Will Little @wclittle Subscribe

General Partner @ProtaVentures.
I'm a bioengineer-turned-software-developer and venture builder/investor. Learn more about me professionally on LinkedIn, personally here, and check out my new podcast, Ventures.

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Will Little

Sep 15, 2020
Startups Will's General Newsletter Social Entrepreneurship

Two important social justice issues to consider this week (and why to mark your calendar for October 17th)

First, listen/watch to today’s episode of Ventures: Period equity, femtech, health education, and Project Untaboo :: with Rachael Kim. Second, please mark your calendar: Real Escape from the Sex Trade (REST) is hosting A Night of REST: Virtual Soirée at 6pm PDT on Saturday, October 17th

Will Little

Sep 15, 2020
Startups Ventures Podcast

Period equity, femtech, health education, and Project Untaboo :: with Rachael Kim

In this episode my guest Rachael Kim (Founder & CEO, Project Untaboo) and I discuss period equity, period health/care/education, Project Untaboo, and advice for entrepreneurs and investors considering the space of femtech and healthcare in general.

Will Little

Sep 8, 2020
Health Science COVID-19 Startups

An inside look at COVID-19 care responses and innovation efforts within University of Washington Medicine :: an ask for those learning to code :: and a followup post on Reddit in /r/Entrepreneur

I sat down last week with a few folks from UW Medicine and learned about their amazing response to COVID-19. Being on the front-lines of the pandemic in the USA, it is extremely admirable how they organized themselves, formed an innovation group, and opened sourced their efforts to help healthcare communities around the world.
Will Little

Sep 8, 2020
Startups

Reflections on entrepreneurship education, learning to code, business validation, finding co-founders, & time management :: A shout-out to - and empathy for - founders diving in and juggling it all

For a bit of background, a couple weeks ago I posted a few thoughts in /r/Entrepreneur from my past couple of decades of building and investing in businesses. Thanks for all the encouraging feedback and thoughtful questions. This article is a summary of the five most common topics/themes/questions that come up from that thread.

Will Little

Sep 8, 2020
Health Science Startups Ventures Podcast

COVID-19 response and innovation at University of Washington Medicine. Plus, a call-to-action for medical technology entrepreneurs :: with Danica Little, Dimitry Levin, and Dr. Robert Sweet

In this episode of Ventures we look at the response to COVID-19 by teams involved with emergency preparedness and innovation at University of Washington (UW) Medicine in Seattle. We also discuss the need and options available for startups to collaborate with UW Medicine to help - not only with COVID-19 relief - but with general medtech and telehealth innovation to provide better care for patients in a post-COVID-19 world.

Will Little

Sep 1, 2020
Health Science Will's General Newsletter Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship, Nuralink, Reddit, and my health science N=1 experiment this past spring

This week’s episode of Ventures explores entrepreneurial efforts to help the poorest of the poor globally. There is a lot to learn and digest here, and I’m excited to share this important conversation. (Also, a few thoughts on Nuralink, my Reddit post from last week, and my final writeup of the Whoop/AppleWatch/OuraRing N=1 experiment).
Will Little

Sep 1, 2020
Health Science N=1 Experiments

Whoop vs. Oura Ring vs. Apple Watch for Optimizing Sleep and Workout Performance with Continuous Glucose Monitoring and One Meal a Day: Part 2

In the initial post for this series I shared the basic experimental setup and example data output. Here, in the second and final part of this series, I’m going to dive into notable variables and examine the overall data to conclude initial lessons learned from this 30-day experiment. As a quick reminder, during the initial part of the spring 2020 COVID-19 quarantine I decided to wear a Continuous Glucose Monitor while testing the differences between Whoop, Apple Watch, and Oura Ring. I had already been doing daily time-window eating between ~5:30-7:30pm (i.e. One Meal a Day, “OMAD”) for 6-7 months, and my ultimate goal with this N=1 experiment was to figure out how to optimize sleep and workout performance by tweaking food/drink intake and timing.

Will Little

Sep 1, 2020
Ventures Podcast Social Entrepreneurship

Global impact investing, social entrepreneurship, and Global Brigades :: with Steve Atamian and Brian Howe

In this episode of Ventures we explore the world of impact investing & social entrepreneurship to help the poorest of the poor around the globe. We hear and discuss the founding story of Global Brigades, the world’s largest student-led movement for global health (approximately one in five medical students today have gone on a Brigade). We also hear the launch announcement of Eskala, a for-profit company with an ambitious (and believable) 20-year plan to help end poverty for 18 million people.
Will Little

Aug 29, 2020
Software Development Ruby on Rails

How to setup Windows to begin developing Ruby on Rails Web Applications

Getting your local computer setup for developing web applications is one of the most difficult aspects of learning. In this tutorial, we will go all the way from a generic Windows 10 install to having a running Ruby on Rails application that you can see in a web browser on your machine.

Will Little

Aug 29, 2020
Software Development Ruby on Rails

How to setup a Mac to begin developing Ruby on Rails Web Applications

Getting your local computer setup for developing web applications is one of the most difficult aspects of learning. In this tutorial, we will go all the way from a generic MacOS install to having a running Ruby on Rails application that you can see in a web browser on your machine.

Will Little

Aug 25, 2020
Will's General Newsletter

Finding a technical co-founder, starting a golf gear company, turning 40, and a Reddit post I wrote this morning reflecting on the past 20 years

I’m excited to share this week’s podcast conversation with the amazing Gabe Coyne (designer, developer, technologist, and entrepreneur) and his new startup, Stix. Also, while I haven’t been super active on Reddit the past decade, I wrote up a post in /r/Entrepreneur a couple hours ago and also popped it up on my Satchel site here.
Will Little

Aug 25, 2020
Startups Financial Modeling About Will

I turned 40 this summer. I spent my 20s building businesses and my 30s investing in early stage founders. Here are a few things I’ve learned thus far.

Greetings to anyone else out there in the Oregon Trail Generation that is crossing (or has recently crossed) the 40 mark. :) We’re old enough to remember an analog world, but young enough to have grown up with the early days of the Internet. It’s been quite a ride thus far.

Will Little

Aug 25, 2020
Startups Ventures Podcast

Finding a technical co-founder, becoming an angel developer, and starting a new golf gear company :: with Gabe Coyne

One of the most common questions in the startup space is how to find a technical co-founder to design and build your product. In this episode of Ventures, we discuss in depth both how to become a great startup CTO and to find one in your network. We also talk about the founding story of Stix (https://stix.golf/), a new golf brand focused on middle-market, stylish clubs for the casual golfer.

Will Little

Aug 18, 2020
COVID-19 Startups Will's General Newsletter

New podcast episode on the founding story of Kickstarter & empowering creatives :: Plus, how to think like a (good) epidemiologist

It was fascinating to hear the founding story of Kickstarter and discuss with Charles and Wilson how to best support founders in this COVID-19 era, especially those inventing, creating, and selling tangible goods. Also, let's talk about Bayesian inference machines.

Will Little

Aug 18, 2020
Startups Ventures Podcast

Co-founding Kickstarter, empowering creatives, and starting a tangible goods company in a pandemic :: with Charles Adler and Wilson Fong

In this episode of Ventures we look at the founding story of Kickstarter and discuss how to support and advise founders that are bringing new companies to life. We discuss specifically the challenges facing founders selling tangible goods in the COVID-19 era and how online resources and communities can be leveraged to optimize success in this difficult market landscape.