 Hi, my name's Sally Elaine, and I'm the head of JLabs at Washington DC, part of Johnson and Johnson Innovation. As my head role here in Washington DC, I set the strategic direction and oversee all operational activities for JLabs in the greater Washington DC and metro area. This includes evaluating and selecting a strong portfolio of innovators for JLabs in the region and building strategic partnerships with corporate, academic, government and industry organizations. Our aim is really to strengthen the region's life science innovation network. I'm thrilled to host today's Just Tech Connect on emerging trends and startup investing. We're hosting this Just Tech Connect live during the Angel Capital Association's 2020 virtual summit. The Angel Capital Association is a professional membership association for over 14,000 angel investors and 200 investment networks in North America. Their annual summit conveys leading investors, entrepreneurs and industry leaders to discuss the latest trends in global angel investing and showcasing leading startups. 2019 saw a record amount of investments made into early stage science and technology based startups across the globe. These investments were made by angel investors, corporate venture capital investors like our Johnson and Johnson's corporate arm JJDC and additional groups at Johnson and Johnson Innovation. Traditional venture capital firms, financial institutions and governments are all part of that investment group. With so many different kinds of capital available to startups, it's imperative that founders understand the trends that are shaping the investment ecosystems. Today's discussion will include experts discussing the state of startup investing and strategic partnerships today and how they anticipate it will evolve in the future. We really want to know your thoughts and take your questions during the program. So please ask your questions in the chat space next to the video player on or on Twitter using the hashtag just tech connect. Again, that's just tech connect. Let me begin by welcoming our panel of experts for today. Alan Goldstein is the managing director of PNG Ventures, the internal startup studio of Proctor and Gamble. He is responsible for the identification, development and execution of new businesses for PNG, leading to new sources of revenue that will change consumers' lives while being in service to the world's entrepreneurs. Welcome, Alan. Thanks, Allie. Our next expert is Norma de Cadena, founding partner of Mila Capital. Mila Capital is a stage venture capital firm in Los Angeles focused on funding hardware based innovation. Norma believes that solving the biggest challenges our world will hinge on extracting value from connected machines and that there's an opportunity for dynamic he sees to seed and nurture high growth companies. Welcome, Norma. Thanks, Allie. So thank you for joining me today. I'd like to start off the conversation by asking you which of the latest trends you're most excited about in startup investing. Alan, let's start with you. Thanks, Allie. So let's start by just kind of a little background of PNG Ventures. So we are actually not an investment arm for the company. We are a charter to create new businesses and categories for Proctor and Gamble that are outside of the core of what the company does. Right. In order to do this, we partner very closely with startups and entrepreneurs, PIs, etc. We don't believe that capital is a differentiator, but our unique partnership by leveraging our corporate capabilities with the best of the big co and best of the startup world really lead to pretty unique opportunities for the consumer from a consumer standpoint. You know, that's where we're very focused on. We're really looking at where the biggest pain points are and where the biggest trends are, right? So this is in health, non-toxic homes, sleep, wellness for men and women, etc., things like that. The dynamics of our environment, you know, pre and post COVID, it's really changing, right, where consumers can access different solutions much more readily with a lot less friction. And this is an area that we're highly focused on. No, thanks for sharing that. Norma, what are your thoughts on this? Hey, Sally, for me, it's exciting to think about how we can transform our way of living while engaging a cross section of the population in defining that future. A friend of mine recently wrote an article about the coffee supply chain and how it's being tested and impacted at just about every portion of the value stream. And, you know, it made me think long and hard about my morning and midday and afternoon cup of coffee and also about everything else I touch on any given day and the supply chain and logistics involved in and getting that product into my hands, thinking about sectors. I'm thinking a lot about the future of work, the future of food. I'm thinking about equitable access to health care, climate and beyond sectors. I'm really excited that there are several movements gaining traction. You know, one is is a greater definition of the word impact. So moving, you know, moving into considering diversity as impact, moving into considering gender lens investing as impact and a higher focus on SDGs and energy. You certainly see those in trends in startups as well. