Fueling Rockets: Three Founder Journeys at SkyDeck
At SkyDeck we have many founders who have latched themselves to the rocket ship to take their startups to the moon. I’d like to share the stories of three of them and a powerful characteristic that each of them brought to their startups. All of these companies came to SkyDeck at an early stage and have raised funds after graduating. You’ll see some common themes for three very different startups. Read on.
Coreshell Technologies: Jonathan Tan and Roger Basu
At SkyDeck we often interview startups who are at an early enough stage that their pitch is mostly about the science or technology that the founder discovered. Typically a deep tech startup at this stage has yet to do a meaningful assessment of customer response to the product. Despite Coreshell’s being at this early stage, Jonathan and Roger had done that customer discovery, and they clearly spelled it out for us. From their SkyDeck application:
First, we’ve spoken with several coating equipment manufacturers. Next, we’ve begun an initial testing study with a large manufacturer. Third, we’ve spoken to major battery OEMs who are interested and have scheduled quarterly updates with us to follow our progress. And lastly, we’ve had meetings with automotive OEM’s.
When we interviewed them, we found that this was done thoughtfully and with an understanding of what they had learned, and what they still needed to learn. At the same time, Jonathan and Roger were top notch scientists and continued to develop and derisk their battery coating technology. The combination of both of those skills — business and technology- convinced us they were going to make progress. And they have. Coreshell raised their $4M Seed Round in August, 2020 — and have some even bigger announcements coming soon.
What also was true and has remained true was the quality of the relationship between Jonathan and Roger. They had been working together for years before applying to SkyDeck, and I saw that partnership remain steady throughout Coreshell’s rapid growth, plus personal milestones such as marriage and starting a family. That founder relationship was like their battery coating technology: its properties helped reduce energy loss. Prickly founder relationships sap the energy of the team. Smooth ones keep things fully charged.
Dispatch Goods: Lindsey Hoell and Maia Tekle
Reusable food packaging delivery is a tough business. You can’t code your way to success. You have to pick up and deliver packaging for food deliveries on hair thin timing margins. When we first met Lindsey and Maia, this was what they personally did in between crafting business strategy, pitching investors, and closing customer contracts. It was exhausting and incredibly time consuming.
Lindsey and Maia had to be world-class scheduling planners and sharp business negotiators while managing the daily loading and unloading of vans stocked with their custom designed food delivery products. They had a tough team formation challenge that needed to be resolved and they took the time to do this thoughtfully and carefully, somehow in between the grueling delivery runs. This took heart, soul, and grit. There were many times I think many founders would have either quit or pulled back, but Lindsey and Maia had a remarkable level of conviction. They were purpose driven. They were relentless. These qualities helped them build a team who were also motivated and who loved their vision and mission. Thousands of containers were delivered, picked up, and washed, and the business thrived. Lindsey and Maia can now focus more on the business side and they have a team that handles the logistics. But their purpose remains tangible and full of conviction and that continues to fuel the team. Dispatch Goods closed a $3.7M seed round in September, 2021.
DeepScribe: Akilesh Bapu and Matt Ko
Akilesh and Matt came to SkyDeck first in our incubator program. They were at that time both still UC Berkeley students and working part time on DeepScribe. I remember meeting them for the first time and thinking “this is a team to watch.” They describe themselves at that time as “geeky kids in a lab” but there was a true fire in their bellies. They were trying to build a medical documentation platform that doctors would actually use. While 80% of clinicians used legacy transcription tools, the burden of documentation still consumed, on average, half of a clinician’s day. Until Akilesh and Matt. There is more than one reason for their success, but one stands out in my mind. They knew the problem, personally. Akilesh had unpleasant memories of wishing his father, an oncologist, would spend more time with his family rather than locked in a room writing patient notes. Matt had spent hours translating his mother’s medical treatment notes into her native Taiwanese, only to have her tell him the original notes were full of errors. Armed with personal and powerful experiences, these two founders built something that doctors would actually use. Have others who tried to build a medical transcription platform had personal experiences? I imagine so, but Akilesh and Matt successfully synthesized and focused their personal experiences into product building, eventually introducing the first concept of an “ambient AI” that could intelligently understand natural conversations rather relying on user triggers. Today, ambient AI technology for clinical documentation is an understood industry-wide as the “holy grail”. DeepScribe announced a $30M raise in January, 2022 led by Index Ventures.
What’s different about these three startups? Many things — market, customers, technology. What’s the same? Founders who are relentless. Founder teams who operate with little friction. Founders who know their customers cold and are not distracted by shiny objects on the path to building what the customer needs. All three founding teams faced sharp objects on the road to growth. Their powerful strengths — which they exhibited together, as a founding team — helped them pass through the sharp objects intact and poised for growth.
