Episode 61 - Terri talks to Anne Cocquyt about her journey from Germany to Australia to Europe to South America and ultimately San Francisco and her desire to build community wherever she goes.

Terri talks to Anne Cocquyt about the importance of building community and growing through travel.  Anne also talks about being an adrenaline junky which has fueled her big leaps from Germany to Australia to Europe to South America and ultimately San Francisco to start her company, The Guild.  

   

Who is Anne Cocquyt? 

Anne Cocquyt is originally from Germany where she studied computer sciences and got her undergrad and master’s degree.  She left Germany for Australia and ultimately landed in Switzerland where she started her career in the IT industry for Detecon Switzerland leading multi-million-dollar IT outsourcing projects across Europe and Asia with clients like Philips, Shell and Deutsche Telekom. She launched her first NGO in Switzerland, organizing high-end events to fundraise for charitable projects in Zambia, South America and Switzerland. She then ventured into the business of art, which she discovered was not her forte, before launching her own IT strategy consultancy company in the UK and Switzerland.  After some time on Route 66, she got married, moved to San Francisco, and joined Genentech managing the execution of 12,000 educational programs and then leading commercial partnerships all the while advocating and implementing digital health innovation across the company. Simultaneously, she founded and sold a small consumer product company, Bezl LLC. In 2016, Anne decided to take the leap and transform her knowledge in data science, her commitment to women leaders and her close connections to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Silicon Valley to support her new venture: The GUILD.  

Show Highlights 

• Anne shares her journey from Stuttgart, Germany which was fairly conservative, and she knew she wanted to get out into the world. After she finished her MBA, she booked a trip to Australia which was on the other side of the world from where she was living.   

• While in Australia, she worked a number of odd jobs until she realized that she needed to get back into the real world.  She moved into IT transformation consulting out of Switzerland.   

• The work ultimately didn’t align with her values so she started a non-profit organization with a friend and put on large, high-end events for fundraising for organizations or projects they cared about.  

• Anne shared her grandparents’ story that influenced how she operates in the world in terms of the importance of building community.  Her grandmother was pushed out and she had to create a new home.  Anne decided to find her own home. 

• Anne shared her journey through South America and how traveling taught her that whenever she thought she was at the end, or that she was stuck, that there are ways out.  She learned to trust in herself and in serendipity.  

• Terri talked about the importance of traveling and putting herself in uncomfortable positions to build resilience, adaptability, and self-reliance.   

• Anne says new is scary, but this doesn’t seem to hold her back.  

• Anne believes that networks are so important. 

• When she was in South America, she got a call to do a consulting project in Europe.  She started a company in England and Switzerland to support the project.   

• Anne came to America and rented a red convertible to drive Route 66 to drive west which turned out to be her route to freedom.  She felt like there was something waiting for her at the end of it.   

• She ended up in LA with a friend and two months later she was married and living in San Francisco.   

• She loves the SF ecosystem which is crazy, and you can ideate, and people are always saying yes, and… 

• Anne talked about being new to the area and knowing absolutely no one.  She attended lots of events to meet people but knew that there were a lot of people in the groups that had something in common.  She started connecting them and realized that she had a passion for something that feels really good.   

• She started a consumer product company as a side hustle with her husband and started working for Genentech.  She saw there was no support system in place for women, so she started Bubbles and Biz. 

• Her experience at Genentech focused on neural networking led to an idea to create an algorithm to find the ways that people connect leveraging AI.  She took her hypothesis tested it out.     

• Anne quit her job at Genentech and took the leap to create the Guild.  She recently added video chat options to the in-person meeting options.  They now have members from almost all states on the platform.  

• Terri asked about who the ideal Guild member is, and Anne responded that it is any women from 18-90.  The algorithm considers many aspects of a woman’s life and interests and so it is not limited to professional women.  It can help other groups help their community members connect with each other and help companies connect their employees to each.   

• Terri talks about the importance of the women’s groups and organizations coming together to build a stronger, collective force.  

• If Anne could wave a magic wand, she would have people take a moment, before they do or say anything, to think about the effect of their actions on other people.   

Anne’s Recommended Funder Resource  

Hello Alice is a great resource, especially for female founders.   

She also recommends taking a look at founder groups including the former YC group on Facebook and Founder Network.  

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

New is scary but it shouldn’t hold you back.   

References in the Podcast 

• The Guild:  http://www.letsguild.com/ 

• Watermark:  https://www.wearewatermark.org/ 

• The Boardlist: https://theboardlist.com/ 

• Athena Alliance: https://athenaalliance.org/ 

• Hera Labs: https://www.heralabs.com/ 

• Hello Alice: https://helloalice.com/ 

• Founders Network:  https://foundersnetwork.com/ 

Contact 

Anne can be reached by email at anne@letsguild.com or through The Guild website at http://www.letsguild.com.   

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 60 - IT compliance and IT strategy consulting for biotech, medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies with Terri

Terri talks with Jacqueline about her work consulting with biotech, medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies providing IT strategy and IT compliance services.     

Show Highlights 

• Terri and Jacqueline start out with some discussion about end of school year and the beginning of summertime.   

• Terri talks about her consulting work with Solutions2Projects and that she is still consulting, despite a recent comment by someone that they didn’t realize she was consulting.   

• Terri started her consulting company, Solutions2Projects, 13 years ago.   

• Terri does higher level IT strategic and compliance work within biotech, medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies.  This has included IT strategy, IT compliance, IT system selection, IT project management, and vendor audits within life sciences companies.  

• Terri works with companies that have 30-300 people, moving towards or in Phase III clinical trials and/or getting ready for market approval and commercialization.  Terri likes to come in during Phase II to help the companies plan out their IT strategies in advance of when they need the systems in alignment with their corporate strategies.   

• Terri talks about how biotech companies outsource certain systems and processes early on and then later decide to bring in house and how the planning for this should be aligned with the corporate strategy.  

• Terri talks about computer validation and 21 CFR Part 11 (electronic records / electronic signatures) in an FDA regulated industry.   

• Terri works with systems and processes across an organization including clinical, regulatory, quality, financial, manufacturing, distribution, quality, HR, payroll, budgeting, business performance management, lab systems, etc.    

• Terri is a business person who understands technology and compliance.  Solutions2Projects’ value is in considering business, technology, and compliance requirements and needs.  

• Terri talks about the importance of data integrity in life sciences and how we use computer validation to demonstrate data integrity and control over the data and the systems.  

• Terri talks about the challenges associated with the introduction of SaaS in life sciences.  

• Jacqueline asked Terri about her first system selection and validation.  Terri talks about how she fell into life sciences a year after the 21 CFR Part 11 regulation was released (1997) and her first implementation and validation of JD Edwards at Coulter Pharmaceuticals following GAMP4.  GAMP5 has since been released and computer validation has evolved over the last 20 years.  

• Terri is a believer in taking a risk-based approach to computer validation and tailoring to each company’s risk tolerance and approach to the system.  

• Computer validation is all about defining what you want, testing to confirm you got what you wanted, training people to effectively use the system in a consistent manner, and then maintaining the system in a controlled manner.  To Terri, this makes good business sense.  

• Terri talks about the evolution of computer validation and some project and client stories.  

• Terri talks about GDPR.  

• Terri shares her concerns about potential litigation in the life sciences space between SaaS companies and life sciences companies because of computer validation and potential exclusion of data from regulatory submissions or complete response letters. She is starting to see more warning letters and 483’s around data integrity.   

• Terri talks about blockchain in the life sciences space.   

• Solutions2Projects is ideally suited for situations where this is an internal lead or project manager and Terri provides guidance, structure, and templates to help them with their processes.  Terri can help guide the business through the changes related to the new system implementations.   

