Paul Davenport:
Hello and welcome to What the Tech from Boast AI, where we talk with some of the brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives to learn what it takes to tackle technological uncertainty and eventually change the world. Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Caroline Arzoo, Director of Partnerships at Omnisync. They're a VC and government-backed software and services company that's helping drive the development of world-transforming and game-changing innovations. This team truly leans on innovation using modern ALNLP-powered context-matching algorithms to create non-obvious connections between public and private innovators, scouts, and funders. Once a connection is made, Omnisync's workflow tools help the parties execute on exciting new opportunities and collaborate on thought projects, unlocking critical resources such as early-stage funding, key partnerships, deep market intelligence, and predictive insights for the go-getters in the innovation ecosystem.
Paul Davenport:
In Caroline's role, she worked with teams like Boast that have shared a mission of driving innovation by giving passionate founders access to the resources they need to achieve growth. She's the perfect person for the job, as she also contributes as a mentor to the Founder Institute in San Diego and Silicon Valley, adding further proof to just how passionate Caroline is about empowering innovators to make an impact. She certainly has worked with some great minds in her career today, and I can't wait to pick her brain about the awesome innovators she's working with today, and Omnisync's plan for the future. Without further ado, welcome to the show, Caroline.
Caroline Arzoo:
Thank you so much for having me, Paul. I'm very excited to chat about Omnisync and in general, my love for innovation, so I always nerd out about it, so it's always exciting to talk with like-minded individuals.
Paul Davenport:
That's so cool. I'm so happy to hear it. I love the energy that you're bringing to the podcast as well too. It's very rare that somebody is at my level when we hop on here. So let's dive into it. I'd love to know a little bit more about Caroline. Tell me about your background, how you got into Omnisync, and just what your experience in the space has been like to date.
Caroline Arzoo:
Yeah, no, these are great questions, and frankly, if I talked to myself five years ago, I don't think I would've ever have envisioned where I'm currently at. And I tell people all the time, it's not like I graduated kindergarten and when they ask you what you want to be when you grow up, I was like, "Oh, I want to be director of partnerships and business development at a high-tech, AI, ML startup working in grants and et cetera." It really was so out of left field, and I'm just so grateful that the universe was looking out for me, and I think that's what I truly see with most people in the innovation space is that they fall into it, and it makes me even happier because there's such a wide variety of people to work with and such unique perspectives. And I think the common thread really is this passion for change.
Caroline Arzoo:
So I come from a Middle Eastern immigrant background. My family immigrated directly at Hollywood in Los Angeles, but there's a lot that comes from an immigrant family, a lot of trauma, of needing to assimilate, of coming from really having only this clothes on your back and trying to figure out how to create a life and also sustain a family here. And it was incredibly inspirational for me. And for me, the way that they have attacked the world, the things that they do, I would always label them as entrepreneurs, but they never understood. It was just their way of surviving.
Caroline Arzoo:
But given the fact that I grew up with this kind of rigid intergenerational trauma in a way, it was always focused on survival. Everyone was focused on survival. And so when I fell into innovation and I met people who were okay with failing and just wanted to fail faster and had visions for changing the world, and they didn't let themselves be stopped by fear, or at the very least they did it scared, it was incredibly inspirational for me. And so I think at the end of the day, that's what I love about the innovation space. It's the people. I'm constantly being inspired. And I lucked out because at OmniSync, we work with thousands of startups, we work with hundreds of entrepreneurial support organizations like Boast. We work with government entities, we're working with everyone in the innovation space who care about making a change. And so I really didn't have to settle for anything. I really lucked out.
Paul Davenport:
That is so cool. I'm jotting down right now, care about making the change, because I think that that is something that has really resonated across these conversations that we have on the podcast. People come into the community with an abnormal amount of energy about driving change and about being able to drive positive change. That's at least been the common thread about the folks that we've talked to here. Could you tell me a little bit more about OmniSync and just how you guys are making that positive change happening, and how that aligns with your goals for the future and what you got into the space to accomplish?
Caroline Arzoo:
Yeah, absolutely. So a big passion of mine is driving equity in innovation. I really feel that innovation is our only path forward. What we noticed though is that there were some voices being excluded and there were resources that were just inaccessible. So I was think employee four or five at Omnisync, and I really joined because they were just so kind and so mission-oriented there was such potential not only with the cutting edge technology, but just overall a team that cared to work together. They didn't see age, they didn't see gender. I was fairly young when I joined, I was about 22, and they just said, "Hey, you care about startups, we care about startups. Let's work together and make it happen." And they dreamed big. And so I actually had another job offered, and I dropped that and I moved to San Diego the next week.
