew she wanted to become a news reporter, and has pursued that for virtually her entire career. 

After graduating from Missouri State University in 2013, Brittany knew she wanted to move out to San Diego. She started her career writing for the San Diego Business Journal, where she served as its biotech reporter. Her goal was to write about general tech companies but another writer had already claimed the publication’s tech beat.

A one-off assignment about co-working spaces gave Brittany the opportunity to meet local entrepreneurs whom she felt would make great spotlights. These interactions inspired Brittany to pitch an entire beat dedicated to local early-stage companies. Brittany ended up writing a weekly startup column, which ended up being her most popular work, changing the way the SDBJ formatted their entire journal.

A few years into her career, Brittany reached out to the business editor at the SD Union-Tribune. The two grabbed coffee, and Brittany was able to land a job after making a pitch to the publisher about why they should write about startups. It’s been nearly two years since that encounter, and Brittany continues to tell the stories of exciting local startups and entrepreneurs.

Listen in to hear how Brittany Meiling got her start as a reporter, and get the scoop on her favorite local tacos.

Brittany’s favorite local Mexican food:

Don Carlos Taco Shop in La Jolla

Tio Leo’s in Grantville

Keep up with Brittany:

Twitter: @BrittanyMeiling

LinkedIn

Posting on the San Diego Tech Founders Facebook group

Keep up with the San Diego Union-Tribune: 

Instagram: @SanDiegoUnionTribune

Facebook: @SanDiegoUnionTribune

Twitter: @sdut

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Kevin gives an overview of what Tech San Diego is [02:26]

• Kevin shares the typical companies they engage with [04:03]

• Kevin shares his journey of understanding the talent needs for Tech San Diego, the talent portfolio they have, and their university talent initiative [05:55]

• Kevin talks about the issues recruiting local talent and what they’re doing about it [08:59]

• How does Tech San Diego help in transitioning university talent to the private sector? [11:49]

• What are the things Tech San Diego is currently focusing on? [13:34]

• Where does Kevin see Tech San Diego a year from now? [15:47]

• Kevin explains why they’re more focused on talents fit for technical jobs [17:08]

• Kevin shares how they make transitioning university talent to the private sector easier [18:42]

• How can a company looking for talent or students looking for jobs connect with Tech San Diego? [20:06]

• Kevin shares his favorite taco spot, a taco place in Escondido [20:55]

Follow Kevin

LinkedIn

Tech San Diego

Website | LinkedIn

Check out our Tacos and Tech Tacos Database to learn where our local SD entrepreneurs and leaders satisfy their taco crave! 

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Silvia Mah has played a huge role in the growth of the San Diego startup ecosystem. As an author, mentor, angel investor and founder herself she has impacted the community here profoundly. 

Silvia was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela to a CIA operator mother and Italian emigrant father with a strong entrepreneurial passion. She attended an international school in Caracas, where students faced bomb threats, transportation defacement, and armed forces on a daily basis. Following high school, Silvia moved to California to study Biology at Pepperdine. She loved being in a lab and thought she would remain in a lab for the remainder of her career, which pushed her to pursue a PhD in Marine Biology at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. 

While in grad school, she had two kids, one of which has special needs. She needed to stay in San Diego to provide him with the proper treatment, and found herself a position working with sand morphology outreach for k-12 schools in the San Diego area. After this, she worked with the social innovation program at the Jacobs School of Engineering, which had participants use engineering to create solutions for non-profit organizations. With this experience under her belt, Rosibel Ochoa recruited her as a pitch competition judge and later as a commercialization analyst in which she studied the science behind the people who went through the innovation program. She spent 3-4 years here and helped start 4-5 companies. It was here she realized that access to capital is extremely hard to come by, especially for women and minorities. 

Silvia wanted to help start-ups obtain capital, but wanted to obtain more business acumen before pursuing a career in this field. To do so, she went after her MBA at Rady School of Management. Unfortunately, as she was finishing up her MBA, her father passed away. Living a modest life, her family was unaware of the wealth he accumulated during his life as an entrepreneur. This left her with funds to invest in budding companies. 

Following her first investment in 2010, Silvia has now invested in 45 companies with a simple thesis in mind. Silvia only invests in women and minority led businesses, focusing on founder and product market fits to help them become the leader they need to be. These companies must be impact driven and understanding how to map impact as an investor is crucial. Like all investors, she has made mistakes, but looks at them as learning opportunities. She has found that the best investments are those made in a community in which investors can bounce ideas off of one another. 

She has taken these sentiments to her founding of Next Wave Impact, Ad Astra Ventures, Stella Labs, and She Invests. Next Wave Impact provided a community for women investors to come together and discuss business decisions. Here she met Allison Long Pettine and Vidya Dinamani, who worked with her to create Ad Astra Ventures, which functions as an accelerator, providing boot camps for growing start-ups. 

In 2021, the Ad Astra team will be building out its accelerator program extending it from three to six months with an emphasis on discovery. 

Tune in to hear all about Silvia’s impressive start-up journey and her plans to continuously empower women and minorities of the tech ecosystem here in San Diego.

Silvia’s Favorite Tacos:

Taco Stand in Encinitas

Connect with Silvia:  

LinkedIn

Keep up with Silvia’s Ventures:

Stella Labs 

She Invests

Ad Astra Ventures

Next Wave Impact 

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

An estimated 56% of Americans plan to move by the end of 2021, showing how many people are interested in remote work opportunities and/or finding communities they would want to live in, according to The Neighbor 2020 – 2021 American Migration Report. Carlsbad is a city actively attracting strong talent to lead its industries and technological developments, boasting its beautiful beaches and connected community. Local leaders from all over San Diego County are actively coming together to work toward city innovation and talent development. In this week’s podcast, David Graham, Chief Innovation Officer at City of Carlsbad, Matt Sanford, Economic Development Manager at City of Carlsbad, and Tim Carty and Winona Dimeo-Ediger, co-founders of RoleCall, share how they’ve built a pipeline of talent for the Carlsbad business community.

The City of Carlsbad has developed its own homegrown talent attraction campaign, Life in Action, to share how people can manage a meaningful career and great quality of life in the city. They emphasize the importance of work-life balance, and how the city’s ecosystem is growing in the business landscape with industry disruptors to ambitious startups, showing a diverse community. RoleCall, a talent attraction agency and consultancy, works with cities like Carlsbad to help attract talent to their city through their customized programs and marketing strategies. A recent trend being observed is people choosing where they want to work first, and then selecting from companies in that area as viable options. 

A common factor among these leaders is that they all recognized that local government can have a massive impact in one’s immediate community. David enjoys the manifestation of his work that he can see as he drives down the street, and states that talent powers the future. Matt believes that providing economic strategies can help cities successfully attract talent. Tim is passionate about bringing smart and likeminded talent to help the community, and Winona recognizes the importance of people choosing to work at a place they like, and how cities can cater towards that.

Listen to this latest podcast to hear from leaders from the City of Carlsbad and RoleCall to learn how they are committing themselves to a purposeful life and meaningful work in Carlsbad. 

Their favorite local tacos:

David: Tacos La Glorieta in TJ, Lola 55 in San Diego

Matt: Oscars Mexican Seafood in La Jolla

Tim: La Regia Taqueria in Iowa City

Winona: Tacos Y Mariscos El Amigo in Nashville

Connect with them:

David Graham

Matt Sanford

Tim Carty

Winona Dimeo-Ediger

Learn more about Life in Action and RoleCall:

Life in Action

Website: https://carlsbadlifeinaction.com/ 

Facebook: @Carlsbadbiz 

Twitter: @Carlsbadbiz

Instagram: @carlsbadbiz

LinkedIn

RoleCall

Website: https://www.rolecall.pro/ 

LinkedIn

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business & Cox Edge for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Melissa Lopez is CEO of Onyx Offsites and Trainings, an experimental education company that provides custom-retreats, executive training, team building and wellness initiatives for organizations all over the world. 

Originally from Phoenix, Ariz., Melissa came to San Diego for college, studying at the University of San Diego. After she graduated, she decided to stay in town to accept an advertising and marketing position. As her marketing skills grew, Melissa was able to observe the transition of in-person marketing to interactive advertising, largely due to the introduction of the internet. Melissa began to gain steady influence at Castle Advertising, a former advertising agency, and then consistently moved on to other companies, helping build each organization’s digital marketing division. 

Eventually, she co-founded Katana Media with current Analytics Ventures Managing Partner Andreas Roell (acquired by BVAccel, another San Diego company). While running her own company, Melissa was also offered a board position in Entrepreneurs’ Organization, where she learned the importance of having a lifelong learner mindset, even as a CEO. She continued to grow as an entrepreneur, and after Katana was acquired, she built another company called DataQ that offered e-commerce tools to analyze first-party data and insights. DataQ was eventually acquired by another San Diego company, Power Digital Marketing.

After selling DataQ, Melissa joined Onyx in early 2020, a month before the pandemic hit, and immediately had to make hard decisions to survive. Melissa focused on downsizing and finding a new way for Onyx to provide its services. Everything was originally done in an in-person group gathering.However, the inability to gather in groups forced her to look for a new virtual solution. Her and her team began to focus on making activities as interactive as possible, such as sending materials for wine tasting, or having virtual game shows. The pandemic forced a new productization that was predominantly virtual, which succeeded despite the initial setbacks. 

Onyx had a huge breakthrough with many companies, as the pandemic made organizations focus on how to connect teams through technology now more than ever. Listen in to hear about Melissa’s transformative experience in San Diego’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and how Onyx plans to expand.