• Terri has some project managers she likes to work with whereby she plans the project and then they are able to manage the projects with high level advisory and guidance from Terri.  

• Everything comes down to process and technology.  Terri’s favorite part of her work is to aligning corporate strategy with the system strategy.  When she can help life sciences companies see systems as business enablers and meet compliance requirements she is a happy camper.   

References in the Podcast 

• GAMP5:  https://ispe.org/publications/guidance-documents/gamp-5 

• GDPR:  https://www.eugdpr.org/ 

• Arena Solutions:  https://www.arenasolutions.com/slc/ 

• John English:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntenglish/ 

• Lisa Scotch:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisascotch/ 

• Lighthouse:  https://lighthouseis.com/ 

Contact 

Jacqueline can be reached through her website at https://www.jacquelinesteenhuis.com/ or via Twitter at @andYoureaGirl.  

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 59 - Terri talks to Christine Tao about founding SoundingBoard and how she was taught to dream big and ask for what she wants

Terri talks to Christine Tao of Sounding Board about how working with her dad in the family business taught her to be scrappy, to be a hustler and find ways to do more with less.  He also taught her to dream big and ask for what she wanted.  She shares how this ultimately led her to start her company, Sounding Board.     

Who is Christine Tao?  

Christine Tao is the CEO/Co-founder of Sounding Board, a VC-backed startup bringing personalized, continuous leadership development to the $40B+ leadership & training industry. Prior to co-founding Sounding Board Christine was a Senior Vice President of Developer Relations at Tapjoy, a venture-backed, leading mobile advertising platform. She led the growth of Tapjoy’s network business from $0 to over $100 million in revenues in less than 3 years.  She has also advised several venture-backed startups including Flyby Media (acquired by Apple), Immersv & Comprendi. Prior to that she led e-commerce partnerships and strategy at YouTube. Christine holds an MBA in Marketing & Operations from Wharton and a BA in Business Administration from UC Berkeley. 

Show Highlights 

• Christine shares her experience growing up in a family business and how that has influenced her professionally and how she operates as the CEO/Founder of Sounding Board.   

• Christine shares the importance of thinking big when starting a business and making sure there is a strong sense of purpose for the employees to believe in and subscribe to.  She gives her dad credit for this thinking.   

• Christine talks about the importance of providing employees with purpose and opportunities for growth. This is important right now because there is a war for talent and you want to attract the best talent.   

• Christine explains her personal journey that led her to start Sounding Board.  

• Terri talks about her experience working with an executive coach and how valuable the experience has been for her.   

• Sounding Board is all about democratizing coaching for employees throughout the organization so that they can grow and scale at a rate they aren’t able to do on their own.   

• Christine turns the tables on Terri and asks her for one of the major takeaways from working with a coach.  She responded in how she recommends approaching working with coaches.   

• Terri shares how her experience working with a coach helped her not only professionally but personally as well.  The work she did applied across her life.   

• Christine talks about how coaching has shifted and how Sounding Board uses tech to scale coaching.   

• If Christine could wave a magic wand, she would change people’s assumptions and have them come into conversations thinking the best of the other person or people in the conversation.   

• Bonus questions (new):  Christine’s recommended founder resource is the podcast The Startup Chat.   

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

Dream big and ask for what you want.   

References in the Podcast 

• Sounding Board:  https://www.soundingboardinc.com/ 

• Tapjoy:  https://www.tapjoy.com/ 

• Women’s Startup Lab:  https://womenstartuplab.com/ 

• The Startup Chat (podcast):  https://thestartupchat.com/ 

Contact 

Christine can be reached via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineptao/.   

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 58 - Terri talks to Stan Mirzayev about coming over to the US from the former Soviet Union when he was 4 and how is dad is his hero.

Terri talks to Stan Mirzayev about his family’s journey from the former Soviet Union to New York City to Phoenix, Arizona and how his dad has inspired him to start his own businesses without fear.  He talks about his dad being his hero and how he learned from him to see failure as an opportunity to get right back up and learn from the experience. 

Who is Stan Mirzayev?  

Stan Mirzayev is a serial entrepreneur and an auto enthusiast in Phoenix, Arizona.  He is CEO of Parts Detect and COO of his family’s business, In & Out Lube and Repairs.  Stan is also on the board of advisors at the Arizona automotive institute and has invested his knowledge into his craft, community and industry. 

Show Highlights 

• Stan was born in the former Soviet Union and his family migrated to the US when he was 4.  They had a choice between the US and Israel. They had to leave everything behind and start from ground zero.  

• Stan talked about growing up in New York City.  His father worked 20 hours a day to provide for his family and ultimately got into the automotive industry.   

• Stan works with his dad in one of the family’s automotive shop in Phoenix, Arizona where they moved to 13 years ago. Stan talks about the move to Phoenix from NYC when he was in high school.   

• Stan talks about his father being his hero. He was inspired to start his own businesses because he saw his father doing it.   

• He knew that if he failed, he could treat it as an opportunity to learn and that he could always start over again.  Seeing what happens is half of the excitement.   

• Stan started a new venture with his cousin, Alex after reviewing lots of ideas with Alex and Alex finding agreeing that the idea was THE idea.  The company is to simplify the parts logistics for auto shops.   

• They created an MVP and took it to some vendors and then did some research.  They got a great response and then they ran with it.   They are converting the current product onto the blockchain.  

• Stan shares the story behind the name of his company, PartsDetect. The journey to the name involved testing it out on his dad and making sure he could say the name.   

• Stan’s dad thinks he owns 50% of the company because Stan is his son.  His dad is coming around the slowly to the idea of the company but is somewhat old fashioned when it comes to work and productivity.   

• Stan and Alex share their experience as new entrepreneurs.  

• Stan has a sister with a daughter named Bella who is 7 who is his heart and joy.   

• If he could wave a magic wand and change something in the world, he would remove irrational fear.   

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

Failure is an opportunity to learn.   

References in the Podcast 

• PartsDetect:  http://www.partsdetect.com/ 

Contact 

Stan can be reached via Linked at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-mirzayev-14028970/ or by email at Stan@PartsDetect.com.  You can follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/partsdetect/ or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PartsDetect 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 57 - population health and the future of blockchain in healthcare with marquesa finch

Terri talks to Marquesa Finch about Marquesa’s journey into population health and the work that she is doing in blockchain to further better health for all.  Marquesa advocates for eliminating barriers to equity to increase innovation which is ultimately great for business. 

Who is Marquesa Finch? 

Marquesa is a Founding Partner at P2Health Ventures, a startup ecosystem and venture fund supporting entrepreneurs building public health tech solutions. She is the Blockchain Health Lead for the Silicon Valley Blockchain Society where she works on their blockchain health investments and initiatives, and is an active thought leader in leveraging blockchain technology to improve equity and access. Marquesa has worked on improving diversity and inclusion in tech through entrepreneurship at the Kapor Center for Social Impact and at the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA). She disseminated global health interventions in the Palestinian West Bank. Upon returning from the Middle East, she continued to work in digital health at Kaiser Permanente, building their first app analytics program. 

Marquesa studied Art History and Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and earned her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) in Global Health at The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health in Washington, D.C.  She is a San Francisco native, a classical pianist, and ballerina. 

Show Highlights 

• Marquesa walks us through her journey into population health through global health and what global health is. 

• Marquesa was very interested in studying the effects of maternal and child health during a war and post conflict.  After grad school she worked in the Middle East.   

• Marquesa and her team were trying to figure out why there was such a high incident of breast cancer in the West Bank.  They found there were political and cultural issues that needed to be addressed.   

• To address the problem, they leveraged SMS to send messages to the target and educate the influential women.  This was Marquesa’s first introduction to digital health.   