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I think the diversity focus is not only at the at the startup funding level and within a company's team, but we're also starting to see it upstream. So funding diverse fund managers bringing diverse LPs into the into the ecosystem. So absolutely. You know, thanks for sharing that. So for those of you just joining us, we're talking today about the emerging trends for startup investing, our experts are sharing their insights on how the startup investment ecosystem is developing. And what startups interested in fundraising should really be aware of. Norma, you bring a unique perspective as an engineer, an investor. We just started talking about some trends that we're starting to see. What are you most excited about in regards to investing in hardware? Yeah, I think Sally Moore, engineer, should be should be investors. They can be an essential piece to the innovation puzzle. I studied mechanical engineering and worked in the aerospace sector. I transitioned from the corporate world to venture because I was really excited by the Internet of Things Revolution and wanted to push forward transformational change. I would say there is experience I bring with me that is helpful and experience that is not so helpful. What is helpful is a focus on operations, this this never ending quest to find solutions to problems and asking why many, many times. What is not so helpful is that I came from an environment that was really focused on delivering products for the unforgiving environment of space, meaning there was a unique focus on perfection just about at every gate. And I would say that is something that I'm not bringing with me. We're focused on helping our companies iterate quickly and not necessarily get the product 100 percent right. In terms of the sectors we're interested in, you know, we made a shift in our vocabulary at Mila Capital and and we found that talking about tech you can touch was was a way to better relate to other investors and to relate to founders. And so we've moved from talking about hardware to really talking about different sectors. So when we talk about, you know, climate tech, we know that we know that a sustainable future is going to require transformational change in materials in our energy system. Everything from generation to consumption to disposal. When we thought when we talk about mobility and aerospace, we are experimenting both on earth and in space with different modes of transportation and delivery of goods. And so when you talk about something in that way, it is much easier to to focus on solutions than it is when you're talking about hardware. And so climate tech, mobility and aerospace. And I would say food, right? Thinking about food, plant based food that is not only delicious, but exponentially better for for our planet and for our bodies. Those are the kind of trends that are at the intersection of technology and tech you can touch or hardware. Now it's really interesting. Thank you, Alan. I'm going to give you a next question. So P&G has a global presence and serves many different markets. How does P&G Ventures approach identifying and selecting startups to partner with? What's some of the criteria that you're that you're looking for? Yeah, great question. So first, Norma, I thought that was a great answer, right? You know, we also think a lot about hardware enabled consumables. We really think that, you know, that's why you bring tech into consumers life and kind of take the performance up a level from a P&G Ventures standpoint. Everything we do starts with kind of the pain points of consumers. Really understanding globally where those pains are. We leverage kind of the jobs methodology, jobs to be done stuff, you know, with the late, late Christensen preached a lot. And then from there, we really go and try to understand where their potential solutions. We love early stage because that's where we think we can really collaborate together with startups and entrepreneurs to really create value together. And that's really important for us. Is that overall value creation piece, not just a proctor piece around that. And so we source and we partner with people globally in pretty unique ways. And that's really important because everybody in the startup or generically entrepreneurial world is on different points of their journey, right? So their needs are going to be very different. And we really try to find where that sweet spot is between, again, what a big co can do and then what a startup can do. Importantly, what we really emphasize is we want to be very grounded in science. And that's really important. And I think moving forward, post-COVID is going to even be a greater importance. Yeah, thanks for sharing, Alan. And it's a very similar approach to how we look at finding solutions for patients and consumers at Johnson & Johnson. So how do we find the best science and technology and meet those startups and their entrepreneurs during their journey? So whether that's working very early and and bringing them into our no strings attached incubator with JLabs, if it's putting in place a partnership working with our innovation centers and then also the potential to make capital investments via our JJDC arm. So it is really working with those developing the best science and technology and finding out how we can partner it along their journey and put in agreements but also provide the mentorship and expertise to to move the solutions forward faster. And that's a really important point, Sally. Sorry to interrupt. That's something we spend a lot of time. Like, what do we do well? Right? It's, you know, brand building, consumer insight, manufacturing, supply chain, regulatory, distribution, communication, things like that, which is really pretty heavy lifting for these early stage entrepreneurs and startups, right? So as they are really focused on bringing new science and new technologies forward for consumer propositions, this is where we play a big role in collaborating and again, creating joint value, ultimately delivering superior consumer experiences. Yeah, it's it really is bringing how we can bring big company benefits to help sign entrepreneurs and startups move their their products and solutions to patients and consumers faster. Yeah. Yeah. And we need we know, you know, an idea in science can come from anywhere. So it's it's really looking globally and and partnering. So thanks, Alan. So and just to get us back to startups and investing and some trends. So, you know, when I looked into health care, venture funding recently, you know, 2019 really set a record high. And I believe the increase in venture funding for those in the health care sector was 10 percent greater over the previous year. And this is 2019 