Melissa Lopez Favorite Tacos:

Lucha Libre in Mission Hills

Connect with Melissa: 

Linkedin

Keep up with Onyx Offsites and Trainings

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Tyson gives an overview of what Greatscale Ventures is [02:26]
• Where was Tyson originally from and how did he get into tech? [04:14]
• On chasing financial success and the first company Tyson built [06:45]
• Tyson talks about his company and how they started by making hospitals efficient at collecting money with software [08:39]
• Tyson shares what his TED Talk was about and the high-value humanity in tech [10:19]
• How did Tyson meet his business partner, Aaron? [13:02]
• Tyson shares how they applied their idea of changing the world with tech into their business, and pivoting  [15:08]
• Tyson talks about the companies they’ve worked with and how they helped them [19:30]
• Tyson gives an example of what a startup’s journey and growth is like with Greatscale Ventures [21:15]
• Tyson shares where Greatscale Ventures is right now and what people can expect from them over the next year [27:39]
• [33:33]
• Tyson shares his favorite taco spots, Jack in the Box, City Tacos, and Casa Machado Restaurant [36:59]

Resources:

• Preserving humanity as AI takes us over - Tyson’s TED Talk 

Follow Tyson online

LinkedIn

Greatscale Ventures

Website | LinkedIn

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Sarah Davis is the founder of Fashionphile, an ultra luxury accessory reseller that specializes in bags, shoes, travel goods, and watches. Building upon the consignment shop model, Fashionphile utilizes technology to appeal to a new era of shoppers. 

Sarah began her entrepreneurial journey under the eBay username Fashionphile in 1999. To bring in some income while attending University of Maryland School of Law, Sarah sold products online. She started off selling all types of clothing and accessories, but quickly noticed that handbags held onto their value better than any other product. By 2001, she strictly sold handbags. 

At the time, she was focused on becoming a lawyer, not a business owner. While studying for the bar post graduation, Sarah continued to sell products online. Before even taking the bar, she had already paid off her law school loans. This is when she realized the potential of the company. After speaking with an accountant, he recommended The E-Myth, a book that defined Sarah’s situation, as it touched upon how entrepreneurs work so hard in the business that they don’t have the time to work on the business. 

Shortly after, she took the leap, moving her online business to Beverly Hills in 2006. There, the team rented out a guest house of a Beverly Hills mansion where customers could check out the inventory. They then bought office space off Rodeo Drive, which allowed customers to buy and sell luxury goods at the same time. Eventually, she and her family moved to Carlsbad right here in San Diego, keeping hold of the business with retailers and employees located across Southern California. 

The website was launched in 2007, giving Sarah and her team time to slowly wean themselves off of eBay, which they fully separated from in 2010. 

Fashionphile only sells the most replicated  designer products, with an average sale price of about $1,400. Part of the company’s mission is understanding how to validate the original designer goods being sent to them, and how to validate new products according to customer needs. Users can take photos of their luxury items and ask how much Fashionphile will pay for them. They can redeem their money via online payments, Fashionphile gift cards, or gift cards from Neiman Marcus , which formed a partnership with Fashionphile a few years ago. With many ‘selling studios’ in metropolitan areas across the state (and five more on the way), Fashionphile allows customers to bring their goods in person and receive monetary compensation the same day. 

Sarah bootstrapped the funds for the company since day one. Each time she would sell product, she would take the profit to buy more goods, growing organically for 20 years. In 2007, she was in talks with Tech Coast Angels, but didn’t find enough value in giving up a large percentage of the company for capital. The company was profitable then and is profitable now, still posting 50% YoY growth each year. 

Sarah is glad that the company did not take on external capital, because it allowed them to grow at an appropriate pace, which allowed them to create a great pricing algorithm and validation process. 

Listen in to hear about Sarah’s entrepreneurial journey and what she has in store for Fashionphile in years to come. 

Sarah’s Favorite Tacos:

Roberto’s at Ponto Beach, Carlsbad 

Connect with Sarah: 

LinkedIn

Keep up with Fashionphile:

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook: @fashionphile

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Anthony  gives an overview of what Reactive Training is [02:25]
• Anthony shares how he got into the fitness industry and why he started a company [03:01]
• What’s the focus of Anthony’s studio and do they cater to a specific clientele? [04:38]
• Anthony talks about the things he learned from having a studio, using his studio to test his ideas, and how it helped in turning his idea into reality [05:19]
• Anthony explains the science and the biomechanics behind Core-Tex [06:10]
• How is Anthony seeing people use their product and what are some of the success stories he's seen from clients? [07:56]
• What were some of Anthony’s observations on how the pandemic affected home fitness and at-home treatment  [08:59]
• What's unique about San Diego in terms of being connected to a specific user base? What are the other things Anthony learned in testing and building their product towards where it is now? [10:14]
• How did Anthony manage his employees and deal with supply chains when the pandemic happened? [12:05]
• What can the customers expect from Reactive Training’s latest and future products? [14:44]
• Anthony shares some tips for people who now have become more sitting-focused in their day job [17:35]
• Anthony shares his favorite taco spots, Rubio’s and City Tacos [19:55]

Follow Anthony Carey

LinkedIn

Reactive Trainingc

Website | LinkedIn

Dmitry Shapiro is the co-founder & CEO of GoMeta, which provides users with Koji, a platform that aims to democratize app development. Similarly to how blogs democratized text publishing, and Instagram democratizing photography, the GoMeta team believes that the general public are at a point where they are ready to get familiar with, and create things from, code.

The Russia native moved to Atlanta, GA when he was just 10 years old. In 1984, during his teen years, Dmitry watched a movie called WarGames that immediately drew him to computers, and so, he began spending his free time at his high school’s computer lab. Soon enough, Dmitry went from being a rookie to learning how to program. His parents eventually got him a computer so that he could learn skills from the comfort of his own home. 

Although his activity during his teen years would suggest a future career in computer science, Dmitry decided to spend his college years studying electrical engineering instead. After graduating with a degree he was burnt out from, Dmitry explored other career paths until rediscovering programming at 25. This caused him to shift gears and find work as a Sales Engineer and later on as a web consultant. After a few years, Dmitry was recruited by an up-and-coming San Diego company called College Club, spending just under a year there.

After the company tanked, DMitry decided to begin his own venture. He founded Akonix Systems, a startup that sought to build online communities for individual brands, and raised his first round of venture capital, totalling $5 million, after about a year. Although the business was doing well, Dmitry and his co-founder decided pivoting the business to a cybersecurity company would be best. 

With an eventual $34 million in venture capital raised, the future of the cybersecurity venture looked promising. In late 2004, five years into his venture, Dmitry had an epiphany: he wanted to make it easy for anyone to broadcast video on the internet. An idea he came up with several months before the launch of YouTube.

He felt so strongly about his idea that he ended up leaving Akonix shortly after to pursue this new venture, Veoh Networks. In the five years he pursued this new venture, Dmitry’s team raised $70 million, competing directly with YouTube and Hulu. Nearing the end of its five-year run, the company was being bombarded with lawsuits from Universal Music, leading to its subsequent liquidation.

After closing down his company, Dmitry was recruited by MySpace to become the next CTO of its subsidiary, MySpace Music, where he worked for one year before leaving to become a Googler. Four years later, Dmitry left his gig at Google and moved back down to sunny San Diego, where he started working on his current venture: GoMeta.  

Listen in to hear all about Dmitry’s journey as an entrepreneur, his plans for the future of GoMeta, and his local favorite eats and brews.

Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Dmitry’s favorites

Tacos - Taco Stand, The Brigantine, South Beach

Beer - Stone Brewing, Karl Strauss

Coffee - Achilles

Keep up with GoMeta & Koji: 

Facebook: @gometainc @madewithkoji

Twitter: @metaverse @madewithkoji

Dmitry’s Twitter: @dmitry

Withkoji.com 

The San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC) is an investing fund that helps train new angel investors, thereby unlocking more capital locally and bringing domain expertise to companies from executives-turned-angel investors. This yearlong work culminates in an annual one-day event that brings together companies and investors in order to boost the SoCal innovation ecosystem. 

Tune in as Mysty Rusk, Benton Moore, Amy Duncan, and Jason Scharf, angel investors and key players of the San Diego Angel Conference, join host Neal Bloom and guest co-host Amy Chang, entrepreneur and angel investor, to discuss their journeys as angel investors in the San Diego tech scene.

3:50 Mysty Rusk explains her background as an investor for the last 15 years who fell in love with angel investing as a way for a community to take back control of its economic development. She recognized the lack of connection between investors and San Diego startups and, ultimately, went on to co-found the San Diego Angel Conference.

4:34 Benton Moore, the fund manager for SDAC this year, is a startup consultant at The Brink out of University of San Diego, and an angel investor with Tech Coast Angels as well as his own fund, Seadragon Capital. Previously an entrepreneur, he discusses his experience with angel investing. 

5:33 Amy Duncan is the upcoming fund manager for SDAC’s 2021 conference. She describes her 13+ years of consulting experience with biotech companies and how she got interested in the innovation economy. 

6:20 Jason Scharf serves as a co-fund manager for SDAC, a role he’s had for about two years now. He formerly worked with diagnostic drug makers and genomics companies. After reading an article in the San Diego Business Journal about SDAC, he joined the organization as an investor; from there, he also joined Tech Coast Angels, and is now also part of the Nex Cubed Digital Health Accelerator. 

The San Diego Angel Conference, only two years old, has already helped to allocate over $1 million into local companies, quickly becoming a preeminent new source of capital to grow the San Diego ecosystem. Listen in to hear more about the San Diego Angel Conference and how it was founded, as well as its investors’ plans for the future. 

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

SDAC Team’s favorite local tacos:

Mysty: Tacos Libertad 

Jason and Amy: Roberto’s Tacos 

Benton: Cantina Mayahuel 

Connect with the investors on LinkedIn: 

Mysty Rusk

Benton Moore

Jason Scharf

Amy Duncan

Keep up with the San Diego Angel Conference: 

Facebook: @theBrinkSBDC

Twitter: @TheBrinkSbdc

Instagram: @brinksbdc

Linkedin

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! 

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

My co-hosts in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter. 

3/27

We recorded this week’s pod live on LinkedIn Live here. What did you think?

Neal speaking at Escondido City Council in support of the new AgX Hub

NCAA update

Pura Vida sold for $1m

23&Me bankruptcy

Events.com buying spree

Natalie Rocha leaving the UT for NYT Fellowship

Entos Pharmaceuticals Expands in Canada

Natilus 250,000 sq. ft. facility

Curated Events List – For full list – check The Social Coyote

Marching Mingle - March 26

StartupSD Co Working Day - March 28

Bootstrappers Event April 1

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome to the Tacos and Tech Podcast, where we interview innovative builders and leaders.

