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Invisible Ink
Shubha K. Chakravarthy
88 episodes
1 week ago
Tired of startup fluff?

Invisible Ink cuts through the hype, bringing you power-packed conversations with investors and founders who've built the companies you admire.

Forget theory and buzzwords. This podcast is your all-access pass to the real strategies, the tough decisions, and the often unseen struggles that shape successful startups.

Each episode zooms in on the specifics of what it takes to get funded, demystifying the process and giving you actionable insights you can apply today.

Join us as we unpack the gritty details the hype machine misses, revealing the truth about what investors look for, the mistakes to avoid, and the actionable steps you can take to make your startup unstoppable.

Invisible Ink is more than just a podcast – it's your personal mentor in the world of funding. Tune in, level up, and turn your startup dream into a funded reality.

Subscribe now!






Find show notes and more at https://achiiv.co/category/podcast/
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Entrepreneurship
Business,
Management
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All content for Invisible Ink is the property of Shubha K. Chakravarthy and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Tired of startup fluff?

Invisible Ink cuts through the hype, bringing you power-packed conversations with investors and founders who've built the companies you admire.

Forget theory and buzzwords. This podcast is your all-access pass to the real strategies, the tough decisions, and the often unseen struggles that shape successful startups.

Each episode zooms in on the specifics of what it takes to get funded, demystifying the process and giving you actionable insights you can apply today.

Join us as we unpack the gritty details the hype machine misses, revealing the truth about what investors look for, the mistakes to avoid, and the actionable steps you can take to make your startup unstoppable.

Invisible Ink is more than just a podcast – it's your personal mentor in the world of funding. Tune in, level up, and turn your startup dream into a funded reality.

Subscribe now!






Find show notes and more at https://achiiv.co/category/podcast/
Show more...
Entrepreneurship
Business,
Management
Episodes (20/88)
Invisible Ink
Ep 86 - Finding the Right Backer in a Tough Market: Insights From a Veteran Investor, With Dr. Ronald Weissman
In this episode of Invisible Ink, veteran operator Dr. Ron Weissman joins Shubha Chakravarthy to challenge some of the most entrenched myths in early-stage fundraising. Drawing on decades as a VC, angel investor, board member, and former NeXT executive who worked closely with Steve Jobs, Ron explains why startups fail. 

Key takeaways from the episode include:
  1. Why some founders immediately feel investable—even before the deck comes up
  2. The question investors are really trying to answer in the first few minutes
  3. What years of looking at deals teaches investors that pitch contests never do
  4. Why getting a fast yes from an investor can be more dangerous than a slow no
  5. The part of diligence most founders don’t realize they’re being evaluated on
  6. What investors listen for when founders describe their market—not their product
  7. How investors tell the difference between a strong pitch and a strong business
  8. When a funding path helps you—and when it starts working against you
  9. The moment investors decide whether they want to work with you long-term
  10. What a founder’s roadmap reveals that no slide ever says out loud
  11. How deal structure shapes the relationship long before anything goes wrong
  12. The shift in thinking investors expect from founders aiming to build category leaders
 and much more!
Show more...
1 week ago
1 hour 3 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 85 - The New Capitalism and What It Means for Founders Today, With Elizabeth MacBride and Seth Levine
This episode of Invisible Ink features a dynamic conversation between host Shubha K. Chakravarthy and guests Elizabeth MacBride, a long-time financial journalist, and Seth Levine, a seasoned venture capitalist and co-founder of Foundry.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Seth discuss the shift in the American economy toward dynamic capitalism and offer strategic advice to founders navigating this new landscape. 

