Rahul Sidhu

Health tech founders: Are you tired of the endless fundraising cycle? Here's why your pitch deck isn't cutting it anymore and what you need to do instead: 🔔Ditch the generic investor outreach 🔔Leverage the Capital Readiness Scorecard 🔔Streamline due diligence (save 118+ hours!) 🔔Master every funding stage from pre-seed to Series C In today’s #LinkedinAudio event, we dive deep into the challenges and strategies of capital fundraising in health tech. Here's what you'll learn: 💰Why many startups get caught in a perpetual fundraising cycle 💰How to target the right investors and stand out from the crowd 💰The power of the Capital Readiness Scorecard in streamlining due diligence 💰Key strategies for successful fundraising at every stage Don't miss out on these game-changing insights! Tell us: What is one of the biggest frustrations when fundraising for your innovative solution? Can't make it to the Audio event? Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast app. It will be published on Sep 17th. See the specific link in the comments below. #HealthTech #Fundraising #StartupAdvice #CapitalReadiness

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DoD is pushing startups to take on venture capital pretty hard these days. VC funding can be a great option but it's not an out-of-the-box great fit for Defense Tech. Relying on private debt to effectively dictate what new tech into Defense agencies will have consequences and I don't want to experience that particular learning curve. #defensetech #emergingtechnology #venturecapital

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Someone broke down the estimated costs of a $15 Sweetgreen salad. We need these cost graphics for digital health to help future founders. Especially for tech enabled cos, the greatest cost is labor. Much of the "value created" is in curation and matching, which means the gross margins are reliant on labor arbitrage. Pay someone $X, but get paid $X+Y% per visit. The challenge with healthcare is that you often have to pick one of two business models: 1. specialized, low volume, high cost, low gross margin % 2. generalized, high volume, low cost, high gross margin % I'd argue founders should focus on gross dollars over the lifetime of the customer (like Jeff Bezos said) instead of gross margin %'s, but we'll leave that for another time. The challenge is that many tech enabled digital health cos have high cost of goods sold (labor) and moderately high product, design, and engineering budgets. We must build differentiated solutions for patients, clinicians, and clients to be out incumbents, however, we're realizing that companies are ultimately valued on the discounted value of future cash flows. And the high SG&A costs at most organizations might be inbalanced to the unit economics of the business. I'm not sure the math pencils out for everyone unfortunately. But I'm just a guy on the internet, would love to hear the thoughts from those smarter than I (you!). Comment below. --- p.s. I have no idea the accuracy of the graphic and not an investor in Sweetgreen. Cheers. Credit: David Crowther

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💰🎓VALUATION CAP💰🎓 Setting a valuation cap in fundraising is crucial as it limits the maximum valuation at which a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) converts to equity. This helps founders manage equity dilution and provides investors with a clear understanding of their potential ownership percentage, ensuring informed decision-making during fundraising rounds. Source: Peter Walker Great post! #valuationcap #investors #founders #raisingcapital #safes #fundraising #womenshealth #femhealth #medtech

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Health and Wellness is a wave, and integrated care will be (and already is!) the defining characteristic of most winners. Many DTC healthcare companies are putting money into Meta/Google, and getting patients out. Something similar is possible at a Doctor's office, with a significantly lower CAC. Put in resources, get patients out. I think this is a compelling distribution channel for a lot of wellness companies--Pharmacies, Gyms, Nutritionists, Therapists, Longevity etc. Because if you're a healthcare company, chances are the people who you can impact the most (and who may be the most motivated to use your product!) are those at the Doctor's office. Yes it will be non-trivial to set up distribution through clinics... but those nuances are just a barrier to entry for your competitors. The rise of multi-clinic operators makes this extra powerful right now.

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Great post by Josh Wagner on the importance of urgency. If you don't want to build a company characterized by urgency and extreme intensity over a long period of time - at least a decade - you would be better off not raising venture capital.