On today's show we have Jodi Duva, Vice President of Cox Business, California and Chris Whelan, Director of Enterprise, Cox Business, San Diego.

Cox Enterprises is a 126 year old fourth-generation family run company. It has been at the forefront of media and connectivity, from its early days in newspapers, to its latest in connected infrastructure.

On this episode we talk about trends the leadership team is seeing in broadband, AI, managed services, and San Diego's newest arena, Frontwave Arena, the new home to the San Diego Clippers.

Tune in to hear what Jodi and Chris are hearing from businesses as technology needs and their favorite taco spot.

Remember to get your nominations in for your favorite tech exec for the Top Tech San Diego Awards in by May 8!

Soon-Aik (SA) Chiew is the Chief Product Officer of Softinn Solutions and a Startup Melaka leader

SA is from Melaka, a Malaysian state. He attended the state’s Multimedia University, where he studied international business. He moved to a larger city after graduating to begin his career in tech.

SA recently came out to San Diego as part of the YSEALI Professional Fellows Program, which is a professional development exchange program for community leaders from Southeast Asia.

Listen in to hear all about his experience working in the Malaysian startup ecosystem, his key takeaways from his recent fellowship in San Diego, and his local favorite experiences.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Keep up with SA: 

SA’s LinkedIn

• Introducing Jamie [01:55]
• What is Stable Auto? [02:14]
• Jamie’s background how he got into tech [02:56]
• Why Jamie got into electric vehicles [06:06]
• The challenges of deploying EV chargers [08:30]
• Jamie talks about the platform and machine learning [12:09]
• How Jamie’s company managed during the pandemic and the data trends they saw [14:55]
• The type of companies and businesses using Stable Auto’s data and product [17:38]
• The role of EV charging [19:07]
• Federal discussion of infrastructure bills and grant funding [20:55]
• Data  of charging at home versus charging everywhere else [23:52]
• How accessible can EV charging be? [25:02]
• Why did Jamie move to San Diego [25:58]
• Jamie’s favorite taco spots, Oscars and Just Peachy [28:54]

Follow Jamie online

Twitter | LinkedIn

Stable Auto: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn

Meet James Martin, founder and CEO of Rally Corp., a messaging platform that engages customers by shortening the feedback loop.

James, a former Texas police officer, entered the tech world after he drew the short stick to reset computers in his department. His sergeant suggested he get a degree in technology, which eventually led him to business analysis in the public safety industry.

James eventually joined Tyler Technologies and helped take it from 30 employees to a public company.

James moved to San Diego to start Monk Development in 2007 and built it with Etienne de Bruin for eight years until selling it in 2015. He then took a year off, only to start Rally Corp. shortly after.

In the episode, you’ll learn how Brant Cooper and Jeremiah Gardner, authors of The Lean Brand, inspired him to name his new company.

Some of James’ favorite San Diego haunts:

Favorite tacos: The Taco Stand and Taco Surf

Favorite brewery: Council Brewery in Kearny Mesa

Favorite coffees: James Coffee

Favorite Business book How To Wow

You can find James and Rally Corp. online and on Twitter

RallyCorp.com & @RallyCorp

@MrJamesMartin

James is giving away five copies of The Lean Brand to the first five people who text ‘nealbloom’ to 24365. Get at it!

And thank you to our sponsor Cox Business for their support of the tech community. Applications are open until August 31st for the QuickPitchSD.com competition with Tech Coast Angels San Diego, San Diego Venture Group, and Cox Business for $75,000 in cash prize for the winning entrepreneur. Apply here TODAY is the last day!

We're so excited for Techstars San Diego Powered by San Diego State University first cohort to be announced! We brought Techstars San Diego Investor Misti Cain on the pod to talk through the process of getting to the final 12 teams and walk us through all the companies.

Listen in to get a deep dive and meet the companies in this new program.

Th inaugural 2023 class:

Airbuild | San Diego, CA

Algae panel green roofs for commercial buildings that allow for carbon sequestration and energy production.

Babba | San Diego, CA

Enables parents to feed their baby on the go with the world’s first bottle cooler and warmer.

Cargo Shot | San Diego, CA

A “proof of condition” platform that enables shippers and logistics providers to deliver global supply chain accountability and performance.

CoBroker AI | El Paso, TX

An AI-powered assistant accessible via SMS or WhatsApp that automates research and streamlines marketing operations for brokers.

Craitor | San Diego, CA

Rugged, portable, intelligent 3D printers that can manufacture military-grade parts where and when they’re needed

General Folders | San Diego, CA

Cross-company, cloud-agnostic data collaboration software that allows companies to transfer data securely, monitor the transmission in real time, and easily validate the correct data is being sent.

Mosqitter | New York, NY

A software-driven, non-toxic, outdoor mosquito control solution that protects people from mosquitoes and the diseases they transfer.

Nevemind | Stockholm, Sweden

A desktop application that automatically replies to all your emails and messages

Oblio | Boston Massachusetts, CA

An email-based AI tool that allows college admissions counselors to craft personalized messages for admitted students, leveraging existing data to easily prioritize and communicate.

Remix | Pleasant Hill, CA

A virtual teleporter that lets users freely interact and share complete physical environments from anywhere in the world. 

Site Bionics | San Diego, CA

Computer vision and digital twin technology that gives retailers operational insights about their physical space.

Steno | San Diego, CA

A personalized AI-powered market research copilot that extracts insights from digital content to help brand owners research their market and competition.

Reference: Blog by Techstars about the new cohort.

Kim Folsom is the Founder & CEO of Founders First Capital Partners, a platform focused on growing and funding small, revenue-generating, service-based businesses that are led by diverse founders. Check out their resources and services and apply here: https://foundersfirstcapitalpartners.com/lp-v1/

A Maine native, Kim’s interest in entrepreneurship was sparked by her father, a Navy officer who wanted to start a company after his retirement. Then, as she began to sell cookies as part of her local Girl Scout troop, Kim developed an affinity for sales that she wanted to capitalize on as she grew older. After graduating from San Diego State University, Kim noticed a lack of women of color starting companies, which made her route to entrepreneurship a tedious one.  

Kim’s first company was Seminar Source, which she then sold to spend some time consulting for service-based businesses in order to balance motherhood and an MBA program at Pepperdine with work. Kim then went on to build and sell five more companies, with Founders First being her seventh venture. 

All throughout her career, Kim has always placed a special emphasis on diversifying the entrepreneurship sphere and has endured five economic recessions (the current one being her fifth). That’s why Founders First is many things: an incubator, accelerator, and program provider for the community to help prep companies for funding.

Tune in as Kim joins host Neal Bloom and guest co-host Alex Waters, Director of CONNECT ALL, to discuss her journey as an entrepreneur in the San Diego tech scene.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Kim’s favorite local tacos:

Santana’s Mexican Food 

Connect with Kim: 

LinkedIn

Twitter: @ktfolsom

Keep up with Founders First: 

Website: https://foundersfirstcapitalpartners.com/

LinkedIn

Twitter: @f1stcp

Facebook: @f1stcp

Resource: An Underrepresented Founder's Guide to Resources in San Diego
freshbrewedtech.com/2020/07/06/an-u…s-in-san-diego/

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

Gwen Nero, director of corporate affiliates, business development, industry outreach and innovation at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is paving the way for bluetech incubation of talent and ideas in San Diego. She is part of the team that leads startBlue, the eight-month ocean-focused accelerator program that is offered in partnership by Scripps and Rady School of Management, at UC San Diego. 

Gwen completed a doctorate degree in biomedical engineering from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. In the midst of her graduate work, she realized she enjoyed working on projects where science leaves the lab and moves into the industry. She worked as a program manager for Harlem Biospace, a biotech incubator, where she worked with entrepreneurs and innovators to develop new technology. Eventually, Gwen took her experience to San Diego to pioneer the new Scripps department for innovation and industry relations.

Gwen, who was involved in the creation of startBlue, is focused on education and community building by working with campus partners and other organizations in the region like TMA BlueTech and CleanTech San Diego. Gwen uses the analogy of a “rising tide lifting all boats (or current innovations)” to emphasize the goal of increasing communication, streamlining and finding opportunities for collaboration instead of reinventing the wheel. 

Listen in to Gwen Nero share startBlue’s goals in fostering community collaboration and preparing aspiring entrepreneurs to have successful business ventures starting from their ideation. 

Gwen’s favorite local tacos:

Puesto in San Diego

Connect with Gwen:

LinkedIn

Learn more about startBlue:

Website: startBlue

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business & Cox Edge for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

Promote the show: 

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

4/15 Headline Stories

Illumina new execs

Startups acquiring other startups 

     Drata acquired Harmonize.io

     Shield AI acquired Sentient Vision Systems

Platform Science raise $125M in growth capital

Trident IoT raises $10M seed

Battery tech ecosystem      

     Carlsbad cleantech hub - including Zap, Smartville, ALE, Aptera

     Carlsbad cleantech ecosystem event April 29

     Cleantech Showcase April 24

Events - For full list - check The Social Coyote

ASU+ GSV edtech in SD April 14-17

From Dorm Rooms to Board Rooms April 17th at UCSD

Get Connected to SD Ecosytem April 19

Alternative Protein Conference at SDSU April 22

Escondido AgX Gathering April 23

Cleantech Showcase April 24

Carlsbad cleantech ecosystem event April 29

SD Founders Fintech lunch April 30

For February 17, 2023:

• 2022 Tech Report by Fresh Brewed Tech

  • Fred’s article: https://sdfounders.substack.com/p/san-diego-hauls-in-48b-in-vc-in-2022

• Aptera’s Launch Vehicle Announced

• Cars and Bids Receives Chernin Group Investment

• Viasat’s $7.3 Billion Purchase of Inmarsat Faces European Antitrust Opposition

• Genentech Begins $450 Million Expansion in Oceanside to Make New Drugs for Rare Diseases

• Introducing Mark [02:00]
• Mark provides an overview of what Poseida is [02:20]
• Mark shares how he ended up in life sciences and how it led him to San Diego [04:04]
• What San Diego and the biotech industry were like when Mark moved to the city [07:14]
• The founding story of Poseida and what the company is currently working on [08:40]
• Mark shares the development of CAR-T [10:33]
• An update on the technology, the current programs in Poseida’s clinic and trial dates [12:39]
• Mark talks about Poseida going public during the pandemic, and how it started [14:55]
• How the pandemic affected the world of biotech IPO [16:56]
• What makes working in biotech rewarding [17:25]
• Mark shares details about Poseida’s first strategic collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical [18:27]
• Mark shares what the biotech community is like during a pandemic and what war talent is [19:59]
• Mark’s favorite taco spot, Not Not Tacos, and Yesenia’s  [22:30]

Follow Mark online

LinkedIn

Poseida: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn

San Diego’s bluetech cluster is a sub-sector of the larger, broader local “Blue Economy,” which accounts for more than 1,400 companies, supporting 46,000 jobs, and generating $14 billion in direct sales. President and CEO, Yi Chao, contributes to this with his company, Seatrec, which recently relocated to Vista from Los Angeles. Seatrec designs technology used to convert temperature differences in the ocean into electricity. Other applications include oceanic robotics, ocean energy stations, and polar environmental research.

