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How can technology and data help individuals better manage serious mental health conditions? In this episode of SoCal Edge, hosts Art Dicker and Alessandro Rinaldi speak with Peter Westlake, CEO of MindNumbers, a San Diego-based digital health startup developing tools to help individuals living with bipolar disorder monitor their wellness and recognize potential warning signs before a crisis occurs. Drawing on his background in finance, healthcare diagnostics, and medical technology, Peter explains how a personal family experience inspired him to address a major gap in mental healthcare: the lack of objective, continuous measurement. MindNumbers combines passive monitoring, wearable-device data, and personalized wellness insights to help individuals better understand changes in their condition while maintaining control over their information. The conversation explores the challenges of bringing digital health innovations to market, including navigating regulatory boundaries, identifying the right customers, and developing sustainable reimbursement models. Peter also discusses why MindNumbers is initially pursuing a family-supported subscription model, with longer-term plans involving remote patient monitoring. Peter shares lessons from his entrepreneurial journey, including the importance of listening to customers, adapting business models, and the value of San Diego's EvoNexus incubator in helping founders refine their strategies. For entrepreneurs, investors, and anyone interested in digital health, this episode offers a thoughtful look at how technology can help address longstanding challenges in mental healthcare.

What happens when two Marine Corps veterans and USC alumni decide to bring AI into one of Washington, D.C.'s most traditional, relationship-driven industries? In this episode of The SoCal Edge, host Art Dicker speaks with Jordan Clayton and Neo Martinez, co-founders of Capiro, an AI-native operating system designed to transform how government affairs professionals work. Jordan's experience in defense technology and government advocacy exposed a major inefficiency: lobbyists spending countless hours researching legislation, preparing documents, and customizing submissions to congressional offices. He teamed up with Neo, an engineer and technology consultant, to develop a platform that automates much of that work. Their solution goes beyond AI-powered research. Capiro combines legislative intelligence, institutional knowledge, document generation, and workflow automation to help advocacy professionals spend less time behind their computers and more time building relationships and influencing outcomes. Jordan and Neo share how they developed their initial product, landed their first customer within a month, and grew their bootstrapped startup through customer referrals and word of mouth. They also discuss the challenges of building an AI company in a traditionally conservative industry, the importance of finding the right co-founder, and their plans to expand into government contracting and other markets. It's a fascinating conversation about entrepreneurship, AI, and finding opportunities in industries that have been slow to adopt new technology. Learn more about Capiro: https://capiro.ai Contact: [email protected]

In this episode of The SoCal Edge, Art Dicker sits down with Robin Park, founder and CEO of Chaparral Labs, a San Diego bioinformatics company developing software and AI tools for proteomics research. Robin has spent his career at the intersection of computer science and biology. After working at UC San Diego, he spent more than 16 years at Scripps Research, where he worked with pioneering proteomics researcher Dr. John Yates, published more than 60 scientific papers, contributed to two book chapters, and filed three patents. During those years, Robin repeatedly encountered the same problem: researchers were generating enormous amounts of biological data, but turning that complex and noisy data into useful insights remained slow and difficult. Robin Park transcript That experience led Robin to entrepreneurship. His first company built commercial-grade bioinformatics software that ultimately attracted customers including major pharmaceutical companies, universities, and the NIH before being acquired by Bruker. But Robin also learned firsthand how different running a company is from doing great science. Technical expertise wasn't enough—he had to learn sales, marketing, hiring, business development, grants, and how to actually reach customers. Robin Park transcript Robin Park transcript Now Robin is applying those lessons to Chaparral Labs. The company is tackling one of drug development's fundamental challenges: extracting reliable biological insights from huge volumes of complex data. Rather than simply applying AI to already processed datasets, Chaparral starts with raw data, applies its own quality-control and analysis tools, and then layers AI on top—a distinction Robin describes through the simple principle of "garbage in, garbage out." Robin Park transcript Robin Park transcript Robin also explains why he's approaching his second startup differently. His first company was largely bootstrapped and took years to grow. Chaparral has already raised pre-seed capital, completed the first phase of its technology platform, and attracted paying industry and academic customers on annual subscriptions. The next step is accelerating development of its AI capabilities before scaling to larger biopharma customers. Robin Park transcript The conversation also explores San Diego's biotech ecosystem. Robin sees the region's research institutions, scientists, biotech companies, collaborators, and potential customers as enormous strengths, while identifying access to capital and experienced business leadership as areas where San Diego still has room to grow. Robin Park transcript Finally, Robin shares advice from having already built and exited one company: talk to customers before the technology is perfect, stay passionate about the problem you're solving, and recognize that founders have to become competent across far more than their original area of expertise. Robin Park transcript This episode is a great conversation about what happens when deep scientific expertise meets entrepreneurship—and what it takes to turn research into a scalable biotech business in San Diego. Find Robin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-park-a4015b9/ Company Website: https://www.chaparral.ai/