statistics. We saw device investment increase for second year, which was majorly led by late stage deals and something quite interesting, I think, which is we're seeing year over year growth and health tech investments hit a record high becoming some of the fastest growing health care sector for capital investments. So we can think about trends as we as we keep moving forward. So thank you both as as we move through some Q&A. So we have some questions coming in from our online viewers. So I'm going to ask you some questions. The first one is for many US investors, the expectations is that startups are incorporated in the US. Are there any shifting trends regarding where a startup is incorporated or should foreign startups still plan on incorporating in the US? So we can start. Yeah, I can start at Mila Capital. We do invest globally. We made one investment in a company that was not incorporated in the US. But I would say for us, the from from from where we sit in early stage investing, the risk profile for a company that is incorporated in the US, where we understand and have a baseline and standard documents is is much more desirable than than any others. And the trend I'm seeing at least across Latin America is is a is a desire to incorporate in the US when there is a plant of fundraise here anyway. Thank you. Alan, would you like to provide any? So, you know, obviously Proctoring was like a global company. You know, for perspective, we touch five billion consumers every day, which, you know, that's good two thirds of the world, if not a little bit more. So being a global company and being, you know, partner or kind of our thesis of partnering with entrepreneurs who are grounded in science, that's a global task, right? So great ideas can come from anywhere and we're collaborating with entrepreneurs and startups, you know, in China, Europe, Israel, and of course, you're in the US. So, you know, wherever those good ideas are, you know, again, the mechanism to collaborate and create value is there today. Great. And Sally, I want to add, I think that what what changes this dynamic is maturing ecosystems in other places. So if there's a country with a maturing ecosystem where LPs are local, then the appetite to invest in a company that is incorporated locally in that region is is higher. But if we are relying in US based investors and, you know, limited partners and funds, then being incorporated in the US is critical. Yeah, thanks for sharing that, Norman. So I'm going to go to the next question. Generally speaking, how much customer traction should a V to C startup aim to reach before approaching stage investors? You want me to go with that one? Yeah. Yeah. OK, so since we're number one focus B to C, as well as early stage, this is perfect. You know, first I say it once, I'm going to say it again, you know, grounded in science, right? So a line of sight versus, you know, just an idea is pretty important. We collaborate very, very early. I mean, you know, two guys in a garage, early stage, PIs at universities. And that first step is really number one is understanding. Can we provide a consumer noticeable benefit within the space? Right. And, you know, and what's good enough? I think that's really, really important. And Nora may talked about that, right? You know, really embracing kind of the lean methodology around, you know, what's that first MPV and getting it in front of consumers and starting to really understand and iterate, right? Because that's how you start to build. And we're all about building together around that. So earlier, the better, right? You know, we'll we'll deal with people who just have molecules or just have early devices and then we'll help put together delivery system, help communicate with the consumer. And, you know, it's a bounce. It's a bounce between delivering kind of this superior consumer experience for us, as well as the ability to really understand product market fit, right? In the latter, you don't necessarily need actual product, right? You can do a lot of direct to consumer. You can do a lot of messaging, A, B testing, really understand click through rates, et cetera, in order to talk to consumers in their language and understand where their seat. Great. Thanks, Alan. I know I mean, yeah, I think about the the magnitude of traction and in two different ways. And for me, it's easy to to share it in an analogy. When you're thinking about a product recommendation, there are two things that can move you. One is the volume of reviews a product has, right? You can say, oh, my gosh, this thing has one thousand five star reviews. And that is compelling. But what can also be compelling is having one or two friends who you trust say, oh, my God, this is the the most incredible thing I've tried in the last six months. And so that number can be small, but the value or the magnitude of that referral can be huge. And so when we look at companies, you know, we use that same ones. There could be a small number of customers, but the the the step change in their life because of this product could be so large that even the small number is very compelling. So when you're looking and thinking about transformational products, you'll consider a lower customer feedback or traction because you realize it could be transformational in the marketplace. Alan, yeah, I think what's also important is, you know, for startups to get out there, right? You know, you're not going to innovate sitting at your desk necessarily, right? You got to get out there. And, you know, if you have just a handful of things to test with consumers, do it. Obviously, you want to do it in a safe and ethical way. But you're better off understanding and then iterating because nobody in the world gets it right the first time. I don't care if you're a big co or a small entrepreneur, right? It is heavy lifting and it takes a lot of iterations to get that entire value equation right, everything from performance to cost to supply chain, messaging, etc. OK, thanks, Alan. So I'm going to