Yi grew up in China and was introduced to the STEM field at a young age. He received his bachelor's degree in Atmospheric Physics at a highly selective science and technology university. Soon after, he applied to graduate schools all over the U.S., ultimately attending Princeton and receiving his Ph,D, in Oceanography. Yi employed his background in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at NASA, where he worked with computer modeling used to develop the first satellite to measure salinity (the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water) from space. 

While working in underwater robotics at JPL, Yi discovered that in order for underwater robots to be active in the ocean, they require consistent energy. He understood that this could not be achieved manually and worked to develop an ocean-powered technology with which robots charge themselves and automatically recognize varying water temperatures. This data would then be sent to command centers for further research and analysis. 

Seatrec is currently used primarily by researchers and academic institutions, but in the near future, Yi hopes to expand the technology for commercial uses. Listen in to hear more about Yi and Seatrec’s mission to harness and create sustainable energy for current and future generations 

Yi’s Favorite Tacos:

Yi is new to the San Diego area, so Neal recommends the following spots: Tacos Don Paco, La Original Casa Del Taco, and The Original Mr.Taco

Connect with Yi: 

LinkedIn

Keep up with Seatrec:

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook: @seatrec

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Sunny gives an overview of what Sun Genomics is [02:28]
• How did Sunny end up in life sciences and his current line of work [03:19]
• Sunny talks about his discovery as they were doing human genome sequencing which gave him the idea to start testing on probiotics [04:28]
• Sunny talks about testing probiotics and the “probiotic wall of paralysis” [06:03]
• Sunny talks about the finished product, and the process from scaling it to mapping it out [08:59]
• When did Sunny discover that his product is actually working to help his son's gut problems? [10:14]
• Sunny talks about Floré’s products and how it’s helping their customers, including chronic conditions [11:38]
• With the rise of personalized wellness, Sunny talks about where probiotics and gut health and the wave of consumer life sciences are heading  [13:02]
• Sunny talks about how integrative medicine doctors use their products and what he hopes to see in the next 4 to 5 years [14:00]
• Sunny talks about what it's like to build a company in San Diego [14:54]
• Sunny shares how he deals with food and shares his favorite taco spot, Mas Veggies Vegan [17:23]

Follow Sunny online

Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Sun Genomics

Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

Floré

Website

Teal & Tristan Cooper are the co-founders behind VendiBean, a barista at the touch of a button. The startup’s sleek coffee vending machines can be found in various locations, like college campuses, hospitals, and offices.

The siblings grew up in Plano, Texas and went their separate ways once college started. Tristan, the younger Cooper, attended UT Austin and Teal moved out to San Diego to attend SDSU. 

One day, Teal was studying abroad in Florence when her younger brother called her. It was midnight in Austin and he was in the library. Tristan complained that he had no access to coffee and wished there was some sort of coffee vending machine nearby. Teal immediately connected his remark to the fact that she’d seen those types of machines at the Italian university she was attending.

The duo immediately began learning the ins and outs of the industry. After their initial beta failed, the pair came back stronger with tastier coffee grounds and better machines. VendiBean is used at corporate and retail settings from sunny San Diego to Austin, Texas.

Tune in to hear how siblings Teal and Tristan Cooper turned a midnight coffee craving into a successful startup. The duo also describe their recent hardships with the global health crisis and its effect on their business. 

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Teal’s favorite local tacos:

Taco Stand in La Jolla

Spicy shrimp tacos at Oscar’s Mexican Seafood

Tristan’s favorite local tacos:

Spicy shrimp tacos at Oscar’s Mexican Seafood

Tacos Mimi In Pacific Beach

Keep up with Teal & Tristan: 

Teal’s Instagram: @teal.cooper

Tristan’s Instagram: @tristancoop

Keep up with VendiBean: 

Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter: @VendiBean

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Todd gives an overview of what Tyra Biosciences is [02:21]
• How did Todd find his way into the biotech industry? [02:53]
• When did Todd realize he wanted to pursue bioscience as a career [04:39]
• Todd shares what led him to start his own company and his first business idea [05:52]
• Todd talks about his experience working for a project that turned into a company, and how that helped him in his own business [06:26]
• Todd talks about how he envisions IPO [08:25]
• Todd shares the founding story of Tyra Biosciences [10:10]
• Todd talks about his experience in the Bio, Tech and Beyond [11:39]
• Todd gives an overview of what’s happening in the precision space [13:09]
• What has it been like for Tyra Biosciences for the last two years?[16:07]
• Todd talks about where Tyra Biosciences is at right now, and their future plans and goals for the company [19:04]
• Todd shares his favorite taco spot, Pure Taco [20:13]

Follow Todd online

LinkedIn

Tyra Biosciences

Website | LinkedIn

Felena Hanson is the Founder of Hera Hub, a spa-inspired, shared work space and business accelerator centered around female entrepreneurs.

Felena takes us through her journey founding Hera Hub as an entrepreneur. Rewinding back to 2010, she was running a small marketing and consulting firm as well as teaching students part-time at a fashion institute. One of her prime goals at the time was to host an eco fashion show, and while searching for the perfect location, stumbled upon San Diego’s first ever coworking space, The HIVE. She fell in love with the idea and almost immediately realized that she wanted to launch something similar of her own. So, in 2011, she founded Hera Hub. 

Her main purpose in creating a co-working facility was to foster a greater sense of community among entrepreneurs around the country. Though female focused, the company is open to anyone interested in meeting like-minded individuals in the business world. With COVID-19, Felena has introduced a virtual membership to ensure community growth and support amidst the pandemic. 

Listen in with host Neal Bloom as Felena details her life as an entrepreneur driven to have an impact on her community, and her plans moving into 2021.

Felena’s favorite local tacos: City Tacos

Connect with Felena:

LinkedIn

Keep up with Hera Hub:

Website: https://herahub.com/

LinkedIn

Facebook: @herahub

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

Brant Cooper, CEO/Founder of Moves the Needle and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur, teaches leaders how to improve their businesses to remain agile and resilient in the Digital Age in his latest book, DISRUPTION PROOF. Host Neal Bloom and Brant discuss the importance of decentralizing decision making in companies and being able to dynamically adjust to disrupting factors or situations. 

Brant graduated from UC Davis with an Economics degree. He lived in the Bay Area for 17 years, following the trajectory of regular business. It wasn’t until he joined his first startup that he understood the difference between entrepreneurial mindset versus a typical business. After coming down to San Diego, he observed the region and their small presence in the tech scene, with few successful startups and venture capital at the tail-end of funds. Since he was familiar with startup culture from the Bay Area, he brought that to San Diego, changing the culture from business professional and formal expectations to casual yet efficient meetups that were modernized to meet the rising digital age. 

As his organized meetups grew in popularity, many people became involved and grew interest in the entrepreneurial scene. With more help, he put on the first Startup Week and co-founded Startup San Diego. Eventually, he passed on the organization to new leadership, and watched it go through successful transitions with competent leaders keeping the core fundamental aspects and attributes. He currently travels the world as a keynote speaker on how to discover and create new value and empower change through design thinking and lean methodologies. 

Listen to Brant Cooper share his expertise in igniting entrepreneurial action within large organizations through disrupting our current way of thinking in order to find personal and economic growth.

His favorite local tacos:

Roberto’s Mexican Food in Del Mar

Connect with Brant:

Brant Cooper

Learn more about Moves the Needle:

Website: https://movestheneedle.com/ 

Facebook: @movestheneedle

Twitter: @MovesTheNeedle

LinkedIn

Check out his newest book, DISRUPTION PROOF:

https://brantcooper.com/tacosandtech/   

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business & Cox Edge for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

Many patients go through stressful medical experiences due to a lack of support or understanding of their procedure and treatment, experts say. George Kramb and Patrick Frank saw this issue and created PatientPartner, a community platform for new and prospective patients to come and engage with past patient mentors for support and empathy. The co-founders built a network of doctors and patients to share their experience and expertise with those who need it.

George and Patrick were both born and raised in San Diego County. George started his career in medical device sales, working in operating rooms and helping surgeons properly use the products. During that time, he would listen to patients and doctors, learning about their experience and what brought them to the hospital. He noticed a gap in the patient-doctor relationship, where many patients were in need of resources and support throughout the surgical process that doctors couldn’t provide. He began connecting pre-op patients with post-op patients and saw the potential in creating a network of relatability and support. He then contacted Patrick who was involved in consumer technology and scaling out platforms and bringing them to the market. Together, they built up PatientPartner and brought value to the healthcare industry by focusing on patients. 