Caroline Arzoo:
So I was just so energized by the company. But OmniSync's mission really is shaping breakthrough technologies. And our first product and where we really started was TurboSBIR. And if anyone knows about SBIR funding, it's this really amazing resource. It's called Small Business Innovation Research Funding, and it really is 4 billion dollars, billion with a B, in non-dilutive capital from the US government to fund R&D, and really inspire those emerging technologies. Most startups are not aware of it. And then the ones that do are disheartened, to say the least, because it's a very bureaucratic process. It's a U.S government system. And so just taking the first step to identify opportunities is so overwhelming, and then when you get to the point of application, over 80% get rejected for non-compliance. Their font size is half a point off. And so this funding only relates to US-based companies that are majority-owned and operate in the US. But there's really not much in terms of limitations. As long as you're doing something that is innovative, you will find a fit. And this is from everything from transportation to agriculture to space to science, et cetera.
Caroline Arzoo:
This was such a useful resource, and we were frustrated that the only people who were really accessing it were the ones who knew how to play the game. And so what we did is we basically created TurboTax, but instead of four taxes, it was to help startups find and apply for this funding. And the vision has always been democratization. And so the artificial intelligence is cutting edge, it's search and submission support, and we've now helped thousands of startups start identifying funding opportunities and accessing it. And it's been really beautiful to hear the stories of people who were so passionate about their innovation, but we're going to just fall prey to the valley of death. And we've grown a bunch since then. So funding was our first core goal, but in the course of developing this state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, we actually got a bunch of government contracts ourselves, and now we're working internally with different federal agencies in the US to help support and heal their innovation initiatives.
Caroline Arzoo:
The beast has kind of grown. Now, we have a whole market research tool called Turbo Innovate, which is the most comprehensive innovation-specific market research tool. And it's really gone hand in hand. We're working with every stakeholder. We're healing the system internally, we're supporting with every sort of commercialization need, and we're doing it all at as low cost as possible. And so we're really making innovation democratized. I don't know, I get really nerdy about it, and the company's grown so much since I joined. We're at 25 people now, and it's only been a couple years. So I don't know. I love the people here, and I love the mission.
Paul Davenport:
I love the way you put that too, healing the system, because it is heartbreaking to hear 80% of people or companies who applied for SBIR don't get it for things like you had even mentioned, wrong font size. It's very bureaucratic. Again, it's heartbreaking because I geek out about these things as well, and it's very much aligned with the mission that we have here at Boast, where it is a little bit bureaucratic. Again, we started in Canada, we've started with the Shred program. We are Shred experts at that because, again, it is just such a tangled web. If you don't know what you're doing going into it, and it can be disheartening. It can turn you off to even trying to get that non-dilutive funding. And I think the barrier to entry in the US is significantly larger, unfortunately. So I'm so happy to hear that Omnisync is on the mission to heal that system that is, if not broken, again, bruised, probably, and giving it the love that it needs to actually be beneficial for the companies that are in the mission statement for the SBIR in general too.
Caroline Arzoo:
And at the end of the day, we just don't feel that bureaucracy should be what limits innovation. At the end of the day, the idea, the concept, the potential impact really should be all that matters. And it's one of the reasons I love working with the government, and I love working with the SBDCs and the accelerators and the incubators. And in both and all of the entrepreneurial support organizations, there just truly is a passion to help these founders. And at the end of the day, I'm just so grateful for the US government in terms of recognizing that this is such an important place to invest in, and it's important to support entrepreneurs. And I'm excited to be part of the journey to just improve continually every day to make sure we're doing right by startups.
Paul Davenport:
That is so awesome. So I think you kind of touched on my next question here, and you might've actually even answered it a little bit, but working with partners, what are you looking for at Omnisync when you're looking to build partnerships? Is there a specific criteria? And selfishly, how did Boast come on your radar, and how did you meet the team over here and what made you interested in working with us in the first place?
Caroline Arzoo:
Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. I live and breathe partnership and collaboration, I feel like in silos, we're never going to accomplish anything, and there's no point of ever recreating the wheel. I tend not to limit my partnerships. If there's anyone who cares about the same things that we do, I love knowing them, I love getting to know them, and I love supporting their initiatives and working together. But of course, given the fact that we're working with some really early-stage breakthrough technologies, it's important to work with organizations that have that hand in R&D and supporting early-stage high-tech ventures. So I love all of the entrepreneurial support ecosystem, but those tend to be the strongest partners, because they work with the same people we do, and they're intending to help people who would go after SBIRs or who would need insight into the early stage innovation marketplace. And Boast works very well in terms of R&D tax credits, and so it's kind of hand in hand. I mean, we're helping them get the funding in the first place for the R&D, and then the R&D tax credits are so important in the process as well.