move to the next question coming in from our audience. What are fundraising best practices for a biotech startup raising their seed round? Norma, do you want to start with that one? I was going to say that's a good question for you, Sally. So what are fundraising best practice for a biotech startup raising their seed round? You know, I think we look for a number of different aspects of startups that we work with. And the advice that we give them is to provide as much data as you can based on the current where you sit in your your research and development pipeline. We like to always see and suggest, excuse me, how you differentiate in the market against your competitors is incredibly important. What what your your near term project plans are for research and development, potential other opportunities for parallel funding. So we we encourage a lot of our startups to look at federal grant or state funding like SBIRs. And then, you know, what is the the strength of your company leadership or your company board? So who do you have surrounding you to provide in kind leadership in kind direction on your research and product development? So there's a few things that we look at and suggest as sort of your pitch package. Alan, do you want to add to that a little bit? You know, I mean, I think it's really important, whether it's biotech or any industry is really a first understanding. Like, what do you need the funds for? Like, where are you and how much do you need? You know, being a big go, I get people pitching all the time for, you know, big, you know, seven figures, etc., when most of the time you don't need that. So that would be one because then there are very unique ways to partner with people, right, that they don't necessarily need to do everything. And there are a lot of other resources out there, including big goes, but other companies. The other thing is really understanding your funding mechanism, right? So, you know, VCs are amazing, but they are downsized with things too, right? Your diluting equity versus a strategic versus grants, etc. So I think it's really, really important for people to understand the cap table, how their funding is going to move forward. And what they really need their money for at this given point in time. Yeah, Alan, I think you raised a good point. It's something we certainly look at is in regards to a research development project plan. So like you mentioned, you know, what what is your your needs for funding and how is that funding going to drive you to your next milestone? That's certainly something that we're interested in and understanding how you project, again, near term research versus long term as well. And I think people do a pretty good job on like they know where the end game is, like what they want to do. I think it's really important like to bite off what we'd like to talk about, leap of faith assumptions. Like what's your first, we call them lofas, what's your first lofa? And how are you going to make sure that you can really hit that and understand that and go from assumption to knowledge? Because you can't hit everything, right? Because that's the other thing I'll just tell you is a lot of early stage people are all over the place. You got to focus on the most important killer issue that's going to turn the lights off. If you don't fix this or if you don't figure out a way around it, game over, right? Because as you drain the swamp, you are going to find a lot of stuff. And depending where you are and what a day do you have, it really should dictate what you're focused on. Norma, is there anything else you'd like to add to that question or we can move on to the next one? And we can move on. OK, so Patrice from the US asks, how do PNG and JLABS work with angel groups? Alan, do you want to start? Yeah, so we're all in this together, let's just say, right? So, you know, we're a small organization, even though we have global reach and we can't see everything. So we love angel groups, we love seed, we love accelerators, VCs, these are all friends of ours and partners of us. Because it's really people who see a lot of deal flow, right? So I get lots and lots of calls from friends all over the world saying, hey, Alan, we just saw a startup that's in the active aging space, maybe you should take a look at that, right? And part of that take a look at is, you know, is there an opportunity to collaborate? For sure. But then also what else we can do to help them, right? Help them in their journey, because there's a big part of, you know, paying forward and helping support the global entrepreneurial community. So the angel groups around the world are critical to us. Yeah, I think you hit on how we operate, too. You know, this is an ecosystem where we all cross pollinate, we all cross partner. Specifically at JLabs and Johnson & Johnson Innovation, you know, we have a global investor hub. So we pull in locally in ecosystems, those that are making capital investments in health care companies. We also reach across our global network of investors. So we work with our companies to really get them prepped, ready to pitch. We enable one on one meeting space for those that are in our companies, that are in our portfolio, and then also investors that are in our investor hub. So it's really bringing these two groups and parties together so that we can again, really support our portfolio of companies within JLabs. But then we also connect with angel investors and and ask them about their own portfolio. So who do you have in your portfolio? Are they ready for research and prototyping space? And can we move them into our JLabs sites? So again, it's it really is in both directions. OK, so a question from an online guest adding to Patricia's previous question. What is the best way to work with corporate VCs in general? Alan, do you want to take that one? Sure. So first, I think it's really important to know what the kind of corporation is looking for and rewarded for, right? So there are some corporate VCs that are just rewarded on rate of return