What does it take to transition from being a dedicated emergency medicine physician to a groundbreaking entrepreneur? In this thought-provoking episode of The Angel Next Door Podcast, Marcia Dawood explores the journey of Dr. Liz Clayborne, the inspiring founder behind NasaClip. Liz's story sheds light on the innovative process of developing a medical device and the unique challenges she encountered while fundraising for her venture. Dr. Liz Clayborne is not your average entrepreneur. A committed emergency medicine physician and faculty member at the University of Maryland, Liz pivoted her career by creating NasaClip—a revolutionary hands-free nosebleed rescue device. Motivated by her ER experiences, where she treated numerous nosebleed cases, Liz designed a user-friendly solution and successfully raised funds from angel investors, VCs, and now a current Wefunder crowdfunding campaign. In this episode, Liz shares her journey from idea to market, detailing the various stages of fundraising and the obstacles she faced. This episode is essential for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, medical innovations, and using different fundraising strategies to achieve key milestones.
What does it take to transition from being a dedicated emergency medicine physician to a groundbreaking entrepreneur? In this thought-provoking episode of The Angel Next Door Podcast, Marcia Dawood explores the journey of Dr. Liz Clayborne, the inspiring founder behind NasaClip. Liz's story sheds light on the innovative process of developing a medical device and the unique challenges she encountered while fundraising for her venture.
Dr. Liz Clayborne is not your average entrepreneur. A committed emergency medicine physician and faculty member at the University of Maryland, Liz pivoted her career by creating NasaClip—a revolutionary hands-free nosebleed rescue device. Motivated by her ER experiences, where she treated numerous nosebleed cases, Liz designed a user-friendly solution and successfully raised funds from angel investors, VCs, and now a current Wefunder crowdfunding campaign.
In this episode, Liz shares her journey from idea to market, detailing the various stages of fundraising and the obstacles she faced. This episode is essential for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, medical innovations, and using different fundraising strategies to achieve key milestones.
To get the latest from Dr. Liz Clayborne, you can follow her below!
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethpclayborne/
Sign up for Marcia's newsletter to receive tips and the latest on Angel Investing!
Website: www.marciadawood.com
Learn more about the documentary Show Her the Money: www.showherthemoneymovie.com
And don't forget to follow us wherever you are!
Apple Podcasts: https://pod.link/1586445642.apple
Spotify: https://pod.link/1586445642.spotify
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/angel-next-door-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelnextdoorpodcast/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marciadawood
Marcia Dawood
Well, Liz, hi. Welcome to the show. Welcome to the Angel Next Door podcast.
Liz Clayborne
Thanks for having me, Marcia. I'm thrilled to be here.
Marcia Dawood
Yeah. I'm excited for you to tell our listeners all about the journey that you've been on, making NASA Clip. And you can tell us all about that. But I'm really interested in having you talk about your fundraising journey because it's a little bit different than what we typically hear about, considering you've gotten angel funding, you've gotten institutional funding from VCs, and now you are doing a we funder crowdfunding campaign.
Liz Clayborne
So. That's right.
Marcia Dawood
That's awesome. And full disclosure, I am an investor in ASICLIP through the Rising America Portfolio Fund. So I'm excited about that.
Liz Clayborne
Thank you.
Marcia Dawood
I'd love you to tell us a little bit about your background because you are an awesome doctor turned entrepreneur turned amazing person in general. And I would love for you to just tell us a little bit about your background and then how nasa clip came about.
Liz Clayborne
Sure, absolutely. So I'm an emergency medicine physician by training, currently faculty member at University of Maryland, and I came up with the idea of nasa clip, which is a hands free nosebleed rescue device. Because when I was in training, I realized that we see about 500,000 ER visits a year for nosebleeds. And I just couldn't believe that people would show up to the ER for such a simple problem. But I found that a lot of people panic when they have a nosebleed. And they're also most common in kids age 2 to 10, older adults 55 to 80 who might be on blood thinners. And they almost do the opposite of what they're supposed to do. Most people do the opposite of what they're supposed to do when the bleeding starts.