What makes a business truly ready to sell? And why should founders start thinking about an exit years before they actually want one? In this episode of The SoCal Edge, Art Dicker sits down with Shaaya Sharifi, founder and CEO of Isle Ventures, to discuss how founders can build enterprise value and prepare their companies for a successful exit. Drawing on his experience in private equity, venture-backed companies, operating roles, and M&A, Shaaya explains how sophisticated buyers evaluate founder-led businesses—and why uncertainty almost always gets priced as risk. The conversation covers the practical work that can make a company more attractive to private equity and strategic buyers, including cleaning up financial reporting, reducing owner dependency, strengthening the management team, improving revenue quality, addressing customer concentration, organizing contracts and diligence materials, and building a compelling growth story. Shaaya also explains the differences between how private equity firms and strategic acquirers evaluate opportunities, why deal terms can matter as much as headline valuation, and how founders can think about the right buyer in terms of employees, customers, legacy, and cultural fit. The key takeaway: exit readiness shouldn't begin when you're ready to sell. Building a company with enterprise value and transferability in mind creates optionality...whether the eventual outcome is a sale, recapitalization, growth investment, or something else.

What if an ultrasound machine could become small enough to wear—and continuously monitor what’s happening inside the body? In this episode of The SoCal Edge, Art Dicker sits down with Sai Zhou, founder and CEO of CircuCare, a San Diego medtech startup developing wearable ultrasound technology. Sai traces his journey from studying materials science in China to biomedical engineering research at UC San Diego, where he worked on making traditional ultrasound technology dramatically smaller, thinner, and potentially usable beyond hospitals and clinics. Sai explains why CircuCare is initially focused on echocardiography and cardiovascular monitoring, and how wearable ultrasound could offer something existing consumer wearables cannot: the ability to continuously image the heart itself. He also discusses the challenge of turning breakthrough academic research into a durable, user-friendly medical device that can ultimately navigate the FDA process. The conversation also explores the much broader potential of wearable ultrasound—from fetal and lung monitoring to pain management, neuromodulation and even powering implanted devices. Finally, Sai shares how UC San Diego’s research, medical and entrepreneurial ecosystem helped him make the leap from researcher to founder—and why Southern California has become such an important ecosystem for building medtech companies. Reach out to Sai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/-saizhou/ Learn more about CircuCare: https://www.circucare.com/

What happens when a growing company outgrows its bookkeeper—but isn’t ready for a full-time CFO? How does having a private equity owner change how management looks at the financials? In this episode of The SoCal Edge, Art Dicker sits down with Erin Ludwig, founding partner of Blue Bird Partners, a fractional CFO firm focused on founder-owned and private-equity-backed technology companies. Erin explains the financial infrastructure growing businesses need as they move from simply making money to making strategic decisions about where the company is headed. She discusses the numbers founders should actually be watching, including cash flow, forecasts, budgets, industry-specific KPIs, and the 13-week cash flow forecast that can give owners much better visibility into what lies ahead. The conversation also explores when a company needs a controller or fractional CFO, what private equity investors expect from financial reporting, and why preparing for an eventual sale should begin well before a buyer shows up. Erin explains how weak financial systems can create problems during due diligence—and potentially translate into discounts to a company’s expected valuation. Erin shares her perspective on Orange County and Southern California’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and the opportunities she sees among founder-led and lower-middle-market businesses throughout the region. For founders thinking about scaling, raising capital, bringing in institutional investors, or eventually selling their company, this episode is a practical look at how better financial visibility can help turn growth into long-term value.