PatientPartner went through multiple changes, helping them realize that the best solution is to connect patients to individuals who went through similar treatments and knew the experience firsthand. Empowering patients with resources improves their medical experience, helping them and other patients in the long run as well, they discovered. Listen to Neal chat with George and Patrick about the company’s impact on the healthcare industry and their goals for the future. 

Their favorite local tacos:

George:

Ramiro’s Taco Shop in Pacific Beach

The Taco Stand in La Jolla

Patrick:

Maritza's Mexican Food Restaurant in Clairemont 

Connect with them:

George Kramb

Patrick Frank

Learn more about PatientPartner:

Website: https://www.patientpartner.com/ 

Facebook: @PatientPartner1

Twitter: @patientpartner1

Instagram: @patient_partner

LinkedIn 

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business & Cox Edge for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Nelli gives an overview of what  Tablecloth is [02:34]

• How did Nelli get started in the industry? [03:27]

• Kelly shares his background and how he got started in the industry [05:02]

• Nelli talks about the history of tech for capital markets and what’s changed [07:14]

• Nelli explains what impact investing and ESG means and how they differ [09:38]

• Kelly talks about the use of BI tools and how they integrate them with their business [11:27]

• Nelli shares how Tablecloth is being used by investors [13:06]

• Nelli talks about how Tablecloth started, what’s changed in the industry over the last few years and how it helped in updating their product [14:16]

• Nelli talks about the politicization of ESG [17:13]

• What are the next steps for Tablecloth in terms of impact investing [18:49]

• Nelli shares what Tablecloth does to get solid data from their employees, including triangulating data from numerous sources [20:25]

• Nelli talks about the state of the impact community in San Diego [23:33]

• Kelly shares his thoughts on the impact community in San Diego and where it is now from his perspective [25:39]

• Kelly and Nelli share their favorite taco spots, Salud Tacos and La Posta [29:14]

Follow Nelli

LinkedIn

Follow Kelly

LinkedIn

Tablecloth

LinkedIn | Website

Check out our Tacos and Tech Tacos Database to learn where our local SD entrepreneurs and leaders satisfy their taco crave! 

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9Hgicyaj7VI

As the virtual world around us continues to grow and expand, companies are having to dive a little deeper into how consumers feel about their brand experiences, especially since customer behavior has changed since the pandemic. 

Rasto Ivanic, who serves as founder & CEO of GroupSolver, sits with Neal Bloom and Ashok Kamal, Executive Director of Tech Coast Angels San Diego, and shares his insights on how businesses can make important product and marketing decisions faster, and with more confidence by using the startup’s market research technology. GroupSolver is a market research platform that builds intelligence surveys to ask the why, how, and what questions that virtually every consumer company has in the new normal of work-from-home culture. The startup is working to change the way people view market research and focus on the fundamentals of business reasoning.

4:30 Rasto chats about how he shifted from economics to biotech to entrepreneurship, as well as what brought him to sunny San Diego. After completing his Ph.D. in applied economics from Purdue, Rasto worked at McKinsey for five years, not knowing what he wanted to dedicate his career to. He decided he wanted something more long-term, leading him to Mendel Biological Solutions, a small biotech company in the Bay Area, which grew and bred massive grasses to convert to biofuels. After oil prices crashed, he was considering his next career move amid relocating to San Diego with his wife.

5:56 Rasto explains the genesis of GroupSolver. He was at a crossroads when deciding whether to continue to help nonprofits make better decisions or part ways from the grant making process entirely. He and his wife soon realized that everything they were doing to help nonprofits was essentially market research and that there was a market for their services, sparking the idea for GroupSolver.

8:10 Rasto discusses how GroupSolver used investor money to prove the company’s viability. Similar to most learning experiences, Rasto felt the startup nearing an edge on multiple occasions, forcing the company to adapt and make tough decisions fast. In the past two years, GroupSolver has doubled its revenue and secured loyal customers; this has allowed the startup to stabilize the team, and become efficient in paying off any loans.

12:16 Rasto delves into unique cases for which GroupSolver was used. For one project, he and his team partnered with Amazon’s Alexa team to find out why people listen to music, so Alexa’s product development team could better understand the people they were building the features for. That project proved successful when Amazon became a repeat GroupSolver customer.

16:04 Rasto discusses how COVID-19 has specifically impacted consumer behavior. In January, GroupSolver partnered with a food producer in efforts to test out customer relations with canned goods. However, in March they realized that the demand for canned goods had decreased given people’s newfound interest to experiment with fresh ingredients while being in quarantine. 

Listen in to hear how GroupSolver helps brands like Amazon learn more about their customers’ behaviors and why investors favor the approach Rasto takes to fundraising.

Rasto’s favorite local tacos: 

El Patron at Mira Mesa

Connect with Rasto:

LinkedIn

Keep up with GroupSolver:

Website: https://www.groupsolver.com/

LinkedIn

Facebook: @GroupSolver

Twitter: @GroupSolver

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

This Week in SD Tech: 2021 Year in Review Wrap Up and 2022 Predictions

Bobby Brannigan is co-founder & CEO of Mercato, an online marketplace for independent grocery stores, which enables local grocery delivery and helps them compete with larger chains in the industry.

Bobby is no stranger to entrepreneurship. The serial entrepreneur started his first business in his college dorm in upstate New York. It was a college textbook marketplace that competed directly with Amazon, beginning in 2001. 18 months in, the startup had garnered $100M revenue with no external funding, and was eventually acquired. During this venture, Bobby began collecting feedback from bookstores and realizing they preferred to sell their books on Amazon but desired a reverse marketplace where they could repurchase books from students. Thus, Bucks4Books was born.

In 2008, after working out of Buffalo, NY for some time, Bobby, along with seven of his Bucks4Books team members, made the move to sunny San Diego. After their big move, the team grew sales from $7 million to $18 million in a few years, all bootstrapped. 

After selling the startup, Bobby took some time to plan his next move and ended up investing in about 20 companies. Soon after, Bobby decided to help his father’s independent grocery store by building software to help him appeal to tech-savvy consumers. In building the tool, he realized there was a big market for it, and so, Mercato was born in 2015. 

Mercato strives to enable the nation’s independent grocers with technology in order to remain competitive.

Listen in to hear about Bobby’s journey as a serial entrepreneur and the lessons he learned along the way. Also get the scoop on his favorite local taco spot.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Bobby’s favorite local tacos:

Eggplant parmesan tacos & tofu tacos at Not Not Tacos in Little Italy

Keep up with Bobby: 

LinkedIn

Keep up with Mercato: 

Instagram: @shopmercato

Twitter: @shopmercato

Facebook: @shopmercato

https://www.mercato.com/

Many families have been juggling working from home while making sure their kids are on track with virtual learning. Meanwhile, healthcare providers and patients have been relying more on telemedicine. Not only is this shift in the world of work, education and healthcare a result of Covid-19, it’s sure to be more of the norm in years to come. 

Join host Neal Bloom as he talks with Sam Attisha and Duane Cameron, who are part of the Cox Communications & Cox Business executive team in San Diego, about how Cox is working to drive innovative technologies for the current and future world of work, medicine and education as we all continue to shift into a virtual world.

Sam and Duane also take a deep dive on how Cox continues to foster the region’s vibrant tech and startup ecosystem. 

4:19:  Sam discusses the history of Cox, which was founded in 1898 by school teacher James Cox, who was involved in the newspaper business. Today, the business continues to be family-owned and has been operating in San Diego since 1962. Cox has a long history of giving back to the communities it serves; these past several months, Cox has donated $10 million of cash and in-kind donations in California alone.

9:45:  Duane elaborates on Cox’s involvement with the San Diego tech ecosystem. Cox has been a sponsor of Top Tech Awards; the company also sponsors Quick Pitch, a local startup pitch competition. Cox has also invested in the K-12 space with its “Cox Connect2Compete ” initiative, which has helped bridge the digital divide. Through this initiative, Cox has helped half a million students and families connect to broadband internet. 

11:39: Sam talks through how Covid-19  has affected Cox employees. About half of its employees initially worked from home and the other half were working at retail locations, technical facilities, etc. Over the last few months, the company switched to AR (augmented reality), where technicians can communicate with customers on a live app to provide them with services while alleviating in-person interaction. Cox was quick to help its customers as well by offering two months of free internet connection to ensure all children were able to finish out the school year.  Due to the pandemic, in March, the company debuted the Cox Business Work at Home Solutions program, which includes an enterprise-grade, separate Internet connection direct to employees’ homes.

19:22: With all these changes being implemented, Sam discusses whether or not their roadmap has altered and if it has affected the way Cox is investing. The company has built a reputable, billion-dollar network over the years, and continues to invest in the network by creating additional capacity for businesses and residential customers alike. One thing they see in the longer term is telelife, with the  fundamental key to this effectively delivering a powerful broadband network, which they view as an economic leveler. 

23:47: Sam and Duanedive into areas Cox is investing in, one of which is telemedicine. CEO Alex Taylor prides the company on giving back to the community and investing money into areas like cleantech, electric vehicles, and leveraging solar plants. Lastly, the company values sustainability, aiming to be zero waste and carbon and water neutral in the coming years.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Sam’s favorite local tacos: 

The Taco Stand 

Duane’s favorite local tacos: 

Rubio’s

Connect with Sam:

Linkedin

Connect with Duane:

Linkedin

Keep up with Cox Business:

Website: https://www.cox.com/business/home.html 

Linkedin

Facebook: @CoxBusiness

Twitter: @coxbusiness

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Dr. John Dobak currently serves as the CEO of Dermtech, a biotechnology company creating a new category of medicine - precision dermatology. DermTech is in the business of transforming the way doctors perform skin exams. Its smart sticker technology - an adhesive tab that collects skin cells -  allows dermatologists to run genomic tests looking for skin cancer. 

Dr. Dobak found himself in San Diego when he started med school at UCSD while in pursuit of a life-long goal of becoming a surgeon. When working towards his postdoc at UCLA, he interned at a local hospital, where he received a grant for a cardiac catheter that froze tissues to treat arrhythmias. Upon completion of his internship, he raised his first venture round for what became Cryocor.