Check out this wide-ranging conversation for their key insights on:
  1. Why this moment in fundraising feels broken and why it is actually something else entirely
  2. The subtle signal investors are responding to now that most founders are not even naming
  3. How capital concentration quietly reshapes who gets funded and who never gets a second look
  4. Why ownership has become more than a compensation issue and what it reveals about long-term company strength
  5. What happens when founders keep playing by yesterday’s rules and why the game has already shifted
  6. The structural split inside venture capital that explains so many confusing investor reactions
  7. Why location has re-entered the funding conversation and how geography changes access in ways founders underestimate
  8. The real bottleneck facing AI and deep tech companies and why it has nothing to do with ideas
  9. Where truly patient capital is starting to show up and why most founders are still looking in the wrong places
  10. Why waiting for policy clarity is a losing strategy and what consistently outpaces regulation
  11. The overlooked way strong founders reduce risk before they ever raise a dollar
  12. Why persistence alone is not enough and when refusing to pivot becomes the real failure
  13. What credibility actually looks like in an AI-saturated world and why it cannot be automated
  14. The one mental shift that determines whether founders navigate this transition or get stuck in it
and much more!
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4 weeks ago
1 hour 18 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 84 - Lead With the Money, Not With the Pain: Inside Tips for a Better Raise, With Naseem Sayani
In this episode, Naseem Sayani, Director, Innovator's Circle, WHAM and VC investor & ecosystem builder, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to expose the structural gaps female founders face and how to overcome them with strategy, confidence, and financial clarity. Naseem breaks down why women often lead with pain instead of profit, why this undermines fundraising, and how shifting storytelling toward economic opportunity can transform investor outcomes. Drawing from deep experience in consulting, venture building, and women’s health innovation, she outlines the real reasons women negotiate less, accept predatory terms, and hesitate to take salaries—even when the business demands it.

Check out Naseem's sharp insights on:
  1. Why most female founders lose investor interest early and the simple narrative shift that instantly changes the fundraising conversation
  2. The hidden bias in “leading with pain” and how reframing your pitch around market size and money unlocks investor confidence
  3. Why founders routinely miscalculate market size and how to paint a compelling future vision that pulls investors toward your company
  4. The red flags investors look for in early teams and the specific “superpowers” founders must assemble from day one
  5. The most overlooked post-funding mistake women make and how to protect your equity and runway as you scale
  6. Why many founders underestimate predatory term sheet risks and how to build the small advisory circle that keeps you safe
  7. The difference between a true product and a feature and the unforgiving test that reveals whether your idea is actually fundable
  8. Why financial fluency matters more than financial perfection and how to speak to your model in ways that earn investor trust
  9. The real reason founders stumble in regulated markets and how early clinical, payer, or regulatory expertise changes your trajectory
  10. Why leadership development determines whether you keep the CEO role and how coaching, community, and thought leadership help you scale with your company
 and much more!
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1 month ago
57 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 83 - PULL: The No BS Way to Unlock Sales, With Rob Snyder
In this episode, Rob Snyder, Fellow, Harvard Innovation Labs, startup sales expert, and co-founder of Restack.dev, breaks down what truly drives product–market fit and why most founders chase the wrong signals. Rob introduces his Pull Framework—a practical, evidence-based approach to finding and validating real customer demand. Tune in for his sharp and practical insights on:
  • Why “pain points” are useless—and the single test that instantly reveals whether a customer will actually buy
  • How deep tech founders can find real demand before a product exists—and why this collapses 24-month sales cycles into weeks
  • The brutal danger of lukewarm interest—and how founders confuse polite enthusiasm with real pull
  • How to turn a lab breakthrough into a must-do project on a buyer’s to-do list (and why this is the real precursor to PMF)
  • The simple conversation structure that exposes true demand—and the words that tell you it’s all talk
  • Why founders must build a repeatable case study before they build a product—and how this becomes the foundation for PMF
  • The subtle difference between “that’s interesting” and “I need this now”—and how to engineer the moment of truth
  • How to describe your value in one sentence using the buyer’s own failed alternatives—no persuasion needed
  • Why most founders hire sales too early—and how to know the exact moment your process becomes repeatable
  • The mindset shift that makes selling feel natural, not gross—especially for technical founders who hate sales
and much more!
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1 month ago
56 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 82 - Valuation is a (Financial) Story, Here’s How to Get it Right, With Dan Gray
Dan Gray, Head of Insights of Equidam, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to demystify one of the most misunderstood topics in early-stage fundraising—startup valuation. With over two decades in early-stage ventures, Dan reframes valuation not as a number but as a story that links a founder’s vision, strategy, and financial logic.

