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Feb 28, 2022 · 18m · top-founders

Why he raised $150k at $4m Pre Seed Round

Nick Ofosio · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 5m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this interview, FEBO Health founder Nick Ofosio explains how he spun out a chronic disease management platform from his profitable medical research agency, structuring an initial SAFE round while prioritizing user growth over near-term monetization.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 37.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.8 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 2.5 Nathan pushing back 5.2
05100:0010:002:14–4:22 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Spin-Out Origins from FOMAT Medical Research Nathan presses Nick on how a pre-revenue SaaS app was funded and questions why Nick would distract himself from a high-revenue clinical research agency to build a software tool.4:23–6:31 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Raising Outside Capital and Equity Allocation Nathan challenges the rationale of raising a small $150k angel check when backed by an $8M–$10M agency, forcing Nick to clarify his personal equity ownership structure.6:31–9:44 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Chronic Disease Challenges and Crowdsourcing Vision Nick outlines his crowdsourced data vision for chronic illness patients, but Nathan pushes back on privacy friction and patient willingness to share medication history.9:45–12:07 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 User Traction and Patent-Pending Newsfeed Nathan raises the chicken-and-egg adoption dilemma comparing trust and security with Apple, while Nick defends user traction and the app's patent-pending medical newsfeed.12:20–16:50 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Defending the Moat Against Big Tech Competitors Nathan aggressively attacks the defensibility of the product against Big Tech and scrutinizes Nick's cap table arithmetic when accounting for agency investment.16:51–17:54 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with collaborative and brief answers from Nick.2:14–4:22 · Guest teaching 3/10 Spin-Out Origins from FOMAT Medical Research Nathan presses Nick on how a pre-revenue SaaS app was funded and questions why Nick would distract himself from a high-revenue clinical research agency to build a software tool.4:23–6:31 · Guest teaching 4/10 Raising Outside Capital and Equity Allocation Nathan challenges the rationale of raising a small $150k angel check when backed by an $8M–$10M agency, forcing Nick to clarify his personal equity ownership structure.6:31–9:44 · Guest teaching 3/10 Chronic Disease Challenges and Crowdsourcing Vision Nick outlines his crowdsourced data vision for chronic illness patients, but Nathan pushes back on privacy friction and patient willingness to share medication history.9:45–12:07 · Guest teaching 4/10 User Traction and Patent-Pending Newsfeed Nathan raises the chicken-and-egg adoption dilemma comparing trust and security with Apple, while Nick defends user traction and the app's patent-pending medical newsfeed.12:20–16:50 · Guest teaching 3/10 Defending the Moat Against Big Tech Competitors Nathan aggressively attacks the defensibility of the product against Big Tech and scrutinizes Nick's cap table arithmetic when accounting for agency investment.16:51–17:54 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with collaborative and brief answers from Nick.2:14–4:22 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Spin-Out Origins from FOMAT Medical Research Nathan presses Nick on how a pre-revenue SaaS app was funded and questions why Nick would distract himself from a high-revenue clinical research agency to build a software tool.4:23–6:31 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Raising Outside Capital and Equity Allocation Nathan challenges the rationale of raising a small $150k angel check when backed by an $8M–$10M agency, forcing Nick to clarify his personal equity ownership structure.6:31–9:44 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Chronic Disease Challenges and Crowdsourcing Vision Nick outlines his crowdsourced data vision for chronic illness patients, but Nathan pushes back on privacy friction and patient willingness to share medication history.9:45–12:07 · Guest disagreement 3/10 User Traction and Patent-Pending Newsfeed Nathan raises the chicken-and-egg adoption dilemma comparing trust and security with Apple, while Nick defends user traction and the app's patent-pending medical newsfeed.12:20–16:50 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Defending the Moat Against Big Tech Competitors Nathan aggressively attacks the defensibility of the product against Big Tech and scrutinizes Nick's cap table arithmetic when accounting for agency investment.16:51–17:54 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with collaborative and brief answers from Nick.2:14–4:22 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Spin-Out Origins from FOMAT Medical Research Nathan presses Nick on how a pre-revenue SaaS app was funded and questions why Nick would distract himself from a high-revenue clinical research agency to build a software tool.4:23–6:31 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Raising Outside Capital and Equity Allocation Nathan challenges the rationale of raising a small $150k angel check when backed by an $8M–$10M agency, forcing Nick to clarify his personal equity ownership structure.6:31–9:44 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Chronic Disease Challenges and Crowdsourcing Vision Nick outlines his crowdsourced data vision for chronic illness patients, but Nathan pushes back on privacy friction and patient willingness to share medication history.9:45–12:07 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 User Traction and Patent-Pending Newsfeed Nathan raises the chicken-and-egg adoption dilemma comparing trust and security with Apple, while Nick defends user traction and the app's patent-pending medical newsfeed.12:20–16:50 · Nathan pushing back 8/10 Defending the Moat Against Big Tech Competitors Nathan aggressively attacks the defensibility of the product against Big Tech and scrutinizes Nick's cap table arithmetic when accounting for agency investment.16:51–17:54 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with collaborative and brief answers from Nick.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 52% · guest 48%0:00 · Nathan 52% · guest 48%3:00 · Nathan 27.5% · guest 72.5%3:00 · Nathan 27.5% · guest 72.5%6:00 · Nathan 23.2% · guest 76.8%6:00 · Nathan 23.2% · guest 76.8%9:00 · Nathan 25.4% · guest 74.6%9:00 · Nathan 25.4% · guest 74.6%12:00 · Nathan 41.3% · guest 58.7%12:00 · Nathan 41.3% · guest 58.7%15:00 · Nathan 50.9% · guest 49.1%15:00 · Nathan 50.9% · guest 49.1%18:00 · Nathan 88.5% · guest 11.5%18:00 · Nathan 88.5% · guest 11.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:33 Defending niche chronic focus against Big Tech

