Aaron Pearsall

Through mentoring HealthTech startups, I've witnessed telemedicine powered by GenAI has garnered a more positive response from healthcare providers than AI alone. Here are AI use cases in telemedicine 👇 - 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: AI, particularly machine learning, analyzes vital signs from devices like blood pressure cuffs and heart monitors to detect abnormalities. - 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬: AI utilizes patient data and historical information to enhance diagnostic accuracy and interpret medical images effectively. - 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬: AI tailors personalized medical interventions by analyzing individual patient profiles. - 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: AI-powered tools like chatbots streamline services such as appointment scheduling, providing information, and managing intake processes. - 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: AI aids in monitoring patients, offering feedback, and alerting to early signs of disease progression. The increasing prevalence of such solutions signifies their potential to address the challenge of medical personnel shortages and facilitate remote care. The increasing prevalence of such solutions signifies their potential to address the challenge of medical personnel shortages and facilitate remote care. This innovative combination has the capacity to revolutionize healthcare delivery, making proactive and comprehensive care more accessible. #HealthTech #Telemedicine #GenAI #RemoteCare #VirtualCare #AIinHealthcare

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Investment from a VC shouldn't be a metric of success 🙅🏼‍♂️ The screenshot below is from a founder I've been speaking with for a while who's decided to bootstrap rather than raise VC investment. Given the investment landscape in 2023, I fully understand why the founder has made this decision. Most founders I meet are raising capital to acquire talent or expertise they currently don't have to overcome growth challenges within their startups. Bootstrapping should not be looked down on and as investors, we need to do a better job of staying close to founders who decide to bootstrap in the early stages of startup growth. VC funding isn't right for every startup, so let's not use it as a measure of startup success. #founders #startup #vc #business

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Three tools to help founders hack sourcing investors 👇🏼 If you're a founder looking to build a list of investors relevant to your startup and you want to craft personalised outreach, use these three tools: 1️⃣ - The ultimate UK/EU investor list in the comments below. This list has more than 200 VC funds investing across a range of sectors and stages. Shortlist the most relevant funds for you from this list. 2️⃣ - shipshape.vc. The best investor search engine; search your shortlist investors on Shipshape to find out what they're talking about and how you can craft a personalised and relevant message to them. 3️⃣ - folk. Use the Folk Chrome extension to easily import investor profiles from LinkedIn to your CRM and use the data from Shipshape to prompt the Folk AI to generate personalised messages to investors. Remember, founder-investor relationships start long before the fundraising event, so use these tools to build your investor network over time. #investment #startup #founders #vc

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There are two statements I hear from founders raising pre-seed rounds👇🏼 Statement 1: “I need money to build my product and get customers” Statement 2: “I’ve got a waitlist of 1000 potential customers, so I need money to build the product I’ve ideated with them” There’s a clear distinction in the founders’ ability to build on an opportunity with limited resources. I’ve noticed the best founders manage ongoing opportunities that they don’t have the resources to action currently into four pipelines: 💡 Idea pipeline: a way to create a large number of ideas in preparation for them to be tested and either implemented or discarded 👥 Team pipeline: detailed profiles of ideal candidates, a list of why they’re the best fit, and a structured process of attracting them to the startup 💸 Customer pipeline: a defined process of identifying potential customers and guiding them toward a purchasing decision 💰 Investor pipeline: a list of relevant investors (categorised by stage and sector) who are being actively engaged with and have a level of insight into the monthly growth of the start-up. Demonstrating your ability to build without plenty of resources is incredibly important for investors. #founders #vc #startup #business

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🔥Tune In to the Latest Fireside Chat with a VC in Healthech🔥 What percentage of VCs are former founders? 30% maybe more? I'd think a fair amount, yet how *exactly* does that transition happen and what perspectives change *radically* afterwards? Sigvards Krongorns shared exactly that - his journey from PwC consultant to Healtech founder, to a VC shaping the future of Healthtech startups. What we talked about: ✨ Sigvards' transition from a PwC consultant to founder to a VC ✨ What steps are necessary to bring innovative medical devices from concept to market ✨ How being a founder can prepare you for a role in venture capital ✨ What strategies help navigate the regulatory landscape in healthtech startups ✨ The right way to engage with VCs for startup funding ✨ What future trends in venture capital and Healthtech look like #HealthTech #VentureCapital #Innovation #StartupJourney #HealthcareInnovation #Entrepreneurship #FiresideChat #VentureCapitalInsights Full conversation can be found here:

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The UK is well ahead of its continental counterparts when it comes to tech startups* generating revenue. 🇬🇧 👑 💂 *Let’s be honest, at these revenue levels most of the companies counted here aren’t startups. They’re scaleups or established privately held tech companies. https://lnkd.in/ebSnfcYz #vc #venturecapital #startups #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #tech #technology #innovation #money #business

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Brilliant illustration of all the benefits that come with a Revolut Business Account. If you would like a better understanding of how we can help your business grow, let's connect!