Cryocor was Dr. Dobak’s first startup, and it led to his work at INNERCOOL, which employed hypothermia to cool blood in order to protect the brain and heart during injuries. Unfortunately, INNERCOOL could not achieve the proper clinical data, so the company was  sold to Phillips. 

Next up, he worked at a company that treated eye problems with a technology that additionally had dermatological applications. This is how he was introduced to Gary Jacobs, who just happened to work at DermTech. 

At this time, DermTech sold clinical trials services to dermatology companies, but consumer feedback indicated a need for skin analysis technology. With John’s expertise, the company quickly pivoted towards its current technology - adhesive skin patches. With lots of trial and error, the product has reached a 95-to-97% success rate in sample collection vs. the original 30%. 

While not technically a founder, Dr. Dobak helped build the company up from scratch. First with the help of angels and then institutional investors, DermTech went public. Listen in to hear what John has to say about the adapting biotech space in San Diego and how DermTech continues to capitalize on it. 

Dr. Dobak’s Favorite Tacos:

Los Dos Pedros in Pacific Beach 

Connect with Dr. Dobak: 

LinkedIn

Keep up with DermTech:

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook: @dermtech

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Meet April Wensel, founder of Compassionate Coding, which provides training curriculum for technical teams to build supportive, diverse, and inclusive cultures, implement better code review practices, and foster better communication between engineers and other employees.

Wensel’s love of computer games during her youth led her to software engineering in college and her career. After attending Pomona College, she moved to Silicon Valley to work in the software development world for companies such as Sony, edtech startup Zoodles, AI startup Cognoa, and others.

After witnessing a multitude of company cultures, she discovered how companies were ignoring empathy and only speaking to a specific type of engineer. With this in mind, she founded Compassionate Coding to effect positive change in a company’s culture.

At the Tacos and Tech event in Mountain View in 2017, Wensel met a lot of San Diego companies who were very open to speaking about their culture and diversity. She also loved the promise of nearly year-round sunshine. Following this, she packed up the car, made the drive down, and landed in Cardiff-by-the-Sea in North County San Diego.

Listen in as she talks about the differences between company culture in San Diego and the Bay Area.

April’s San Diego picks:

Favorite Tacos: Ranchos Cocina for vegan tacos

Favorite Coffee: Better Buzz in Encinitas & Swell Coffee in Del Mar

Favorite Beer: The Lost Abbey Confessional tasting room in Cardiff, which has several vegan options.

Visit Compassionatecoding.com to sign up for the company’s newsletter to get more content on emotional intelligence and creating more effective teams.

April can also be found on Twitter: @aprilwensel & @compassioncode

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

AlwaysAI provides a platform that allows developers and enterprises to utilize deep learning and machine vision platforms to edge devices. Komal Devjani, a Developer Advocate, and Liz Oz, the Head of Marketing, gave us an inside look on what alwaysAI is up to. 

Liz was born in upstate NY, but grew up in Seattle where she studied Multimedia Design and Advertising at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology. She followed her education up with 5 years in the digital marketing field and another 10 running her own firm, Punchy. Here she helped small companies execute their marketing campaigns while utilizing digital products. Although she started at alwaysAI as a consultant, she was hired on as their head of marketing this past December. 

Komal was born in India, but grew up in Los Angeles. She studied political science at Cal, where she grew very interested in tech. Most recently, she worked as a product manager at EngineerAI, which introduced her to the world of AI, where she built relationships with the developer community. She has a rather unique role as a Developer Advocate, where she functions as a liaison between developers and the marketing team. She helps companies utilize their platform to its utmost potential while also providing the marketing team with developer feedback. 

Computer vision is a field of AI that gives sight to computers, allowing computers to identify images and videos the same way that humans do with their eyes. One of its most prevalent uses is in autonomous cars, which use this vision to prevent collisions. With such a wide array of uses, the company plans to expand horizontally into several industries.

The technology even has applications in the vaccine distribution process. On March 31st at 10:30am, alwaysAI is hosting a webinar to showcase the innovative uses of computer vision and how it can alter COVID-19 vaccine distribution by improving wait time, tracking vaccines, and monitoring those already vaccinated. If you’re interested in attending, please check out the registration link here.

Listen in to hear more about computer vision and how alwaysAI is helping developers grow this industry. 

Favorite Tacos:

Liz - Pokez in East Village  

Komal - Her Homemade Impossible Tacos with Mango Salsa

Connect with Komal and Liz on LinkedIn: 

Komal & Liz

Keep up with alwaysAI:

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook: @alwaysAI

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Cleve Adams is a serial entrepreneur, with his latest venture being CEO of VoxOx, a cloud communication services company that innovates communication across networks and devices. VoxOx utilizes both 5G data and AI in its technologies.

Cleve found himself in tech after following a girl (now his wife) from Southern California to the Northwest. In the journey, he met some people who then introduced him to the field. From here he worked at Texas Instruments for a few years and then for Novell, which eventually became a multibillion-dollar company. Then came Icon International, his first company, which goes down in history as his first one to sell. 

Cleve was also part of the founding executive team for OG San Diego tech company Websense in the late 1990s, which he helped grow into a $1 billion public company in just three years.   Websense was eventually sold to Raytheon for $2 billion.  After the sale, Cleve took on a ‘CEO-for-Hire’ role where he helped out various small businesses grow with a revenue-centric model, which encouraged all departments to think about how they work directly to create a higher revenue stream. This is how he ended up working for VoxOx. 

Cleve saw that 5G was a growing market, one worth $17 trillion. Before commiting to the CEO role at VoxOx, he ensured that the company’s devices were 5G enabled and took the leap. 5G technology increases data transfer speed up to 100 times that of 4G. Cleve advises that this speed is crucial to data collection and its use in artificial intelligence. As a result, VoxOx is growing its 5G reach and applying machine learning algorithms on the collected data. This year, VoxOx also plans to grow its team, with hopes of an increased revenue stream from partnerships with large international companies. 

Listen in as Cleve tells host Neal Bloom about his work with acquisitions and how VoxOx works with small businesses to better connect them to their consumers. 

Cleve’s favorite local tacos: Flamingo’s in Laguna Hills 

Connect with Cleve Adams:

LinkedIn

Keep up with Voxox:

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook: @VOXOX

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Alessandra Lezama is the CEO of AbacusNext, a San Diego-based TaaS (technology-as-a-service) company. The company provides professionals at large with an ecosystem, where they are able to integrate and have access to all their applications in a private cloud.

Alessandra spent most of her upbringing in Spain, but also had the opportunity to experience living in other parts of the world, including Santa Monica and Mexico City. Upon traveling to San Diego to visit family, she fell in love with the palm trees and decided to stay.

Alessandra got her first gig in the tech world after meeting some people who had given her the opportunity to work on a project for a telecom company,. After doing well, she continued landing tech-centric opportunities and was later presented with the challenge of reinventing the way AbacusLaw operated. With a team, Alessandra was able to build Abacus Private Cloud, which acts as a “CIO-as-a-service,” as she calls it. Five years ago, Alessandra joined the AbacusNext team as their 29th employee and they now have over 450 people employed.

When she’s not in the office, you can find Alessandra outdoors, going on hikes, enjoying the beach, and going horseback riding. The team over at AbacusNext enjoys Mexican food so much that they have it catered every Wednesday for their all-hands meetings.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support of our tech ecosystem.

Keep up with Alessandra on LinkedIn

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

Promote the show: 

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

9/15 

Candid Therapeutics raised $370M

Eli Lilly, HAYA Therapeutics announce $1B partnership

Techstars San Diego Powered By San Diego State University Announces 2024 Class

San Diego International Airport secures $26.3M grant from FAA

TuSimple Leaving Town

San Diego State to Join the Pac-12 Conference

Sand Cloud Opens retail space in Pacific Beach 

Platform Science acquires Trimble Inc.

TwitchCon coming back to SD

Events – For full list – check The Social Coyote

9/16 EvoNexus Demo Day 2024

Sept 19 - Dev & Data Night x CTO Talks at Seismic

Sept 23 - Carlsbad Tech Gathering at Shipcalm

Sept 24 - Connect Innovation Day

Sept 26 - Top Tech Awards San Diego 

Oct 2 - Plug and Play Showcase 

Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Jonah Peake from Fresh Brewed Tech. Every Friday at 12:30pm Pacific on Clubhouse and now we record them for you to enjoy as well. 

I’m Neal Bloom, entrepreneur, investor, and community builder 

Jonah: And I’m Jonah Peake, serial tech operator and investor both, both of us big fans of growing the San Diego tech community. Let’s dive into our five stories of the week

For week of  Sep 3, 2021

1. Mainstay Medical, Biotech Firm Out of Ireland, Selects Little Italy for U.S Headquarters
2. 1. Mainstay has picked its new US HQ and lands in Little Italy
   2. This continues the theme of Biotech in DT SD
      1. Who represent a landlord in the area
   3. This story came from CBRE
   4. Mainstay took 23,000 sq ft
   5. A great location in the mix of retail and office space
   6. This is building on the momentum of IQHQ, the new facility along pacific highway
      1. They make an implantable device called ReActiv8
      2. 1. Which your Dr installs
         2. Connecting 2 wires to  the nerves that control your multifidus muscle
         3. a series of small, triangular muscle bundles located on either side of the spinal column
         4. You then use a remote 2x per day to start the therapy
      3. These pulses are painless and you can just lay down and relax
   7. What do they do?

