Jun 30, 2020
In this episode, Hall welcomes Denis Coleman of Life Science Angels.
Located in Palo Alto, California, Life Science Angels is a not-for-profit corporation with 130-150 accredited investor members, 12-18 highly qualified Fellows, and 12-15 Sponsor organizations. They take no carry or management fees on investments and they do not charge companies any fees. They have invested over $60 million in over 100 startups.
Denis earned his B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT and his Ph.D. in management (computer science minor) from Stanford. In 1979 he obtained his CPA and left an academic career that featured teaching positions in Canada, the University of Hawaii, and Stanford.
In his first project, he wrote the software and ran a company that sold the first spelling checker for microcomputers. Then in 1983, he co-founded a software company now known as Symantec Corporation, the fourth largest software company in the world in 2007. He spent five years at Symantec, serving as VP of R&D for development of the initial product, Q&A. This productivity software package won many product-of-the year awards and eventually had retail sales of over half a billion dollars.
Since 1989, he has served variously as early board member, founder, software designer/developer in ten other startups, two of which had IPO's -- NEOF (online medical supply and equipment marketplace) and VSNR (hardware/software office imaging solutions, now merged with Nuance). Financial Engines (Internet based retirement investments) and Claria (Internet advertising) each achieved profitability and annual revenues in excess of $80 million. C Level Design (C language translated into ASIC hardware designs) and WealthCycle (Internet based investment advice) had successful product development but hasty exit sales to larger entities after the bubble burst of 2001.
Since 2004, he has been interested in bioengineering, particularly in the area of drug discovery and has shifted new portfolio investments and startup energies to the life sciences.
Denis speaks with Hall about the state of angel investing, particularly in this COVID-19 era, one of the portfolio companies Life Science Angels invests in, what excites him, and he gives advice to both investors and entrepreneurs.
You can visit Life Science Angels at https://www.lifescienceangels.com/.
Denis can be contacted via email at dcoleman296@gmail.com.