Check out Dan's practical guidance for deep tech and non-consensus founders, and the systemic issues in venture capital that create hurdles for deep tech founders, and a smarter, story-driven approach to raising capital. 

Highlights include:
  1. Why founders must treat valuation as a story, not a number, and how the story drives belief and funding outcomes
  2. How “SaaS bias” skews investor expectations and hurts deep tech founders raising their first round
  3. The single biggest fundraising mistake deep tech founders make,and how to fix it before it costs you equity
  4. How to define milestones that de-risk your company and drive valuation up round after round
  5. The hidden logic behind dilution, and how to keep ownership while staying fundable
  6. What VCs really mean when they say “we don’t invest in hardware” (and how to turn that into an advantage)
  7. Why valuation models fail for science-based startups,and how to build credible DCF-driven stories investors believe
  8. The investor’s portfolio math: how fund size, timing, and follow-on strategy affect your odds of getting funded
  9. How to spot “consensus capital” versus “non-consensus capital”, and why the difference could decide your future
  10. The truth about VC markups, management fees, and why exits don’t always drive investor behavior
  11. The “economic energy” test: how to articulate the total value your breakthrough can unlock for the world
  12. The one framing shift that turns founders from fund-seekers into informed customers of capital
  13. How to translate a visionary story into a credible financial model investors trust
  14. Why financial literacy, not hype, is the real superpower for deep tech founders
Show more...
2 months ago
1 hour 10 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 81- How to Ace Due Diligence: Insights From a Top Angel Investor, With Tony Shipley
Tony Shipley, chair of the nationally-recognized angel group Queen City Angels (QCA), joins Shubha Chakravarthy to demystify the rigorous process of due diligence from an investor's perspective.

Drawing from his background as an engineer and a founder of QCA, Tony unpacks the structured, process-oriented framework that has enabled his group to achieve a "remarkably different" and lower failure rate in its investment funds.

Check out Tony's thoughtful, time tested views on: 
  1. Why rigorous due diligence is the single biggest driver of investor success
  2. The key attributes every investor evaluates before writing a check
  3. How founders can turn diligence into a powerful discovery and learning process
  4. The real reason uncoachable founders rarely get funded
  5. How to make “greed overcome fear” when pitching investors
  6. What every deep tech and life sciences founder must prove before investors say yes
  7. The two make-or-break deliverables that define fundable milestones
  8. What investors really look for in your market sizing (and why your TAM might be irrelevant)
  9. The hidden art of building investor confidence through your sales strategy
  10. How to build a moat that actually matters—across SaaS, life sciences, and advanced materials
  11. Why founders underestimate the due-diligence deep dive into team dynamics
  12. Common red flags on your cap table that kill deals before they start
  13. The investor’s inside view on SAFE agreements—and why most angels won’t touch them
  14. The one preparation habit that makes founders 10x more likely to get funded
and much more!
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2 months ago
1 hour 9 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 80 - De-risking Your Science: What Makes Biotech Investable, With Daisy Robinton
In this episode of Invisible Ink, molecular biologist and biotech entrepreneur Daisy Robinton, founder of Oviva Therapeutics, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to share her journey from academia to leading a women’s health startup.

Daisy turned a personal encounter with gaps in female physiology knowledge—despite holding a PhD— into her mission to address ovarian function as a key driver of women’s healthspan, all the way to a successful exit in a tough funding and M&A environment.

Check out this episode for her thoughtful and pragmatic insights on:
  1. How to transition successfully from a scientist to founder
  2. How to tell if your biotech asset is ready for commercialization
  3. How to balance science and business as a scientist-founder
  4. The challenges of fundraising in biotech and how to set yourself up for success
  5. The art of making science-business tradeoffs, and how to do it well
  6. How to convince skeptical male investors of the market opportunity in women's health
  7. Tested tips from the trenches for first time CEO's
  8. Why storytelling is a game changer, and how to do it well for any audience
  9. Thinking ahead: exit and post-exit realities
  10. Tips to leverage your scientific training to translate into any domain



and much more! 