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Kudos to aifleet on its $16.6M raise to fund growth in tech-enabled trucking. Its investors include Heron Rock Volvo Group Venture Capital, Obvious Ventures, Ibex Investors, Compound, Winthrop Square Capital and Cooley LLP. Aifleet is doing something different. Most other startups in this field are focused on pure technology. They have 204 drivers and power units. Will they be able to make it work with a combination of trucking and technology? https://lnkd.in/ePytPHx7

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With Americans over 65 projected to grow from 58 million to 82 million by 2050, AI solutions like Foundation Capital portco SafelyYou are becoming increasingly crucial. They’re also a powerful answer to the industry’s persistent staffing shortages, acting as a force multiplier for caregivers. The benefits extend beyond individual residents and their families. For senior living homes, SafelyYou’s AI-powered fall prevention and response system translates to longer lengths of stay and higher net operating income (NOI). With AI, we are working towards a future where every individual—regardless of age or health status—receives the highest quality care, tailored to their unique needs and circumstances. Companies like SafelyYou are leading the charge in making this future a reality, and I’m immensely proud to work alongside them as they use AI to build a better world.

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The (Healthcare) Ground Beneath Our Feet… This year it is likely that over $10 billion will be invested in the digital health sector – a robust amount, no doubt, but inconsequential when compared to the amount of capital tied up in healthcare real estate assets, which is estimated to be $1.2 trillion by Jones Lang Lasalle. Of that amount, approximately $790 billion is in the hospital sector while the remaining $490 billion is in medical office assets. It is estimated that there are 48.6k facilities with 3.4 billion square feet of healthcare real estate, 42% of which are owned by REITs and another 33% held by other private investment vehicles. Much of the digital health investment is meant to make the physical healthcare infrastructure more productive: greater operating efficiencies, greater patient throughput, more relevant personalized care models with better outcomes. As the healthcare system is being pushed to be more distributed to lower cost sites of care, accelerated now by the rapid proliferation of automation and AI capabilities, the potential impact on healthcare infrastructure assets will be profound. Thoughts on what that might look like... https://lnkd.in/eTfAdUbS #digitalhealth Flare Capital Partners

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Why Buying Your First Business is the hardest & Financing The Fear is Being seen as too risky by lenders and investors. The Solution: Prepare a solid business plan with detailed financial projections. Work with a financial advisor to enhance your credibility. Consider alternative financing options like SBA loans or seller financing.

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People overcomplicate startup fundraising Listen, if you’re a first time founder: Avoid: - Long pitch decks to send out < (15 slides IMO) - Unreasonable financial projections - To much focus on your product/features - Not showing current competition Instead: - Focus on a simple pitch deck that can be skimmed (cause it will) - Reasonable financial projections with assumptions - Focus on the investment opportunity vs product - Show how you are unique vs competition Do this before you send out your pitch deck again. Sent it out from there. Investment is about multiplying money and getting someone to trust that you are the multiplier. Simple yet hard. If you want the exact formula for building up a pitch deck that helped me raise over 4 mio usd. Connect with me and comment PD and I will sent it to you. -MK

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Today's Boring Business (Our First on BizBuySell): - 50+ Year Auto Repair & Service Shop - $300K Cashflow - North Florida - Day 26 of "50 States In 50 Days" Disclaimer: SMB PE LLC will receive fees in a successful sale as we represent the underlying deal. This is our first deal on BizBuySell. What Do They Do? 1. Family owned business with 60+ years of operating history 2. General service, electrical diagnostics, inspections, transmissions 3. Revenue 30-40% routine services and 60-70% high-margin jobs 4. Excellent staff in place and loyal, repeat customer base 5. Strategically positioned in high-visibility area Northeast Florida Highlights: 1. Long time history of profitability, Owner retiring 2. High-end auto with Average Repair Order (ARO) 30%+ vs market 3. Little to no professional marketing completed to-date, word of mouth Risks/ Concerns: 1. Owner-Dependency: How will Owner leaving impact business 2. Team has great people in place to help with transition, any at risk? 3. Owner owns underlying Real Estate, have to negotiate terms #SMB #ETA #finance #Cashflow #investing #search #searchfund #privateequity #microprivateequity #smallbusiness #venturecapital #vc #entrepreneur #business #businessowner Disclaimer: Hypothetical and illustrative only. Please do your own research (DYOR) or work with tax and legal professionals before making a decision. This video are intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice, nor should be construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any security by SMB PE LLC or any third party.

