David Reeser | OpiAID

Can AI change the future of opioid use disorder treatment?

On this episode of Amplified CEO, host Richard Stroupe sits down with David Reeser, Founder and CEO of OpiAID, a groundbreaking company using artificial intelligence to transform the way we treat opioid use disorder. From his early passion for healthcare to pioneering predictive analytics, David shares how real-time biometric data and AI-driven insights are reshaping recovery.

https://opiaid.ai/

This episode edited by Nomadic Orca | www.nomadicorca.com

Produced by Cape Fear Ventures
Edited by Coastal Carolina Network

The Amplified CEO Podcast - https://capefear.vc/amplifiedceo/

Elevate CEO Retreat - https://capefear.vc/elevate/

LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stroupe

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Amplified CEO with Richard Stroupe | OpiAID: David Reeser

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Amplified CEO with VC and serial entrepreneur, Richard Stroop. Today's guest is David Reaser, founder and CEO of OpiAid, a groundbreaking company using artificial intelligence. David's innovative approach combines technology and health care to provide personalized solutions that support patients and providers in the fight against opioid use disorder.

So I'm really fascinated with your background in healthcare. Tell me a little bit more, how did you get involved in healthcare? Why has that become such a passionate, idea for you in your business? Yeah. So it started long before OpiAID, my passion for healthcare started when I was three.

So I was that little kid walking around the living room with the Fisher Price. stethoscope around his neck, you know, and the sphygmometer, you know, thinking I was taking people's blood pressures when I was [00:01:00] a toddler, you know, so there was something in me and I really think it's in our DNA, , in my, on the research side of the house.

I think it's in our DNA to care for people, I believe that all of our gifts, this is not just myself, but everyone is that, , we were all given special gifts, but they're not for us. You know, they're meant to contribute to help the lives of other people, , our gifts aren't meant for us and My gift is being able to care for folks and being able to see around corners and when I was three I was walking around the living room with the Fisher Price set and I always wanted to be A physician from day one.

, it didn't quite play out that way, but. Was there anyone in your family? Was your mom or dad a surgeon, a doctor, a nurse, or any, any healthcare professional? , no. I mean, I had family members who, , worked in healthcare, but I wasn't aware at the time that they were in healthcare.

So there was no one around me or in my circle to influence that. It's just a desire that was in my heart, , to work in healthcare. Yeah. So it started at a very [00:02:00] young age and it went from there, , I, I really, , I really believed that I was going to be a physician. So even as a kid growing up, I would read encyclopedias and learn about the human body and learn about diseases and, uh, eventually , I went and got a license to be an EMT.

Okay. And I really enjoyed that. I didn't like going backwards in an ambulance. Uh, motion sickness is a real thing. , and I learned pharmacy, , at a young age, , I guess I was 16 or 17. I worked at a, at a pharmacy and filled prescriptions. So I got to see, you know, these meds are for these diseases and I was like, Oh, this is interesting.

, eventually I went to x ray school and maybe I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit, but eventually I went to x ray school, uh, to learn how to do radiography and I worked as an EMT, , part time, , and then I also worked in a hospital. , filing basically x ray files at night. So I had some really long days through college, but came out with no debt.

Yeah. I worked my way through school and, and, , he [00:03:00] eventually became an MRI technologist that fluoroscopy in the operating room. I've seen a, a lot in healthcare, right? Did you study for your MCATs or did you ever think about going to medical school? Absolutely. Yeah. When I was going through x ray school, I had, I had this intimidation factor, like In year one, where I thought to myself, I don't know if I'm smart enough to go to medical school.

You know, this self doubt, which I don't struggle with self doubt now. , I, I questioned whether or not I was intelligent enough to get through medical school. And then my year, year two, I started rotating with the medical school students and realize I know as much as a lot of these medical school students.

And then I was encouraged to go to medical school. , by that time, I had met my wife though, and uh, I had been broke for a long time, so I was ready to make a little bit of money, and just when I wanted to take my MCATs and really take that next step. , my wife got pregnant, so I pretty much ended the, uh, journey as a physician at least [00:04:00] at the time.

Who knows? I, , I don't put any limitations on the future. Something can happen, but I believe that the work that I'm doing now is going to impact far more people than I could have done individually. And in my healthcare career, which spanned 13 years, I've cared for thousands of patients in every situation.

You can wrap your head around. And, , I've seen a lot and it's really was a lot of fun and now what I get to do now, , it's really fun too. But it's very stressful, like the environment's very stressful, isn't it? The healthcare environment? Yes. It's stressful in the ways that, that may, may seem unlikely.

, I don't get stressed out by blood, , or by people being sick. I'm stressed out by the fact that we have to treat people differently based on their insurance. Mm hmm. I'm stressed out by the fact that Healthcare has been structured in a way that's a hundred years outdated and that people that need care and can't get access to the care that they need and and this is partly what inspired [00:05:00] OpiAID.

You know, how do we help the most sensitive of our population? How do we do the the lightest lift to make the greatest impact? , that's the part that stresses me out. But, people being sick, like caring for people, that's not the stressful part. The stress is, is the machine around it that just makes it difficult to do so in the most advantageous fashion.

So do you believe that the system that's set up to deliver the healthcare as you describe, is it the diagnosis that's the problem or the, the facilitation of the service or the treatment? The insurance or kind of in between like where does it where does it really become complicated in your opinion? See, there are a lot of things in this world that are complicated I'd like to try to deduce them reduce them to the smallest possible thing to make it really clear I think that the the challenge is that we've put profit before people.

The capitalistic [00:06:00] aspect of health care delivery is now. It's not just the delivery. It's uh It's the motivations, um, as an example, the hardest class that you take in medical school is pharmaceuticals. Like learning how to prescribe medications. Right. It's the most difficult class. Right. And the reason is because, uh, pharmaceutical companies have funded medical schools that teach them how to prescribe medications.

So they largely fund the medical schools. So when the solution to every problem is prescribe medication or do surgery. We've got a problem, you know, the motivation is off because it's driven by profit, you know, medical devices that don't cost much. It costs 25 to take a chest x ray, 25. But if you, if I drive down to the hospital and asked to pay cash for a chest x ray, it'd be like 600, right?

There's some things that are just broken and don't make sense. But at the end of the day, the hospital system, the way it's set up now was set [00:07:00] up to control infectious diseases. We don't have problems with infectious diseases and we have problems with chronic illness now. So the hospitals in general, the health, the healthcare delivery is archaic and is driven by greed.

And it's hard to unravel it. , but there are things that you can do to change. Be specific, you know, and, and drive change in, uh, niche areas that will move the pendulum. And that's what OpiAID is. You know, we're taking the most sensitive of our neighbors and, , leveraging data in a meaningful way to bring them home at night, you know, and, and doing that, you're going to see the paradigm shift and we just need others with a focused approach to go in and do the same.

Eventually things will move. Um, but when you're moving a mountain, you got to do it a stone at a time. When you eat an elephant, it's a bite at a time. Right, right. So with AI implementing efficiencies and benefits, not only from the [00:08:00] diagnosis, but the research and development, even using wearable technology to do more predictive treatment, , you would think that this industry that's plagued with issues and profit over purpose, as you described.

, could be something that we could all look forward to is this technology uplift. Yes. You know, technology definitely plays a role, but technology is just a tool. Technology makes things better, faster, and cheaper. You know, it's the way that you leverage that tool that gives it, gives it meaning, you know, a shovel is technology, shovel makes it easier to dig a hole, you can, you know, dig a hole, plant a tree, that tree grows, it bears fruit.

