Sound Investments

Perfecting Your Pitch: Insights from Dana Sather RobinsonIn this episode, Ed Barker is joined by Dana Sather Robinson, founder of Pitch4Impact, to discuss common mistakes founders make in their pitches and how to improve them. Dana emphasizes the importance of understanding what investors really want to hear and how to craft a compelling narrative. She highlights the significance of good communication skills in pitching and broader founder communication, including customer interactions, team building, and relationship management. Dana shares her journey and provides practical tips on structuring and refining pitches to captivate investors, emphasizing the value of practice, storyboarding, and preparation for Q&A sessions.To receive the download, “What Investors Really Want”, click here.00:00 Introducing Dana Sather Robinson02:42 Dana's Journey to Pitch Coaching05:35 Common Pitching Mistakes11:15 What Investors Really Want16:13 Storyboarding Your Pitch25:46 Communication as a Leadership Signal29:14 Mastering Q&A40:50 Building Investor RelationshipsAbout Your HostEd Barker has enjoyed a weird and varied career. Ed is a Brit now resident in Seattle and has founded three startups, enjoyed a long career in corporate strategy, and most recently as a VC. He's now building a podcast production company, Studio 1878. Sound Investments is a modest attempt to shine some light on the fantastic work being done in the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial community.Dana Sather Robinson, Pitch4ImpactAs an angel investor, Dana has evaluated hundreds of investor pitches and decks over the years. She knows what investors need to get from a pitch in order to want to go further. As a professional trainer with decades of experience in presentation skills training, she works with founders to improve their skills to create and deliver impactful pitches. The Pitch 4 Impact training program helps improve startup pitches and be able to adapt to different situations and investors.Connect with Dana:* Pitch4Impact: pitch4impact.com* Dana's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dana-sather-robinson/* What Investors Really Want: preview.mailerlite.io/forms/804767/176514105053545618/share

Navigating the Climate Tech Investment LandscapeEd Barker sits down with Jeff Canin, an active member of E8 Angels, board member at Virtue Lab, and co-chair of the Clean Energy Institute Advisory Council at the University of Washington. Jeff shares his journey from engineering and business to becoming a leading figure in climate tech and clean tech investing.00:00 Introduction05:13 Mission in Climate Investing09:56 Cycles, Trends, and Opportunities14:20 Inside E8 Angels19:46 Investment Sectors26:32 The Local Ecosystem & Community31:17 Challenges, Policy, and the FutureAbout Your HostEd Barker has enjoyed a weird and varied career. Ed is a Brit now resident in Seattle and has founded three startups, enjoyed a long career in corporate strategy, and most recently as a VC. He's now building a podcast production company, Studio 1878. Sound Investments is a modest attempt to shine some light on the fantastic work being done in the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial community.Jeff Canin, E8 AngelsJeff is an active investment member at E8 Angels, one of North America’s most active cleantech angel networks, and a long-time leader in climate and clean energy investing. He began his career in engineering, economics, and technology markets before moving into sell-side equity research and venture capital, including time at US Venture Partners. Jeff later focused on university technology commercialization, working closely with the University of Washington and Oregon State University. He is a former board member of VertueLab and serves as co-chair of the Clean Energy Institute Advisory Council. Across investing, advisory roles, and nonprofit work, Jeff is driven by a double bottom line approach, backing companies that combine strong commercial potential with meaningful climate impact. Connect with Jeff Canin:* E8 Angels: https://www.e8angels.com/* Virtue Lab: https://www.virtuelab.org/* Clean Energy Institute: https://www.cei.washington.edu/