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4 months ago
1 hour 11 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 79 - How to Price, Negotiate, and Capture Value With Confidence, With Joanne Smith
In this episode of Invisible Ink, pricing strategist Joanne Smith, formerly an executive at DuPont and now a leading expert in value-based pricing, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to unpack the science and art of pricing for early-stage deep tech startups.


Check out Joanne's real-world, battle-tested advice and smart, practical strategies, as well as her sharp insights on:
  1. The single biggest pricing pitfall tripping up technical founders, and how to overcome it
  2. How to build courage and confidence in your pricing
  3. The essence of value-based pricing
  4. How to identify true value in a large customer organization
  5. How to quantify your product's value and ROI
  6. How to identify value when your product has multiple use cases and applications
  7. The one type of buyer you should avoid, and how to spot them in the wild
  8. Smart ways to handle price pushback from important customers
  9. How to split value between you and your customer
  10. Practical and effective tips to overcome price objections
  11. How to design effective pilots for risky technologies without sacrificing future pricing upside

 and much more!
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5 months ago
58 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 78 - Using Behavioral Science for Startup Success, With Dr. Maria Blekher
In this episode of Invisible Ink, Dr. Maria Blehker—founder of Serendipity Capital and expert in behavioral science—joins Shubha Chakravarthy for a deep dive into how startups, particularly in deep tech and mental health, can succeed by blending scientific rigor with human insight and strategic funding.

Check out this episode to hear her practical tips on how you can leverage research-driven insights from behavioral science to jumpstart progress with your startup as Maria shares her views on:
  1. Serendipity Impact VC's thesis and the market opportunity in mental health
  2. The emerging founder trends driving new healthcare startups
  3. Why behavioral science is your secret superpower to accelerate your startup's success
  4. How to accelerate customer acceptance of your new product 
  5. Simple steps to improve your sales success in selling an unproven product to a resistant market
  6. Then one small reframe that can turn prospects from apathetic to enthusiastic
  7. How to find critical flaws in your product without getting your soul crushed
  8. Small but powerful ways to overcome stereotype bias that anyone can use
  9. Secrets to building strong investor relationships long before you need them
and much more!


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5 months ago
1 hour 32 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 77 - Market Matters! How to Find the Right Market for Your Startup, with Sharon Tal
In this episode of Invisible Ink, Sharon Tal, co-creator of the Where to Play framework and co-author of the book by the same name, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to walk through how startups—especially in STEM and deep tech—can systematically discover and prioritize their best market opportunities.

Sharon draws on over two decades of experience mentoring founders and academic research to explain why many startups fail due to poor market choices, not product issues. She presents the Market Opportunity Navigator as a structured, three-step tool to help founders avoid costly mistakes, identify high-potential opportunities, and maintain strategic agility.

Tune in to hear Sharon's thoughtful and research-backed perspectives on:
  1. Why choosing the right market can make or break your startup.
  2. Big founder blind spots that can derail your startup before you even start
  3. A powerful new way to unlock unsuspected new market opportunities
  4. How not to get blinded by your founder bias 
  5. How to evaluate market opportunities, even for products that don't yet exist
  6. Why chasing the first customer who knocks might steer you off course — and what to do instead.
  7. The myth of "focus from day one" — and why exploration first leads to smarter decisions.
  8. How to prioritize markets without giving up your options
  9. How to pick the right market when there are no easy answers
  10. How to build agility into your startups - and signal flexibility to investors without losing focus 
  11. How to be prepared to capitalize on the best opportunities regardless of where you start
and much more!

Show more...
6 months ago
1 hour 7 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 76 - Understanding the VC Mindset, With Eileen Tanghal
In this episode of Invisible Ink, Eileen Tanghal, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Black Opal Ventures, joins Shubha Chakravarthy for a deep dive into how founders can better understand venture capital beyond just fundraising and what truly drives VC decision-making.

Eileen reveals what founders often miss: that VCs are entrepreneurs too, managing their own businesses with investor expectations and partnership dynamics. She outlines how founders should think more like CEOs—understanding venture returns, fund dynamics, and how their startup fits into the investor’s portfolio strategy. 