• Marquesa came back and worked for Kaiser on their technology solutions in their Mobility Centers of Excellence in 2012 and helped build out their mobile analytics platform.   

• Terri and Marquesa talk about how Kaiser adopts and deploys digital health technology and some misconceptions about the lack of integration within Kaiser by region.  

• Terri talks about the difficulty in implementing technology in a regulated industry.  

• Marquesa explains what population health is and why it is fascinating to her and why she is focusing on it. 

• Marquesa talks about the importance of focusing on digital health outside of the doctor’s office and hospitals.  

• Marquesa explains what social determinants of health are and why it’s important to take them into consideration when focusing on population health and individual health.   

• Terri and Marquesa talk about how these healthcare solutions and tools get paid for and funded. Marquesa’s VC fund, P2Health, is focused on just this. Marquesa talks about the misconceptions about assuming that government is responsible for paying for these solutions.  

• Marquesa shares that what Omada Health is doing is rooted in population health concepts and is a VC backable company.   

• Marquesa talks about her journey into blockchain and how the understanding of the foundational elements led to an ‘aha’ moment for her and the potential use cases in healthcare.   

• Marquesa went into details around some of the potential blockchain applications in the healthcare space.   

• Terri shared her experience three years ago when she was first introduced to blockchain and immediately saw the use case in drug traceability and medical device serialization and traceability.  It’s still early days and the blockchain isn’t mature enough for prime time.  

• If Marquesa could wave a magic wand, she would change the barrier to equity.  We live in an inequitable world and this prevents us from moving forward as a society.  This would allow people to contribute optimally to society.  There’s a lot of talent in some communities that is not being tapped that could be very useful to others in the community and in the world.  Innovation is suffering as a result of the barriers to equity.  

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

Eliminating inequities will provide all of us with an opportunity live better lives.   

References in the Podcast 

• American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA):  https://www.anera.org/ 

• P2Health:  http://www.p2health.vc/ 

• Omada Health:  https://www.omadahealth.com/ 

Contact 

Marquesa can be reached through LinkedIn via https://www.linkedin.com/in/marquesafinch/ 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 56 - Digging in with the Investor

Terri and Jaqueline sit down over a cup of coffee (not bubbly) to talk about Terri’s approach to due diligence, why she does it, when she does it, and what she looks for.  She also encourages founders to do their own due diligence on potential investors.     

Show Highlights 

• Terri talks about how founders should pull together a deal room in advance of fundraising to make it easier to share information with investors during the due diligence process. It sends good signal and looks professional.  

• Founders can’t be prepared for everything but have an organized and complete deal room will set a solid foundation and leave time to deal with the additional requests for information.   

• Terri describes a deal room and the importance of keeping track of who gets access to it.  Create the structure and then add to it over time.   

• Terri’s level of due diligence depends the size of the deal, the size of her check, and if she is bringing other investors into the deal. She believes in right-sizing due diligence and has a checklist she works from.  

• Terri uses the due diligence process as an opportunity to build a relationship with the founding team.   

• Deal information:  terms, term sheet, use of funds, milestones, existing investors in the round, side letters/special treatment.  Terri cross checks this against what she has been told or what is in the pitch deck.  

• Financial:  financial statements, projections, assumptions, management team, references, key personnel, board members and advisors, contact information, capital and equity structure both current and projected cap table, financial obligations, agreements and restrictions.    

• Organizational:  entity formation and maintenance documents, founders, prior acquisitions or mergers, failed transactions, consulting agreements, compensation, advisors, contact information, facility agreements.   

• Intellectual Property/Technology:  patents, copyrights, trademarks, proprietary invention agreements, license agreements. 

• Product Marketing and Sales:  product list, marketing collateral, marketing plan, go-to-market strategy, anticipated customer acquisition cost, anticipated lifetime value of each customer, align to projections, major customers (to do reference customers), sales team, forecasts, backlog, pipeline, distribution channels and agreements, competition, production process and costs, suppliers, exclusivity, geography of suppliers or software developers, R&D projects.   

• Terri spends 4-6 hours to review all this information (with a glass  or two of wine) and she enjoys this but has to set aside the time to do it.  Her background as an auditor (financial and vendor) lends itself well to this work along with her experience negotiating agreements for herself and clients.  

• Terri prefers not to outsource this to someone else because she doesn’t do it very often and likes to get to know the company and the business through the process.  She also uses the Q&A process to build the relationship and get a sense of what it is like to worth with the founder.   

• Terri also asks around and talks to other founders, investors, and might do background checks. 

• What should founders do as part of their due diligence?  First of all, do it.  Ask other founders and investors about them.  Find out what happened when the startup didn’t go well as to how the investor reacted and either helped or didn’t.    Make sure they are going to be a good fit; it’s hard to get rid of them later.  Reputation of the investor is important because a bad investor on the cap table can be a bad signal to other investors.   

• As a founder, where does one start?  Create the deal room and start to populate it with the static documents or documents as they are requested.  For the dynamic documents, put in the most recent version.   

• Founders should not ask for a signed NDA from a potential investor; you have to assume good intent.  If you aren’t comfortable, don’t share.  Investors can’t keep track of all of the signed agreements and terms.   

• Final tips:  investors should look at due diligence as an investment in supporting the value of the deal and the founders can see it as something to build a relationship with the investors.  Founders should respond quickly to questions asked by potential investors and be transparent to build the relationship.   

References in the Podcast 

• Women’s Startup Lab: https://womenstartuplab.com/ 

• AngelList: https://angel.co/ 

• Venture Deals (online class):  https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/online-course-venture-deals/ 

• Brad Feld: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bfeld/ 

• Jason Mendelson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmendelson/ 

• Venture Deals (the book):  https://www.feld.com/archives/2016/10/venture-deals-third-edition.html 

• Angel (the book):  https://www.angelthebook.com/ 

• Jason Calacanis: http://calacanis.com/ 

• SendaRide: https://sendaride.com/ 

• Laura Fleet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-brookins-fleet-49aa9a54/ 

• Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/ 

• Y Combinator Series A Due Diligence Checklist 

Contact 

You can follow Jacqueline on Twitter @andYoureaGirl or go to her website at https://www.jacquelinesteenhuis.com/.   

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 55 -Leigh Koechner about how she realized that she was on the planet to shine her light and helps others do the same.

Terri talks to Leigh Koechner about her journey to becoming a spiritual teacher.  She now works with others to help them find greater meaning in their lives and answer the questions as to why they are on the planet and what they are meant to do.   

Who is Leigh Koechner?

Leigh Koechner is a writer, speaker, and spiritual teacher (who likes doing the splits and sipping martinis). She inspires by being unapologetically who she is and maintains an open mind and heart. She is the parenting expert for Deepak Chopra’s Global Wellbeing App JIYO, Executive Producer on The Mindfulness Movement Documentary, and launched her most recent Facebook Live Series on April 11th called Coming Home, 33 Days of Self-Care. 

She has appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s “Your Own Show”, The Comebacks, and her One-Woman Show “Miss Junior Overland Park” on the Oxygen Network. 

Leigh is a stand-up comedic who has graced the stages of Flappers and The Comedy Store.  

Leigh resides in the City of Angeles with her beloved husband, actor David Koechner, and their five beautiful children. 