Provide shade beautiful thing it blessed a lot of people for decades right maybe a hundred years Maybe 200 years you can take that same shovel walk over to your neighbor's house and hit him over the head with it, right? Right duel purpose duel purpose. [00:09:00] So it still comes down to motive, right? You know, so if we leverage technology in a meaningful way, we can drive tremendous outcomes, right?

No, or we could turn this into the next disaster. Yeah, we could you know ruin the autonomy that we have The freedoms that we have You know, we could leverage people's conditions or their tendencies for profit, you know, it's, it's whose hands are they rested in? What decisions will you make now that you know you can do something because you can doesn't mean you should, right?

So you have this passion to help people. And that's one of the reasons you joined into the healthcare industry. Now we're sitting here 2025. Um, with the abundance of all this new technology, that's going to help shape or repurpose what I hope is the delivery of effective solutions and healthcare, , delivery going forward.

, so tell me a little bit about your business model and how you can use some of this new technology and how it's helping some of your patients. So, OpiAID [00:10:00] is a data science company making the treatment of substance use disorder safer and more effective.

Okay. That's a, that's a pretty big statement. That is. Especially when you know how serious substance use disorder really is and how, um, how difficult it is to treat this disease. So, the why behind OpiAID is what's important because it doesn't matter how you do something or what you do until people understand your why.

We know the why behind OpiAID is that we love our neighbors. We don't refer to anybody as an addict. There are no addicts at OpiAID. People are of infinite and inherent worth. Their worth has no beginning and no end and they are born with it and can't be taken from them. So when you see people as a 10, you make different decisions.

From a business standpoint, , you make different decisions about, , what you're willing to do and not do and how you apply technology. The true north behind OpiAIDs, our true north question, I'm, I'm big on keeping things simple, , and having a true north question [00:11:00] for all you entrepreneurs out there, is a really good idea.

the true north question to OpiAID is will this help my neighbor? Simply put, if I have to make a decision, particularly a difficult one, if I ask myself, will this help my neighbor, if the answer is no, I don't need to entertain it anymore. And if it's yes, when? May not be right now. It might be when I hit a different milestone down the road, but the why is that we love our neighbors.

And with that in mind, we want to see them have freedom from substance dependence. We wanted to see them have a meaningful life that they want to live, you know, free from the shackles of addiction. , but addiction is a disease. Substance use disorder is a disease. It's a chronic neurologic disease, , and it deserves world class solutions.

, just like we have for cancer and, and other diseases, you know, it doesn't deserve stigma. It doesn't deserve, , shame, , because it's a disease and we don't make people feel bad for being diabetic or having high blood pressure. We just deal with it, [00:12:00] treat it. But what we do is we provide timely and actionable data to help support clinical decision making, , for patients who are in treatment for their substance use disorder.

So we partner with. , clinics that provide medications for opioid use disorder. , typical medications are like methadone, or buprenorphine, that are safe medications to help people who are addicted to, , or abusing heroin as an example. Fentanyl. , and in this way, , is, this is a scientifically proven way to help people achieve recovery from substance use disorder.

However, retention in these programs is super poor. I mean, only one out of three people actually gets a clinical benefit from this treatment because they just simply don't stick around long enough. One out of three. What happens to the other two? Oh, great question. They, they fall back into a cycle of relapse.

You know, they, they land into 20 day programs that statistically don't work for many. Is that because the treatment doesn't work effectively or they're [00:13:00] just not committed or they don't have the resources to? The primary situation, the primary reason is that the clinicians lack timely and actionable data around how individuals are recovering.

Okay. And that they don't have any personalized insight because many of the tools that have been created for treating substance use disorder are subjective or retrospective. Whereas a lot of other diseases is predictive, like with, uh, uh, diabetes as an example, you can measure glucose levels right now.

Right? So you know whether or not to give yourself insulin. But what if you couldn't do that and you, someone had found you on the floor? Right. You know, that's the situation we have with substance use disorder, is that it's all retrospective. A lot of it's subjective surveys. It's not the level of precision, uh, and accuracy that we have with other diseases.

Mm hmm. So that's, that's one of the major problems with substance use disorder. So if we know based on data that if patients retain in treatment six months, one year, their lives look completely different, their bodies completely different. But the national average [00:14:00] is that, only one out of three people benefit from MOUD care, um, and the other two out of three, they land in emergency rooms, they land in 28 day programs, don't work, they die.

You know, in 2023, 112, 000 of our neighbors in the United States alone passed away. That's like a 747 going down every day. Literally every five minutes somebody's overdosing in the U. S. Right? So this is an epidemic. , that being the case, for those that are successful, they're successful after an average of five relapses over eight years.

Until it finally took what does your life look like after five relapses who's still around what does your body look like right we're done with it no more so we're leveraging technology so that early on during the induction phase the beginning phase the first 30 days of their treatment completely data driven timely and actionable prevent relapses improve the management of withdrawal and get them the help they need when they need [00:15:00] it and doing this you If we are able to keep one more person, uh, in medications for opioid use disorder treatment, MOUD treatment.

If we can keep them in the clinic six more months, one out of three people, we will change the world. And already what we've learned at OpiAID has changed hard science. But going back to our business model, you know, just speaking to that a bit, we partner with these clinics that provide, , this level of care, , and we extract the data within their EHR specific data points, like urine toxicology, , appointment cadence, we look at, , PHQ 9, which is a measurement of depression, GAD 7, which is a measurement of anxiety, and we combine these data points and put, apply machine learning to that and start to put together an understanding of, is someone, , Trending towards recovery or they trending towards relapse, , and then we apply, , something that's very unique at OpiAID and that's leveraging raw biometric data.

So, um, if you can see my watch here, I'm [00:16:00] wearing a Samsung galaxy watch. This is actually a watch for, we, we use watch four through watch seven. And what we're able to do with these watches is collect raw biometric data from the, from the watch. And we are able to quantify the level of withdrawal someone is experiencing.

We can identify withdrawal, we can quantify it. And then we can also identify the acute use of opioids. The purpose of this and the reason that it's so important. is that this gives us a real time understanding, particularly during the, uh, beginning stages of treatment, of when people are experiencing these difficulties, so that, uh, physicians can make different decisions around medication and treatment and compliance.

That's gonna significantly change outcomes for people in treatment. And, uh, now we're working on algorithms specific to stimulant use disorder and alcohol use disorder. So that this can be a source of truth and real time insight, remote physiologic monitoring, it's called RPM. Okay. Um, and that's really the business [00:17:00] model is, let's extract data that's already available, provide data that was never there, offer machine learning and insights, timely insights.

that will lead to better, more data driven decisions, , , interventions that will prevent relapses, save lives, and ultimately, uh, bring more of our neighbors home at night. And this RPM, Remote Physiologic Monitoring Protocol, or CPT, billing is available today, often nephrologists, other chronic diseases, um, but has largely not been applied to substance use disorder.

However, you know, we have a very unique use case for this. Um, and we've been working with payers and the federal government to ensure that this technology is not only available but billable for clinics so that when patients get better, clinics make more money and payers save money. This is one of those few trifectas where everyone's on board because a neighbor who is stabilized in care often costs the payers 40, 000 less to insure per year while [00:18:00] the average clinic will make Uh, nearly 900, 000 in additional revenue and our neighbors are coming home.