Tune in for Eileen's insights on: 
  1. How VC fundable opportunities are born
  2. How to get on the same page with a VC instantly
  3. The three layers of VC decision making most founders don't know
  4. What drives the decision: inescapable VC math it pays for you to know
  5. How VCs really evaluate your financial model
  6. Inside tips on what makes your roadmaps credible to a VC
  7. How TAM, SAM SOM play into a VC's funding decision
  8. What VC's look for when assessing your milestones
  9. The real test of whether you have a great team, as a VC sees it
  10. How to demonstrate credibility even if you've never built a startup or raised funding before
  11. Three top takeaways you can implement tomorrow
and much more!
Show more...
6 months ago
1 hour 3 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 75 - Cracking the Real PMF: How to Find Product-Market & Funding Fit, With Hanna Wu
In this episode, Hanna Wu, co-founder and CEO of Amplify, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to share her journey building a customer-centric, digital life insurance platform focused on wealth accumulation.

Tune in to listen to the inspiring journey that took Hanna from running her own financial planning firm to founding the company that has been dubbed a future unicorn by TRAC. Check out Hanna's insights on:
  • What it takes to disrupt a legacy industry
  • How to take the simple but powerful steps to validate your market and demand
  • How to craft a killer value proposition in a competitive field
  • How to find the right customer segments to break into a tough business
  • How to adapt product offers with changing demand
  • The secret formula to tackle market changes in any industry, and the one capability that you can't do without
  • How to prepare for unexpected changes in the fundraising market, and the surprising impacts you must be prepared to face
  • What it really means to hire an A-team, and how to ensure you're getting the best people on board for the long haul
  • The one type of investor you really can't do without, and why they matter
  • Road-tested tips to prepare yourself for the long-haul, especially if you want to have a life outside your startup.
and much more!
Show more...
7 months ago
59 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 74 - Mastering XaaS Pricing: An Expert Perspective, with Ingrid Bonde Åkerlind
In this episode, Ingrid Bonde Åkerlind joins Shubha Chakravarthy to unravel the complexities of pricing for early-stage startups, especially in the world of SaaS and “XaaS” business models.

Tune in to hear Ingrid's reflections on her unexpected journey into pricing, starting from scratch in a C2C marketplace to making investment decisions with a venture capital firm. Ingrid shares powerful insights about price inertia, customer psychology, and how anchoring and framing play critical roles in both B2B and B2C contexts. 

Don't miss her practical and actionable insights on:
  • Why pricing is often the orphan function in early-stage startups—and why it shouldn't be.
  • The psychological biases that impact pricing—across both B2C and B2B markets.
  • Why SaaS and XaaS pricing models are harder than they look.
  • Key differences in pricing strategy for early-stage versus mature startups.
  • How to use customer interviews for pricing research—even without hard data.
  • Why pricing isn't just about the number, but about picking the right value metric.
  • Best practices for testing different pricing models with early customers.
  • Practical tips for reviewing and iterating on your pricing regularly.

and much more!
Show more...
7 months ago
58 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 73 - Winning Grants, Landing VCs and Building in Deep Tech, with Elise Strobach
In this episode, Elise Strobach, co-founder and CEO of AeroShield, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to share her journey from lab discovery to clean tech startup founder. Drawing on her experience as a mechanical engineering PhD at MIT, Elise discusses how a breakthrough in transparent silica aerogels evolved into a venture-backed company tackling one of the world’s biggest energy inefficiencies—heat loss through windows.

Tune in to listen to Elise's thoughtful and actionable takes on:
  1. How the path to commercialization happens in the real world
  2. The big, unsuspected factor that can make your breakthrough marketable
  3. Key pivot points that drive commercialization impact in the research phase, and how to capitalize on them
  4. How to do customer interviews the right way
  5. The surprising secret to making your innovation attractive in the commercial market
  6. What big adverse events can teach you, and how to turn them to your advantage
  7. A killer strategy to optimize your grant outcomes
  8. How to use grant applications to also build customer traction 
  9. How to build your execution roadmap when dealing with uncertain funding outcomes
  10. A secret to overcome imposter syndrome
and much more!
Show more...
8 months ago
1 hour 7 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 72 - Crafting a Winning Go-to-Market Strategy: A Step by Step Guide, With Maja Voje
In this episode, Maja Voje, go-to-market strategist, author, and growth expert, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to unpack the real essence of go-to-market (GTM) strategy—far beyond the buzzword.