Show Highlights

• Leigh explains what a spiritual teacher is and her journey to become one. 
• In working with a life coach, she found the language that spoke to her soul and decided to attend the University of Santa Monica for a Master’s in Spiritual Psychology.  
• She wanted to get an answer to these two questions:  Who in the hell am I and why am I on this planet? She learned that she was on the planet to shine her light.  
• Leigh spoke at an event in Aspen on manifesting and ended up sitting next to a gentleman at the bar who had created a global wellbeing app with Deepak Chopra global called Jiyo. After he returned to India, he reached out and asked her to be the parenting expert for the app because she was living the life.
• Leigh got past her own self-judgment and agreed to do it.   She owned her own hard work. 
• Terri observed that Leigh seemed to have learned to express, and embrace, who she was while attending the University of Santa Monica.  
• Leigh was asked by another dad at her kids’ school about participating in a mindfulness documentary and she had to go look up the word.  Mindfulness is giving all your attention to the present moment without judgment. She is now co-producer of the mindfulness documentary with Deepak Chopra.  
• Leigh does month-long Facebook programs on topics like mindfulness, finding your gift, owner-shit, and manifesting.  
• Leigh comments on how we have a choice in how we show up and we can choose to be happy.  
• Leigh believes that when we are good inside, things are better outside.  
• Terri talks about how we are rewarded for being ‘busy’ and how we can miss the magical moments in our lives.  
• Terri talks about how she was raised by two parents who had very different views regarding life:  her dad emphasized the importance of planning for the future and her mom emphasized the need to pay attention to today. It was quite the tug-o-war. Terri is focused on living now and preparing for the future.  
• Leigh talks about how any time you are holding things or worrying about things that you are hurting your body.  Don’t live in fear. Do your work and then enjoy life like looking both ways and then crossing the street.  
• Terri talks about how she realized how much time she spent planning for every eventuality and how she was missing out on the current moment. Terri realized that as a recovering control freak, that it was her way of establishing some level of control in times when everything was uncertain and out of her control.  
• Leigh’s mom was not involved in her life growing up so when her first child was born, she found that she was a blank slate.  She had to learn behaviors that she had no basis from her own experience. 
• Leigh learned from her mom that she just wanted to be seen and heard and realized that this is what parenting is all about.  
• If Leigh could wave a magic wand, she would wave so it sprinkles like pixie dust into people’s hair, and when it touches them, that they have a flash of their greatness; that for a second, they could feel their power.  Once you feel it, you can’t stop it.  

Terri’s Key Takeaway

We can choose to be happy; we can choose how we show up in the world.  

References in the Podcast

• University of Santa Monica: http://www.universityofsantamonica.edu/
• Jiyo: https://jiyo.com/home
• Deepak Chopra: https://www.deepakchopra.com/
• Holly Ruxin:  http://montcalmtcr.com/

Contact

Leigh can be reached through her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LeighKoechner33/

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 54 -The path from being an Air Force Flight nurse into High tech and ultimately venture capital and investing in startups with Amanda Lettmann

Terri talks to Amanda Lettmann about her path from being an Air Force flight nurse into high tech and ultimately working with and investing in startups.   Amanda talks about how a life-threatening illness 11 years ago taught her to lead with her heart and how that has allowed her to make better connections and be even more successful.

Who is Amanda Lettmann? 

Amanda Lettmann, a US Air Force Veteran, is an executive and serial entrepreneur with 20 years of global Business Operations and Transformation expertise for startups and Fortune 500 companies in the HiTech, InsurTech and FinTech industries.  She has an extensive M&A background with $4B in acquisition execution in the past 10 years.  As the Founder and CEO of Kardia Ventures, Amanda is an advisor, consultant and Angel Investor for tech startups.  She is also the Co-Founder and COO of SimpleDisability Inc, a data analytics InsurTech startup in Silicon Valley. Amanda holds an MBA in Technology Management, she is a Business Advisor at The Founder Institute and EvoNexus, and Board Advisor at Girls in Tech San Diego and SmartMoney Veterans. 

Show Highlights

• Amanda was active duty Air Force and separated in 2000.  She realized she didn’t want to be a flight nurse for the rest of her career
• Amanda was recruited by someone in semi-conductor in 1999 by an esteemed colleague and was a business operations manager and then pursued her master’s degree in technology in 2000 
• She consulted at the Pentagon which led to consulting with other parts of the government.  Her company was acquired by EMC so she went from a small firm to a massive firm.  
• At EMC, she proposed a new business plan that was ultimately accepted and moved her to Orange County to lead the West Coast consulting practice.  
• She then got recruited by Adobe and moved up to San Jose.
• Terri comments on how Amanda takes advantage of and creates opportunities for herself.
• 11 years ago, Amanda was an athlete in good health and started getting ill.  After collapsing she found out that a virus had attacked her blood and ultimately led to her organs shutting down.  She was in the hospital for 6-9 months.   
• She later learned that her heart valves were damaged by the virus and that they were failing which lead to open heart surgery
• Amanda was a medical anomaly because of the virus and the treatment, and she had many people studying and following her. 
• Amanda shares who was there to support her during her illness and recovery.  She had to embrace vulnerability.  
• Amanda remembers her life before the illness.  Her essence didn’t change but she found herself seeking high quality, deep substance people with heart.  Her life before was all about competency.  Her life after became more about heart and not just skill, which ended up changing her life.  
• She became more recognized because of her personal story which she uses to inspire others.  People now get to know her for more than her skills.  
• Amanda is working with ESPN BisTalk Radio. She wants to do an inspirational series for women to share their stories.  
• She is creating a speaker series on ‘Women of Impact’. She finds that women talk about taking action to inspire others, to be proactive, to turn their potential into action. She thinks others are looking for this deep, inspiration.  
• Terri talks about why she started her podcast, Piloting Your Life, to give a platform for these voices and stories and inspire these same people. 
• Amanda has a consulting company called Kardia which means heart in Greek. She advises and consults enterprises, entrepreneurs, and does angel investing.  
• Amanda invests in seed stage, technology startups and looks to co-invest in SaaS companies looking to disrupt the market using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), ALP, big data, and predictive analytics.  She looks for female founders and veteran founders.  
• She is now a mentor with a new program called SmartMoney Veterans sponsored by UCSD and SmartMoney Startups. The experience for veterans is different as they need to relearn skills after getting out of the military.  
• Terri has seen a few startups that are helping veterans bridge the gap between military and civilian work. Companies like Skillmil and Shift are helping with this.  
• Terri comments on how impressed she is with UCSD and its support of the startup ecosystem.  Amanda said that UCSD also supports veterans.  There is a significant number of veterans in the San Diego area. 
• Amanda is an advisor for EvoNexus (an incubator/accelerator) and the Founder Institute in San Diego.  
• Transformation is an important concept for Amanda.  She has been through several transformations and which led to coaching others on transforming.  She loves seeing both enterprise transformation (through M&A) and individuals transform.  
• If Amanda could wave a magic wand, she would create a future where entrepreneurs and businesses come in all varieties and embrace their responsibility to co-create for equality and social good.  
• Terri asks how we can help with this wish.  Amanda said that companies should be filling out the diversity of their teams.  As investors, we should invest in companies who are working towards more diverse teams and products.  

Terri’s Key Takeaway

If the opportunities aren’t there, create them.  If the opportunities present themselves, take them.  

References in the Podcast

• Kardia Ventures: http://kardiaventures.com/
• Skillmil: https://www.skillmil.com/
• Shift: https://www.shift.org/
• SmartMoney Startups: https://www.smartmoneystartups.com/
• SmartMoney Veterans:  https://www.smartmoneyveterans.com/
• EvoNexus: https://evonexus.org/
• Founder Institute:  https://fi.co/

Contact

Amanda can be reached via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandalettmann/ or through her website http://kardiaventures.com/

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 53 - Redefining Success at age 35 and diversifying Angel Investments with CEO of Delta Nutrassentials and Angel Investor, Amy Chang.