on investment. There are others like us that we're all about building new businesses, new brands that have unicorn potential and growing those up. So I think it's really important to understand what are the needs and then what are the success criteria? Like, how do you stage gate through with a big coat? Because the critical thing for a small startup is your really resource lean and resource constrained. And you don't want to spend all of your time trying to kind of serve a corporate partner if the criteria is so big and you're not ready for that and you're just not there, right? And often a lot of entrepreneurs think they have one shot with a big cow or corporate VC and that's not usually the case. Right? It's just like even in the VC world, it's when you're ready and when you get the right amount of data for what whoever's looking for, again, we have an appetite for early stage and a lot of risk. Others don't, right? So it's just really understanding what that criteria are that they're looking for within the corporation. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're you hit on a good point. The start is really understanding corporate venture groups. So what are their drivers? Some are strategic, some are fiduciary, really understanding what type of venture that they all make. So Johnson and Johnson, we are strategic corporate investors. Our JJDC team is part of Johnson and Johnson Innovation. Works directly out of our innovation centers. We have four innovation centers globally where we are in the external environment, looking at science and technology that's on strategy for Johnson and Johnson. And that's there. That's where you will come into contact with those from the different sectors from Johnson and Johnson for not only partnering, but also corporate investing. And again, we're strategic investors and companies. So I'm going to move on, Normie. I want to bring you back into the Q&A here. I think the next question will be a great one. Anna from Mexico asks, what are some strategies to promote inclusion for marginalized groups and society as the world continues to digitize? Yeah, I can start from venture capital looking, looking at diversifying portfolios. You know, I think having an outbound recruiting strategy that is authentic and relevant is key. So she's asking about strategies. One strategy is a diversity, you know, writing in diversity into investment documents and requiring that that a company, you know, make it make a concerted effort to to diversify their teams. But on the venture capital level, it's about outbound recruitment efforts that are that are authentic, that are focused, that are real and relevant. And so, you know, I think about so many efforts that are focused on on the gender and ethnic gap next wave impact just had an incredible founders of color showcase this week where there were there were many companies that just blew me away. Portfolia is another effort I'm part of that is not only focused on getting more women into the venture ecosystem as LPs, but also investing in the types of companies that women want to see in the world. And and I'm part of a fund that is investing in and underrepresented founders, whether it's Latinos or African-Americans or the LGBTQ community. And so those are efforts that are that are focused and authentic and they're they're the outbound recruitment is key. So, you know, saying I'm open for business and I'll look at anyone is not enough, it is about hitting the road and forming alliances, providing value in these communities and building the kind of trust that is necessary to to really build relationships. We spend a lot of time as well. I think that's amazing, Norma. We spend a lot of time, both corporately and in P&G ventures, around promoting diversity, right? I mean, diversity comes in a lot of different ways and it leads to more robust thinking, you know, gender equality is really important for us. Promoting women entrepreneurs is very important to us as well. Right? These are so underrepresented sectors and demographics within both the startup and the investment community. And there's no reason why, because there's just amazingly great minds out there and giving people those opportunities to really shine are really important for us. There was a there was a Kaufman Fellows Research Center report released recently, and one of the one of the stats that stayed with me was that female partners and venture firms are twice as likely to invest in a female founder. So if we want to double the number of female founders getting venture capital, we need to double the number or bring parity into the number of female partners and firms. And when I think about Mila Capital in particular, we are three partners. Two of us are Latina and looking at our portfolio, one third of our CEOs are women. Over 50 percent of our of our founders are immigrants. And so those statistics, I think, really reflect our team and our own values. That's amazing. I also know I don't have the exact number, but I know women entrepreneurs and women led startups have a disproportionate success rate to get the second round of funding the next round. All right. So the data is there. Yeah, absolutely. Right. The reports are the same thing. If female founders can raise can can get beyond seed, they actually end up raising more capital than than male lead teams. Yeah, it's an it's incredible important topic because the patients and consumers we serve are diverse populations. So how can we get more capital investments into diverse companies with or products serving diverse populations? And I think you both hit on it really well. And it's certainly in our culture at Johnson and Johnson and in investing in female and minority led companies. Our portfolio at J Labs is over 30 percent led by women and have also over 30. Additionally, over 30 percent are led by diverse individuals. And it's an incredibly important topic for a consideration. Thank you both for sharing. So I'm going to move on for those of you who are just joining us