The Angel Nest

You don’t have to write checks to pay your bills anymore. But, tracking all the subscriptions, credit cards and automatic payments does get complicated. In this episode of the Angel Nest podcast, we meet Haroon Mokhtarzada, founder of Rocket Money, whose millions of members save money managing their finances on his app. We also meet Johnnie Walker from Rooled, whose financial model helped the comp...

What really is the future of Artificial Intelligence? In this episode of the Angel Nest podcast, we’re joined by a Silicon Valley VC who will talk about what companies she funds and why. And she'll discuss her partnership with an outsourced accounting and CFO firm that helps her portfolio companies attract capital and grow. Today’s guests include Johnnie Walker of Rooled, the outsourced accounting...

How do small startups attract the big partnerships they need to succeed? In this episode, we talk with Darren Feher of Vizbee on how he bootstrapped his way to collaborations with Fortune 500 media companies and how his partnership with Johnnie Walker at Rooled helped him do it. If you’ve ever wondered how the content from all your internet devices syncs up and even matches what you watch on smart...

You have to wear a lot of hats to succeed as a start-up CEO, but sometimes the most important decisions are what you choose not to do yourself. In this episode, David talks with Johnnie Walker, the co-founder of Rooled , an outsourced accounting, consulting and on-demand CFO service. Rooled lets companies focus on their core mission and not their accounting on a daily basis. We’re also joined by h...

Raising Partners helps founders in the United Kingdom find financing from private investors and, so far, they’ve raised more than 60 million pounds for over 175 companies. In this episode of the Angel Nest, we’ll speak with Raising Partners’ co-founder Helena Murphy and senior investment manager Alex Rowe about how they support startup founders. We’ll also talk with one of their clients, Paddy Low...

America has led the tech revolution, but now some smart investors are backing emerging market startups with similar models, huge addressable markets, and much less competition. As high-tech ventures spread across the planet, Michael Friedman and Jor Law have discovered huge opportunities backing startups with similar business models to the giants except that they’re in emerging and frontier market...

We know the future of cars and trucks is electric, but what happens with all those other vehicles that are still running well? There are 25 million half-ton pickup trucks on the road right now whose only problem is that they run on gasoline. Everyone has decided that, to save the planet, transportation vehicles need to go electric. But sending 25 million vehicles to the junkyard doesn’t seem very...

It stands to reason that entrepreneurs with military backgrounds have many of the same qualities investors look for in founders. And yet, they are 30% less likely to find venture capital.  In this episode of the Angel Nest podcast, we welcome Darren Burrell, of Veteran Ventures Capital. Darren served in the U.S. Air Force which gave him discipline, focus and mental agility – all skills he would la...

Where do prudent investors turn in uncertain times? The team at New North Ventures has found a niche leveraging their industry and national security connections to advance technologies that can serve both. They provide capital and connections to companies with proven technologies that are ready for new markets.  New North's "sweet spot" is AI, Cybersecurity and next generation communications. New...

Where do you find a good lawyer? And, if you’re a lawyer, where do you find clients if you’re not part of a big firm? Many consumers are intimated when choosing a lawyer and price sensitive to the large law firms which often have to charge big fees.  Enter Xira, a platform designed to connect independent lawyers and clients. Xira seems to be well-positioned for this current moment. After the Covid...

Aerogami helps companies access today’s “mobile” customers with tools like their Digidoc platform. The app allows traditional insurance companies, for instance, to quickly go mobile in order to appeal to younger consumers who use their phones for absolutely everything. Companies use Digidoc to translate their material to easily accessible digital files without coding, saving time and money. Consum...

Marketing Your StartUp? Nick Cianfaglione gives a preview of his free event April 28 at Venture Cafe Providence on how to market at every stage of the startup and program manager Reilly Kons talks about meeting investors at Venture Cafe.  Learn more and reserve your spot at  VentureCafeProvidence.org Find more episodes and conversations with great entrepreneurs and investors at  theangelnest.com ....