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"Don't bow out, use every opportunity to learn." Listen to Matthew Sydney founder and CEO of Beanstalk Benefits tell me about the future of Digital Health!! How should point solutions balance improving the product, and sell sell sell sell? Well, listen in to find out. Our favorite takeaways from the episode 👇 📲 The benefits landscape is evolving with technology and personalization. 🌱 Beanstalk Benefits aims to simplify access to diverse employee services. 💰 Funding in 2023 was challenging but necessary for growth. 🙌 Employee-driven solutions are key to successful benefits programs. 🗣️ The importance of listening to user feedback in product development. 🔗 Consolidation in digital health is a growing trend. 👉 Watch the episode here https://lnkd.in/d9u_m9zF 👂 Listen to the episode here https://lnkd.in/dc4r3zNR

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Every startup is trying to solve a problem. But let’s be honest: some problems are more important than others. One of the most critical problems facing the U.S. healthcare system is our obscenely high maternal mortality rate. We have the highest rate of any high-income country - and the group most impacted is women of color.  We’re fortunate at Lantern to be working with incredible founders trying to address this heartbreaking problem. With Mother’s Day coming up, I wanted to take a minute to shout out Anu Sharma, her co-founders Talia Borgo CNM, WHNP, RN and Sarah Reynolds, and the incredible work they are doing at Millie to make carrying, delivering, and caring for babies safer and better.  The problem was clear: Overworked and understaffed OB departments and practices that just aren’t equipped to provide the individualized, comprehensive care that many pregnant people are seeking. Pregnant patients often experience:  • A 10-12 week wait for an initial appointment • Very short appointment times • An absence of holistic health information • Gaps in care between visits, which add anxiety and risk • A few-sizes-fits-all approach to labor and delivery • And craziest of all: a near-complete lack of postpartum care Millie’s solution? A modern maternal health system that provides holistic pregnancy care - pre, during and post delivery. Made possible with the expertise of Certified Nurse Midwives – medical professionals known for their deep knowledge of pregnancy and the labor process, and their minimal-intervention approach. Midwives can spend more time with patients during and after the pregnancy, and are the ideal provider for the 80% of pregnancies that are considered “low risk”, allowing OBGYNs to focus on high risk cases. When I first met Anu and she told me about Millie, my first thought was, "How does this not already exist?” I was inspired by the vision and the need for this service is obvious - what more could a marketer ask for? Better yet, our SEO strategy seemed to be working as Anu found Lantern by Googling “embedded growth teams in the early-stage health space.” The fit was obvious. She needed help with web analytics, paid search, Meta creative, and conversion rate optimization. And she didn’t have the budget to hire the 2-4 specialists needed. Moreover, she didn’t need 2-4 full-time hires. It was the perfect use case for our new kind of agency. Lantern got involved shortly after launch and was able to help Millie build on their early momentum. They were getting great local press but needed a long term plan for growth. Our team (led by Kristin Proctor, one of our Growth Directors) built a systematic growth machine, using best practice tactics throughout the funnel to significantly scale new customer acquisition, while keeping spend flat. Thank you for trusting us to get the word out about Millie, Anu. Truly honored to help build this revolutionary business. Happy early Mother’s Day, to you and the Millie team! 