This is a win, win, win. So the, the data you collect is from wearable technology, most of it. And electronic health records. Okay. So you're, you're importing electronic health records and you're picking up, uh, biomarker data from individuals using a watch. Correct. And based on that information, you can then determine.

If they're trending towards recovery or relap. Uh, yes, the EHR data will show you the trending, but the biometric data is real time insight where I can tell you that something is happening. Okay, so if I was a patient that needed care. Yes. Um, and I'm, do I have to like download an application on my smartwatch to, to register my information into your system or?

So this is a, this is just an off the shelf device, but [00:19:00] when it leaves the factory now, uh, when it leaves the building, it has our technology embedded in it. So for them, uh, it's the same watch that they're used to. If they've worn a smartwatch in the background, there's a separate data feed that pulls that raw data and sends it.

To LTE or Wi Fi to our cloud servers where it gets transformed and then displayed within the dashboard. So, uh, it's simply put on the watch, but we offer these watches free of charge. Like it, it's offered as part of the RPM package. So when they go to the clinician, um, their physician would say, look, John, you know, um, I know that you're really serious about wanting this to be the last time that you have to go through this program.

You know, the last time you're here, we didn't have this, but we have something now called OBAID. And what this is, is technology that can help support your recovery and give us better understanding of how to make sure that That, that you get the best care possible, and it's completely up to you whether you want to do this or not, because truly you can only [00:20:00] help those that really want to help.

But there are so many who are just desperate, right? But this is a technology that, that we are seeing a lot of promise in, and if you agree to be a part of this, , not only is this going to help shape your recovery, but the data and what we learned in this process is going to change recovery for people you don't even know.

Right. Like you are literally making, and it's true. Because the nature of machine learning and what we're learning at OpiAID, we know that every data feed that enters that database is making the AI smarter. And more sensitive so they can help more people in a more personal way. Right. So they're not contributing to their own recovery.

They're helping somebody else at home. It's true. Now does the patient pay for this service or does the, do you get reimbursed by insurance? How, how does that? Yeah. So this is a B2B SAS model. We sell directly to the clinic, , they pay us per patient per month. And then, , while it's not proven to be, uh, we're, we're still working out [00:21:00] the CPT coding with clinics to make sure that they can reimburse for it.

, ultimately it's the clinics pay for it. They offer it, , to the, their, their, , their patients, our neighbors. And then they bill CPT coding to be able to get reimbursed plus. So for them it's a new vertical, you know, and it's financially advantageous. Plus, they see their, their patients retained in care, which adds to the bottom line.

For each patient in North Carolina retained in care, it's worth about 8, 400 a month for the clinic. And right now. So they're, they're, they're incentivized. Absolutely. Plus, the folks that go into this line of care do so because they are truly passionate. You'll see very few people work within substance use disorder psychiatry unless they truly love it.

Because psychiatry has terrible reimbursements, financially not advantageous, if you have the choice between that and being a surgeon, no brainer, uh, if finance is the, the reason you make the decision. And people who work within [00:22:00] substance use disorder do so because they truly care. So they want people to get better.

They want more options to see people succeed. So they're encouraged just to have a tool that gives them hope and gives them more data. Um, but then it can be financially advantageous also. So, from the clinic's point of view, are they receiving enough funding to service their neighbors and patients at the state level, the federal level?

Like, what are some of the challenges that they're facing? That's a very fair question. And it depends on the type of clinic that's offering the care. So the care is divided up in two schools of thought. You're either an OTP, meaning outpatient treatment program. , those are the only programs in the United States that are allowed to prescribe methadone, which is a very common medication.

Our, our OTPs are typically non profit and they get their funding through SAMHSA. So it's grant dollars through the federal government. , with those programs, the, the money is coming from the federal government. It's kind of like a guaranteed paycheck. You know, and we bake it into the business model that it just makes sense for them, and they can kind of [00:23:00] structure it into their finances.

Those sales cycles take a while. , and then there's OBOTs, which are considered outpatient based opioid treatment centers. And that's very much fee for service, very much CBT. It's just like any traditional healthcare practice. And for those groups, you know, that's something that we can implement in pretty fast.

Um, but I would say in general, there's not enough funding for the treatment of substance use disorder, largely because it wasn't treated as a real disease for a long time. A lot of stigma, a lot of misunderstanding, some folks who had really good will that did some things that really didn't help the industry.

But all in all, it was largely overlooked because there wasn't a lot of profit to be had and therefore they didn't make it profitable to enter the market either. But that has significantly changed. And the, uh, the tailwinds that are coming as a result of this and, and a deeper understanding of the downstream effects of not treating this when you can, have become incredibly evident to federal government, to the payers, to everyone [00:24:00] alike.

So that this has become an, a beautiful industry to be in from a business perspective. Reimbursements are totally changing. The laws are completely falling in line with making recovery a priority. And we were doing it before anybody thought it was sexy or interesting or financially advantageous. So it's, it's such a time as this.

Is, is there any political leanings? Like there's some political party better than the other, or do you feel like the new administration might actually help? Create more of an impact . , so I believe that this is one of the few topics that there is bipartisan agreement on.

, everyone's been affected. Dependence on substances, , doesn't have a face. It can look like anybody, it can look like me, it can look like you. And for that reason, because it's no respecters of persons or how much money is in your wallet, everyone has been affected in some way.

That being the case, we have absolutely no difficulty with [00:25:00] Republicans or Democrats or any other party with supporting these efforts. Now they all obviously have different ideas of how it can be done, but there's a unified front on wanting to do something and, , that's enough to bring the people to the table and do something that's going to have impact.

So we've gotten a significant amount of political support, , and in fact, some of the work that I'm doing with, , a non profit that I belong to, I work with a group called Breaking Barriers. It's, , six different companies all working within innovation around substance abuse. And we're a political action case, so we lobby Congress, we talk to congressmen and senators and help shape the laws in such a way or working to help shape the laws to make it, , more fair, more accessible, data driven, more effective, more reasonable, , because barriers are a real thing.

, but yeah, we, we don't really have difficulty on the political front. , although there are some challenges specifically around the laws regarding data and the treatment of substance use disorder that's [00:26:00] actually hindered care. That's unfortunate and, and likely to change. Is that just from the protection like HIPAA type security of information?

That's correct. Yeah, so there's HIPAA, which is, you know, the Health Information Portability Act, and that's specific to anything healthcare, but within substance use disorder and behavioral health. , we have a different level of compliance that we have to adhere to, and it's called 42 CFR Part 2. And with that level of compliance, it can hinder even physicians getting access the day they need to be able to properly care for someone.

So some of that needs to change in, in order to streamline care and not have so many cracks that people can fall into. Right. Well, it sounds like it's a very hot topic, you know, as far as just embracing technology in health care and making it more affordable and. Creating more custom treatment programs for individuals.

, so you collect the information that wrote your own application that can do [00:27:00] machine learning analysis. Uh, can you explain a little bit about your tech stack? How does that work on the backend? Yeah, fortunately I'm not a developer, you know, interestingly enough, I, I, I probably on the onset of OpiAID was the least likely person to start this company.

Oh, okay. I have to hear the story. How did you form the company? That this, what was the aha moment? Yeah. And we can come back to this thing because it's, it's, it's, it's actually pretty fascinating. So. , yeah, long time in healthcare, , delivering care, then I got recruited by a startup that ultimately failed, but it was in healthcare, gave me a taste for startup.