Alice Kao never planned to build a chain of climbing gyms. After starting her career in investment banking and the toyindustry, Alice discovered rock climbing while living in London during a difficult period in her life. What began as a way to find community and rebuild her confidence eventually became the inspiration for Sender One Climbing. In this episode of The SoCal Edge, Alice shares thestory of building Sender One from an idea around her dining room table into a growing Southern California business with six locations. We talk about the realities behind that growth: raisingmoney from friends and family, not paying herself for years, nearly running out of cash, and then facing an even bigger challenge when COVID forced the gyms to close for months. Alice also explains why community has always been at thecenter of Sender One, how the company has brought local customers in as investors, and why she believes building a successful company isn't ultimately about how many locations you open or how much money you make. It's a candid conversation about taking a chance on an idea,surviving the difficult years of entrepreneurship, and building a business around something you truly care about. https://www.senderoneclimbing.com/

What happens when a startup grows faster than its systems can handle? Art Dicker speaks with Rob Gaudio, CEO of Gaudio Growth Partners, about helping early-stage companies bring order to financial and operational chaos. They discuss cash flow, founder bottlenecks, 90-day planning, KPI tracking, investor readiness, and when it makes sense to bring in a fractional CFO or COO. Rob also explains how the right systems and accountability can help founders scale more safely, make better decisions, and avoid costly mistakes. Rob on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-gaudio-mba-94047a/Website: https://gaudiogrowth.com/ Rob is also the host of a great monthly event, Founders Live, here in San Diego: https://www.founderslive.com/events-list/san-diego-2026-07

In this episode of The SoCal Edge, Art Dicker sits down with longtime friend and fractional CFO Arman Zand to discuss the financial realities behind startup growth, fundraising, and scaling. Drawing on nearly three decades of experience working with venture-backed startups, Arman shares the mistakes founders repeatedly make, what investors actually care about, and why storytelling remains one of the most important skills a CEO can develop. Arman explains why commonly cited metrics like burn rate, customer acquisition cost, and gross margin are often misunderstood or calculated incorrectly. He also provides an insider's perspective on how venture capital firms evaluate opportunities, why VC fund life matters more than most founders realize, and how today's investors have shifted from "growth at all costs" to capital efficiency. The conversation also explores the impact of AI on startup investing, lessons from difficult layoff decisions, the dangers of "bad revenue," and practical advice for founders trying to scale responsibly. Throughout the discussion, Arman emphasizes disciplined hiring, financial clarity, and understanding the true drivers of business performance in the eyes of investors. Reach out to Arman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arman/

In this episode of SoCal Edge, we sit down with technology and business transformation leaders Elisa Henry and Allen Kim to explore what founders should really be doing 18–24 months before trying to sell their company. Drawing on decades of experience in technology, AI, product management, and operational scaling, Elisa and Allen explain why many founders leave millions on the table during an acquisition process — often because the business is too dependent on the founder, lacks scalable systems, or has hidden technical and operational debt. The conversation dives into what sophisticated buyers and private equity firms are actually looking for during due diligence, including: Why “service businesses disguised as product companies” often receive dramatically lower valuationsHow recurring revenue and customer stickiness can significantly increase multiplesThe role of technical debt, legacy systems, and AI in modern M&A preparationWhy documenting processes and building a strong data room early can make or break a dealHow founders can reduce dependency on themselves before an exitThe importance of leadership development and aligning employee incentives during a sale processHow AI tools are accelerating due diligence and exposing operational weaknesses faster than ever beforeCommon mistakes founders make when trying to prepare for an acquisition too lateElisa and Allen also share practical insights from working alongside founders through emotionally difficult transitions, helping companies move from founder-led organizations into scalable, acquisition-ready businesses. If you’re a founder, executive, investor, or advisor thinking about growth, scalability, or eventual exit planning, this episode offers a highly practical look inside the realities of preparing a company for sale. #podcast #business #startup #AI #MandA #founders #technology #privateequity #entrepreneurship #SoCalEdge Connect with Elisa and Allen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henryelisa/https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenwkim/

In this episode of SoCal Edge, we sit down with Adam Watson, co-founder and CEO of MeCo Diagnostics, a San Diego-based biotech startup developing the only clinically validated biomarker test designed to match breast cancer patients with anti-fibrotic therapy. Adam shares the remarkable journey from cancer biology PhD student to startup founder, explaining how his dissertation research evolved into a venture-backed company aiming to unlock what he describes as a “seventh modality” of breast cancer treatment. The conversation explores how MeCo Diagnostics is taking an unconventional approach to oncology by repurposing existing anti-fibrotic drugs rather than developing entirely new therapies — with the potential to dramatically reduce both cancer recurrence and treatment costs. We also dive into: Why the economics of cancer treatment are becoming unsustainableThe challenges of fundraising as a diagnostics companyHow biotech founders tailor pitches differently for VCs, angels, and family officesThe realities of leaving academia and becoming a first-time CEOLessons learned from building a biotech startup with limited capitalThe role EvoNexus and the San Diego biotech ecosystem played in the company’s growthFounder loneliness, impostor syndrome, and the pressures of startup lifeWhy Adam believes many people underestimate how difficult entrepreneurship really isThis episode offers a candid look at the intersection of biotech innovation, healthcare economics, and startup building — from someone trying to fundamentally rethink how cancer care is delivered. Reach out to Adam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-watson-phd/