now. You're watching the just tech connects on emerging trends and startup investing. Our experts are here to answer your questions. So please ask your questions in the chat space next to the video player or on Twitter using the hashtag just tech connect. Now I'm going to move to something that we know is on everyone's mind as we sit at home and on Zoom when we're not in our office. Things have really changed overnight. The COVID-19 outbreak has affected every part of the global economy and society. How do you think this pandemic will affect startup investing in the short term and long term? So I'm interested to hear about your industries and we can share a little bit about what we're seeing at Johnson and Johnson. So but first, let me start with you, Norma. Norma, what are you seeing? How do you think COVID's going to affect startup investing in the short term and long term? I thought about this when when Alan was saying you can't innovate behind your desk. You've got to get out there. I really wanted to to say but wear a face mask. You know, in venture capital, as in parenting, fear is good. Fear is great, actually. I think it makes us vulnerable and willing to to pause to be strategic. And I do I am hearing a lot of a lot of fear right now and that's a good thing. The blessing is that in this country, people have really come together. I bought masks, recently cloth masks from my my sister's boyfriend's ex-mother-in-law for five dollars a piece and and she's sewing these out of her home in her free time. So from the small players making masks and companies like JPL getting into the into ventilator solutions to really big players like X Prize, thinking about bringing capital and resources to to bear, it's really inspiring. In the short term, I see some I see some positive benefits. I am seeing a stronger focus on people, on culture, on balance. We have one portfolio CEO who two weeks into the stay at home order here in LA said, you know what, when this all ends, whenever that is, we're going to be a three to company, meaning our employees will come to the office three days a week and work from home two days a week. He said, I don't I don't know why I hadn't thought about that before. It's better for traffic. It's better for the environment. It's better on people's, you know, home life. So I'm excited about that. I think we're saying we're being more open minded in the ways in which we connect. We're we're open to meeting founders online, you know, ritually and having discussions that way. So that extra barrier of watching someone interact socially. Let's take them to dinner and see how they do with the team. I think that is eliminated and that is making us, you know, I think making us better. When we look at investments, we're thinking about operational efficiency. And for me, that is it is a huge one. We're thinking about runway, we're thinking about cost. And I think virtually every industry right now is thinking about supply chain and logistics, right? How is my product going to be made and delivered? Medium and long term, I'm I'm I'm less, you know, less inspired, I have more fear. We talked a lot about diversity earlier. And I really, you know, this is one area where early data is suggesting that that the modest gains that female founders have have reaped in venture are being wiped out. There was an article in Forbes this week that talked about the drop in venture capital from the first quarter in 2019 to the first quarter in 2020. And so there's fear that it could take, you know, even years to to recoup that that growth. I think about venture capital firms and their hiring process and and LIFO, right? Are those last hires in going to be the first people out? And certainly it is not a level playing field. And so there are there are entrepreneurs who were bootstrapping their business who are just not able to continue in this environment. The reality of responsibility really sets in and and that's unfortunate. So in the short term, I see I see benefits to covid in a medium to long term. My biggest fear is around losing diversity gains. And then, you know, maybe long, long term, I think about a new way, a new way of life, how is travel going to be different? And we have a toddler and my husband and I have been talking about when we may feel comfortable traveling again and what that would look like with a with a small child. Another article this week, I've been doing a lot of reading, which is a benefit of being at home as well, talked about a team from MIT and Harvard developing a face mask that would light up in the presence of covid. They were actually funded by Johnson and Johnson a couple of years ago. This is a researcher at MIT who won the MacArthur genius grant like 15 years ago. And so that is, you know, that's interesting to think about. And lastly, I know we're going to be nicer to teachers. And that's a many friends who are teachers who are saying it's finally my time. So some good, some scary and certainly a lot to think about. Yeah. Yeah. So, Alan, you know, can you add to that with how you see the startup investing in the short term? So I would say one, a couple of things, right? Change happens, right? That's the one thing that's the one constant. And this is just an unprecedented change. One of the things that's really important for everybody is to stay very, very close to their, I like to say, their users or their consumers, whether it's a B to B, a B to C, it doesn't really matter. Because what you'll find is day to day, week to week, things are changing. I mean, they're changing that quickly. So for all of us, trusted brands are really, really important in certain sectors of our lives now. Right? So if you walk down the grocery aisle in the cleaning aisle, the only stuff that's left are naturals or no name brands, right? Because the whole idea of compromising performance, I'm not sure we want to do that, right? Certainly in the disinfecting world. But then as you get on, you know, the conversations for the first four weeks is all about