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

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CVS is in trouble I mean, not really, but shareholder wise, it is -29% share price since April 1st -17% share price since April 30th Let's look at what's going on Q1 2024: $88B revenue; +3.7% YoY $2.3B op income; -34% YoY $1.1B net income; -48% YoY $4.9B cash from ops; -34% YoY Woof, what's the deal.... $27.8B health care costs; +36% YoY Pesky health care costs And what might those be, pray tell? +$6.9B in costs in the health care benefits segment 90.4% MBR (CVS's version of MLR); +580bps (Aside: bps = basis points, in other words +580 bps means +5.8 percentage points) This is pointing to a crunch in the Aetna Medicare Advantage segment In fact they say specifically that the increase was due to Medicare utilization and poor start ratings Oh, also because it was a leap year... Naturally The issue here is not the paltry $4.9B it earned in cash in a 90 days, it's the impact on Medicare Advantage members CVS will look to improve its performance by attacking the cost drivers dragging its margins In other words again, it will cut benefits, control utilization more, and probably start exiting Medicare Advantage markets Now that over 50% of Americans have the nefarious plans, what's going to happen when CVS says, "meh, we're not making enough to keep paying out billions in dividends, so we're dropping 4.2M enrollees..." Publicly traded companies have one primary duty: maximize shareholder value Talk about misalignment P.S. if you liked this breakdown, you'll love The Healthcare Breakdown, where I shout into the abyss of absurdity about healthcare business, so you can also slowly slip into insanity Check it out here: https://buff.ly/47NeASx See you out there!

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

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The VC defensibility argument for rejection is an empty reason to reject a company, because it ultimately comes down to execution. I understand the argument if a company sells iPhone cases, and that business really is completely indefensible given that others can very easily copy it (for almost nothing) sell fakes, have scale, and IP law can't really do anything here, etc. But is then SpaceX indefensible because Lockheed and Boeing and Blue Origin (who all have billions), can do the same. So why don't they? Why haven't they? It's because it's really hard to do. Defensible businesses are businesses that are really hard to build. The same can be said in banking. Does Revolut also have a defensibility issue? I'm sure they got rejected by investors for this reason many times. There were dozens of digital banks, but there is now 1 leading digital bank. Their defensibility is scale. And that's really hard to do. Defensibility is an ignorant argument, and it's often coming from those that have never actually built a business.

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💸 SAFE NOTES EXPLAINED CLEARLY W/ ADDITIONAL COMMENTS BELOW💸 SOURCE: Kevin Jurovich 💸Key terms in a #SAFE note include: Valuation Cap: Maximum company valuation for converting the SAFE. Discount Rate: Percentage reduction on share price during conversion. MFN Clause: Ensures equal or better terms if new SAFEs are issued. Conversion Trigger: Event that converts the SAFE into equity. SAFE notes benefit #investors by offering a simplified, standardized investment process with potential for high returns. They convert to equity at a discount or valuation cap, providing early investors with favorable terms. Additionally, the MFN clause ensures they receive the best terms available in subsequent rounds. 💸A valuation cap benefits founders by potentially reducing equity dilution. If the company's valuation exceeds the cap during conversion, the SAFE converts at the capped valuation, resulting in fewer shares issued to investors. This preserves more equity for founders, especially if they are confident in achieving higher valuations in future rounds. 💸A discount rate in a SAFE note provides a percentage reduction on the share price during conversion. This means that when the SAFE converts to equity, the investor gets shares at a discounted price compared to the current valuation, offering an incentive for early investment. 💸An MFN (Most Favored Nation) clause in a SAFE note ensures that if a new SAFE is issued with better terms, the investor with the MFN clause can opt to receive those same favorable terms. This protects early investors from being disadvantaged by subsequent funding rounds. 💸A conversion trigger in a SAFE note is an event that converts the SAFE into equity. Common triggers include a priced equity round or a liquidity event. 💸Examples of SAFE notes include: Fixed Conversion at a future date, Valuation Cap with no discount, Discount with no valuation cap, Valuation Cap & Discount, and MFN (Most Favored Nation) clause. These variations offer different terms for investors and founders. #SAFENOTES #CAPITALRAISE #INVESTOR #INVESTING #EARLYSTAGE #FOUNDERS

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FREE OFFICE-HOURS: If you're a pre-seed or seed stage startup founder in or around Liverpool, Manchester or Chester, and either already fundraising or planning to, then let's meet up for an informal chat. I'm revolving around these locations every week, so grab 30 minutes of my time and I'll be happy to pass on some ideas and advice, using my 25 years of experience as a founder and knowledge of how the early-stage investment process works. Head over to my website (link on my profile), and if you fit the criteria shown on the page, just book straight into my calendar for Manchester/Liverpool, or DM me for Chester. The next dates are shown below, but my calendar offers more. All meetings will be at the Clockwise coworking spaces. There's no cost for my time, but coffee is on you 😊 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫/𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞-𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 (𝐃𝐌 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬)... • 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥: 6𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 • 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫: 12𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 • 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫: 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 ---------------------------- 😊 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 • 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 25+ 𝐲𝐫𝐬 📌 𝐃𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬+𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 #startups #angelinvestors #fundraising #founders #InvestmentReadiness