• 44,686 square-foot space

• Moore Venture Partners

• 10+ Years

• They have a pretty strong portfolio of SD companies

1. 1. 1. CloudBeds, which builds hospitality software for property management companies; 
      2. UCAP Power, which develops ultracapacitor-based power solutions; 
      3. Vessel Health, a wellness startup which developed an at-home health tracker
      4. TakeLessons
      1. EcoATM
      2. EdicoGenome
      3. Daylight Solutions
   2. Notable exits:
   1. They're taking over the world!!
   2. But at the same time sense 2010 have brought 4k jobs to the region
      1. Infrastructure and comp
         1. construction or 
         2. Logistics
         3. Professional services
      2. But also accounts for 12k indirect jobs if you think about
   3. Investing more that $2.3 billion
      1. SD does Logistics!
      2. 1500 jobs
   4. 3.3 million sq ft fulfillment center on the US/TJ boarder
   5. Not to mention a presence in UTC
      1. Computer science and software talent
   6. They are looking to compete for our 
   7. I love that we are drawing in big tech to compete for our talent
   8. It’s a great sign that you can stay here and still command top jobs in certain fields
   9. Not to mention our cost of living is better than many major CA cities
2. Amazon Credited for Creating 4,000 Local Jobs Since 2010

Fundings

Sydnexis, eye health/ nearsightedness biopharmaceutical, $45M Series B with Longitude Capital and Medicxi Ventures

Aquacycl, wastewater treatment biotechnology, $10.1M with For Good Ventures and The Roddenberry Foundation

Onramp Invest, cryptoasset integration platform solution provider, $6M Seed with Gemini Funds, Coinbase Ventures, and Ritholtz Wealth Management

Investor News

Moore Venture Partners is raising Fund IV

Find us on twitter / Linkedin: @NealBloom & JonahPeake

And find this news and more at FreshBrewedTech.com

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! 

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter.

Before we dive in, we wanted to ask our listeners and SD Tech fans to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community.

12/4 News

Funding - SD VC funding through Q3 & Fred’s tweet

Carlsbad’s Vuori secures $825M in funding, reaches $5.5B valuation

Amprion raises $15M Series B

Acquisitions/M&A

-Kate Therapeutics acquired by Novartis for $1.1B

-Roche Acquires Poseida for $1.5B

-Lundbeck acquires Longboard Pharmaceuticals in $2.6B

Neos Partners new fund - $1.37B

JLABS supports 190+ biotechs

Events – For full list – check The Social Coyote

SD Founders Hike - Dec 6

Tech The Halls - Dec 6 - THE tech holiday party!

JP Morgan Healthcare conference January 13-16 (SF/Bay Area)

TechCon SoCal - Jan 17-18

Ryan Kuder is the Managing Director of Techstars Anywhere, the remote-first startup accelerator that stems from the prestigious Techstars. The accelerator was founded in 2006, and its roughly 2,000 alumni have raised a collective $10 billion in venture capital. 

Listen in as host, Neal Bloom, chats with Ryan Kuder about startup accelerators, entrepreneurial mentorship, and San Diego Startup Month.

4:11 As a third generation San Diegan in a tech-oriented family, Ryan had been surrounded by computers from a young age. His dad worked as a computer programmer for various industries, so having been exposed to his work, Ryan learned how to code and work with AI as early as second grade. Though he hasn’t coded much since, he’s glad he understands how technology works, as it allowed him to better understand and market for larger tech companies like Yahoo and Ebay earlier in his career.

6:32 Ryan launched his first startup in 1998 called givetoschools.com, where his team built virtual shopping malls for K-12 schools. While his startup made a small profit, its competitor raised millions of dollars. From this, Ryan learned a lesson in the intricacies of company growth. After trying his hand at the startup game, he spent the next 12 years working for Yahoo and Ebay, up in the Bay Area. There, he learned how consumer tech companies grow, scale, organize, service themselves, and eventually sell. However, in 2008, Ryan was laid off by Yahoo and this event proved eye-opening for him. He tweeted about his lay off and soon his thread went viral, getting national attention. It wasn’t long before Ryan decided to take control of his life and create his own destiny from then on. 

11:20 Ryan discusses his decision to pursue the accelerator route and help companies. He wanted to focus on San Diego startups because the local startup scene is sometimes overshadowed by those of LA and the SF Bay Area. Ryan joined the Techstars team when the accelerator partnered with Qualcomm to launch a robotics accelerator in San Diego. Ryan soon realized that his role at Techstars gave him the perfect opportunity to give back by helping the next generation of founders. 

14:31 Ryan shares statistics about the positive impact accelerators have on startups. 86% of companies that have gone through a Techstars accelerator have either been acquired or are still operating today. When it comes to making sure operations can be funded and capital can be accessed, having someone who has undergone the same experience to offer their insight can prove helpful and help founders avoid some pain. “Something that great entrepreneurs do is say ‘where do I want to make my mark in the world and how do I control my destiny for that.’” A good accelerator is beneficial in that it will surround entrepreneurs with mentors who will then help them figure out what they know and don’t know and guide them in the right direction. 

16:39 Since March, most companies scrambled to shift almost entirely to a virtual setting. Ryan shares that Techstars Anywhere suffered minimal disruptions, as it has been primarily virtual since its 2017 inception. Because the accelerator is well versed in a remote environment, the Techstars Anywhere team was able to help other Techstars accelerators, as well as ones outside their company, and make the transition to remote by offering guidance in the form of webinars, blog posts, and videos. Ryan believes that remote work will continue to be prevalent in the long term and sees a massive market opportunity for those working on tech to help power the future of work. 

23:11 As someone who has been around San Diego for the majority of his life, Ryan has witnessed the San Diego tech community grow and evolve. San Diego is at a point where much of the resources and mentors that are necessary for a healthy startup ecosystem are emerging within the city. And some of the local tech companies that have been successful in fundraising and hiring local talent have been able to attract the attention of investors from outside of the region, a win for the local startup scene. 

26:42 Ryan talks through what the San Diego startup ecosystem should focus on building next, as the community continues to grow. One of the factors Ryan mentions is the need for startup employees to learn from their employers and subsequently start their own companies. Experience needs to be shared, as people who have experience with startups are typically those who then create new startups. Capital also plays a big role. Companies need to have the resources to fund themselves internally rather than solely relying on investors from outside the region. With Startup Month approaching, Ryan hopes to introduce mentorship to more companies and get a head start on San Diego's journey in becoming one of the leading tech spots in the country. 

30:13 San Diego Startup Month starts October 1, and it will be full to the brim with great speakers, workshops, local incubators, and mentors - there’s something for every attendee and company to find value in. Kick-off night will be a great way to bring everyone together and set the tone for the rest of the month. Get pumped for #SDSM2020, and don't forget to buy your tickets at SanDiegoStartupWeek.com with the discount code “TACOPOD30” for $30 off! 

Applications for the Techstars Anywhere 2021 class close on October 11, 2020. Apply here: https://www.techstars.com/accelerators/anywhere 

Ryan’s favorite local tacos: 

Getting supplies from El Nopalito in Encinitas and making the tacos at home

Connect with Ryan:

LinkedIn

Twitter: @Ryan Kuder

Keep up with Techstars:

Website: https://www.techstars.com/accelerators/anywhere

LinkedIn

Facebook: @Techstars

Twitter: @Techstars

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Elle Hempen and Ellory Monks are the founders behind The Atlas for Cities, an online community where local government officials and staff share their success stories, learn what’s working in other cities, and build relationships with partners.

Elle grew up in a town called Deerfield, Illinois, meanwhile Ellory spent her early childhood in Orange County and later moved to northern New Jersey.

Ellory knew since she was a child that she wanted to pursue a career in sustainability. And she discovered through internships and job experiences that she most enjoyed working in the public sector. 

Elle, on the other hand, knew she wanted to solve big problems in the most efficient manner, leading her to discover inefficiencies in government. In college, she majored in public policy and interned in and around DC. 

Both Elle and Ellory had experiences that introduced them to federal government, including stints working with Barack Obama, both when he served as a senator and as president. The now-founders first met through a colleague in the administration who thought to connect them because they were both military spouses who were moving to San Diego around the same time. They hit it off and the rest is history.

Listen in to hear all about their journeys as entrepreneurs, their plans for the future of The Atlas, and their local favorite eats and brews.

Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Ellory’s local favorites

Tacos - Fish tacos at Oscar’s in La Jolla

Coffee - Holsem Coffee in North Park

Beer - Cali Creamin’ by Mother Earth Brew Co.

Elle’s local favorites

Tacos - Spicy shrimp tacos at The Taco Stand 

Coffee - Bird Rock Coffee

Beer - AleSmith Brewing

Keep up with The Atlas: 

Facebook: @TheAtlasForCities

Twitter: @TheAtlas4Cities

Ellory’s Twitter:  @Ellory_Monks

Elle’s Twitter: @ElleHempen

the-atlas.com/ 

Alexa-Rae Navarro is the new Executive Director of Startup San Diego, a non-profit that supports entrepreneurs and startups in the local ecosystem. 

Alexa-Rae was born and raised in Riverside and went to college at UC San Diego, where she studied urban planning. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles to work at the mayor’s office but knew she wanted to learn more and went on to earn a master’s degree in urban planning at UCLA. Her studies coincided with a graduate internship at the LA Chamber of Commerce.

After finishing up her studies, Alexa-Rae continued working with the LA Chamber of Commerce, where she eventually became a senior managing director of the organization’s center for innovation and tech.

Listen in to hear all about her journey to becoming Startup San Diego’s new Executive Director and send her your best taco recommendation!

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Keep up with Alexa-Raei: 

Twitter: @lexaRaeN

Keep up with Startup San Diego: 

Twitter: @StartupSanDiego

Facebook: @StartupSD

https://startupsd.org/

Listen in as Startup San Diego Executive Director Alexa-Rae Navarro joins host Neal Bloom and guest co-host Amy Chang, entrepreneur and angel investor, to discuss the latest tech news in San Diego. The episode kicks off with Alexa-Rae providing updates on Startup San Diego events and then goes into a discussion about local tech news.

5:00 In collaboration with the Downtown San Diego Partnership and Mission Edge, Startup San Diego recently launched Startup Series: Covid Edition, which has two workshops coming up in its five-part series.

8:22 Alexa-Rae and Neal share insight about founders dealing with heightened anxiety amid the pandemic

12:09 Startup Week 2020 updates. The event is postponed until fall and is going virtual, which will allow greater attendance than previous years, including attendees outside of San Diego.

18:54 There’s a new venture fund in town. Section 32 is raising $350M for its third fund. It has already invested in five San Diego companies, including Cue Health, Aspen Neuroscience, XOKind, Cradle Genomics, and Medcrypt.

