Nephra - 04/21/2022

I haven't posted in a while. Decided I would just paste an email I sent recently to the team as a time capsule; it does still have relevant substance for this blog.

Team,

I forgot that I used to send these, so I'm going to start doing it again. Workstreams are out on Slack, but we will use these for high level talking points. It was great that we were able to compete at Cozad yesterday. Regardless of the outcome, we know we have a great market opportunity and problem that needs to be solved. And it WILL be solved, but we can be the team to do it first if we push hard enough. The reward for this will without a doubt be not only saving lives but the financial freedom to continue to pursue solving whatever problems we want for the rest of our lives. We've already worked on this for so long that we are probably one of a handful of people who truly understand this problem and the opportunity, which is a huge advantage.

Now we're software, we fortunately don't need as much funding as a typical med device company... for now at least. My observation from speaking with VCs has been that while they are investing in inherently riskier companies, lead investors such as Chicago Ventures are rare, which are the ones who take a chance on a newer startup that other VCs follow with in a syndicate investment. These lead investors typically need external validators, in the form of grant money/government support, Letters of Intent (since medical companies can not technically sell their product prior to clearance), gray hair, or a fully functional product. The two of this list that we can control right now are product and grant (when we get SBIR in addition to some of our other grants).

This ties into an anecdote Paul Zhang cited yesterday from his Y Combinator experience that I thought was really powerful. "Build product, and everything else follows." Truth is we are nobody right now. No one cares that we believe in ourselves. Even if what we say is true, VCs can't take those risks with their LP's capital. The only thing that people can never ignore is a product that is objectively amazing. 

There's something funny about how much schools invest in student startups. Their success rates are so low. Everyone hears about the Mark Zuckerbergs but nobody sees the carcasses along the way. They are a terrible investment, and VCs see this. The reason is that we are inexperienced and our time is pulled in so many directions. The human brain only has so much RAM. But I have seen first hand the intellectual power and brute force that we are capable of when we work together in the same room--there's an energy that being separate cannot capture. This is why I love our team and believe in our vision. But this is something we don't do enough. It is my opinion that in order for this to be worth our time, we should give the upcoming month everything that we've got. If we don't make progress, then maybe this isn't our destiny. But, and we know that this tech is possible, we are able to do what we've been saying we can for so long, this can be a life changing opportunity for everyone involved and it would be a crime to not capitalize on it. I propose that we set aside time for extended in-person working sessions to supplement remote work ramping up to the summer, to which we can coordinate more later. In the meantime, think about what this would look like from your perspective.

Enjoy this nice Thursday.

Best,

Jonathan