The Creative Destruction Lab: Connecting Innovation with ImpactIn this episode, Emer Dooley, site lead for the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington, discusses the CDL's mission to commercialize deep tech startups for the benefit of humankind. She elaborates on CDL’s mentoring program, which pairs high-caliber mentors with promising startups in the fields of computational health and advanced manufacturing, to guide them through critical objectives over a nine-month period. Emer also explains the program's unique funding model, the process of selecting and nurturing startups, and CDL’s significant impact on the Seattle innovation ecosystem and beyond. She highlights the challenges and successes of maintaining a nonprofit organization focused on deep tech innovation.00:00 Introduction to CDL03:48 What is CDL? Structure and Differentiation06:54 Types of Companies and CDL's Two Tracks13:28 CDL's Place in the Seattle Innovation Ecosystem15:12 How CDL is Funded16:46 What Mentors Get Out of CDL18:19 Success Stories from CDL Companies18:19 Success Stories and Measuring Impact26:49 Seattle Ecosystem Challenges and Future Growth34:33 CDL's Vision and Long-term Strategy37:13 Closing Reflections About Your HostEd Barker has enjoyed a weird and varied career. Ed is a Brit now resident in Seattle and has founded three startups, enjoyed a long career in corporate strategy, and most recently as a VC. He's now building a podcast production company, Studio 1878. Sound Investments is a modest attempt to shine some light on the fantastic work being done in the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial community.Emer Dooley, Site Lead, Creative Destruction Lab, SeattleEmer is the Site Lead for Creative Destruction Lab–Seattle, where she works with founders building science- and technology-driven companies at the earliest stages. She is also adjunct faculty at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, teaching entrepreneurship and innovation. Emer brings a rare blend of academic rigor, technical background, and ecosystem leadership to her work with founders. She has held leadership roles across investing, university innovation, and nonprofit boards, including Alliance of Angels and the Washington Research Foundation. At CDL, she focuses on helping deep-tech teams translate research into scalable companies. Emer is a key builder of Seattle’s startup and innovation community.

Jonathan Azoff: From Gaming to Scientific Venture - Building SNØCAP Fund’s Model for Commercializing Real ScienceIn this episode of Sound Investments, Jonathan Azoff, co-founder and General Partner at SNØCAP, traces his nonlinear path from software and gaming through logistics, real estate, and eventually into climate and deep tech. That shift began at Sweet Farm, a nonprofit agricultural and science incubator where Jonathan met researchers whose breakthroughs had no route to commercial funding. The experience led to the viral Goat 2 Meeting initiative, kept the nonprofit alive during COVID, and revealed a pattern that would define his career: scientists don’t lack ideas - they lack capital pathways.Jonathan breaks down the gaps in today’s venture system, why deep tech founders often struggle to raise, and how SNØCAP evaluates scientific companies through supply chains, cost curves, and real economic outcomes rather than hype cycles. We dig into why supporting scientists early creates durable returns, how SNØCAP structures hands-on partnerships with founders, and what it takes to build a new asset class for science-based innovation.The conversation also explores Jonathan’s work in ecosystem building, from university fellows to incubators to convening investors and founders across multiple cities. He closes with the long-term vision: a world where commercializing scientific breakthroughs is systematic, fundable, and scalable.00:00 – Sound Investments | Jonathan Azoff, SNØCAP01:56 – Jonathan’s path from software and gaming into climate and deep tech11:06 – The Goat 2 Meeting story and why it mattered13:59 – SNØCAP’s thesis: commercializing real science through supply chains22:28 – Deep tech, incentives, and the limits of traditional venture30:30 – Impact, returns, and rational economic adoption33:59 – Building ecosystems: universities, incubators, and community43:40 – Long-term motivation and SNØCAP’s vision for the futureAbout Your HostEd Barker has enjoyed a weird and varied career. Ed is a Brit now resident in Seattle and has founded three startups, enjoyed a long career in corporate strategy, and most recently as a VC. He's now building a podcast production company, Studio 1878. Sound Investments is a modest attempt to shine some light on the fantastic work being done in the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial community.Jonathan Azoff, Managing Partner, SNØCAPJonathan is the co-founder and General Partner of SNØCAP, a venture firm focused on commercializing scientific breakthroughs in climate, food, materials, and supply-chain innovation. His career spans software engineering, gaming, real estate, and logistics, with multiple acquisitions across those sectors. Jonathan’s shift into deep tech began at Sweet Farm, a nonprofit agricultural and science incubator where he worked closely with researchers lacking traditional venture pathways. He now leads SNØCAP's thesis of backing science that is already economically superior to incumbent technologies. Jonathan is also an ecosystem builder, supporting founders through university programs, incubators, and community initiatives across the U.S.