Liz Clayborne
So they'll put their head back instead of forward, they'll pinch on their nasal bridge instead of down here, and they don't hold constant pressure. And so then when they can't get the bleeding to stop, I think they show up at the ER and they're like, please help me. And so for me as an ER doc, this was also frustrating for us because it's really a lower acuity issue, but it's time consuming and cumbersome to deal with. So I was often taping together tongue depressors or making a clip, MacGyvering something together to temporize the problem. And I was like, there should be a better solution for this. So I designed Nasiclip to be the hands free nosebleed rescue device that works for anyone, anywhere. And it's like the bandaid of nosebleeds. It has intranasal sponges that you can medicate.
Liz Clayborne
And if someone was having a nosebleed, they would simply clear their nose of clot, insert the nasal sponge, rotate it into place and pinch shut. Just like that. You have firm, constant, uninterrupted pressure. But it's comfortable. You can see my mouth and eyes are clear. I could relax. I leave this in place for 2 to 20 minutes and then release and check for bleeding. And this can be rinsed and reinserted.
Liz Clayborne
I'm really excited to tell you that we are launching a reusable version of our device that disassembles. Sponges come off after you use them and then you actually will be able to reuse this. And we do provide it in both pediatric as well as adult sizes. And so far we've had really great success. Obviously, I made it for my pain point as an ER doc, so it's very useful in ER and urgent cares. But school, sports medicine. I've mentioned Disney picked us up on all their cruise ships and parks. We're talking to airlines, so it's really taken off in a way I haven't anticipated.
Liz Clayborne
And I'm excited to be on this ride and super grateful for all the support I had, especially my early investors, that made it possible for us to get to market.
Marcia Dawood
Yeah, and I remember you talking about the sponge specifically. So for our listeners who aren't necessarily watching on YouTube, which you can, by the way, watch on YouTube now we have a YouTube channel just for the Angel Next Door podcast. But the, the sponges are the one things that get inserted into the nostril and then the clip goes on the outside. But there was something about. I remember you trying to get it so that you could. You mentioned it briefly, but you could put medicine into the sponge.
Liz Clayborne
Yes.
Marcia Dawood
So how does that all work?
Liz Clayborne
Yeah, I designed it to be medicated, and so now what I. It's sold without medication, in which case clinicians can put agents on there like vasoconstrictors or hemostatic agents that they want. But we are actually moving towards looking at Nasa Clip as a drug delivery platform. So once I had the device, which I initially designed for epistaxis or nosebleed, I was like, oh, this thing's like pretty good at delivering other intranasal meds. So we're actually going after NIH fast track funding to look at Nasa Clip and how it might be more effective in delivering something like naloxone. Or Narcan, the opioid reversal agent, which is often delivered in emergent situations through spray. But a lot of times those nasal sprays wash out. They don't get well absorbed.
Liz Clayborne
But you can imagine putting it on a sponge inside the nose and then adding compression on the outside is a more effective way to deliver medications. So we'll be investigating that for that medication as well as benzodiazepines. And I'm really excited to see those results because then it opens up me as a clip for a whole host of other meds, migraine meds, allergy meds, vaccines. And so that's really where I feel like we're going to add substantial value to our company. And that is how I'm going to get my unicorn. Billion dollar exit.
Marcia Dawood
I love that. That's what we like to hear in Angel World.
Liz Clayborne
Yes.
Marcia Dawood
So tell us a little bit about when you first took on outside funding. What was that like and all the things.
Liz Clayborne
Yeah, it's interesting for me to sit and reflect here as we approach the end of 2024. I first started diligently working on this in 2020. I did a small accelerator program with Tedco, which is our Maryland state based venture fund. And they gave me $50,000 to do this accelerator program. But they did give me some really amazing executive counseling that came with it that was subsidized. And actually some of the advisors from that program are still on my advisory board. So they've been with me from the very start. Yes.
Liz Clayborne
And I remember that it became really urgent in the beginning to be like, I need capital. Because this is not to a degree you can bootstrap, but for a device that requires design, engineering, the actual goods to build it in order to get to market, capital is essential. And as a black female founder, it becomes very obvious when you start fundraising that this is an uphill battle. I know that you talk about this all the time. Marcia and I just saw the show for the Money movie, which is so amazing. This documentary talking about the dearth of funding that goes to women and especially women of color. And as a black female, I was really shocked to learn that only 0.34% of institutional capital was going to women of color. And oftentimes they expected you to already have your friends and family around.