Terri talks to Amy Chang about how at the age of 35 she had checked all life’s boxes but wasn’t completely fulfilled. She found religion to fill the void and was able to redefine success for herself.  Amy talks about how this changed the way she operates in the world and how she wants to see more women angel investing. 

Who is Amy Chang? 

Amy C. Chang is the CEO of Delta Nutrassentials, a consumer health supplement company. Previously, she was VP of Strategy & Investor Relations for AMN Healthcare and prior to joining AMN, she held various leadership roles with other companies in operations, customer service and finance after beginning her career with KPMG. 

Amy is an advisor, board member, and investor of various start-ups in San Diego, as well as a board member of Hera Angels and member of the Keiretsu Forum, Wharton Angel Network, and SheEO. She served as a board member of the National Investor Relations Institute - San Diego Chapter and has been a member of the San Diego YMCA Overnight Camps Board of Advisors.  She is Chair-Elect of the San Diego YMCA Board of Governors and has been involved in homeless ministries and has served as a foster youth mentor and foster parent.

Show Highlights

• Amy talks about being the driver’s seat of your life (similar to Terri talking about being the pilot in your own life) and not just letting life happen.
• Amy talks about being driven and the importance of checking the boxes to achieve ‘success’ in her life and still being unfulfilled.  She realized that she might have had the wrong measure of success in her life. 
• Despite checking all of the boxes, she realized she wasn’t happy enough.  She became a born-again Christian at the age of 35 which has made the biggest difference in her life and has changed the way she looks at her life and the rewards she wants to get out of life.
• Her definition of success has changed, and she worries about far fewer things as a result. She thinks that people are happier when they are living something beyond themselves. 
• Amy talks about what she looks for as an angel investor and some of the startups she’s invested in.  
• Three years ago, Amy didn’t know that angel investing was an option but has since invested in quite a few companies directly.  She joined the Keiretsu Forum, the Wharton Angel Network and she is now on the board of Hera Ventures.  
• Amy likes to invest directly into a startup to help them fuel their growth which helps to create innovation and helps the local economy.   She does caution that angel investing is not for everyone. 
• Amy talks about the importance of diversifying your portfolio and how networking has contributed to her deal flow.  She has learned the most from other angel investors.  
• Terri talks about her experience in Sand Hill Angels being a great training ground.  
• Amy and Terri would like to see more female angel investors, and both shared the importance of being supported by other female angel investors. 
• Based on what she wishes she knew when she started investing, Amy recommends that women start with small checks and get to know the founders as much as you can.  
• If Amy could wave a magic wand, she would encourage people to get to know each other on an individual basis.  

Terri’s Key Takeaway

Founder integrity is critical when investing in a startup. 

References in the Podcast

• Venture Deals:  https://www.feld.com/archives/2016/10/venture-deals-third-edition.html
• JDoe: https://jdoe.io/
• Delta Nutrassentials: https://www.deltanutra.com/
• Keiretsu Forum: http://www.keiretsuforum.com/
• Wharton Angel Network: http://www.whartonangelnetwork.co/ 
• Hera Angels:  https://www.heraangels.com/ 
• Tech Coast Angels:  https://www.techcoastangels.com/

Contact

Amy can be reached via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amychang8/ or her company’s website, www.deltanutra.com.  

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 51 -How being physically and mentally strong saved Jillian Kaplans life

Terri talks to Jillian Kaplan about how her decision to become strong and healthy four years ago saved her life when she was hit by a car in the fall of 2016 and how she’s chosen to make a ‘message’ of the ‘mess'.  

Who is Jillian Kaplan?

Jillian Kaplan is a trauma survivor, animal advocate, rainbow baby mama, former binge eater turned health and fitness coach. Jillian was hit by a car crossing a crosswalk and had emergency brain surgery to save her life.  She also had a shattered pelvis, face, sacrum, and septum.  She spent 3 months in a wheelchair unable to walk or stand but has now fully recovered, lives pain free, and is the mom to a healthy baby girl born in September 2017, 13 months after the traumatic injury.  

Jillian has worked in corporate doing product management and marketing and is pursuing her passion around health as a coach for Beach Body which is part of her online health and fitness coaching business.  She has a B.S. in Management and an MBA from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and lives with her amazing husband and daughter outside of Boston, Mass.  

Show Highlights

• Jillian talks about growing up in a healthy household and how she chose not to listen and ended up binge eating, addicted to diet pills, and struggling with her weight.  
• Four years ago, Jillian made the choice to be healthy and strong which ended up saving her life.  
• Jillian wants to share the message that you are beautiful the way you are, and that health is a lifestyle.  
• Jillian talks about walking her puppy and getting hit by a car in September 2016 where the doctors weren’t sure if she would survive let alone walk again. 
• She woke up after the accident and chose to let it be part of her story and to not define her. She has decided to make a ‘message’ out of the ‘mess.’ 
• Jillian talks about the group Safe Roads Alliance that she works with in Massachusetts.  She spoke at an event where she was the only living survivor of an accident like the one she was in.  
• Jillian talks about how being in good shape helped her body deal with the trauma she endured.  She had two surgeries within two days of each other which were traumatic in and of themselves.  She was not only physically fit but mentally fit which came from making the decision to become healthier and changing her habits. 
• Jillian’s husband was notified because of the number on her dog’s tag.  She wasn’t carrying an ID and now she is an advocate for always carrying some form of ID. 
• Jillian talks about how rehab was so mentally challenging since she was very young compared to the other people there and that she had no one to talk to.  She was alone a lot and was unable to get out of bed on her own. She stayed sane by being active on social media and sharing her story. 
• Jillian’s husband was incredibly supportive throughout this entire process.  
• Jillian avoids the crosswalk where the accident occurred but did go there on the one-year anniversary of her accident.  She is cautious now when she is out walking. 
• Terri talks about the conversations she has with her children about being aware of drivers who are generally distracted and to remain vigilant when riding their bikes or walking out on the streets.  
• Jillian talks about how she had a miscarriage, was experiencing infertility and was scheduled to meet with specialists but then had the accident.  She was fortunate to have a young, female surgeon who was sensitive to the fact that Jillian was a young woman when fixing her after the accident.
• Jillian talks about how surprised she was to find out she was five months pregnant when she went in for a medical appointment and ended up delivering a healthy baby girl in the fall of 2017, thirteen months after her accident. 
• Jillian talks about being a Beach Body coach before and after the accident.  She appreciates the physical and mental strength that she has gained from the program.  She feels an obligation to pay it forward at this point for people who feel defeated or stuck.  
• Jillian likes to share the things she loves like Ipsy and Artic Zero ice cream and she pays for her products. Terri talks about how she hopes that Jillian ends up benefitting financially from promoting and supporting the products with her audience. 
• If Jillian had a magic wand, she would change the way people communicate.  She thinks that a lot of the world’s problems could be solved if we just talked to each other (and not through text or email).  
• Brian Alvey introduced Terri to Jillian and they met through the adoption of their dog.  Jillian talks about how she works with dog rescue organizations on fundraising.  While she wasn’t raised with dogs, she ended up with a dog after a breakup and then wanted to foster dogs and ultimately providing support for dog rescues.  

Terri’s Key Takeaway

Carry some sort of ID when out and about in the event of an accident or emergency.  You never know who might need to reach someone on your behalf.  

References in the Podcast

• Safe Roads Alliance:  https://www.saferoadsalliance.org/
• Beach Body: http://www.teambeachbody.com/jilliankaplan
• Ipsy: https://www.ipsy.com/glambag#/
• Artic Zero ice cream: https://www.arcticzero.com/
• Brian Alvey: http://www.brianalvey.com/

Contact

Jillian can be reached through her website www.jilliankaplan.com or by email at fitresq@gmail.com.  She is also active on Instagram and Twitter @xoJillianKaplan and Pinterest.  

