In this episode, Swati Chaturvedi sits down with Didier Choukroun, founder and CEO of SPHERE Healthcare Investments, to explore the journey of building a data-driven healthcare real estate empire. Didier shares his remarkable path from starting in France, expanding into Latin America, and eventually establishing a multi-billion-dollar portfolio across the U.S. and Europe. Listeners will learn about SPHERE’s unique approach to healthcare investments, including their focus on data analytics, vertical integration, and partnerships with healthcare operators. Didier explains how the firm delivers high IRRs and consistent cash yields by combining market insight, operational expertise, and a disciplined investment strategy. The episode also highlights SPHERE’s recent partnership with Propel(x), aimed at making institutional-level healthcare real estate opportunities accessible to accredited retail investors. Didier shares insights into the evolving healthcare investment landscape and offers advice on risk management, strategic growth, and leveraging data for smarter decision-making. This conversation is a must-listen for sophisticated investors, healthcare professionals, and anyone interested in the intersection of real estate, data, and public health.

Every year the National Science Foundation (NSF) invests over $200 million to help launch hard-tech startups. The government agency is often the "first money in." With a deep bench of academics and researchers to aid their evaluation, the NSF is able to evaluate cutting edge technologies to promote and support. This episode features Ben Schrag, Senior Program Director for the SBIR/STTR programs. We discuss how the NSF looks for technology risk, and what steps the agency takes in supporting early commercialization for deeptech startups. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. This is for informational purposes only. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.

In this episode we speak with Eric Rosenblum on how to think about strategies for deep tech investing. Tsingyuan Ventures is the successor fund to the TEEC Angels, a Silicon Valley angel group of graduates of China's Tsingyua Univeristy (China's most elite school). The TEEC Angels were early investors in Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM), Ginko BioWorks, and others. Tsingyuan Ventures is a $100M USD fund investing in disciplinary technology across enterprise, life sciences, and deep tech. Notable investments include WeRide, a leading autonomous vehicle technology startup in China, Otter.AI, an artificial intelligence live voice transcription company, the precision medicine company Mission Bio, and the no-code platform, Bubble. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. This is for informational purposes only. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.

In this episode we hear from Jason Holt on how to build a quality efficient deal sourcing practice. He shares his perspective on how to distinguish good markets from bad markets, and what to look for in founders as an investor. Jason's previous experience as a deep tech entrepreneur and current climate tech investor contributes to his views on how climate tech investing gives him hope in an era of climate catastrophe. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. This is for informational purposes only. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.

In this episode we begin to analyze the Internal Risks of a company - Technology, Regulatory and IP risks are covered in this episode. Join us as we define each of the risks, and discuss the key considerations for each. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.

In Episode 4 we had put out a framework for 'How to Evaluate a Startup'. Episodes 6 and 7 discussed 'How to Evaluate the Market' and 'How to Evaluate the Team', respectively. In this episode, we continue the discussion on how to evaluate a startup. Today we discuss how to evaluate competition. Highlights of this episode: - Status quo, or how customers currently solve their problem, is always a competitor (often the main competitor) - Good competitors improve one of three things for their customers: 1) they are lower cost 2) they are higher performance or 3) they are more convenient. - Talking to customers or industry experts is one of the best ways to learn about competition. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.

Join us as Swati discusses the process of investing with Gopi Rangan, an experienced investor in the insurance technology sector. We discuss the explosion of Micro VCs in recent times. Additionally, Gopi shares his process, how he sources companies, how he interacts with them, what characteristics he specifically looks for and he manages his portfolio post investment. As an early stage investor, Gopi seeks to understand how he can help the company grow and thrive. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.

Professional investors cite 'team' as the single most important criterion that influences the investment decision. Yet, there are no precise metrics that guide the evaluation of the team. The assessment is often fuzzy, vague, and based on how the investor 'feels' about the team. This episode presents three tips that early stage investors should keep in mind when evaluating team: 1. Early stage investing is subject to behavioral bias. Be aware of your biases. 2. Separate fact from opinion and focus on the facts when evaluating team. 3. Ask questions to cross check facts. E.g., who is really on the payroll vs. an advisor at large. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.

In Episode 4 we presented a framework to Evaluate startups. The framework lays out several criteria along which you may evaluate startups. Market size is one of those criteria. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments. In this Episode, Andy and Swati discuss how to understand the Market for a startup. Questions we discuss are: Why is an understanding of market potential relevant (and what is market potential anyway)? How should one estimate the market size? Does every startup really have to have a humungous market running into many billions of dollars? Join us as we discuss these topics and more, that surround the key elements of startup evaluation - Market Size.

Join us as we interview our guest - Kiki Tidwell - a prolific angel investor, philanthropist, and cleantech evangelist. Among her many activities, Kiki is also a Founding Member of the Tech Advisory Group for the Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice. More on Kiki here: https://humanrights.stanford.edu/people/kiki-tidwell In this episode, we discuss how Kiki invests. Her process - starting from sourcing deal-flow, conducting diligence, evaluating the team and more. Kiki also shares her insights on success and failure and how to build a portfolio. We must emphasize, as always, that investing in early stage, unproven startups, is a high risk activity. There is no exact science to evaluating these companies. These investments carry the risk of complete capital loss. Disclaimer: Propel(x) is a funding platform, not a Broker-Dealer. Securities are offered through Hubble Investments, member FINRA/SIPC and an affiliate of Propel(x). Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should speak with your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney when evaluating private offerings. Neither Propel(x) nor Hubble Investments makes any recommendations or provides advice about investments.