disinfection. Conversations for the last four weeks have all been about dying your hair and haircuts, right? And how do you do that? So I think it's really important. Number one is trusted brands. Consumers are really going to migrate towards that. I think people are going to really migrate to things that are grounded in science. I've said this a hundred times now, right? I think that's going to be very, very important to build that trust versus a lot of ideas that are out there that aren't substantiated in real physical or data, right? So I think that's going to kind of the bottom of the market. I think it's going to go out there. I think there's ample opportunities and new ideas as well as I think as society just kind of looks at serving consumers, things are going to really change, right? I mentor a startup that is playing in the space or serving consumers around pregnancy monitoring. OK, and they're waiting for their FDA clearance. About four weeks ago, they had an interesting conversation with the FDA saying, hey, women in late stage of their pregnancy aren't going to the doctors. They're not going to clinics. High risk, this is a gigantic problem, but even low risk, it's really important. That was on a Friday, Monday morning, the FDA called them and cleared their product, right? So those are opportunities that people just need to seize. And six weeks later, they're already in the market, right? So they are they're moving. But I think we just need to be ready for change. You know, look at supply chains and the shifts of supply chains. Look at food, what's happening there. There's plenty of food out there. It's just in the wrong supply chain. It's going to restaurants and commercial when it needs to be going to the consumer base. So I think it's staying very close to consumers, trusted brands and things again that are grounded in science. Yeah, I love go ahead. I love Alan's reminder about change. You know, I think about two companies in our portfolio. One was one is in the mental health space, but but B2B working with with health insurers and they saw covid as an opportunity to move into the consumer space and provide some sort of relief to to people like you and I. And and that was really inspiring to see. There's also another company that is manufacturing in China that has a customer base in Latin America and a team in the Bay Area. And so it was really interesting, you know, speaking to Alan's things are changing every week, you know, they first saw a hit to supply chain in China. And then they saw a hit in the Bay Area with their team being asked to stay at home. And then they saw a hit to their customer base in Latin America when when when things started getting ugly there. And so for them it is about being being nimble and quick and responding to to the changes every week as they were coming in in a different way. And I'll just add one last comment is we may not like it, but this is very much kind of a lean startup world we're living in with covid. Yeah, I mean, we're learning very, very opportunistic, right? But even even the facts of how we do our work, right? You know, the government and the scientists have a hypothesis. They're testing it. We're kind of on this 14 day cycle of what's the next greatest news. We may not like all the noise around it. But that's very much how you run a business in these day and age, especially an early stage business. Yeah, we're certainly seeing an opportunistic at the moment within our JLAB's portfolio, so in their working we're currently working with and happen for the past few weeks with those companies that are developing either assets or platform technologies that can respond to the covid needs. So we have a unique partnership with Barda under the Department of Health and Human Services, we're in partnership with the Biodefense Agency, Barda. And we're we're working with them to find solutions and to their innovative pipeline, their gaps. So bringing innovations to their pipeline. So how can we get our current companies in our portfolio to be aligned with some of those needs? So we've been working pretty hard over the past few weeks and making those introductions, helping Barda with their EZBA call for science and technology in this pandemic response. And then we think about it long term. You know, we certainly recognize the importance of public and private partnerships for innovation. And I have to believe as we move forward, there's going to be more public-private partnerships to drive science and innovation for future pandemic needs and future responses. So I think we all play a role, right? I think we play roles as individuals. I think our corporations all play roles, right? I mean, I look at what Proctor Gable's doing. We're producing face masks and donating to the community. We're producing lots of companies producing hand sanitizers because they have that capability, right? So they're stepping up and kind of fill in the gap. And we as individuals can do the same. We may not be able to, you know, make at scale. But just like Nora May said, around face masks, around doing our role to get through this and end up in a better place. Yeah, a lot of opportunities. Yeah, thank you for that, Alan. Looks like we have time for a few more online questions before we finish here. Eli from the US asks, how do you envision large corporations pivoting to work closer with startups in this new world? Alan, any quick pivots? We're going to continue to stay close to consumers and close to the entrepreneurs, right, and fill the different gaps we're needed. Again, we're about delivering superior consumer experiences. And there's lots of opportunities there. Yeah, just quickly, we had we had two companies raise a series A last year from strategic investors who don't have a corporate, a formal corporate venture or or innovation program. And so that was an interesting shift for us to see a direct investment from some big strategists who are just trying to stay in the game. Yeah, I mean, I'm a big believer. I'm so sorry, Sally. I'm a big