From Tech to Bananas: A New Investment HorizonThis week, Ed Barker sits down with Luni Libes, one of Seattle’s most quietly influential entrepreneurs and investors. Luni built and ran multiple software companies before launching Fledge, the accelerator network that helped more than 120 founders around the world. His current focus is Africa Eats, an investment company backing a portfolio of food-focused African businesses that are growing far faster - and surviving at rates far higher - than the typical American tech startup.Luni explains why the standard venture playbook misses the realities of most global markets and walks through the alternatives he has built: hands-on company building, growth financing instead of burn financing, and a long-term model that aims for durability rather than quick exits. We dig into the structural advantages of food and agriculture ventures in Africa, how Africa Eats has navigated scaling in fragmented markets, and what he has learned during a year living and working from Mauritius.If you’re interested in alternative venture models, operator-led investing, or the next wave of African market growth, this conversation offers a set of insights you won’t hear in typical VC discussions.00:00 Introducing Luni Libes02:13 How Africa Eats began02:57 Building Fledge and its global network04:48 How Fledge expanded internationally06:44 Lessons from decades of entrepreneurship12:32 Africa Eats and the model behind its success19:45 The value and timing of early stage capital20:06 How living abroad reshaped his perspective20:58 The plan for public listing and market participation in Africa21:56 Breaking down the realities of African venture capital23:15 Scaling the Africa Eats portfolio25:36 What comes next33:12 Personal reflections on the sabbatical39:51 Closing thoughtsAbout Your HostEd Barker has enjoyed a weird and varied career. Ed is a Brit now resident in Seattle and has founded three startups, enjoyed a long career in corporate strategy, and most recently as a VC. He's now building a podcast production company, Studio 1878. Sound Investments is a modest attempt to shine some light on the fantastic work being done in the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial community.Luni Libes, Managing Partner, Africa EatsLuni is a serial entrepreneur and investor with more than three decades of experience founding and scaling companies in software, social enterprise, and impact investing. He founded the global accelerator network Fledge and is the CEO of Africa Eats, an investment holding company building resilient food and agriculture businesses across the African continent. He also co-founded Realize Impact, a public charity that channels philanthropic capital into mission-driven ventures. Luni previously served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Washington’s CoMotion centre and has taught entrepreneurship at multiple institutions. He is the author of The Next Step series and creator of the Pinchot Impact Index, a framework for measuring aggregated impact across portfolios.

Navigating Tech Optimism and AI Innovation with TA McCann of Pioneer Square LabsIn this episode, Ed Barker sits down with TA McCann, Managing Partner at Pioneer Square Labs, to explore what it takes to build ambitious companies in an era defined by artificial intelligence. TA’s background spans founding and scaling startups, leading high-performing teams, and backing the next generation of founders across the Pacific Northwest. That range gives him a clear view of where the opportunity is – and where the hype sits.We dig into the PSL model and how its combination of startup studio, venture fund, and corporate innovation practice creates a uniquely high-leverage environment for company building. TA walks through how the team uses AI to accelerate ideation and validation, why their scoring framework matters for founders, and what he’s seeing in the application layer where real value is emerging.Throughout the conversation, TA comes back to a theme that feels core to the region: optimism as a discipline. We talk about how to build with AI without losing sight of the human problem, why geography remains a strategic advantage, and why the Pacific Northwest continues to punch above its weight in frontier technologies. He also shares the areas he’s personally watching next, from agent-driven workflows to quantified health.Chapters00:00 Introductions
01:22 TA’s path into entrepreneurship and PSL
08:31 How the PSL model works across Studio, VC, and corporate innovation
13:57 Equity structures and building aligned founder partnerships
18:13 The PSL scoring rubric for evaluating new companies
24:56 Focus areas and where the AI application layer is maturing
33:36 Practicing optimism and keeping a long horizon in AI
39:44 Why geography still matters in tech and the PNW advantage
45:33 What’s next: Lev, quantified health, and emerging frontier themesAbout Your HostEd Barker has enjoyed a weird and varied career. Ed is a Brit now resident in Seattle and has founded three startups, enjoyed a long career in corporate strategy, and most recently as a VC. He's now building a podcast production company, Studio 1878. Sound Investments is a modest attempt to shine some light on the fantastic work being done in the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial community.T.A McCann, Managing Partner, Pioneer Square LabsT.A is a Seattle-based entrepreneur, investor, and Managing Partner at Pioneer Square Labs. Before entering tech he competed in two America’s Cup campaigns and the Whitbread Round the World Race, then went on to found and lead companies including Gist (acquired by BlackBerry), Rival IQ, and Senosis (acquired by Google). At PSL he helps build and fund new startups through the studio and venture model, with a focus on AI, emerging technologies, and company creation. TA also teaches entrepreneurship at UW and is a long-time mentor across the Pacific Northwest startup community.