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🔥💰️ 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐩𝐩 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 “𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞” 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 $𝟗𝟖𝐊 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥 for a few days of high traffic, after their free app went viral. Here's how we did things differently at OmniCreator 👇️ Going "viral" and "scale at all costs" were over-glorified among VC-backed startups in ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) era. Daigo Tanaka, PhD and I hated this model. Serverless or not, we focused on creating a service many people find it worth paying the money from the beginning. As a result, Daigo went above and beyond to integrate a seamless payment processing system for users from the beginning. By doing this we made sure monthly fee could pay the server cost per user. We also controlled the signup quantity and quality via invitation-only system. This allowed us to manage bugs, focus on customer success, and grow at a sustainable rate. We never intended to raise money. Our growth is much slower but we are making more than we pay. IMO that's a pretty damn good business model these days. #medtech #technology #socialmedia #socialmediamarketing #entrepreneurship #entrepreneur

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Hot take on a lot of early-stage digital health companies out there: You're not a tech company. Most tech-enabled care companies I've seen over the past two years are only tech-enabled in the sense that they use telehealth as their delivery mechanism for care. There are exceptions to this, of course - companies who build computer vision and applied AI tools to better the doctor-patient experience, companies who build tooling around risk scoring and stratification to enable more personalized medicine, companies who build truly novel intakes to better route patients to the appropriate care, etc. These companies have real technology chops and, if they sell it right to the market, can get credit for this from investors. But if you're truly a telehealth provider, you need to realize now that the goal post has shifted dramatically from 2021 and you're going to be valued at maturity at something like 3x EBITDA. That's profit. Not revenue. Throw a revenue multiple out the window. That's not the world we live in if you're a virtual doctor's office. Think of how that impacts venture math. If you're raising a seed round at $15M post-money (or $12M pre-money), it means you'll have to generate something like $150-200M in annual EBITDA to be a fund returner for your seed investors. Maybe even more with dilution, since telehealth businesses are not traditionally capital efficient and will likely need to raise material additional capital to reach that scale. You need to be ridiculously profitable (probably on $800M-$1B in annual revenue since you're likely going to be a 40% gross margin business). Here's the good news: you can set yourself up well (and probably be a contrarian founder relative to your peers), by talking about EBITDA growth and how you can grow into a fund-returning outcome based on realistic mature market comps. This will stand out for the investors you're pitching, even at the early stage. This is how you can beat the malaise of the tech-enabled care market. Focus on the right metrics and the right type of growth. You don't have to have all the answers (no founder does), but you need to make sure the ship is headed in the right direction. A focus on profitability for "tech-enabled care" (*ahem* telehealth) businesses is a good first step.

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VC funding in healthcare has been more resilient than in other industries. Here are some key takeaways from recent Carta data: 👉 At the priced seed, Series A, and Series B stages, dilution for health startups has noticeably decreased, while dilution for SaaS startups has stayed flat or increased slightly. 👉 In priced seed rounds, median dilution for healthcare companies dipped to 14.2%, compared to 20% for SaaS.  👉 The frequency of bridge rounds surged in the health sector in Q1, jumping to 44.3% from 36.9% in Q4 2023. This is the first significant increase in bridge rounds in healthcare over SaaS since early 2022. 👉 More founder-friendly terms for health startups may result from enduring VC interest since COVID. Healthcare has remained strong through economic turmoil, enabling higher valuations with smaller round sizes. What are the implications? The healthcare sector might see a rise in new ventures due to favorable investment conditions and lower dilution rates. The surge in bridge rounds suggests that certain sectors within healthcare face unique challenges that require interim financing solutions. Founders and investors in the healthcare space- what are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear from you. If you know a founder innovating in healthcare, tag them in the comments! The Artemis Fund is especially interested in groundbreaking care tech companies. You can check out Carta’s full blog linked in the comments. If you haven’t read our latest blog on care tech, you’ll find that there too. #healthcare #caretech #fundraising

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Led by Anduril, defense tech funding sets a new record this year | TechCrunch https://buff.ly/4129kts Anduril, a leader in defense technology, has driven defense tech funding to an unprecedented high this year. Investments in this sector have surged, reflecting a growing interest in advanced military solutions and cutting-edge innovations. This milestone underscores the increasing importance of tech-driven defense initiatives in modern security strategies. As global tensions rise, there's a notable shift towards integrating AI, robotics, and autonomous systems into defense operations. The record-breaking funding highlights the critical role technology plays in national and international security landscapes. #DefenseTech #InnovationInSecurity

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