There’s a new way to get in on the cryptocurrency investing craze and it is as easy as shopping. The Roundly X app gives small savers access to cryptocurrencies by letting them round up their purchases and applying that amount to their choice of more than 70 crypto assets. The app maker says rounding up by about $12.50 a week could yield investors over $8,100 in value for the year.  The company is...

Bikes and scooters are no longer just for fun. They’ve gained ground as an everyday form of transportation. And now they have their own crowdsourced GPS app to help riders find the right routes. Think Waze for bikes and scooters. It’s called Pointz and it’s the brainchild of two entrepreneurs from Brown University. Pointz hopes to tap into an avid micro-mobility community sprouting up in connected...

Some of the best places to find start-up companies to invest in are not in New York, London or Silicon Valley. Savvy investors are increasingly looking for their next opportunities in underserved markets like Providence, RI, where a new tech ecosystem is already showing promising signs. RIHub is a not-for-profit incubator for technology startups. The government-funded program provides mentoring, e...

RiskRobot helps banks make lending decisions and risk assessments more quickly and easily. The software from Spin Analytics provides process automation for all the tasks of credit model development, including data cleansing and database integration, model development, validation and documentation. It also creates an uniform platform for all modelling projects so that files, data, code, and decisio...

Trucking owner operators who haul freight around the country can now manage more of their routine reporting and bookkeeping from the road so they can spend less time doing paperwork when they get home. The Smart Trucker App allows owner-operators and small trucking fleets the ability to scan, email, invoice, and organize their business. And the market potential is huge with nearly 800,000 private...

In this episode, we get an update from BrandVerge. It’s been a very busy year for the company since we met them in Episode 3 . Founders Lynn Browne and Mollie Kehoe and BrandVerge advisor Scott Schiller from the Engine Group talk about the start-up’s growth and some of the lessons learned along the way toward profitability.

ALPE is an audio platform that is doing for academic and professional courses what Audible has done for books and podcasts. It’s no secret that audio is exploding as a bigger part of people’s everyday lives. ALPE is capitalizing on that trend by providing complete college-level courses in an audio format, perfect for learning on the go. Professors come from well known schools like CUNY, Fordham an...

Startups often lack the experience to avoid preventable mistakes. The angel investor Invest413 is turning passive investing on its head in favor of a closer partnerships with entrepreneurs. The firm’s advisors coach new entrepreneurs, help them make critical connections and advise on a host of issues as the new companies scale to their first $10 million. Founder and general partner Paul Silva says...

We are sending more satellites and gear into space than ever before (there will even be missions to collect old space junk!) and RocketStar has the technology to make that practical and affordable with fully reusable rockets. With advisors from NASA, Co-Founder Christopher Craddock says that the advancement of 3D printing has allowed Rocket Star to  reinvigorate the potential of a nearly 60-year-o...

Mobile Ads is tapping into the gig economy to create a new kind of out of home advertising-Ride-share vehicles and scooters wrapped with promotional messages-for American Express, T Mobile, Amazon and other blue chip advertisers.

BrandVerge is a digital marketing service that is swiftly shifting the media partnership ecosystem. As the first two-sided marketplace for premium advertisers, BrandVerge acts as a matchmaking platform that connects media properties and advertisers to significantly cut the time of the traditional partnership process, increase transparency and creativity, and provide the best experiences for their...

UBERDOC is an online marketplace to connect patients with their choice of direct-pay doctors for high-quality, specialty care for a single, transparent price. They believe that when patients are free to choose their doctor, it puts the control back where it belongs, and no patient should ever have to be denied access to the care they need because of insurance restrictions or cost.

Take innovative fast style Asian cuisine and place it in a college town hungry for options outside the dining hall,  and success is on the menu! Combinico has already attracted a loyal following in their home market of St. Andrews Scotland, but they now have ambitious expansion plans to grow within the UK and Europe, and eventually the US. Co founder Juno Lee and angel investor Alex Rowe talk abou...