What Would Lisa Suennen Say?
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. That Dickensian construct is a perfect one for thinking about digital health before and after the advent of the coronavirus. As late as March, the runaway train that has been investment in digital health had been running along at Bullet Train speed. 2019 […]
Note: This article was authored by a trio consisting of me and my colleagues Nancy Nan and Rich McDerby in the Manatt Emerging Companies/Venture Capital Group; it originally ran on Manatt.com’s COVID resource website, found HERE. Thought I might pass it along here to my startup friends. As has become clear to all of us, […]
Two weeks ago my blog post was directed to investors (and by implication, to entrepreneurs) and encouraged them to ask three essential questions before making an investment in a healthcare company, particularly a digital health company. Note that I don’t think my post was entirely applicable to biotech investments since most of them are intended […]
Those of us who evaluate business plans for a living, or at least for part of a living, are accustomed to reviewing dozens, maybe even hundreds of plans before finding one that gives us a rush of excitement. It appears suddenly, like that needle in a haystack you had grown sure you would never find. […]
Born and bred in Mill Valley, Marin County, California, home of the Tech Tonics recording studio, Sam Brasch saw himself as a modern-day Alex P. Keaton – he just wanted to be a business man. He was “that kid” who was reading the Lee Iacocca biography in 4th grade while the other kids played soccer […]
Yes, I love the movies, which is why I throw in an occasional movie review in here now and then. Aside from comedy, my favorite thing to see is documentaries about extraordinary people and/or events. It’s similar to what I like to read: non-fiction stories that are stranger or more fantastical than what one might […]
While talking to a fellow podcaster/healthcare innovation advocate last week, I had a sudden visual that came to my head which seemed to me a great metaphor for what happens to new ideas (aka “innovations”) brought to the healthcare system: a spaghetti colander. Here we are, we entrepreneurs, idea people, purveyors of the new/better/different, cooking […]
Note: Thanks to Entrepreneur for first running my article on May 21, 2019 To Break up the Boys’ Club, Ladies, Why Not Start Your Own Venture Capital Firm? Women in VC roles can’t rely on public relations fixes, token nods or the chivalry of their male colleagues. They have to do it themselves. Elodie Dupuy […]
On April 2nd, which is not April Fools’ Day, Patagonia informed a finance company client that it will no longer sell co-branded fleece or puffer vests to their crowd, citing a refinement of its corporate values. An article in Buzzfeed ran their statement: I was understandably taken aback by this notice, as I have […]
Hi All, every year I like to rip off a holiday song for my closing blog post and this year is no exception. I decided to go with a New Year’s song rather than Christmas (Hanukkah is no good because once you’ve knocked off Dreidel, Dreidel you are pretty much done with the genre). So […]
Lisa Suennen is a venture capital investor and the managing partner of Venture Valkyrie, LLC, which publishes the Venture Valkyrie blog and co-produces the Tech Tonics podcast. She is also co-founder of CSweetener, a women's healthcare mentoring organization.