believer that, you know, even pre-COVID yet post, the best it's the best of big co with the best of the entrepreneurs and startups because none of us can do it all. Right. So it's what value does everybody bring to the table to advance whatever program or whatever mission they're on. Right. So the next question I'm going to ask is a guest from Indonesia asked what kind of value add can investors provide to startups aside from capital? Norma. Yeah, so much. You know, lots of really stage VCs are really differentiating and in their level of being high touch, which which is, you know, means being deeply embedded with a company, some quick examples of ways in which we have partnered with our teams, we have sat in on on calls, vetting, sea level candidates. We have reviewed investor lists and made introductions. We've reviewed pitch decks. We have toured manufacturing facilities and given insight on layout and process flow. We have helped teams move from one supplier to another supplier and negotiate a manufacturing service agreement. We have coached teams, coached strategy. These are some of the ways in which we've been helpful to our portfolio as early stage investors. And do you think it's fair to say that startups should be asking for that type of support from investors? I think they should be looking for an investor who fills the gap. You don't need five investors on your cap table who all want to to come in and be helpful. So I think it's it has to be a mutual fit and not all founders want someone on the phone with them every month checking in as to how they're doing. Thanks, Alan, it looks like you want to add something to that? No, I mean, that's you know, that's our POD, right? As a corp in this world, right? Is brand building consumer inside manufacturing, supply chain distribution, regulatory communication, those are the kind of things that we can do really well, 183 years of doing pretty well, you know, looking in the mirror and saying, wow, where can we make a difference? And you want to be partnering people who want to continue to learn that have kind of an open mindset, right? And how are you going to build on things? Thanks, I'm going to do one more question. Norma, Ben from US asked, what are some strategies for investors to mitigate the risk of a down round for a company they've invested in? Perhaps the biggest strategy is adding capital to the previous round. So reopening the last round and asking the investors there to to add a little bit more runway for companies that are farther along, we're asking them to consider purchase order financing or lines of credit with their banks as a way to extend their current runway and prevent a down round. Alan, did you want to add anything to that? The only advice I have is control what you can control right now, right? So work on things that you can actually progress forward and put other things on pause, right? Because certain things just it is really tough to do right now. That's a good point. We want to be burning cash and time on things that you're not going to make progress on. OK, looks like we have a couple more questions before we finish. Nina asks, why do you think female founders will receive less VC investment due to this pandemic? Yeah, well, I don't think the data shows. We don't know yet, right? No, I mean, the data shows that that has indeed happened from the first quarter of 2019 to first quarter of 2020. You know, the theory or the hypothesis here is that investors are going to, you know, going to re up with their current investments and look at less new investments. Fear makes us retract and it makes us lean into what's comfortable and what we know and the security of our networks. And so that is the hypothesis around diversity. And again, you can look up the Forbes article that talks about, you know, the decline in venture capital to all female founder teams. And I think you've also brought a point up earlier, right? It is you know, the consideration is as capital venture groups have expanded their teams of investors and brought on more diversity. And if they were the last ones in, are they the first ones out on this in this marketplace? And it's not only the established firms. It's also thinking about the micro VCs, right? It's a lot of a lot of diverse investment professionals are raising their own funds. And in this environment, they're having trouble closing on funds. And so there could be consolidation at the emerging manager level. And these teams tend to really bridge the gap when it comes to to investing in underrepresented founders. Alan, did you want to add anything before we? No, I think I think, you know, Norma is right on. And I think fear plays a big role in that, right? This rapid change we're in and the uncertainty people default back to kind of the old ways, because there's a roadmap and there's kind of a way of doing that. And I think it's going to hurt people. Well, it looks like we're out of time. Unfortunately, I think we could probably sit here most of today and keep chatting about the trends that we're seeing. It's a unique time in our lives and in the startup environment. I want to thank you both for joining us and sharing your expertise and experiences. This just tech connect was brought to you during the Angel Capital Association Virtual Summit to learn more about the partnership launched today between Angel Capital Association and the Just Initiative. Visit justnetwork.com. I just want to thank everyone viewing today around the globe. We certainly saw questions from all over the world. This has been a great conversation on the emerging trends, even though today's program is over, just want to remind everyone that we don't want the conversation about startup investment trends to stop. And we certainly don't either. Please continue the conversation on Twitter at hashtag just tech connect. And you can check back here on justnetwork.org for information about other upcoming just events, including programs just like this. So thank you both and take care. Thank you, Sally.