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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​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.

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