Cover art for podcast Angel Invest Boston

Angel Invest Boston

313 EpisodesProduced by Sal DaherWebsite

In the Decade of Biotech when there will be myriad opportunities to invest in angel-scale biotech startups. After decades of angel investing, I am focusing on the life science side of my portfolio and invite other angels to do the same. Here's why: https://www.labcoatventures.com/why-we-are-focused-… read more

51:47

Sal Daher is Interviewed by Martin Aboitiz, Engineer, Founder & Angel in "Every Startup Is a Folly"

Quotes from the podcast:

“Every startup investment is folly, but not every folly should be a startup investment…”

"How can I eliminate the real follies?"

“Banks are dominated by all these rules, and they're extremely risk averse. It's sort of like belt and suspenders, and yet, periodically, their pants fall down.”

“Someone who's selling is steeling herself for failure in every phone call…”

Sal Daher got a person who knows him really well, his brother in law Martin Aboitiz, to interview him in this 25th episode of the Angel Invest Boston podcast. The result is a wide-ranging and light-hearted conversation that tells a lot about how Sal sees the world of startups.

BTW, during the podcast Sal refers to the physicist Stephen Hawking as Christopher Hawking. This lapse was occasioned by Sal having spent time with Christopher Lydon (Christopher Lydon's Website) just days prior to recording. Sal's sure neither gentleman takes umbrage from the confusion.

The list of topics includes:

  • Sal Daher Bio
  • Switch from Engineering to International Finance
  • How Sal Started Investing
  • How Being a Banker and an Engineer Helped Develop Sal’s Investing Philosophy
  • ”When I look at markets, I understand that markets are not knowable, and so I don't look to guess where markets are going. I don't look to think that I know more than anybody else, or that I know more than the market.”
  • “Banks are dominated by all these rules, and they're extremely risk averse. It's sort of like belt and suspenders, and yet, periodically, their pants fall down.”
  • “I've developed kind of an approach of skepticism, you know Popperian skepticism of how much I can know.”
  • Sal Has Andrew Carnegie as a Model – Keep a Lot of Cash to be Able to Buy Bargains
  • “I can tell you right now, anything we're buying, we're buying it very expensively.”
  • Sal Thanks Listener GranTia for Leaving a Review
  • How Sal Decides on Which Startup to Invest
  • “Every startup investment is folly, but not every folly should be a startup investment…”
  • "How can I eliminate the real follies?"
  • “What I have to do is I have to play a defensive game, I have to avoid investing in losers.”
  • “Martin, I discovered a really amazing thing, being really smart and really knowledgeable has zero correlation with the ability to sell, zero, okay?”
  • “Someone who's selling is steeling herself for failure in every phone call…”
  • Regrets?
  • Anti-portfolio
  • Sal’s Favorite Pivots – Pixability & SQZ Biotech – Personal Pivots
  • “I'm a big fan of pivots, because a pivot is an expression of belief in the ability of human beings to fall down and get up again.”
  • Networking in Boston vs. the Bay Area
  • “There's no other place like it [Boston], and there's an unbelievable variety of things that go on. It is a little bit insular, it is hard to network here, but I can tell you that the angel investing environment, there's no angel investing environment that's as collaborative as the one here.”
  • “Now, venture capitalists aren't interested in follies, they're interested in sure bets.”
  • “How many companies can an angel investor successfully track and manage in his portfolio?”
  • People from Whom Sal Learns the Most
Educational emoji reaction

Educational

Interesting emoji reaction

Interesting

Funny emoji reaction

Funny

Agree emoji reaction

Agree

Love emoji reaction

Love

Wow emoji reaction

Wow

Listen to Angel Invest Boston

RadioPublic

A free podcast app for iPhone and Android

  • User-created playlists and collections
  • Download episodes while on WiFi to listen without using mobile data
  • Stream podcast episodes without waiting for a download
  • Queue episodes to create a personal continuous playlist
RadioPublic on iOS and Android
Or by RSS
RSS feed
https://angelinvestboston.libsyn.com/aib

Connect with listeners

Podcasters use the RadioPublic listener relationship platform to build lasting connections with fans

Yes, let's begin connecting
Browser window

Find new listeners

  • A dedicated website for your podcast
  • Web embed players designed to convert visitors to listeners in the RadioPublic apps for iPhone and Android
Clicking mouse cursor

Understand your audience

  • Capture listener activity with affinity scores
  • Measure your promotional campaigns and integrate with Google and Facebook analytics
Graph of increasing value

Engage your fanbase

  • Deliver timely Calls To Action, including email acquistion for your mailing list
  • Share exactly the right moment in an episode via text, email, and social media
Icon of cellphone with money

Make money

  • Tip and transfer funds directly to podcastsers
  • Earn money for qualified plays in the RadioPublic apps with Paid Listens