Drawing from her extensive experience advising startups and corporates alike, Maja reveals her tested GTM framework, rooted in experimentation, structured thinking, and real market insights. She breaks down the six mission-critical elements of GTM: understanding the market and competition, defining your early customer profile (ECP), building value-aligned products, crafting sharp positioning and messaging, pricing based on perceived value and evidence, and finally, setting up scalable growth and sales channels. 

Check out her information-packed, tested and foolproof views on:
  • How to define and validate your go-to-market strategy early on
  • Why “launch” is not the same as go-to-market, and why that matters
  • How to pick your beachhead market and early customer profile (ECP)
  • How to think about your product in a way that  improves the odds of product market fit
  • What product-market fit actually looks like in the real world
  • Why pricing isn’t just about numbers and what to focus on in setting price
  • How to position your product to stand out (without overthinking it)
  • How to choose and sequence your growth channels
  • The top 3 actions for founders rethinking their GTM strategy
and much more!
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8 months ago
1 hour 2 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 71 - Act, Learn, Build: Entrepreneurship, The Babson Way, with Heidi Neck, Ph.D
What if the way we think about building a business is fundamentally flawed? In this epsiode, Heidi Neck, a leading voice in entrepreneurship education, shares actionable insights from her extensive research and experience, emphasizing that "organizations are not entrepreneurial, people are".

Whether you're navigating a high-growth startup or seeking to instill innovation within an established company, you'll gain practical tools. Learn to apply the Entrepreneurial Thought & Action (ET&A) methodology, master the art of "affordable loss," and understand why a "quilting" approach can be more effective than following a rigid "puzzle". This conversation is a masterclass in cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset, led by an educator who is shaping the future of the field.  










Tune in to listen to Heidi's views on:
  1. Why business plans don't work, and how to do better
  2. The real inner game of entrepreneurship, and how to cultivate it.
  3. The make-or-break differences most founders overlook.
  4. The powerful ET&A method 
  5. Finding your sweet spot in the face of uncertainty.
  6. How to launch and grow, even without funding.
  7. The "affordable loss" concept: A risk-reducing mindset shift for smarter decisions.
  8. Why negative feedback is your secret weapon.
  9. The counterintuitive habit that fuels rapid progress.
  10. Embracing the "direction over plan" philosophy for greater agility.
  11. Using puzzles and quilts to build your entrepreneurial superpowers
  12. The 3 investor questions you MUST answer to unlock capital.

and much more!
Show more...
9 months ago
1 hour 1 minute

Invisible Ink
Ep 70 - Surviving & Thriving in Biotech: Playing The Long Game, with Dr. Maria L. Maccecchini
In this captivating episode, we sit down with Maria L. Maccecchini, a force of nature in the world of biotech, to explore her inspiring journey from a Ph.D. scientist to a successful entrepreneur.  Maria shares her passion for developing innovative treatments for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and the realities of navigating the complex terrain of funding, clinical trials, and FDA approvals.