Came to Wilmington, originally from Pennsylvania, came to Wilmington and, uh, was a contractor helping other healthcare companies bring products to market because I understood how to sell and I understood healthcare. So that, that was helpful. Ultimately started an IT company. , built and sold here in Wilmington, you know, over two and a half years, my business partner, Stan, wonderful guy, , we built this IT company, sold it, and then I got my feet wet in being a CEO, [00:28:00] and then there was OpiAID, , , the genesis of OpiAID was simply this, um, I saw substance use in my family.

I saw a tragedy in my community and I was moved to action and it kind of felt like it kind of felt like I was looking out into the street and I saw a child about to get hit by a car and it's like nobody else sees it, but you do. So you have, you have the option now to turn your head and keep walking or risk it and try to save that child before you both get hit.

And that's what I did. So sold OpiAID, put all my money out, completely jumped in all kinds of risk just because it felt that important. And ultimately this was a download from God. Like he literally told me, love your neighbor. And I'm like, I got to understand a little bit more what that looks like. Right.

But slowly, but surely, like I was getting download of things I shouldn't understand. I knew nothing about data [00:29:00] science, nothing, nothing about it. I had absolutely no idea what data science was. I knew nothing about software development, nothing about wearables. I know healthcare technology. I know healthcare, but I knew nothing about wearables.

And I knew nothing about starting a life science company, nothing. Nothing. What was the IT company that you were working for? Uh, it's called IT Works, cloud infrastructure for attorneys and local government. So it was workspace as a service. We basically took all their software and programs, we put in a cloud, 42 levels of compliance, and then they were able to access their files and software from anywhere in the world on any device.

So it was like a Citrix on steroids at a fraction of the cost. My co founder was an IT genius and I was good at sales and solving problems, getting it done efficiently. So were you able to lever that experience? Go back to your health care roots kind of combined. Yeah, it was a, it was a mixing of the two, but there were so much unknown.

If I, if I were to do like a landscape analysis, you know, in the four quadrants, you know, this was definitely not in the upper right type [00:30:00] of company that I should have been starting. , right. Yeah, it just wasn't. , but here I am, right. And, uh, the thing is I, just what I needed at just the right time would always come through and the message was always super clear.

We started out with a clear why we didn't, you know, move from that. And then we started writing grants early to better identify where the opportunities are and get the validation we needed as a young startup. Validation is really important, particularly in life science. So, uh, the genesis was, was, you know, I watched suffering in my family, , watched suffering in my community and said no more. , we started this because we want to see people come home at night. And I realized too, the, the levers of, of healthcare on the only meaningful way , to grow, , is to solve a problem first and to make sure that it's profitable for clinics to offer it and that it can be meaningfully, uh, introduced into the market.

So, yep. Yeah. Yeah. It's always interesting because personal experience usually drives behavior and, [00:31:00] and. , experience similar things. It calls to action and, you know, your heart will tell you exactly where to go. So that's a great story. so speaking from the data science you mentioned stack, like what's our data stack?

, we, we build off of GCP, you know, we can be cloud agnostic. , we just like GCP. Google's been a great partner to me for a long time. , we use them in my previous business and we use a lot of cloud compute. Right. Um, sure. Oh my goodness. So yeah, build off of GCP, we've got a really flexible platform, , we collect the same data points, but present them in different ways depending on the clinic and the clinical workflow.

And we've got some really sophisticated algorithms running in the background, most of it's convolutional neural networks. Some of them are liquid networks, which for folks who are listening to this, even if you're into AI, often folks don't know what a liquid neural network is. That's like the latest, greatest.

, but being able to personalize the algorithm, , to the individual, that's a pretty special thing, especially as they're recovering and being able to generalize across skin tones so that the insides that you share [00:32:00] are, , equitable across the board. It doesn't matter what you look like, you know, what tone your skin is, if you're male or female.

To be able to get accurate data, you know, so some of the extra labor that we've gone through to ensure that this would work for all and not just the ones that look like us, you know, it was egregiously difficult, but it was important. How long did it take for you to build that I mean, we're still building it because with a, yeah, with a network, it's always learning, um, uh, MVP, uh, a year, you know, to get it to where it is now, including the algorithms three and a half years, you know, we've got, we've got a massive data set, you know, a lot of the inherent value of OpiAID isn't even our technology, it's our data and our IP.

So we've got 7 billion rows of data. To my knowledge, I think we've got the largest biometric data set in the world. on opioid use disorder. So it's massive and we're learning so much on it. Has this been a source of academic research? Like, have there been other like PhD type work, , in this field that [00:33:00] you were able to lever ?

Yeah, there's been a significant amount of work and we've created a lot of it too, which is kind of wild when I think about it that way. But there are, uh, three students at UNCW who are getting their PhDs as a result of the work at OpiAID. They came and they did work at OpiAID and developed new technology that didn't exist, right?

And now they're getting their PhDs and they're gonna be the expert on it. In fact, I think it totals up to like 34 students have come through OpiAID through UNCW now. Is that right? Uh huh. And we've had some from Duke and Boston University and UNC Chapel Hill, so we've offered internships as part of our clinical trials.

And, , open up lab time. So a lot of these students are going out to be clinicians. They got their first experience at OpiAID, uh, which is really cool. And some of them have stayed and they're getting their PhDs and they're becoming part of the team. So this has been homegrown here in Wilmington will always be in Wilmington.

And, , we've definitely advanced the learning and have benefited from the research that other [00:34:00] folks have done. , significantly. And we've done, uh, a fair amount of funded research as well, and you know, we've written five SBIRs. We've won three, you know, we're in the midst of a, uh, SBR fast track right now moving in phase two, which is FDA clinical trial.

We're about to start in April. Yeah. That's, that's huge. Phase two is huge. Yeah. This is, this is, this is a good one. This is fun. But this is only one, you know, this is our, this will be our DeNovo FDA DeNovo, and I've got another mark coming right after that, a 510K that will be. Um, right after that DeNovo was approved or cleared.

What originally brought you to Wilmington? I don't want to hop back and forth. Yeah, no, I'm, Hey, I contact switch the ADD, uh, CEO. You know, we've got a contact switch. So what brought me to Wilmington, , was my wife in a car. She said, get in. Literally, that's what happened. She was like, I'm tired of living in Pennsylvania.

It snows too much. I was like, I can't argue with that. , my requirements were really simple. I need to be 15 minutes from an airport, no more than 30. I want to live by the [00:35:00] beach. And I don't want to shovel snow anymore. So, um, we spent like a week in LA, a week in Florida and, uh, four days in Wilmington and we were like, yep, this is where we're moving and there was no turning back.

And I'll tell you what, this is so great because I've raised my girls here now. , we came in 2016 and, , I can't imagine anything else being home. I really love Wilmington. I love my city. Yeah, it's a beautiful area for sure. , I, I see Wilmington as a city on a hill. I see it.

As, uh, an opportunity to show the rest of the country how you can get things right. I really believe that. You know, we're messing up along the way too, but I think Wilmington is in a really special place where we still have an opportunity to shape what it's going to look like in the future. I want to be a part of making that a better, better place to be.

It has the, the startup ecosystem. , been beneficial for you and in your journey and with OpiAID. Oh, yeah. For those that are, uh, on camera, this is one of the organizations. I brought my coffee mug today, , that [00:36:00] has really been, , incredibly supportive of us, , NC idea. Um, uh, there, there's been a number of organizations I can rattle some off for sure.

Yeah. So, so network for entrepreneurs, Wilmington, Jim Roberts out there probably going to be listening into this. Uh, unbelievable. He's a huge fan of yours, by the way. Yeah, and he's been, honestly, he's been such a, a tremendous support in the early days when I really didn't know what it meant to be an entrepreneur, to be a standout CEO.