In this episode of SoCal Edge, we sit down with Sunny Webb, a veteran AI product leader with more than 30 patents and deep experience across Apple, Pager Health, and healthcare AI standards, alongside Wei Li Tan, partner at Informed Ventures focused on early-stage digital health. Together, we unpack one of the biggest questions inhealthcare today: what actually happens after the AI demo ends? From clinical workflows and trust frameworks to investorexpectations, data moats, go-to-market strategy, and the future of payer and pharma AI, this conversation goes beyond the hype and gets into what it really takes to build scalable AI products in healthcare. Whether you’re a founder, investor, operator, or simply interested in where healthcare technology is headed, this episode offers a sharp look at the opportunities and risks shaping the next wave of digital health innovation.

In this episode of The SoCal Edge, Art Dicker and co-host Alessandro Rinaldi sit down with Sumeet Parekh, founder and managing partner of HP Investors, to discuss the current state of the San Diego commercial real estate market. Sumeet shares insights from his background in investment banking and private equity, including how those experiences shaped his approach to real estate investing. The conversation dives into how data drives investment decisions, how market trends are shifting across San Diego, and why location-focused strategies can outperform broader approaches. They also explore the impact of interest rates, the challenges facing commercial real estate post-COVID, the role of AI in the industry, and what’s really happening in downtown San Diego today — including why now may be the time to start leaning back in. 00:00 – Introduction to Sumeet Parekh and HP Investors02:00 – Lessons from investment banking and private equity04:00 – How data drives real estate investment decisions07:00 – Balancing risk, diversification, and local market focus10:00 – The current impact of AI on real estate12:00 – How real estate deals are sourced and executed15:00 – The state of commercial real estate and capital markets18:00 – What’s happening in downtown San Diego today20:00 – The future of San Diego real estate and development strategy About the Podcast The SoCal Edge features conversations with founders, investors, and operators shaping the business and technology landscape across Southern California.

How do top startups actually succeed—and why do most fail? In this episode, Gene Dantsker of EvoNexus breaks down the real mechanics behind startup success: from founder mindset to fundraising strategy to product-market fit. With nearly $6B in startup impact, EvoNexus offers a rare inside look at what works—and what doesn’t—in building high-growth companies. Gene shares how EvoNexus has helped launch nearly 300 startups, drive billions in funding and exits, and build one of the strongest innovation ecosystems in San Diego and Orange County. They go deep on what separates successful founders from the rest, how startups really get funded, and why most startups fail. Gene also breaks down EvoNexus’ unique model—free office space, world-class mentorship, and a “pay-it-forward” equity structure—and how it dramatically improves a startup’s odds. You’ll also hear real case studies—from medtech IPOs to billion-dollar acquisitions—and practical advice for founders looking to raise capital or join an incubator. If you're a founder, investor, or just interested in how startups actually succeed, this is a must-listen.

In this episode of The SoCal Edge, Art Dicker and co-host Alessandro Rinaldi speak with Brian Lamb, founder and CEO of Promissory, a company helping startup founders maximize the tax benefits of Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) through specialized trusts. Brian previously co-founded Trust & Will, one of the leading venture-backed estate planning platforms, and after partiallyexiting the company began exploring how founders could better plan for liquidity events. That journey led him to discover how complex and expensive QSBS trust planning can be — and inspired him to build Promissory to simplify the process. The conversation covers how QSBS works, why founders can potentially save millions in taxes, when in a startup’s lifecycle this planning should happen, and how software-driven legal solutions are transforming areas traditionally dominated by expensive law firm processes. What You'll Learn • What QSBS (Qualified Small Business Stock) is and why it can eliminate millions in taxes• How QSBS trust “stacking” can multiply tax exemptions for founders• When founders should start planning for pre-liquidity tax strategy• How software is transforming complex legal processes• Key lessons Brian learned as a second-time founder Key Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction to Brian Lamb and Promissory02:00 – Leaving Trust & Will and discovering QSBS trusts04:00 – Turning a complex legal process into a software platform08:00 – What QSBS is and why it matters for founders11:00 – How QSBS trust “stacking” works14:00 – When founders should set up a QSBS trust18:00 – Lessons learned from building Trust & Will23:00 – The future of pre-liquidity planning for startup founders About the Podcast The SoCal Edge features conversations with founders,investors, and innovators shaping the startup and technology ecosystem across Southern California.