Liz Clayborne
So when I was in that initial, I am fortunate in the sense that because I'm a physician, I certainly was able to tap my physician network, many of who were accredited investors. And so we were able to raise two different convertible notes, $550,000 each for 1.1 million. And that was the capital I used to get to market. But it was those very first checks were the hardest. Like I was taking $5,000 checks for the most part. And it's a lot of $5,000 checks that have to add up to get to the point of a million dollars. And another way that I illustrate this to people so they understand what a lot of women of color are dealing with when they're fundraising is that on average, a white male founder will talk to maybe about seven contacts before they get maybe a yes or a turn on investment, whereas a black female founder is speaking to 10 times that amount. 70 people to get one yes.
Liz Clayborne
Now, I think fortunate for me, in my kind of network, it wasn't that stark of an uphill battle for me. But I certainly had to hear a lot of no's. I had to have some thick skin, I had a belief in myself and I had to really drive to get that million. And I still think that raising that first convertible note was the most challenging thing. There's also, I think, a lot of parts of our culture that may hinder us from wanting to ask for money from our friends. It's a little taboo in some cultures to talk about money. And there's all those other things that you have to get past that initial inertia of dipping yourself in a pool that there's not a lot of people that look like you that are in. And so in many ways, I think I was creative in those early rounds and have continued to innovate in the way that I've been fundraising, which we can talk about.
Marcia Dawood
Yeah. Okay, so two convertible notes now and you're already had already raised 1.1 million. That's right there in and of itself. Incredible. So then what happened?
Liz Clayborne
Yeah, so as part of that early round, I also. That was also when I started bringing in a little bit of angel money. So I did have larger. A few larger tracks that came in from organizations like the Intel Paxi that focused on female founders. I found that for me, where I was getting success in fundraising was looking at groups that either like to support black or female founders or who really were excited about physician innovation in the medical device space and loved that I was a practicing clinician because it really. Because I'm designing NASA. Clip from my clinical experience and my know how of a mom. Right.
Liz Clayborne
What's going to work for a panicked child that's bleeding. I think it gave me a lot of reputation and validity within the space. And that's where I was successful. So when I found, like, that's where I'm getting my yeses, is talking to angel groups that support black founders or groups that were really interested in innovative consumer medical devices, I just kept doubling down on those types of groups. I think once you have raised a million dollars, it gives you a little bit of validity and it's easier to then go after institutional money. So that's what I was able to do in my seed round, which I'm still finishing. So the caveat is, so I raised basically two pre seeds convertible notes of 1.1 million. I also applied for an NSF National Science Foundation SBIR Phase 1 grant at the same time.
Liz Clayborne
So I had 256,000 given to me in non dilutive capital, which was amazing. The focus of that grant was helping us to get the pediatric version of our device to market. And so now we had everything that we needed to get into market and one year primed and ready. And you can clearly articulate, like, if I get capital, it allows me to accelerate and get to these next milestones clearly. And I have all these things in place to accomplish that. I think that's what has allowed me to move forward in my seed round. So I am raising a $4 million seed round. I've closed 2.5 million of that.
Liz Clayborne
And I think the challenge has been, is this seed round has been open for like almost a year. And this is a very typical story for female founders and black founders, that it just takes us significantly longer to raise capital. And a lot of people had their ideas about what I should do. Some people have said you should close at 2.5 and then try to move forward and regroup and or do a bridge round or see if you can get further and then increase your valuation and go after an early Series A. And for me, what was important about this seed round is I want to be in a position where when I close the $4 million, what that gives me is I can reach profitability, right? I can get to break even. And I want that freedom because it was so stressful. When I started the seed round, I had to raise and we launched the seed round in 2023, which was a very challenging year for fundraising overall. There are a lot of economic changes going on.
Liz Clayborne
This is the Silicon Valley bank collapsing, just a lot of external factors that impacted the general space. And I had to raise because I had no Runway. And so I don't want to ever be in that position again. I want to be able to raise my Series A when I am ready. For that growth round. So it's important for me to close out round so I can get to profitability and have more control over the growth of my company and adding on additional capital when it's optimal for the company's growth and not just because I'm running out of Runway.