Paul Davenport:
Absolutely. Yeah. And to your point too, it's the R&D, doing that research and development, really focusing on developing some unique innovation at the forefront of what you're doing. I'm so glad that Boast is able to help the companies that are taking that initiative. And again, partnering with folks like Omnisync, who again, your product is so cool, just in terms of the matchmaking of it all. It's just something that I've seen applied in different realms, but not necessarily in the startup community. So I'm glad that we can leverage that for our own partners as well, for our own customers.
Caroline Arzoo:
Gosh, I am so in awe of my team. I tell people at events and everything that I'm just the pretty face, because the tech that they're building is so phenomenal. It truly is cutting edge, proprietary artificial intelligence that is just unforeseen in terms of its implications. And just the past couple of weeks we've closed partnerships with the entire Department of Defense and the entire Air Force to get to that point of tracking impact of innovation and predicting innovation trends and really finding partnerships for startups. Just truly the gamut. And all of this comes down to, yeah, obviously we're a kind team, we're a passionate team, but at the end of the day, if the technology wasn't there, then we wouldn't be able to deliver all of these grand visions that we have and that our partners have. And so it's very exciting to me. I kind of am in awe of our tech team as well.
Paul Davenport:
That's so cool. I am feeling a lot of simpatico on that front. It's probably becoming a recurring theme on these episodes, where I talk about how I'm kind of the outlier on the team, and that I didn't find a company. I'm not a founder myself. Almost every other person on my team is a founder or a technologist, and they blow my mind in terms of what they're able to accomplish.
Caroline Arzoo:
Absolutely.
Paul Davenport:
And I'm so happy to represent them and that they trust me to represent them because they are geniuses.
Caroline Arzoo:
And I feel the same way. I feel so privileged, because I'm the people person. I love going to the events, I love making partnerships, and they've given me something that I'm just so incredibly passionate about and so grateful for because I see the impact we've been making, and I see how affordable and high quality our support is for the ecosystem, that every day is just kind of a blessing because I get to go and just spread the awareness. Because the only obstacle ever is awareness. And so it just makes me very happy.
Paul Davenport:
That is awesome. So I know we're coming up on time here. Before we take off, I'd love to know, what's your take on the current state of startups? It's a very broad question, but you see a lot of headlines about, "Oh, VCs aren't funding early stage right now," or "There's tailwinds," or "You have to only be in AI." What would you say from your perch at Omnisync is your take on the next year, and what is in store for people who maybe are entering the startup ecosystem? What should they be aware of or what should they maybe be braced for?
Caroline Arzoo:
I think that's a great question, and I think it is very true that startups are hurting right now. What we have heard from our startups, from our investor friends, from our partners, is that, yeah, investment and startups are really suffering at the moment, and I don't think that's likely to change in the near future, which is another reason that I advocate for the government funding as well as the non-dilutive capital.
Caroline Arzoo:
But overall, what has inspired me about startups and founders is that there really is such a pure grid, and there is such a connection to their innovations that it's hard to hold back from that. And that means people are going to continually enter the space, and I think they should, and I'm excited for them, and I welcome them with open arms and I'm happy to support them. But my biggest pieces of advice would really be to go into it with a sense of community. I think being a founder and being in startups is a very spiritual journey and a very painful one. I've had to face myself every single day. And so my recommendation for founders really would be to make sure that you're connecting with the accelerators, the incubators, the other founders, just build a community, because especially with where this ecosystem is at, but just in general in terms of the startup ecosystem, you need community.
Paul Davenport:
I couldn't have said it any better. That's at the core of our business, the community angle. It's really something that got us to where Boast is today, but also where all of our partners and all of our customers who we, again, we're bumping elbows with them. We're not only helping them get that non-dilutive funding, we're in it together. So I love to hear that. And I think you hit on another great point too, just about founders are hungry, founders are going to be going for it no matter what. So if you hear that it's a bad time to look for investment, that's not going to stop you if you have a good innovation. And that's not going to stop you if you really believe in your product, and you'll get that funding too. So I'll leave it at that. But Caroline, I cannot thank you enough for hopping on the mic with us today.
Caroline Arzoo:
Yeah, thanks so much for having me, and I'm excited about sharing the message with OmniSync and in general. So I'll just thank you again. Yeah.
Paul Davenport:
Absolutely, yeah. And again, Omnisync is a partner of Boast. We're so excited that we're starting this relationship, and I cannot wait to see what we're going to do together going forward. I'm sure I will see you in San Diego soon.
Caroline Arzoo:
Yeah. Thanks so much, Paul. Have a great one.