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 50 - The making of the Piloting Your Life podcast and the journey to get to episode 50.

Terri and Jacqueline sit down over a cup of coffee (not bubbly) to talk about the making of the Piloting Your Life podcast and the journey to get to episode 50. 

Contact

You can follow Jacqueline on Twitter @andYoureaGirl or go to her website at https://www.jacquelinesteenhuis.com/.

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 49 - What to look for in a pitch as an Angel Investor

Terri continues with her series on angel investing and goes into detail on what she looks for in a pitch from founders looking to her as a potential investor.

Show Highlights

• Terri looks at the following when she is listening to a pitch regardless of the length of the pitch:
  • Problem being solved, how it is being solved, and why now is the time
  • Market opportunity and target market
  • Revenue and monetization strategy
  • Go to market strategy and scalability
  • How much the company will need to scale and exit? Is this a venture investable business?
  • What barriers are in place to prevent someone else from doing the same thing?
  • Competition
  • Management team and why they are qualified to bring the product to market or scale the business
  • How much are you raising? How long will it last? What are the plans for the use of funds?
  • What is the bigger vision and long-term strategy?
  • What is the exit strategy? How am I going to get my money back?
• Every investor is going to have different requirements in terms of their decision-making process for investing
• Terri uses the Q&A to get a general sense of the founder including how coachable they might be and how they react under pressure.
• Terri looks to make sure that the founder is not just technically competent but is able to lead the business.
• Terri invests in early stage companies which is heavily reliant on the team’s ability to execute so Terri generally invests in the ‘team’ and can make a decision to invest relatively quickly. Her level of due diligence after seeing the pitch depends on the size of the raise, the size of the check, and whether she is investing on her own or through a group or a syndicate.
• Terri gets frustrated with founders who are unable to put together a decent pitch given the resources available online.

References in the Podcast

• Terri’s Medium post on pitches: https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead/pitching-to-angel-investors-or-at-least-to-me-30696345ebe6
• Niki Quinn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-quinn-a5435114/
• Guy Kawasaki: https://guykawasaki.com/how-to-create-an-enchanting-pitch-officeandguyk/
• YC pitching: https://blog.ycombinator.com/how-to-pitch-your-company/
• 500 Startups pitching: https://500.co/7-pitching-habits-for-founders/

Contact

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 48 - Thinking less about stereotypes and appreciating people as people in today's global economy and culture with Eric Quon-Lee

Terri talks to Eric Quon-Lee about he was drawn to the US from Canada because of his need to go faster. Terri and Eric talk about how globalization has shaken people’s foundations making them revisit their values which can be very uncomfortable and resisting bias takes effort.

Who is Terri Mead? 

Terri Hanson Mead is President of Solutions2Projects, LLC, a consulting company that provides IT strategy and IT compliance services in the life sciences space in addition to expert witness consulting services.  She is also an active angel investor and former Vice President of Sand Hill Angels, regularly advises startups and in her spare time, flies helicopters.  She is passionate about supporting, and advocating for, female founders and investors and has created Class Bravo Ventures to more formally do so.  

Show Highlights 

• It’s ok to be vulnerable 

• You are worthy 

• Ask for help; learn to receive as well as you give 

• Friendships don’t need to be forever 

• Trust others 

• If you are feeling lonely, reach out your hand and someone will come running (modified from a song from Dear Evan Hanson) 

Contacts 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead 

Feel free to email her at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 47 -Growing up a twin and Terri's Birthday Bubbly Bonus

Terri and her producer Jacqueline sit down over a bottle of California bubby to talk about what Terri wanted to be when she grew up, growing up in a family business, being an identical twin, and what she would do with a magic wand.

Show Highlights

• Terri and Jacqueline are enjoying an Iron Horse Vineyard Ocean Reserve in celebration of Terri’s birthday
• Terri and Jacqueline talk about the badass women they interviewed for upcoming podcasts and that Terri will not be actively looking for men to be on the podcast.
• Terri commented on how contrasts can provide clarity on what is important in our lives for us to take action.
• Terri shares how the last few weeks have reinforced the need for her to recognize her value in all of her decisions.
• Jacqueline talks about how difficult it is for her to feel comfortable getting paid for the work she is doing and the value she is bringing to other people’s lives.
• Terri is wondering whether the startup advising she is doing is being valued because she is doing it for free.
• Jacqueline asks what Terri wanted to be what she wanted to be when she grew up.
• Terri talks about not wanting kids until she was around 22 when one of her ex-boyfriend’s sisters had twins and she got to spend a lot of time with them.
• Jacqueline and Terri talk about daycare for their children.
• Terri talks about her experience working on and off for her parents in their accounting firm between the age of 9 and 26.
• Terri talks about working in a family business and the dynamics including marital dynamics, kid/parent dynamics, and founder dynamics. Terri talks about disappointing her dad by not taking over his CPA firm.
• Terri’s diverse work experience came from working for all of her parents’ friends’ companies as she was growing up.
• Terri talks about her relationship with her identical twin sister. They’ve always had a contentious relationship which continues to this day and makes Terri very sad.
• Terri talks about how the universe gave her an older sister in Patty Nykodym who she met at the newborn parenting class when she was pregnant with her son. They ended up sharing a birthday and then delivering their first children (both boys) 4 hours apart at the same hospital by the same doctor.
• Terri talked about having to learn, in college, how to be a good girlfriend to other girls because having an identical twin, despite how difficult the relationship was, gave her an automatic friend.
• Terri talks about how hard it’s been to not have her sister active in her life because it feels like she’s lost a limb or part of her soul is missing.
• Jacqueline asks what Terri’s big lesson learned: own your destiny and be the pilot in your own life.
• If Terri could wave a magic wand, she would wave it over her family to eliminate whatever trauma or resentment exists in her family and create a new, functional and happy adult dynamic.
• But she would truly, rather wave the magic wand to make her friends with some very sick kids, make the kids all better.
• Jacqueline talks about how Terri built an amazing family atmosphere in her house that makes it fun to come over and hang out. It’s Jaqueline’s favorite co-working space.

Call to Action

What would you do with a magic wand? Share your wish with Terri and Jacqueline at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com or on Twitter and tag @PilotingLife hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

References in the Podcast

• Iron Horse Vineyards: http://www.ironhorsevineyards.com/Shop-Wines/Sparkling-Wines
• IEEE WIE: http://ieee-wie-ilc.org/agenda/
• Brian Alvey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianalvey/
• Clipisode: https://www.clipisode.co/
• Amanda Lettmann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandalettmann/
• Cru: http://www.cruredwoodcity.com/

Contact

You can follow Jacqueline on Twitter at @tipsycopilot or find her on her website at www.jacquelinesteenhuis.com.

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 46 - Recap of the week in Angel Investing and syndicating a deal on Angellist

Terri continues with her series on angel investing with a recap of her activities over the last week including her regular, weekly startup advising, her first syndicated deal, what a syndicate is, and the convergence of her work in life sciences and her investing.