Marcia Dawood
Right, right. Okay. So the 1.1 million was in the notes. Then you raised another like million four.
Liz Clayborne
To get 2.5 of the four. And that was a mix of angel and VC money. So we have had including portfolio was part of that raise. I was in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts accelerator program. So it's really cool to have a payer on my cap table. Conscious Venture Partners was one of our other institutional investors and then tedco came in again. So they've been a big supporter of me at every step of the way so far, which I'm really excited about. And then in addition to that, we had angel money, specifically got $350,000 from Wosip, which is the women of color in pharma.
Liz Clayborne
And I really want to give a shout out to that organization. Its founder and president, Dr. Charlotte Jones Burton, is someone who didn't know much about angel investing. When I met her, she was introduced to me by my lead investor who is a emergency physician in Maryland like me, who had sold his change of urgent care as it was a high net worth individual that wanted to support me in my seed round. And when she introduced me to Charlotte, Charlotte was like, oh, she had no idea about angel investing, what's involved, but she had a whole organization of pharma execs that were women of color that had income and were interested in investing, but just had never heard of the opportunity to invest in something that all maybe something they're interested in because of their obviously discipline, but certainly something that also lifts up other women of color. So they were able to form their own SVP specifically first to invest in me. And what I'm really excited about is now that VF and other founders and so now the whole organization has an arm that's lifting up fellow female founders and women of color specifically, especially in the life sciences and tech space.
Marcia Dawood
Oh, I love that. Yeah, that's great. We'll definitely put that in the show notes. So the 1.1 original is not part of the 2.5?
Liz Clayborne
No. So today I've raised basically 3.5 million.
Marcia Dawood
Okay.
Liz Clayborne
Yep. So 1.1 in the beginning and then all of those note holders converted in our seed round and so they're happy campers because our valuation Definitely bumped up for the seed round. And so now we're in the middle of the seed round and I've closed 2.5 million of the four. And so when things started slowing down in the summer of this year, 2024, I just felt like I was spinning my wheels and I was looking for a solution to get this remaining 1.5, because as I mentioned, it was important for me to close out this round because I really want to get to that point of break even and profitability. And I just couldn't figure out how to do it. It seemed like I was running up against the same brick walls again. A lot of organizations, especially institutional money, they wanted me to have a million in ARR. And we're like a ways off from that.
Liz Clayborne
So we're in between milestones, right? Not super early, but not progressed enough to meet the qualifications that a lot of VCs would like to see. And so I was like, what should I do? How am I going to get this additional 1.5? How can I close out this round and meet my goals? And so I actually went to a retreat and ran into somebody who's I really think that you should consider crowdfunding. And it was interesting, Marsha, because I think in my mind it had been taught early to me that crowdfunding was subpar capital, right? That some institutional investors were going to frown upon it, that I wouldn't be as successful in my series A raid if I had series A raise, if I had crowdfunding dollars on my table. And so it just put that perspective in my mind early on. And what I didn't realize is that I think that the landscape of crowd fundraising has really changed. I think that the way people look at it is different. And for a device like mine that's a consumer medical device, there's a lot of wins to doing crowdfunding. So for us, as I mentioned in the beginning, we have this reusable version of the device where the sponge can be replaced and that is launching on Amazon.
Liz Clayborne
So this is a much more consumer facing device and I think giving the opportunity to not only get small dollar investors who believe in me as a founder and NASA Clip's journey, but those that are excited to buy the product, you get their investment dollars and then you also get them almost as a marketing arm because they'll evangelicize your brand to their community, tell others. And I think that it makes sense for me at this stage when we're branching out into more of our B2B B2C channel that we bring on crowdfunding to really harness that power of the word to word reference about nasiclip because people are excited and even if they invest as little as $100, I think they like that they have ownership in the company and it's something where you can get them on board for life to support NASA clip throughout its entire journey.