I didn't, I didn't know, I really didn't. I was growing into it. Um, he helped me in those early days with coaching, getting me connected to resources, walking me in doors that I couldn't have walked in myself. And he accelerated the process by leveraging social capital in a way that wasn't happening So, thank you.

You're welcome. When I came to Wilmington, I got a lot of God bless you's and bless your hearts, you know, and I was like, everyone's blessing me, you know, um, it was tough because I'm this fast talking guy from the North that's used to working 80 hours a week, you know, and suddenly when everyone [00:37:00] leaves at four o'clock in the afternoon on a Friday, I'm still working.

Like you start looking like the oddball, you know, but Jim recognized that the heart and the hustle was there and he wanted to help me. He did tremendously. , which led to funding, which led to SBIRs, you know, introduced me to folks that helped us get our first grants in motion, understand what an SBIR even was.

And now here we are three and a half million in non dilutive funding later, almost a million dollars in angel investments. And we're closing contracts that are eight figures or eight, seven, you know, and, um, it's a totally different world. And I don't know that this could have happened anywhere else in the country, I really don't.

I mean, all things are possible, I don't create limitations. The only limitations are the ones we put on ourselves. I think statistically speaking, I think it would have been very difficult to replicate this in any city in the fashion we did. Um, but Jim Roberts, uh, UNCW CIE. [00:38:00] Uh, NC IDEA, their funding, NC Biotechnology Center provided us loans for coaching.

We won an NC Bioneer contest. We won grants through NC IDEA. We won some funding through UNCW as well. All the things they've done for us. I mean, I really believe we have so much to give back now because we've been blessed and taken care of so well by the state and the ecosystem here. And I feel like I don't feel like you, you, uh, you think believer now, right?

In that order, I know we have a lot to give back so that this is part of that. I didn't do this podcast because I wanted glory or anything that I'm not interested in. Now my ego died a long time ago. I'm hoping that someone hears this and is inspired to take a risk. Or to feel comfort in the fact that they're not the only one on the struggle bus that there's something on the other side of This it's better than what you're walking through, right?

But the the struggle is part of the journey and if you can find joy in [00:39:00] the desert, you know You can rejoice on the mountain too. You know, you got to learn to find comfort in the uncomfort of it all And in doing that you learn a lot because pain's got a lot to teach you But you should also know that if you're in Wilmington or if you're in North Carolina, you probably are the best ecosystem in the country for being able to take an idea and see it come to life because until you can see it in your head, you're never going to hold it in your hand.

Right. But there are a lot of places you can be where it'll remain an idea. Right. Without the resources, time, talent, and treasure to be able to bring that to fruition. Right. That's great that Jim has been such a beneficial force in your, in your journey. And that you, you've taken part in to the, whole ecosystem of the different organizations that are helping small business, which is, it's great to hear.

Thank you. Shout out to Jim Roberts. Thank you. Appreciate you. So tell me about your team. So when you, when you had this idea to form the business and you know, you went through an MVP stage, , did you [00:40:00] tap your former, , co founder of your it company? Did he assist you in creating some of these early business models?

Yeah. And I can't take credit for OpiAID. OpiAID was, was born out of a desire to see our neighbors come home at night and it wasn't just David Reaser. There were a number of people at the table in the early days. We were bringing stakeholders from all over the community to talk about the problem.

We didn't know what the solution was even going to look like. We wanted to understand the problem. , so Stan, Stan helped make OpiAID a reality, you know, and a number of other folks too, like it couldn't have happened otherwise. , but it was all from the same sincere desire that we did leverage the insights from many people, police officers, clinicians, people who are in recovery.

Let's understand what's happening in our community. This was always for our backyard for Wilmington because you may not know this, but 11. 6 percent of our work working population are misusing or abusing opioids in the city. That's number one in the nation. That's not something you want to be number one.

So wait, Wilmington has the number one OpiAID [00:41:00] abuse? Uh, the number one, there are 11. 6 percent of our working population is using or abusing an opioid. That's number one out of any city in the United States. Wow. That's, I didn't know that. Huge. And that's an unfortunate fact. And that being the case, we, we, we leaned on that lean startup methodology principle and said, let's understand this.

Let's work out a lean canvas and, and walk through the stakeholders to find out the con, the texture of this challenge. And , Why do you think Wilmington has the, that issue? Like what, based on some of your anecdotal data collection. Yeah, this is a bit anecdotal because it's hard to put your finger exactly on it, but I can give you some, some bullet points.

Sure. Um, so one, we're a college town that tends to drive more, uh, substances, uh, into a city. We're the end of I 40. Um, we're a port city, so things can come in and come out really [00:42:00] fast. We've got a huge divide between those that have and those that have not. Huge divide. So inequality. Inequality. Inequality.

 And then that backs into food deserts and lack in education and those, , those tensions that are created in and within that. , but those are some of the reasons why. There are others, but those are some of the reasons why. But it's also the reason to be so hopeful because we are in a fluent community as well who genuinely cares and we have Coastal Horizons and other amazing providers here who have their heart completely committed to supporting our neighbors.

Like we could be such a beacon of hope for the rest of the country and it is literally the perfect scientific test bed for making things better in a way that is. You can create a blueprint and copy and paste it somewhere else for the same reason. It's like a dome. It's almost like you put a digital dome over the city and what you learn here can be copied almost anywhere.

Right. Yeah, it's very representative. Clean [00:43:00] cross sections across community. It's really interesting. You mentioned, you know, inequality. Um, Is it a lack of, uh, industry that's driving some of the choices that individuals make? Um, like trying to peel the onion back a little bit more.

Oh yeah, I, I, we can peel this all the way back to there's no more layers left. Yeah. Um, here's my thought just to keep things simple is that everyone needs two things. They need a purpose and they need a hope. And coming from a, uh, a kid from a poor street, you know, uh, where we were poor, but I was broke.

Broke is a temporary state of not having poor as a mindset, right? I knew I was broke. You know, when you're walking around, your feet are poking out of your shoes and you're walking to school covered in rain, , soaking wet to the bone, you smell like a cigarette. Yeah. People who are walking through life that way, they lack hope.

And when you also don't know why you were put [00:44:00] here or what am I going to do and what's special about me that I can contribute to the world, you lack purpose, right? And in communities where you, uh, don't have a strong education system because the way that the city was drawn up, education is poor. You go to lunch and it's pizza and chicken nuggets every day, so you don't have good nutrition.

And it, you know, our, our bodies are being manipulated by all the chemicals that have been put in it because cigarette companies started becoming food companies. And suddenly the environment and the water is toxic. You don't have access to, uh, quality education, right? , and on top of that, there's food deserts where you live.

So basically you can walk and get a bag of Cheetos or go to Wendy's, you know, but you can't go and get fresh salad. The incentives are just upside down. So what you have unhealthy, unmotivated, uneducated, lack of hope, lack of purpose. It doesn't matter where you live. That's a recipe for desperation. And people sometimes seek [00:45:00] medications and opioids to escape from a lack of purpose, to escape from a lack of hope.

You know, and in certain, and it happens in other ways too, but that, that is one of the reasons if you were to pinpoint it back to inequality, that's what I would say, but I would argue that people who are wealthy are the most lost. Because they feel like they have it all together, you know, and then sometimes the substance use could be recreational or accidental So it can happen in different ways But inequality and lack of hope lack of purpose regardless of you are will will create an environment where bad things happen do you feel the drug companies also target some of the inequality markets around the country and you know, try to Plus up their own drug sales.