Show Highlights

• Terri recaps why she is doing this series of podcasts:  create a mesh network of like-minded investors to invest in the startups and founders who aren’t necessarily getting the attention from mainstream angel and venture investors despite having very promising and investable startups.
• Terri talks in greater detail about syndicating her first deal on AngelList and what a syndicate is
• Terri shares details about her regular advisory meetings, various meetings with startup founders and investors, and how her life in life sciences is converging with her angel investing 

Call to Action

Subscribe to one podcast or one newsletter and get into the groove of listening and reading.  Feel free to reach out to Terri if you have any questions or comments or other suggestions for resources for new angel investors.  PilotingYourLife@gmail.com

References in the Podcast

• The Guild: https://theguilded.org/guild/home/index.html#/
• Quinn Style: https://www.quinnstyle.com/
• Tech Futures Group: www.techfuturesgroup.org
• AngelList: https://angel.co/
• Sendaride:  https://sendaride.com/
• Bolt: https://bolt.io/

Contact

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 45 - Holly Ruxin explains her journey to creating a wealth management company that invests in alignment with values

Terri talks to Holly Ruxin about her journey into discovering her heart and getting out of her head to lead a more authentic life. She started a new kind of wealth management company, Montcalm TCR where she helps her clients invest in alignment with their personal values.

Who is Holly Ruxin?

Holly founded Montcalm TCR, a female-led wealth management firm in San Francisco combining over twenty years’ experience in risk management on Wall Street with a transparent process that empowers clients. Holly has an extensive background in finances having begun her investment career at Goldman Sachs in the fixed income derivatives division, where she learned indelible lessons about risk management and cultivated an expert understanding of money. She later managed assets and led private client teams at Morgan Stanley, Montgomery Securities, and Bank of America.

Show Highlights

• If Holly had a magic wand she would change the existing power infrastructure where everyone leads from their heads and have everyone lead from their hearts.  
• Holly talks about following your heart and your gut to be more grounded in your decisions.  
• Terri talks about having spent the last two years stripping out the adaptations and the accommodations to succeed in a man’s world 
• Holly shared her experience being on Wall Street where she was taught to be very good at leading from the head but later realized there was another way.  She spent several years working with coaches to unravel ‘her head.’
• She talked about the difference in the ‘masculine’ versus the ‘feminine’ values and how hard it is to undo the values one is trained to follow. 
• Terri talks about the current situation in the world presenting us with the perfect opportunity to shift in the way we operate in the world and embracing values that are no longer serving us in the world. 
• Terri talks about working with a coach over the summer to learn to embrace her intuition as the decisions she made intuitively have been some of her best decisions.  
• Holly talks about how women differ from men in having not only just fear/flight but having fear/flight and building of community. 
• Holly has spent the last few years learning to build new ‘super highways’ in her brain to operate in the world differently. 
• The contrasts in the world are providing people with the opportunities to speak up and say they want to come from a more authentic place.  
• She had her third child in 2008 when the financial markets were crashing and she had two other children at the time.  Her oldest child started losing his motor skills and language and she couldn’t get a diagnosis even after having gone to a number of prominent medical facilities in the SF Bay Area.  She resorted to looking to non-western medicine to get answers.  This led her to start thinking about being more authentic in the world.
• She saw that it was possible to bring this new way of thinking and this new value system into the financial world. 
• She thinks that love is about truth and authenticity.  It is important to be grateful and not have judgment.  
• The nature of the C corporation is that legally it has fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders; they must make profits higher.  
• The B corporation must support people, environment and profits.  With the change to B corps, there will be different motivations.  
• Terri talks about the need to redefine the definition of success.  
• Holly started her wealth management company Montcalm TCR to give…not just extract which is what was expected of her at Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. 
• Holly provides her clients with the opportunity to ask questions to engage and understand and feel empowered with her money and their investments. 
• Terri asked Holly about Stash Wealth for millennials to get better service as they are building their wealth and want to invest in things that aligned with their values. 
• Holly talks about how we have lost our community banking where there was connection in the community and one was able to borrow because they were known in the community. 
• Holly talks about how some of her very wealthy clients being very nervous about losing all of their money.  People who are scared come from a scarcity perspective and she works with them to reduce that fear to create greater abundance.  
• Holly says that people are afraid because they really aren’t invested in their investments
• Holly talks about the Last Mile and how it helps inmates in the criminal justice learn to code.  She talks about NPX Investors and how it is providing a different and new way to have money flow and build sustainability for people.  
• Terri puts Holly on the spot in asking her about CNote.  CNote is tied into community developed financial institutions.  They give the investor a chance to be involved in the cash flows. 
• Holly continues to ask about how you can continue to focus on transformational behavior.  
• Jacqueline asks Terri to ask Holly about how to become a more heart-centered investor…Holly responds by encouraging you to ask questions.  The questions are:  What do I own?  What do I owe?  What do I earn?  What do I need?  These bring it out of your head and into your heart.  
• Terri talks about her semi-annual financial review to get her concerns out of her head and focus on the reality.  It reduces a lot of stress for her. 

Terri’s Key Takeaway

It is possible to collaborate and have all stakeholders win.  Life is not a zero-sum game.  

References in the Podcast

• Stash Wealth:  https://www.stashwealth.com/
• Carolyn Leonard:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolyn-leonard-2549631a/
• SheInvests podcast with Carolyn Leonard:  http://www.sheinvests.com/carolyn-leonard-quest-change-misconception-women-money-episode-15/
• Last Mile:  https://thelastmile.org/
• NPX Investors:  https://npxadvisors.com/
• CNote:  https://www.mycnote.com/
• Suzanne Andrews:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannemandrews/

Contact

Holly can be reached through her website http://montcalmtcr.com/ or through LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyziegelruxin/ or on Twitter @hollyruxin.  

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 44 - Angel Investing Q and A with Jacqueline

Terri answers her producer Jacqueline’s questions about angel investing.  This is the third episode in the series on angel investing. Main topics:  pitch events, demo days, evergreen fund, fundraising rounds, and what Terri looks for in a pitch. 

Show Highlights

• Terri answers Jacqueline’s questions about pitch events and demo days
• Terri talks about the Ada program in Berlin to encourage more women to be founders and entrepreneurs where she will be a mentor in their first cohort. 
• Terri talks about the SwissNex event last year where she met Anne Cocquyt of The Guild where she had to ask to be on the all-male panel and the facilitator said they would be declaring the king of the evening.  Terri had to shout out “or queen.” The winner ended up being a female founder.  
• Terri comments on how she dislikes pitch events where winners are declared but there’s no actual financial reward.
• Terri attends events to learn about what is going on, the latest technology, and potentially find new startups to invest in.  She also looks for founders/startups to help even if she doesn’t invest in the startups.  
• Terri clarifies her understanding of an evergreen fund for her own investing. 
• How long does it take a company to exit?  Typically, 7-10 years.  But it depends on the business and the exit strategy (IPO, acquisition).  
• What is an accredited investor?  Terri talks about the discussions around investing in startups and the SEC requirements and that the net worth and income requirements limit who can invest regardless of knowledge and experience.  
• Terri shares what she is listening for at the various pitch events.  It depends on which hat she is wearing.  In addition to the standard pitch elements, she is looking for ability to communicate.  
• Is Terri looking for leadership style in the pitches?  Indirectly, yes.  
• The point of the pitch is to pique interest for follow up conversations.  
• In early stage startups, you are generally investing in the team.  
• Terri is excited about one of her investments, Zum, that just announced their $19M Series B raise. Zum is on demand and scheduled rides for kids ages 5-15.  They have a female co-founder/CEO.  
• At what point do big VCs invest in startups?  What are the various rounds?  Seed, Series A, Series B, etc.  Terri talks about the current landscape with more money coming into startups earlier and VCs investing earlier in the startups.  Geography impacts this as well.  
• Terri talks about when she invests in convertible notes versus priced rounds. 
• Terri is excited about the first deal, Sendaride, she is syndicating on AngelList.  (This is not a solicitation for funds).  Terri is sharing out to folks in her network who she knows are accredited investors to get them onto the AngelList platform.  Terri found getting onto the platform a bit confusing without a specific deal to invest in.  
• Terri and Jacqueline were saved by the bell when Terri’s neighbor, Sean,  came over with a cocktail to discuss cryptocurrency, blockchain and ICO’s.  