Marcia Dawood
Yes. Wow, that's great. I'm. I've always been a huge fan of crowdfunding and there's so many different ways to crowdfunding. Now what we're talking about here is equity crowdfunding. But everything that I've seen, even from before equity crowdfunding was allowed in 2016, when people would try to do Kickstarter campaigns or Indiegogo in order to try to get some marketing traction for their device, I've just always. Or whatever it is their product, I've always thought it was a great avenue, so. But when equity crowdfunding did come about in 2016, to your earlier points, there were several people who had been in the angel investing world for a while who were not big fans of it.
Marcia Dawood
They thought it would clutter up your cap table or have so many people involved in that type of thing. So what have you seen? How have you seen it evolve and how are you feeling about all that now?
Liz Clayborne
Yeah, and I'm glad you asked that question because I think this is so important for people who might be considering this. So the landscape has really changed and I think they've addressed a lot of the concerns from the larger and institutional investors that maybe frowned upon this in the past. So we are specifically using WE Funder. If you want to check us out, go to wefunder.com schnazeclip n a s A C L I P We have a wonderful page with a video. You basically get all the information that you'd want on the pitch deck. Our terms are there and you can invest as little as a hundred dollars, up to a hundred thousand plus. And what I liked about WE Funder is they've actually been successful, first of all with other medical device and life science companies. I thought that was not going to be the case.
Liz Clayborne
I thought it'd be all consumer goods that you'd see on there. But this particular platform has had huge success raising millions of dollars for people who are in my same category and I was really excited about that. They also, as a platform, they get all of those small dollar investors and roll it up into their svp. And so when it comes to your cap table, it is one line that's going on your cap table. So you're not dealing with the hundreds to thousands of people that you'd be worried about on your cap table. And I think that makes it clean. And in addition to that, you get to choose a syndicate lead for your round that has like the decision making power. For us, it's Dr.
Liz Clayborne
Charlotte Jones Burton who I mentioned before. You can use one of your prior investors or somebody who's coming in new and that's who we selected. And so I think that it actually just helps people to feel good that there's going to be someone reputable who knows the space that is actually like representing the investment on the platform. And then I think outside of that, a lot of the institutional investors have now seen the advantages that I mentioned. So a lot of these small dollar investors, you can go back and tap them again for additional raise money. You can have subsequent rounds. There are people now having series A rounds on crowdfunding platforms. And if you have something that's an actual physical good, you're allowed to give perks.
Liz Clayborne
Right. So if you invest in us, you can see that at certain levels you get product, you get a donate product to potentially an organization, you get to come meet me. And I think that it really helps to not only get people excited about the opportunity to invest in NASA clip, but it gets the product spread around so people can share that with all of their networks and circles, whether it be a school or a coach or their hospital that they work in. Right. Cause I have a lot of course physician investors that are coming in. And then I think the other thing I want to bring up that I think is really important when it comes to crowdfunding is I think that this deals with an equity issue. There were a number of people in my family that really wanted to invest in my early convertible note rounds, but they did not meet the qualifications to be an accredited investor and they couldn't invest. And so what that does is it excludes people who don't have the economic means to invest in someone they believe in.
Liz Clayborne
And I think crowdfunding helps to level that playing field. So there are a whole host of my own family members that have been watching this journey from the very beginning and now they have an opportunity to participate and it makes them feel good. And it also certainly makes me feel good. Like I was really pretty upset when I had to tell a lot of my family members, well, if you don't, if you're not have a million dollars of value or making more than 250 a year as an individual 350 as a couple, you can invest in my company. Um, so that is a way in this country where I think we have continued to hinder the progression of not just me as a founder and an innovator, but also the rest of the community from being able to lift up innovation that is important to them. And so I really appreciate that the crowdfunding opportunity is giving me access to all of these things at one time.
Marcia Dawood
Yes. Yeah, I love that. And I love what you said about how the perks that you're giving out are. Of course, people can. One of the perks could be the product. But let's say I. My kids are out of college now, so I wouldn't have necessarily a need for it. But I love how you were putting out there that you could get a perk that would actually donate it to somebody who did really need it.
Marcia Dawood
And I think that's amazing. I love just the fact that you're being able to do that. But I am a huge fan of crowdfunding. I do think it has evolved quite a bit. I still still think we are at the very early days. I think it's more and more popular. And I love the fact that you're saying that you've seen even more people raising a series A or later rounds on these platforms. So super excited to see what comes from that.