I mean I have friends Who are pharmacists. I have friends who are drug sales. You know, I can kind of [00:46:00] see both sides of the coin. I understand the whole BPM market . Um, so when you talk about the business side, you know, it, it definitely does create a major impact on, on both sides of the coin.

Um, but , what fault Does the drug company have in some of this? Because obviously they are incentivized. Yeah, they're definitely incentivized. So, let me uh, let me answer that by, by putting something else out there. I think in life, particularly in business, you find what you look for. You know, I say that because I feel like it's really easy to point the fingers at the pharmaceutical companies, very easy to point the fingers at the pharmaceutical companies and other folks, but Um, I, I, I tend to want to gravitate toward, toward hope and towards solutions.

I do believe that the pharmaceutical companies play a humongous role in creating this epidemic without question. And it's undeniable at this point. I mean, when HBO is [00:47:00] making specials about this and there's TV series come out just laying out everything that the, , Purdue Pharma had done, they knew they were taking advantage of people who are both wealthy and poor all the same.

It was all about profit. And the United States is the only country where you see pharmaceutical companies advertising their drugs on TV with cute little taglines, you know, and little cartoons because they contribute 55 percent of the revenue that's given to FDA every year. So, of course, you're going to have manipulation in the healthcare system when the food companies own, you know, the, uh, the folks that tell us what's safe to eat and the drug companies own the organization or pay the majority of the revenue into the organization that approves medications and medical devices and procedures for United States citizens.

You're of course going to see corruption. Right. So yes, that was absolutely happening and there's been a lot of beautiful change and a lot of beautiful change coming with a new administration You know cleaning up a lot of that nonsense Mm hmm. Yeah, well pharmaceutical plants play a huge role and things haven't [00:48:00] gone sideways, right?

Does the bipartisan BPM reform you think that'll help? Reshape some of the expectations and I guess the the proof is in the pudding Like, I don't, I don't, I don't, uh, get excited about deals that we close until I see cash hit the bank. Right. So like, I've, I've heard a lot of good things and I've read over a lot of these proposals and they look very promising.

Um, truth is ideas are cheap. Uh, action is, is what I measure. We got to, we got to measure the say do ratio of these folks. So let's sit back and, , hope for the best, prepared for downside risk of it, not quite planning out that way. Absolutely. So what other markets are you currently operating in? The Wilmington is a huge market.

, are you nationwide? Southeast? Where exactly are you? Yeah, so we're early in our commercialization. We have clinics live here in North Carolina, , in Alaska, [00:49:00] which I'm going to Alaska, February 28th. I'm speaking an AI conference in Alaska and visiting one of our clinics. It's going to be very cold, y'all, , super cold.

, and then we're, , going to begin work in West Virginia this year. , Arizona, thinking of all the states, Nevada, , Florida, potentially that's a, that's a potential is not a done deal yet, but yeah, there's a number of states. We'll be in six different states before the end of the year. Yeah. Typically markets that have similar conditions to Wilmington, I imagine workforce that has a high dependency on opiates.

Yeah, I mean there's a, there's a general formula and it's like concentration, , of the problem, laws in that state, reimbursement in those states, sort of the acceptance of solutions like this overall, some of the larger players where their central regions and their footprint, you know, our specialty are these MOUD clinics particularly of some scale because they have an easier time operationally deploying something like this and having to pull their systems together [00:50:00] whereas a lot of these smaller clinics, They don't really have the runway to land the jet, you know, right.

So what are your sales looking like? Oh, they're not looking as high as I want them to be. But, uh, an entrepreneur, you know, always wants to go faster. And, and, , so we have about a million and a half in contract right now. Okay. , but, , like I said, we just getting going. Those are just. Early deals that we, we got into motion, you know, my goal by the end of 2025 is to have 10 million in ARR, , and then just kind of speaking, with positive mind frame, you know, because you'll find what you look for.

Like I said earlier, I'm, I'm believing that we'll have about 10 patents in motion by the end of the year, maybe 11 that will be close to submitting our, our data for our, our trial. , for some sort of, , early approval, , on our FDA trial, and we'll have about 10 million in ARR by the [00:51:00] end of the year.

And I hope to grow my team by at least 30 percent for some of the things that we're looking to do.. How big is your team right now? So. It's a hard question to answer because so many people are part of research that don't fall into the commercial side of the house. I have some people who are PRN, some that are full time, some that are fractional.

In total we're 33, , but it's, it's not day to day that large. There are nine individuals who are part of our core, yep. Day to day team. Payroll. Payroll, exactly. The ones you have to make sure that the check's going to clear, um, for sure. , but yeah, we have a large team and some of these folks, like I said, are fractional or hourly and, , rotate in and rotate out.

So we're, we're a small team. Right. And you've raised, you said 3 million to date? We've raised 3. 5 in non diluted funds through grants and awards. And then we've raised, , 740, 000 in, uh, Angel funding. That's right. Is that through the whale fund, Jim, almost [00:52:00] entirely through through whale. , and then a couple other things that kind of came through.

Okay. And are you going to be actively fundraising this year? Or do you have a safe that you're raising money off of? Oh, I'd love to know if anyone's raising with the safe anymore. Um, everybody I talked to is using saves. Yeah. If they're getting any money though, is that, is it, is the real question? I know we talked about like aerospace space, space companies are using, you know, yeah, I mean, say I, yeah, anyway, that's a philosophical question for me because I think a safe note, uh, is very one sided, no, no offense to any of my entrepreneurs out there doing safe notes.

, God bless you. If you can raise it that way, , go for it. , so we are, we were planning on raising, , at the end of Q1, , but it looks like we might be, , taking an investment potentially with a group, VC group that we're working with right now that approached us. Okay, great. Yeah, they're like, we recognize what you all are doing and, , we want in, , which is cool when you're not searching for it.

Uh, we were [00:53:00] planning on starting to look out once we got our trial stood up, you know, having things in place and closing at least one more sale, uh, but they came searching for us and we're in a due diligence process with them right now. And this is incredibly strategic because this is not money for us.

This is way more than money. We're going to be getting some significant new team members out of this that could really propel us forward and opening up new markets. I mean, this is a really significant one. And if this. If we continue down this path, and it's a good fit on both sides, this will be significant, very significant.

Explain a little bit about your non dilutive funding, because I know talking to inspiring entrepreneurs, most people think bootstrap, have to go borrow money, you know, angel investing or friends and family. But a lot of folks really don't pay attention to the non dilutive grants because of the exercise of applications and the process.

Some people don't really understand how to even get started with Sibbers [00:54:00] or other type of grants. So if you can explain a little bit about how you got into that and what, you know, little nuggets or lessons that you can give others, follow your footsteps. Well, I love this question because it's incredibly practical in business.

It's really hard to know everything that's going to happen. And there's not a step for step guide for getting it completely right. Here are the a hundred steps to have a successful business. If it was like that, we'd have a much higher success rate, but we always know the next right thing to do, the next right thing, and as a startup founder, particularly in North Carolina, we have these wonderful organizations that offer up these small but very important grants that you can apply for, like an NC Idea, they have something that's called a They have the seed grant, which is a $50,000 grant, but then they have a $10,000 grant, , that you can apply for.