Call to Action

Subscribe to one podcast or one newsletter about angel investing and get into the groove of listening and reading.  Feel free to reach out to Terri if you have any questions or comments or other suggestions for resources for new angel investors.  PilotingYourLife@gmail.com

References in the Podcast

• The Guild: https://theguilded.org/guild/home/index.html#/
• Founder Institute: https://fi.co/
• Sand Hill Angels: http://www.sandhillangels.com/
• Terri’s Medium post on what she looks for in a pitch: https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead/pitching-to-angel-investors-or-at-least-to-me-30696345ebe6
• Y Combinator: http://www.ycombinator.com/
• 500 Startups: https://500.co/
• Acceleprise: http://acceleprise.vc/
• Alchemist Accelerator: http://alchemistaccelerator.com/
• Ada Accelerator (Ignore Gravity):  https://www.ada-accelerator.com/
• SwissNex: https://www.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/
• Terri’s Medium post on cryptocurrency, blockchain, ICOs: https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead/cryptocurrency-and-ico-resources-55766cae29e
• GoBambino: http://www.gobambino.com/
• Ben Narasin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bennarasin/
• NEA: http://www.nea.com/
• Accredited investor requirements: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/accreditedinvestor.asp
• SeedInvest: https://www.seedinvest.com/
• Jason Calacanis: http://calacanis.com/
• Launch Festival: https://www.launchfestival.com/
• Jobs Act: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpstart_Our_Business_Startups_Act
• Clara Brenner of Urban Venture Fund talks about the Series A crunch at a Founder University event: http://thisweekinstartups.com/founder-university-clara-brenner/
• Sequoia Capital: https://www.sequoiacap.com/
• AngelList: https://angel.co/
• Sendaride: https://sendaride.com/

Contact

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 43 -Getting started in Angel Investing; a recap of two weeks with events and startup advising and plans for events in Europe

Terri continues with her series on angel investing with a recap of her activities over the last two weeks including events with Springboard, office hours at Bolt and InTeaHouse, her weekly advising of three startups, and plans for her trip to Europe in June/July with InTeaHouse. 

Show Highlights

• Terri recaps why she is doing this series of podcasts: create a mesh network of like-minded investors to invest in the startups and founders who aren’t necessarily getting the attention from mainstream angel and venture investors despite having very promising and investable startups
• Terri attended Springboard’s Digital Health cohort final presentations and the pitches for the new cohort of biotech companies.
• Terri talks about the deal she is working on syndicating on AngelList called Sendaride. She is performing due diligence not for her own investing but for others who will be considering investing alongside her. She looked at the deal, the company, the management team, financials, projections, technology, the product, market opportunity, and sales.
• Terri talks about the office hours she held at Bolt on Brannan St. in SF.
• Terri did some office hours for some founders at InTeaHouse with about 20 founders with startups that crossed all industries. She provided some advice and guidance to the founders while she was there.
• Terri had registered for a MedTech Women event but had to skip it due to her busy schedule.
• Terri handles emails, calls, research on a daily basis.
• Terri is advising three companies including The Guild, Quinn Style, and Lisa Health and picked up half a dozen new clients through Tech Futures Group.
• Terri loves learning things in one place and applies it to other companies and people.
• Terri learns by doing and is learning as she goes along. It’s painful to see how ignorant she was two years ago and how much more needs to be learned.
• Terri talks about the European fireside chat tour she is going to do with InTeaHouse where she will be visiting Geneva, Zurich, Munich, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Vienna, Slovakia, and of course, Paris.

Call to Action

Subscribe to one podcast and one newsletter and get into the groove of listening and reading. Feel free to reach out to Terri if you have any questions or comments or other suggestions for resources for new angel investors. PilotingYourLife@gmail.com

References in the Podcast

• Angels with Wings: https://www.wingpact.com/
• Springboard: https://sb.co/
• Blumio: http://blumio.com/
• Tech Futures Group: http://www.techfuturesgroup.org/
• Pheronym: https://www.pheronym.com/
• AngelList: https://angel.co/
• Sendaride: https://sendaride.com/
• Women’s Startup Lab: https://womenstartuplab.com/
• Bolt: https://bolt.io/
• Kate McAndrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateprestonmcandrew/
• Monique Woodard: http://www.moniquewoodard.com/
• InTeaHouse: https://inteahouse.com/
• The Guild: https://theguilded.org/guild/home/index.html#/
• Quinn Style: https://www.quinnstyle.com/
• Lisa Health: https://www.lisahealth.com/
• Startup Sesame: https://www.startupsesame.com/

Contact

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Episode 42 - Initiative, Tenacity and a Love for Hockey bring Fei Wu from China to Fryeburg Maine

Terri talks to Fei Wu about how she researched coming to the US from China to study when she was a teenager and picked a school in Fryeburg, Maine so she could play ice hockey. Fei talks about launching her podcast in 2014 in order to have something of her own that didn’t require multiple rounds of client approval. She looks forward to using her platform to bring people together to make the world a better place. 

Who is Fei Wu?

Fei Wu is from Beijing, China and came to the US in her teens to study in Fryeburg, Maine. Fei left her job in marketing and advertising to build a company of her own called Feisworld, LLC, with a mission to help small businesses and people tell better stories, find more customers and create new revenue streams. Fei is the creator and host of Feisworld Podcast which has listeners from over 40 countries.

Show Highlights

• Fei tells the story about how she came from China to study in the US and how she looked for a school that had ice hockey and ended up in Fryeburg, Maine.
• Terri shares her story about how first experienced ice hockey at a Give Hockey a Try Day last year.
• Terri talks about exchanging houses with families in France and how valuable the experience was in terms of being forced to adapt to a different culture and language in developing empathy.
• Fei teaches art at a local high school and encourages the kids to travel and get exposed to other languages and cultures.
• Fei talks about how she was excited to come to school in the US and didn’t think she was brave or courageous at the time.
• Fei launched her podcast in October 2014 because she wanted to create something on her own without requiring approval from anyone else. She was influenced by Krista Tippett and her podcast On Being.
• Fei loves being able to learn about other people through her interviews with people on her podcast.
• Terri likes that she can be ‘nosy’ when she interviews people for her podcast.
• Fei learned how to actively listen as a podcaster which was somewhat in contrast to the way she was raised in China. Being an active listener is so important when interviewing for podcasts because it brings the listeners along with the process.
• Fei talks about how she learned to use her podcast as a platform to gain new consulting clients. Dorie Clark encouraged her to write an eBook about this (which is available on Fei’s website). She is seen as someone who delivers and is trustworthy.
• For Fei, 2018 will define who she is and who she will be in terms of her consulting work. She now chooses who she works with and doesn’t feel the need to say yes to everyone.
• If Fei could wave a magic wand, she would love to use her platform to bring people together.

Terri’s Key Takeaway

Empathy is the key to reducing the divisiveness in the world.

References in the Podcast

• Fei’s website: https://www.feisworld.com/
• Fei’s World podcast: https://www.feisworld.com/podcast/
• Make More Marbles: http://makemoremarbles.com/
• Fei’s eBook series: https://www.feisworld.com/ebooks/
• On Being podcast: https://onbeing.org/
• Dorie Clark: http://www.dorieclark.com/
• Brene Brown: https://brenebrown.com/videos/
• Unraveling Pink: https://unravelingpink.com/
• Unraveling Pink podcasts on women ally moments: https://unravelingpink.com/2018/03/01/happy-womens-history-month/#more-713

Contact

Fei can be reached through her website https://www.feisworld.com/ or on Twitter @feisworld or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/feisworld/ or on Instagram @feisworld.

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.