Samantha Friedman
Investing Member - FirstStep Fund at Portfolia
La Honda, California
Overview
Work Experience
Angel Investor
2019 - Current
I invest in startups and venture funds with at least one underrepresented founder. I am industry agnostic, and write small checks (generally at the pre-seed stage) for companies in the US and Canada. My portfolio includes Goodable (1st check in), Synkrino Biotherapeutics, Azalio, and Salley; Backstage Capital LLC and RareBreed Ventures, as well as Portfolia and Pioneer Fund.
Venture Partner
2019
Investing Member - FirstStep Fund
2019
Portfolia creates investment funds designed for women, backing innovative companies, for returns and impact
Consultant
2017
Consulting on Raman spectroscopy and SERS applications and technology, and providing web development services.
President, Co-Founder, Head of Technology
2017 - 2021
FairFunders is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide female and underrepresented entrepreneurs the voice and power to access capital in a safe and inclusive environment. - Learned HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript beginning in Nov. 2017. - Applied the above skills to build a Web-based platform for founders to communicate and share their pitch decks with investors, and to update and maintain our website. - Incorporated Google Analytics into the website and platform to analyze user behavior and use custom campaigns to track marketing success. - Helped plan and participated in bi-weekly online events connecting founders and investors. - Contributed to funding and revenue strategy and to developing partnerships.
FairFunders provides female and underrepresented entrepreneurs the voice and power to access capital in a safe and inclusive environment.
Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Officer
2014 - 2017
- Designed experiments and wrote laboratory protocols, developed analytical methods for clinical samples, and documented and presented experimental results. - Performed initial data processing and machine learning for proof of concept work on a set of 90 clinical samples. - Pre-processed and formatted data for algorithm development on 350 clinical samples. - Communicated the conceptual scientific background and analysis methods in provisional and utility patents, and in an FDA Pre-Submission (Q-Sub) package. - Participated in an FDA Pre-Submission Meeting. - Oversaw the design and construction of a custom spectroscopic instrument by a contractor. - Set up a new laboratory, and contributed to the evaluation and purchase of new scientific instrumentation and equipment. - Oversaw the laboratory chemical and equipment inventory. - Participated in Y Combinator (Winter 2016 batch). - Helped raise venture capital and procure clinical samples for proof-of-concept studies.
Developing a novel diagnostic platform for early detection and diagnosis of liver disease.
Graduate Student
2006 - 2015
Raman and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of G-Quadruplexes
Graduate Teaching Assistant
2006 - 2010
Organic Chemistry I - "Bonding" General Chemistry II - lab instruction Advanced General Chemistry II - with Dr. Jerome Haky and Dr. Donna Chamely-Wiik, development of writing-intensive lab course and lab instruction
Assistant Engineer
2004 - 2006
Technical drawings in AutoCAD, instrument lists and diagrams.
Lab Assistant, Organic Chemistry I
2001 - 2002
Instructed and supervised students in their use of gas chromatographs, IR spectrometers, and FT‐IR spectrometers, and performed GC‐MS on students’ samples. Troubleshot equipment.
Chemistry Assistant, Chemistry Prep Room
2001 - 2002
Prepared solutions and standardized solutions for teaching labs; checked and calibrated equipment and glassware for teaching labs.
Education
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
1999 - 2003
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
2006 - 2015
Full Stack Web Development Certification
2017 - 2018