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Beware of investing in Reg A crowd funded startups. Many are abusing the process... — Aptera has been telling investors for three years that it would soon deliver its first solar-powered car but still hasn’t shipped any [raised $120 million from 17K retail investors] Tiny-house maker Boxabl says its wait list exceeds 175,000 customers, but it has sold only six units this year, according to its most recent disclosures. [raised $100+ million]   The SEC approved the exemption nearly a decade ago, as part of an effort to make it easier for smaller companies to raise capital. Known as Regulation A, the technique allows businesses to annually raise as much as $75 million while complying with lighter-touch rules than a traditional initial public offering. These companies have raised billions of dollars from hundreds of thousands of Americans with little oversight. Link to full expose source below. #startups #crowdfunding #regA

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🚀 𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐔𝐫𝐢 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬! 🚀 Uri Levine, co-founder of Waze and Moovit, shares invaluable lessons in his book “𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮, 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.” Key takeaways include the importance of passionately embracing the problem you’re solving, the necessity of customer retention as a marker of product-market fit, and the strategic use of pitch deck slides. He also emphasises the significance of hiring and firing correctly and observing user behaviour to refine your product. These principles can transform your startup journey, ensuring resilience and growth. 🌟 #StartupSuccess #Entrepreneurship #ProductMarketFit #Innovation

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Struggling with how I feel about the $200 million investement in Flo yesterday.. On one hand at least the #economic benefit of #FemTech is being recognised. It is clearly #investible! (But, it isn't like women haven't been saying that for decades now or anything..☝️). I hope this means I no longer have to defend the commercial benefits of improving women's health for our entire #global #economy.. when this #disparity in women's healthcare, means that currently over half the population are limited from contributing to the #economy during their most productive years! 😡😡😡 But on the other hand, it is #disappointing that out of all the incredible #FemTech companies that exist, which are founded by brilliant women founders - that the one that gets the biggest #valuation and #investment is the one founded by two #men.. What #angered me the most, was I saw comments from men such as "maybe they just had a really good pitch..", - how about as commercially minded as these founders may be - they will never have as good domain expertise as a #woman, when it comes to managing #reproductive #health, and the #barriers that #women experience every day in the #health-#care #system. If this doesn't highlight the #gender #bias in the investment landscape, I do not know what does. https://lnkd.in/gae_f8SR #genderbias #investment #genderequity #femtech #startup #entrepreneur #reproductivehealth #womenshealth #venture #success #acheivement

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“Don’t be a fawning enabler. Have the tough conversations.” Probably the most consistent theme I saw in Roger Ehrenberg’s podcast interviews over the last 8 years is his focus on building trust and radically transparent relationships with founders and LPs. He thinks transparency is the most important quality a VC can have. He always wants to be viewed as the truth-teller, the person that’s willing to say the hard things. Though, you should always say them in empathetic ways and in appropriate settings. “There’s no greater sign of caring and love than being honest.” -- This transparency isn’t one way — Roger really focuses on creating a space of mutual respect where founders and VCs can be honest with each other. When he has these types of relationships, he feels way more comfortable supporting founders with bridges/extensions to get through tough times. But, if he doesn’t feel founders are being truly honest with him, they likely won’t write that second check -- While Roger often takes board seats, especially when founders ask, he doesn’t need to. “Power comes from respect and actions, not the director title.” He always seeks to be the most important person to the CEO regardless of how much capital they’ve put in relative to other investors. -- Next, I'm going to cover how Roger thinks about helping seed stage companies find product market-fit. Thanks for reading!

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The quality of seed-stage startups is incredibly high right now 🤯 2023 was a rough year for founders. Fundraising volumes were down significantly, and overall buying activity (specifically in B2B SaaS) was also down dramatically. This has sharpened these founders into ferociously focused and detailed entrepreneurs. Here's what I've noticed: 1️⃣ Highly engaged customer groups (max 10 people): a small group of customers are consulted almost daily on how the product is developing, what the changes in the market are, and to break down the lack of visibility over the buying process. 2️⃣ Lean teams - teams are small and the focus is on outsourcing non-core functions or skills that the core team knows are not their strengths. 3️⃣ Monetising from day one - revenue is prioritised from the start and this shapes how founders think about product development. The emphasis is on demonstrating enough customer value so cash is exchanged before excessive development or resource allocation. The batch of founders who have built startups during 2023 are going to be some of the best founders we've ever seen. Now is a great time to be investing 🙌🏼

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The missing slide on most pitch decks 👇🏼 One of the easiest ways for an investor to pass on an opportunity is because the founder can't articulate the startup concisely and clearly. Here's a slide that founders can include in their pitch deck to improve clarity for investors: 🤯 Why this problem - Size the opportunity (not TAM, SAM, and SOM) and include a £ cost to those experiencing the pain. 🛠 Why this solution - What have you built to tackle this problem and why is this your approach. 🚀 Why now - What has changed in the market, technology, or human behaviour to make now the right time to launch this startup. ✨ Why you - What is so special about you and your team that will allow you to win. How founders articulate critical details on their startup shows how they interact with customers, their team, and external market players. Be clear, concise and confident. #founders #vc #startup #business

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