Check out her fascinating journey across two continents founding a successful startup, her journey to wealth, and her subsequent decision to plunge back into the world of entrepreneurship. Check out her fascinating insights on:
  1. How innovation works in pharma and why it matters to life sciences entrepreneurs
  2. How success and wealth play out in life sciences and what it means to founders
  3. The unexpected lessons from repeat entrepreneurship in life sciences
  4. Why VC funding is challenging to raise in life sciences startups
  5. How unexpected shocks from bad actors in the system can derail your startup, and how to tackle them
  6. The nuts of bolts of getting FDA approval, and the factors that make it challenging
  7. Why life sciences entrepreneurs decide to IPO
  8. The challenges of being a public life sciences company CEO, and tips on handling the job
  9. Personal lessons from a lifetime of curiosity and play that anyone can follow.
 and much more!
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9 months ago
51 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 69 - Commercializing Deep Tech_ From Scientist to Startup CEO, With Dr. Tanya Ramond
In this episode of Invisible Ink, we talk with deep tech expert Dr. Tanya Ramond, an expert in taking deep tech startups to market. check out Tanya's insightful and actionable insights on:
  1. Why commercializing deep tech is challenging
  2. The one mindset shift technical founders  must make to succeed
  3. How to leverage the biggest element of your technical education to drive your startup's success
  4. A simple approach to mastering new skills
  5. How to overcome the lone wolf mentality and activate progress
  6. The secret to finding the best market for your innovation
  7. How to bridge the gap from lab to market
  8. Insider tips to successfully cross the "Valley of Death"
  9. How to design successful pilots for funding and traction
  10. The trick to engaging with the right industry accelerators
  11. How to build the right team for your deep tech startup
  12. How to demonstrate traction to investors with your deep tech startup
and much more!
Show more...
10 months ago
59 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 68 - Pitch Perfect: Using Fluid Thinking for Dynamic Decks, With Patricia Liu
In this episode, Patricia Liu, an MIT-educated computer scientist turned angel investor and Stanford lecturer, shares her diverse career journey—from consulting at Accenture to working in Michelin-starred kitchens and now teaching pitch decks to startup founders.

Patricia shared her  takes on the common threads across her careers, the core elements that stay constat regatdless of what endeavor you're engaged in. Check out her thoughtful and unique views on:
  1. How to set up your pitch so investors pay attention from the first slide
  2. The one thing that makes your pitch unforgettable to investors
  3. What the best pitches have in common, even when they describe complex technologies 
  4. The one underrated activity that can make or break your funding chances
  5. How to build trust and keep investors hooked with this simple hack
  6. How to really demonstrate a big and credible competitive edge
  7. The one thing that can kill your pitch—and how to avoid it
  8. Simple tools that can  turn complex ideas into instant investor buy-in
  9. The simple activity anyone can do to expose the weak spots you never noticed
  10. How to make your deck stand out in a sea of forgettable pitches
and much more!
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10 months ago
53 minutes

Invisible Ink
Ep 67 - Are SAFEs Really Safe? A Primer on Startup Funding and Valuation, With Eva Doss
In this episode of Invisible Ink, Eva Doss, president and CEO of The LaunchPlace, discusses her work in venture development, managing a portfolio of 27 startups, and supporting early-stage companies through every part of their startup journey.

Listen to Eva's experiences as she shares her journey in building The LaunchPlace, including her insights on:
  1. Why your cap table is the linchpin in your fundraising story
  2. How to stay on top of your cap table as an early stage founder
  3. How to use cap tables strategically to manage financing, ownership, and regulatory compliance.
  4. How startup valuation approaches differ by type of investor
  5. How to support your valuation estimate when you don't yet have a track record
  6. Why a high valuation isn't always a good thing
  7. The lowdown on SAFEs - what are they, really?
  8. Cap table implications of SAFEs and convertible notes
  9. The practical tradeoffs of raising ona a SAFE
  10. The soft factors that impact your fundraising vehicle
  11. Practical insights on how to build positive investor relationships
and much more!
Show more...
10 months ago
1 hour 6 minutes

Invisible Ink
Tired of startup fluff?

Invisible Ink cuts through the hype, bringing you power-packed conversations with investors and founders who've built the companies you admire.

Forget theory and buzzwords. This podcast is your all-access pass to the real strategies, the tough decisions, and the often unseen struggles that shape successful startups.

Each episode zooms in on the specifics of what it takes to get funded, demystifying the process and giving you actionable insights you can apply today.

Join us as we unpack the gritty details the hype machine misses, revealing the truth about what investors look for, the mistakes to avoid, and the actionable steps you can take to make your startup unstoppable.

Invisible Ink is more than just a podcast – it's your personal mentor in the world of funding. Tune in, level up, and turn your startup dream into a funded reality.

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Find show notes and more at https://achiiv.co/category/podcast/