Nick rejects Nathan's framing that Apple can crush them by arguing Big Tech cannot focus on hyper-specific chronic disease niches.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:12 Rejecting the existence of a moat

Nathan bluntly states he sees no defensible moat protecting FEBO from Apple easily replicating their features.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:32 Venture speed vs agency capital dynamics

Nick explains why venture dynamics and talent acquisition necessitate raising outside capital rather than slowly bootstrapping from research agency cash flows.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 16:13 Catching cap table math discrepancy

Nathan does the mental math on ESOP, investor, and founder stakes to expose that the agency's $750k contribution was uncounted on the cap table.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Spin-Out Origins from FOMAT Medical Research 5325 Nathan presses Nick on how a pre-revenue SaaS app was funded and questions why Nick would distract himself from a high-revenue clinical research agency to build a software tool.
Raising Outside Capital and Equity Allocation 6436 Nathan challenges the rationale of raising a small $150k angel check when backed by an $8M–$10M agency, forcing Nick to clarify his personal equity ownership structure.
Chronic Disease Challenges and Crowdsourcing Vision 4325 Nick outlines his crowdsourced data vision for chronic illness patients, but Nathan pushes back on privacy friction and patient willingness to share medication history.
User Traction and Patent-Pending Newsfeed 5436 Nathan raises the chicken-and-egg adoption dilemma comparing trust and security with Apple, while Nick defends user traction and the app's patent-pending medical newsfeed.
Defending the Moat Against Big Tech Competitors 7348 Nathan aggressively attacks the defensibility of the product against Big Tech and scrutinizes Nick's cap table arithmetic when accounting for agency investment.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 2111 Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with collaborative and brief answers from Nick.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Ofosio: FEBO Health raised $160k SAFE round at $4M valuation
“It was a 160,000. Safe round one at four million dollar valuation. And the, that was, that will take us to roughly about end of June.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 1:41
Disclosure
Ofosio: FEBO plans second SAFE round at $8M valuation
“And then we're looking to raise safe round two. Our projection value at that point will be about eight million. We're looking to about total between the first round, which was three percent. Second round is about going to be six percent.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 1:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ofosio: FOMAT Medical Research generates seven to eight figures in revenue
“Yeah. So, you know, seven, eight figures. ... Somewhere around those figures. I mean, I don't want to enter into too much of those details if you may, if we may.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 3:01
Disclosure
Ofosio: FOMAT Medical Research invested $500k to $750k into FEBO Health
“I don't know how, I don't have any direct number for you. I would guess somewhere in five to seven 50.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 4:13
Disclosure
Ofosio: Angel investors own approximately 3% of FEBO Health
“About three percent.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 6:28
Disclosure
Ofosio: FEBO Health is double-encrypted and requires no email or name
“A, entirely anonymous, entirely encrypted, double encrypted. You don't need to even put a name to it. You don't need to put an email, like you don't even have to create. You can have it be entirely fake, or you can put a wall, like you can put a different pict…”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 8:55
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ofosio: FEBO Health has reached roughly 14,000 app downloads
“We're right now about 14,000 downloads and growing.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 10:12
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ofosio: Garmin reached out to FEBO Health for a partnership
“Garmin, for example, Garmin reached out to us for a partnership.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 12:38
Insight
Ofosio: Apple cannot effectively target niche chronic disease management
“Apple, for them to move the needle, they have to focus on a larger audience. And we are not focused on a larger, or like, you're not my customer. I mean, I don't know whether or not I'm assuming here, but we're, our customers are the chronic condition patients…”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 13:40
Disclosure
Ofosio: FEBO Health delays monetization until reaching 100,000 users
“So in two to three years, we'll start opening it up. We're looking to get to a minimum threshold of about a 100,000 users.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 14:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ofosio: FEBO Health claims a $1.70 CAC versus $2.80 national average
“We're spending about the national average is two 80. We're right now at like one 70 something.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 14:48
Disclosure
Ofosio: Founder owns 82% of FEBO Health, parent agency owns 5%
“So I don't own 87, I own 82. The agency owns five percent.”
Nick Ofosio Feb 28, 2022 ▶ 16:26
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