And that $10,000 grant could be a humongous game [00:55:00] changer for a new startup. One. Not only are they gonna learn the value of writing a grant and be able to think about every part of your business, but you're gonna get extremely valuable insight from grant reviewers who really, truly understand what it taste to be successful, that will, , sow a, a seed in you.

, and help you grow in certain areas. You may not know that you even needed or had a muscle there that needed to be strong, , to be in startup world. And then you get that first point of validation, which can be a huge confidence lift. And particularly with the NCI grant, , is that you get a bootcamp when you win that 10, 000 grant.

And those that win that have a very high likelihood of winning a seed grant for 50, 000 down the road as they gain more traction. , you can also meet other partners that can help you on this journey because it's You know, you can go by yourself and go fast, but you can go with others and go far. And I'm, OpiAID's definitely a living, breathing example that this company would be dead already if it was just me.

, but because of such a beautiful team that we have around us, we're, we're [00:56:00] going really far, you know, speaking to other grants, you start out with these smaller grants, get some small wins, you know, get some momentum from those wins, propel them into something like an NC Bioneer and, win, , 20, 000 or 100, 000 with that, and then work your way up to an SBIR SBIRs are very challenging.

But, you know, you learn to run a 5k before you run a marathon, right? , and SBIR, , they're difficult to win. , often the success rate for your first one, less than 20%, take three months to write. You know, it's not a small feat. , but for those that are successful and you get a good program officer, this could be non diluted funding for the life of your company.

And, , more importantly, more important than the money, because an SBIR Phase 1 can be between 150, 000 and 300, 000. And funding to basically test your idea, get a working concept and a phase two, which is, , finishing the technology and commercialization can be between one million and three and a half [00:57:00] million potentially if you can get all the add ons.

Which is really significant, , but you can keep writing these things. I've, I've talked to companies like Baby's won 25 million in SBIR grants. You know, why not? And I know other folks have done that as well. It's great for validation, for understanding where the market's going. , you're in the room where these things are happening.

And now, interestingly enough, another sort of, you would never believe it if it wasn't true, is, , I don't have a PhD. I'm not an MD. I'm a fairly intelligent guy. , I'm a reviewer for the National Institute of Health. So like the best researchers in the country who are writing the cutting edge grants about the, tomorrow's technology, I review them, , like I'm helping craft where that money goes and what the future looks like for innovation in this, in this industry.

That being the case, I probably have a unique perspective on this and I, I really do believe that grants are a great way first to get validation, , not first, but one point one is validation. Understanding where you need to grow [00:58:00] and to grow in those areas and three to work your way up to having officially in life science a validated instrument you know and a strong commercialization model that you can build off of like a strong foundation to build a strong company off of Yeah, I definitely think that grants are a win for a lot of companies and not every company.

, and I would always prefer to close a sale than get investment money, , in the early days. And the only reason I say that is that, , I think there are certain things you have to learn about business that entrepreneurs today forget, which is that you can't just live on investor money, or hope for a grant dollar that may or may not come in, because you write a grant today, you're not going to see that money in SBIR for a year.

You know, how do I close something today that someone's willing to pay me for? Right. Where I can build value and get strong and build these muscles and understand delivery. Am I in the right market? Test something for gosh sake, help your, help your investors out by closing some sales and understanding , what it takes to [00:59:00] be successful and who you need on your team.

Not just about grants, not just about getting investment dollars. Let's go close some sales. Let's get some traction. Right. Yeah. And have confidence about talking about your product and solving problems and yeah, that's it. Yeah. That's been great. Yeah, I had no idea you were doing reviews. , this is something new for me. And that's another thing too, you always have to be growing. Yeah. You know, at least you, you should have a growth mentality, not just in your business, but personally. Oh yeah, for sure. You know, I love, I love what you put out there, , with regards, you should spend a third of your time doing things that are uncomfortable and moving into a place of real uncomfortable.

Growth only happens when we're uncomfortable, but you shouldn't be so uncomfortable all of the time. Right. Uh, there is something to that and, and actually I wanted to ask you, how do you balance so much time being uncomfortable and driving milestones while at the same time not physically pushing yourself too far?

Because I can tell you, like, I have a tendency where when I turn on, I can be on for 18 hours and, [01:00:00] but my body has told me now, David. You're not 25 anymore, like I'll let you get away with this for so long, but not too long. , what's the barometer for you when you know that you're, you're, you're spending that time being uncomfortable driving milestones, but know like where to start to step on the gas pedal, park the car and then get back in tomorrow.

Well, before you go down the path of choosing whatever growth model you're looking for, obviously, there's an outcome or target that you're trying to Obtain. Sometimes you get into it, like you mentioned, and you just become blind and you just keep working and, and, but you have to understand it's not just about the destination, about the journey.

It's about understanding how you create the discipline to, um, undergo some of those growth models that, that you push yourself towards. Um, of course, you know, with kids and everybody else in your life, they'll tell you to, you know, Hey dad, come downstairs or [01:01:00] on the go, you know, otherwise you can sit there all day.

And, you know, with your head down and, and just completely just entranced. Um, it's tough. It's tough. Cause like you mentioned, the older you get, the body will tell you as well. So there's, there's markers, uh, either people in your life or your body itself will say, Hey, time to go. You know, I'm still trying to get over something I called over the holidays, but, but what's been, in your opinion.

Some of the most challenging aspects of starting your business through this journey. It sounds like you've gone through the whole growth model of the grant writing process, and you've been very successful with that. And that, that's something most entrepreneurs never experienced. So I'm happy that you've got that experience, something that you can completely leverage in the future.

But now that you're transitioning into the VC model, , do you, do you find, , , more challenging or opportunities or do you see things going forward so I think the [01:02:00] greatest challenges in the beginning, when you tell your wife that you're going to sell one business that is like actually growing really well to start a new business that may not commercialize for years. And we're going to spend our money to make sure that it's successful.

, that's a challenging conversation. , it is. And, uh, my wife knows that once I put my hand on something, I don't walk away. So she knows one way or another, I'm either going to die trying or it's going to, that mountain will move. So I think she got a little scared and then she said, okay, deep breath.

It's going to be all okay. That's the first challenge. , and now, now that we're past the, , You know, something's gonna go wrong, situation like, okay, breathe deep, everything's gonna be fine. , the new challenge is that you have to be prepared for your business on the outside to maybe look the same, but you're fundamentally creating a new machine when, you know, with venture capital and with scaling, you know, uh, certain roles, even on teams that, you know, need to be professionalized, whereas it was whoever was willing to raise their hand and had a certain skill set.

Now we have to [01:03:00] make sure that, you know, we are geared up to be able to do the next thing is adding new roles. It's. It's increasing your burn rate. It's being able to shape things in such a way that, , they will be more resilient at scale, you know, and that requires some work because the company you built that made a million dollars, you know, the company we have now, , is not the same company when you get to 10 million and it's certainly not the same company when you get to 50 million, right?

So with that in mind, you have to look at your team. You workflows. A lot of things will change, but what will not change is the heart of OpiAID. I will not let that happen. Like the culture that we've built. It's really simple. We, we respect one another. We love our neighbors. Period.

That will not change because there's no amount of money that's going to buy out my desire to make sure that those things remain true. How they're executed will change. , it'll change and we'll need to change in order to adapt the market. , and that the climate is ever shifting climate. , in order to be successful.

So I'm really excited about that change. Unlike most sane human [01:04:00] beings, I like change, you know, and I realized not only is it growth, but it's exciting. I don't need to know everything, you know, I'm quick to make this decisions and I will stick with what I say and I'll back down. , and, , I feel like I've given pretty good gut for feeling things out.

