Advantage via Technology Accelerators featuring CEO Bill Carpou

Medtech Snapshot episode #121 features Bill Carpou, CEO of Octane OC, an Orange County, CA based technology accelerator with a specialty in lifescience startups.

Listen in as Bill walks us through the advantage accelerator's like Octane offer, how startups can gain access to their first rounds of 'smart money' and the importance of startup coachability.

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Read the Full Interview
​Welcome back to another MidTech Snapshot. With us today is Bill Karpu from Octane, and I'm really excited to talk through a variety of topics today, everything from Raising Capital to their Launchpad program, and even a brand new AI hub that's in development here in Orange County. So stay tuned.

Alright, Bill, so I'm really excited to start our discussion off today looking at Raising Capital. You know, I mean, this has been a huge discussion for MidTech startups, obviously, in particular, but, you know, it's, it's not been the easiest as of recent in your organization over the years. You know, since 2010, if I recall, you all have done 1600, give or take raises, and 86% of the companies that go through your accelerator, they've been getting funding in about 15 months.

Walk us through, how is that possible first? I mean, those are some pretty good stats. And what's the difference between the companies that are getting funding through your program versus the one that aren't? Yes, Travis, I mean, they are good statistics, if you look at it from that standpoint. And one of the reasons is that, you know, we work with or see about 550 companies a year, and whittle that down or do the diligence to get it to about 65 that we work with.

So we're already diligently out, if I could use that phrase, about 88% of the companies that we see. So, you know, we're dealing with a smaller and tighter nucleus. So, you know, that's that's one component.

The second and third are really, really critically fundamental to what Octane does. So, you know, one is that we've got a high degree of credibility with investors right now. And, you know, we're positioning these companies in, you know, I call it their first real smart money.

So it's either family offices, you know, ultra high net worth individuals or venture, you know, either strategic or institutional. So we've got we've got relative credibility with each of them. On the other is that we we've produced really good results and we've got data that backs up and an AI tool called Haystacks that we could give an investor a probability of success of their investment.

So, you know, what we're trying to do to the extent that you can is de-risk a venture investment. And by no means, I should clarify, is it riskless? It's still high risk investment. But we've de-risked it to some extent for what would normally be a very, very high risk investment.

You know, the other is just the reach that we've got far outside the Southern California area. So we've been successful in pulling capital out of Boston, New York, obviously the Bay Area. And, you know, just a law of math is if you're in if you're in Southern California, you have to go outside the area.

There's just not enough capital here to fund enough companies. So. So, you know, when you think about those companies that have received capital from you all, maybe that's their first institutional round.

Maybe it's helping them march closer towards trials and commercialization. What is it about that company that is helping them achieve that through your organization versus the ones that maybe got kicked out of the process going through the funnel? Yeah, it's an interesting question. And, you know, a big portion of that is the coachability of the CEO.

If we don't see the ability through our process to make a difference with the CEO, we kind of end up cutting it. And I mean, that's where investors are really going to look also. And part of that is their flexibility.

I mean, we've had to have a discussion with many a CEO that they've given their they've given themselves the title of a CEO, but they're an engineer. They're a scientist. They've developed the company.

They have no really strong operational experience. And, you know, we've got to go back to those individuals and say there is there is not a chance in hell that a sophisticated investor puts money in your company at this point. You need to step aside and be the chairperson, the executive chair, the chief technology officer, something like that.

So, you know, we see we see coachability as really important. The other thing is the persona of our entrepreneur that we're helping is I'll say, you know, just to put an age bracket around it, maybe somebody in there in their early to mid 40s that's coming out of a bigger company. So has had some operational experience and has the ability to float the company for a year and is now, you know, has now decided to become an entrepreneur.

And that's a big difference that individual in terms of their experience versus, you know, let's just call it a kid coming out of UCI. That really hasn't worked anywhere before. So, you know, I think the quality of our entrepreneur is a well is a much well or better rounded.