21:04 Recent fundings: Erasca $200m - Brain Corp $36M - Plantible Foods - $4.6M - Trovata $4.3M

24:08 Who's hiring - San. Diego. Life Changing, Startup San Diego, and Connect have launched a live job board that lists San Diego County companies that are still hiring amid the pandemic.

27:06 Local companies pivoting amid the pandemic. Banker Hills-based CloudBeds connecting hotel beds to those in need of hospitalization. Read about all the local companies joining the fight against COVID-19 on FreshBrewedTech.com.

28:03 Upcoming virtual events: 

Meta by Acai: Startup Community Virtual Networking - May 28 

Startup Series: Unique Value Proposition & Storytelling (Workshop 4 of 5), May 15

Startup Series: Distilling Chaos & Taking Action (Workshop 5 of 5), May 22

Nominate your top tech leaders at TopTechAwards.com. The event will take place this fall and is held by Cox Business.

Listen to a previous podcast episode, where Alexa-Rae takes us through her career leading up to her current role at Startup San Diego (Episode #36)

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego startup and tech ecosystem.

Keep up with Alexa-Rae:

Twitter: @lexaRaeN

LinkedIn

Keep up with Startup San Diego 

Twitter: @StartupSanDiego

Facebook: @StartupSD

startupsd.org/

Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

Fred: I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of SD Founders substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

• Missing Mike Freeman - Mike is no longer at the UT and we miss his voice in the tech community
• ShieldAI raising
• Linear App raised $35m Series B
• Acquire.com moving HQ to La Jolla 
• Rayze Bio $358m IPO

Events

• Innovation Week review
• Announcing Techstars San Diego powered SDSU first cohort podcast
• Women’s Venture Summit - Sept 28 & 29
• San Diego Startup Week - October 23-27

Afif Khoury is the Founder & CEO of SOCi, a local marketing platform that aims to solve and manage the complex digital workflow of large, multi-location enterprises. 

After earning a degree in neuroscience and physiology from UC San Diego in 1998, Afif worked in a genetics lab for a while and even had his work published in the Journal of Cell Biology. Shortly after that, he made the radical decision to go study law and business at Northwestern University, and ended up starting his first company SymptomCare.com while in graduate school. 

After the  dot-com crash in 2000, Afif spent some time as an attorney  representing emerging growth companies and the venture and private equity funds that invested in them. He chose to return to his passion of entrepreneurship a few years later, raising $70 million for his venture fund, Axon Ventures. To this day, his love for the life sciences remains, mainly in the form of investments in biotech companies.

 One of Axon Ventures’ investments was a digital marketing company that Afif became very involved with - so much so that he ended up becoming its CEO, and eventually sold the company. After chatting with the startup’s lead engineer, they decided to co-found SOCi together in 2012.

Tune in to hear more about Afif’s successful journey transitioning from science and law to entrepreneurship and investing in tech companies.

As mentioned in the episode: If your company is struggling as a result of the current pandemic, check out information about government-sponsored PPP (payment protection program) loans here (https://bit.ly/3eqWOaP). See the list of fintech companies assisting the SBA with loans here (https://bit.ly/2OoB70u).

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Afif’s favorite local tacos:

Fish tacos from Pacifica Del Mar

Connect with Afif: 

LinkedIn

Twitter: @afifkhoury

Keep up with SOCi: 

Website: https://www.meetsoci.com/

Facebook: @MeetSOCI

LinkedIn

Twitter: @meetsoci

Instagram: @meetsoci

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Marcos gives an overview of what Pricing I/O is [02:41]
• When did Marcos move to San Diego? [03:33]
• How did Marcos end up in the tech and pricing industry? [05:16]
• Marcos talks about a campaign they did to collect data from companies Marcos shares the observation and trends he noticed from companies [06:36]
• [07:49]
• When did Marcos know he wanted to start a consultancy? [09:52]
• What was Marcos' entrepreneurial first step? [11:23]
• Marcos shares why he decided to write a book and how long it took him to finish it [12:53]
• Marcos shares what his book is all about and some key points from it [13:54]
• How does Marcos look at stages regarding companies from a trajectory standpoint? [15:51]
• Marcos shares what he tells people to do to their companies today pricing-wise based on the current trends and patterns he's seeing [17:56]
• Marcos talks about the importance of communication and transparency around pricing [21:20]
• Marcos shares his favorite taco spot, Puesto [24:09]

Resources:

• Book -  Street Pricing by Marcos Rivera

Follow Marcos online

LinkedIn

Pricing I/O

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

• [02:20] Jayce gives an overview of what FarmRaise is
• [03:28] Jayce talks about how she grew up on a farm, the grant they got from USDA and how it got her interested in the finance aspect of agribusiness
• [06:18] Jayce shares how she met her co-founder in business school, and how their separate thesis helped them see a business opportunity to help farmers
• [09:00] How did Jayce and her co-founder find funding for their business project and turn it into a profitable one?
• [10:00] Jayce shares the things she learned from business school and how she applied them to her business, including the importance of running tests
• [11:19] Jayce talks about what it was like to run the business during the pandemic, how the pandemic affected the farm community, and how they helped farmers through financial opportunities
• [14:43] Jayce gives an update on how the business is doing now, how big their team is, and what their platform does to help farmers and future plans of FarmRaise
• [16:32] Jayce talks about what made her move to San Diego
• [18:40] Jayce shares her favorite taco spots, Oscars
• [19:44] Jayce shares a job opening in their company and what they're looking for in their applicants 

Follow Jayce online

Twitter | LinkedIn

FarmRaise: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn

• Introducing Don [01:53]
• How did Don get into the telecom world? And what was it like in the early days? [03:20]
• The evolution of Qualcomm [08:41]
• Qualcomm's plans of bringing industry-leading experiences to smartphones and helping the automotive industry [11:58]
• What are Qualcomm’s branding strategies? [15:16]
• Consumer brand association with Snapdragon [15:58]
• Qualcomm’s first fan community for Snapdragon [19:28]
• Don’s biggest challenge on a daily basis [20:18]
• All about the Snapdragon Stadium [22:02]
• The future plans of Qualcomm over the next decade [25:44]
• How the pandemic contributed to the acceleration of the technology adoption curve with consumers and how it affected the system [28:58]
• Don’s favorite taco spots, Roberto's (in Solana Beach) and El Pueblo [30:40]

Follow Don online

Twitter | LinkedIn

Qualcomm: Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms. 

The pandemic has completely changed the school system, making the transition from in-person to virtual learning difficult and opening new risks of cyber attacks towards young students. Companies like Linewize are focused on keeping students safe in a digital learning environment and content-filtering in the classroom or at district level. Ross Young, Senior Vice President at Linewize, shares his experience in the cybersecurity industry and leading sales operations for the North American branch. 

Ross grew up in San Francisco, Bay Area, and worked in the mortgage industry before the crash of 2008. After the financial crisis hit, he switched into the tech industry in order to survive, focusing on sales. He had his first experience with the cybersecurity world through iboss, and was among the first salespeople to sell and deploy the product. Unfamiliar with technical knowledge, he had to self-teach himself the know-hows of the cybersecurity space in order to effectively sell the product. He witnessed the company’s expansion first-hand, leaving iboss as the market share leader in their space for edtech and content filtering at that time.

In 2018, Ross was directly recruited from iboss to Linewize, an Australian cybersecurity company that was looking for someone who was familiar with ed tech content filtering in the States. Their strategy was to sell to school districts and reach the parent community to sell their home content filter through school influence. Ross joined the team, and within three years, they reached a quarter billion raise, driving strong numbers in revenue and profit. Recently, they have acquired competitors Smoothwall and Net Ref, expanding their customer base and product lines.

Listen to Ross Young share his journey into the cybersecurity space and how he was able to merge sales and technology together to successfully expand Linewize and their products. 

Ross’ favorite local tacos:

TJ Tacos in Escondido

Four Tunas Fish and Bar in Escondido

Connect with Ross:

LinkedIn

Learn more about Linewize: 

Website: https://www.linewize.com/ 

Facebook: @linewize

Twitter: @linewize 

Instagram: @linewize 

LinkedIn

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business & Cox Edge for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other platforms.

• Chrissy gives an overview of what Second Front Systems is [02:50]

• Chrrisy shares how she got into the tech world and how she started her career originally [03:02]

• Chrissy gives a background of what Second Front Systems is and its products [07:53]

• What was Chrissy’s role when she first started in Second Front Systems versus what she’s doing now? [09:32]

• Chrissy shares what she’s learned from her mentors and how they helped in her job [12:02]

• Chrissy talks about Second Front Systems’ technology and where it's affecting the world today [13:33]

• What’s DevSecOps? [15:34]

• Chrissy talks about their Game Warden platform and their next Game Warden product [16:44]

• How does a public benefit organization like Second Front Systems impact the community that they’re staying in? [18:48]

• Chrissy explains what a SkillBridge program is [19:53]

• Chrissy shares what it’s like being a fully remote company and how they utilize the virtual space platform, Gather.town [23:14]

• Chrissy shares her favorite taco spot, Velvet Taco [27:28]

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Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Fred Grier from Fresh Brewed Tech.

I’m Neal Bloom from Fresh Brewed Tech, the Tacos and Tech Podcast, and Interlock Capital.

I’m Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. I wrote about the tech industry for the San Diego Business Journal for two years. I covered the ins-and-outs of the startup world for much of that time, breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A.

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3/18 Headline Stories 

Boundless Bio IPO

AgX Hackathon Debrief

SD Clippers G-League in Oceanside

Techstars Anywhere 2024 cohort announced - SD company Namara Water Tech in the cohort

Techstars San Diego applications are open, due May 22

Firestorm raised $12.5m Seed

Rakuten Medical raised $119M Series E

Argonaut Bio Manufacturing raised $45m

Looq AI raise $2.6M Seed

Events - For full list - check The Social Coyote

SDSU Chinyeh Hostler Social Venture: H20 Impact Challenge March 15

Dev & Data Night & CTO Talks - March 19

SDx AI coffee meetups - every other week