Marcia Dawood
So we're going to air this episode. And where. How far have you come so far with the fundraise on we funder and what are you looking to do?
Liz Clayborne
Yeah, so it's only been out a week. We're in our very first week. We've raised, though, about 50, $50,000 in our first week, which is amazing and that we just started paying the network. So I'm hoping by the time this airs will be far surpassed that. But I want everyone to have an opportunity. We do have early bird terms available where people, when they come in now for this first $500,000, they will have access to the same terms that my current institutional investors invested at. And they can go to the page to see what those terms are. But I again, I want to give access to people who want to take this NASA clip journey to me and give them the opportunity to participate and rise with us.
Liz Clayborne
Right. Like, it's an important part of my journey, not only to be visible as a black female founder, as a physician and a motivator, as a mother that's successful in this space, but I want to be able to carry with me people who are part of my community and believe with me, believe in me. And I think that this is a great opportunity for anyone who's struck by my story, interested in my product and wants to see me to win. Now, they can be a part of the ride and they can benefit from that. Right? They can be invested in NASA Clip and see us reach the top.
Marcia Dawood
Yes. I love that. And this isn't just for nosebleeds. I love how you have this whole game plan of what you're going to do for delivery, medication delivery and all that kind of stuff. And I just think there's so much that can be done and with your incredible expertise as a medical doctor, you're the perfect person to run this.
Liz Clayborne
Thank you, Marcia. I appreciate that. Yes. And who knows what I might come up with next? You know what I mean? I think people ask me a lot, Do I still practice? I do. I actually, I practice about five shifts a month in ER still, which is maybe a little bit too much given how busy I am as a full time CEO. But I always want to maintain some type of clinical practice. It keeps me grounded, it keeps me humbled. And that's also where I am getting the inspiration for future innovations.
Liz Clayborne
Right. So I designed NASA Clip initially as a nosebleed treatment device because I saw the need for something better in the er. And now that's going to give accessibility to everyone to have the doctor's solution to nosebleeds conveniently in their pocket, no matter where they are. But it was also then my experience as an ER doctor seeing all these overdoses come in and that Narcan was just not being as effective as it used to be because the drugs are stronger and they're laced with stronger opioids like fentanyl and carfental. And so that's how I came up with that. Let's look at nasalf as a drug delivery platform. So I'll continue doing some clinical work because I. I think that I have some more ideas in me and those will be ideas that can come to my company in the future.
Liz Clayborne
And I'm just, I'm really excited about the opportunity and really the kind of different trajectory I've taken. I think in many ways my career has been very atypical. As someone in medicine that has a strong interest in ethics and health policy and had a atypical path to medical school and residency, and now leaving kind of academic emergency medicine to be an entrepreneur and then certainly as a founder. I've also had a very atypical story in the way that I'm fundraising, innovating and reaching the top. And I am not afraid to carve out my own path and certainly while doing that, showing others that if they believe in themselves, they can accomplish anything. So just a plug again, please check out my page. It's we funder.com Blackshell Ashley NASACLIP N A S A C L I P Excellent.
Marcia Dawood
And you did mention something before about your ideas of what could happen as far as an exit. But who would be a potential acquirer for a company like Nasoclip.
Liz Clayborne
Yeah. So I think when we look at acquisition for a consumer medical device like nasiclip, it could be anywhere from a pharmaceutical company like a Bayer or Johnson and Johnson to maybe like a cvs, someone who wants to globalize the nasiclip brand. I do think when we get the data back from our NIH studies about the drug delivery platform, that's a much larger market. Right. The Nosle treatment market is about $5 billion. Drug delivery intranasal drug delivery market, 43 billion. So I think that the acquisition partners in that space would be much more like akin to pharma. For me, again, with this piece of equity, it's going to be important that I'm driving my technology in order to provide rescue medications and situations that are resource poor both in this country and abroad.
Marcia Dawood
Yes. Well, Dr. Liz Clayborne, thank you so much for coming onto the Angel Next Door podcast. I appreciate you. And we will make sure to have all of the links to go to the wee Funder page in the show notes.
Liz Clayborne
Thanks for having me, Marcia. It's so nice to see you.