, That's not to say that I don't make mistakes. I'm still human. The thing is we've got a great team around us too that are all part of the decision making body too. We're all in there together. What are you most excited about when you think about the future of OpiAID? Um, I, when you say that cause I'm more than just a visual person, I, I see things playing in my head like a video.

And like, even as you were asking that question, like, I heard someone speaking in the background and their words were becoming text and it was a testimonial. , that's what I'm most excited about. I want to hear stories of people being, people being delivered from their dependence, from, from the shackles.

Like, their personal story of, of how Something that [01:05:00] they didn't realize had any power, gave them more power, gave them a voice, you know, and seeing people, you know, put their lives back together again. I'm more excited about that than anything. Yeah. Just having those endless stories coming out of people are like, this just made such a significant role in my life.

That's honestly the thing I'm most excited about. That's fantastic. Yeah. transactional, The service that you're providing is transformational for helping people's lives and improving their decision making in the future it's. Very inspiring.

Yeah. What you're doing. Thank you. I appreciate it. I think every business is important though, because some people say to me, they're like, Oh, your business saved lives and mine doesn't. That's not the point. Yeah. You know, we all have something to contribute in our own way, you know, that makes the world a better place.

And plus starting with the end in mind, you know, there are certain byproducts that speak to the process and that other things are going right. Right. I'll give you an example of that. So if people are giving testimonials, it means technology works, and if they're using it, it means that it was profitable enough that we could get it in the hands of more [01:06:00] individuals to create more testimony.

So a lot of things have to work before you get, you know, hearing the beautiful story of someone's life transformed. Here's how I know my personal life is going to be transformed is, , this is really simple, but funny is, , I know that I have arrived when I get a bacon button. Let me tell you about my bacon button, because I've thought about this.

Is I'm going to wake up in the morning and I'm literally going to have an easy button with a, with a picture of bacon on it beside my nightstand. And when I wake up and I reach over and hit my bacon button within five minutes, someone's walking in that door with three strips of hickory smoked, , thick cut bacon.

And when that happens, I know that everything else in my life is, , where I wanted it to be. Huge Bacon fan. Yeah. I like bacon, but it's also just a testimony that if someone's actually walking in the room with bacon five minutes later, there's a couple of things probably going right in the background in order to allow that to be a reality.

So I want to go back to the data set that you're collecting. So you've [01:07:00] got one of the biggest databases of user data, right? Um, can that be used for other purposes outside of just opiates? Like, do you see your business model expanding? And providing treatment for other things other than opiate type uses.

For example, if, if these biomarkers that you're collecting can be analyzed using, patented technology, , can it, can it be applied to other treatment options , So, yes, the, the technology can be used for other diseases. , OpiAID specializes in substance use disorder, so we'll help individuals with any type of substance use disorder

And, uh, offer insights for those who are being treated for a certain type of behavioral diagnosis, well, you know, co mingling with substance use disorder. It's important we stay focused. Right. You know, our expertise, our unique selling proposition, everything is in alignment with substance use disorder, so we stay focused, we become a spear to the heart of the monster.

, however, , [01:08:00] I do believe that there is opportunity to partner with other groups who could leverage our data and our proprietary systems to significantly change the treatments of pain, chronic pain. Like we've identified algorithms where if someone's being treated for chronic pain that you see a substance use disorder developing when no one realizes, not even the person taking the pain medication.

Right. So early detection, um, before it even happens. of a, of a diagnosed substance use disorder. I believe that's 100 percent within our wheelhouse. Um, leveraging the data to make better pain medication, absolutely within the wheelhouse. , and, and one really interesting piece is that you can take our trial design and the way we structure this technology, copy and paste it perfectly over to Parkinson's disease.

Interesting. I mean, it is a perfect fit. And in fact, the folks at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, like they were really interested in working with us and we literally could have copy and pasted it and done it there, which is the largest research institution in the world, , for behavioral health and [01:09:00] substance use based research.

We could have done that a year and a half ago, but we just didn't have the funds, , to get that in motion. But yeah, it's, there's a lot of interplay with our data and being able to use it to improve. Um, have more efficient clinical trials, uh, for pharmaceutical companies, have, , stronger biomarkers for the development of other biomarkers related to pain and Parkinson's disease.

, but we don't have the bandwidth to boil the ocean. Got it. So what does it look like in the future for you? Like what's the exit strategy? Obviously you're looking to raise funds from the VC market in the near future. , What's the next two to three years look like for you? Sure. So I'm building a company that, uh, that I could run for 20 years and documenting and everything along the way with the idea that, , I'd be excited and have fun running this for the next 20 years.

But if three years from now, somebody comes along that they'll be able to buy a company that they could be excited about too. Um, [01:10:00] you know, and everything's well documented and they could take over the, you know, the next day and feel comfortable doing so because there ain't no gotchas in the background.

Everything's well documented. , with that in mind, over the next few years, what I want to do is I want to write one to two SBIRs per year, phase one, phase two. I want to take a couple more algorithms through FDA. , I want to get us to about 25 million in ARR over the next two to three years. , and be able to say that we're significantly impacting our neighbors and have testimonials to prove it.

You know, and we're already talking to and working with folks that have the ability to acquire OpiAID. Mm hmm. So we're building some of the cake with them. , in that, you know, it will already be congruent with their processes, their delivery, their infrastructure. So then purchasing OpiAID, , will be well within the wheelhouse.

Here's my belief. Again, making things simple. Thank you. You're welcome. We're raising a child. OpiAID is like a child, [01:11:00] you know, it's not an infant anymore. It's like maybe an early teenager, you know, where they're smart enough to do certain things and maybe not wise enough to not choose certain paths.

Eventually, we're gonna have to send this child to college and I'm not capable of teaching a college age student. Like, I don't, I don't think that's in my wheelhouse. What I mean by that is at one point, this child's going to grow up and be 18, 20, whatever, and going to leave the house. And when that happens, it's going to be a larger company acquiring us who can take it to the next level, who has the distribution, who has a financial wherewithal, who has contractual relationships with these large groups that can take it to the next level.

And I'm excited about that. It doesn't make me nervous. I think it's a wonderful thing, so, and that could happen next two to three years, or it could be seven years from now, and that would be okay, too, because we're going to be having fun and impacting lives along the way. We've got a ten year plan, and I've got a two year plan.

So Depending on which way the winds go and the market goes and, and the [01:12:00] opportunities, but it all comes down to the two North question is, will this help my neighbor even on a purchase? Will this help my neighbor? And if the answer is yes, even if I feel like I have more gas in the tank, I'll still sell it if that's what all of our investors want.

And that's ultimately what's going to be best for our neighbor. That's great. So looking forward, , if there's anyone listening to this podcast that may have family Dealing with this issue, um, how can, how can they recommend your technology to their clinician? Thank you. That's a good question. Um, first thing I would say is that if you or a loved one, one that you care about is struggling with substance use disorder, there's hope.

That's the first thing that there's hope. This isn't hopeless. You're not the only one who's suffering. There are a lot of people who are suffering, even though this is a disease of isolation. That the opposite of addiction is community and that OpiAID is building a digital bridge to community. that's truly it.

, [01:13:00] What I would say with regards to OpiAID is that, , I would, if you were in treatment for substance use disorder and you're struggling, call your local clinic, call your local providers, ask them if they utilize OpiAID. If they don't, ask them why, why don't you, right? And, um, often for areas that we don't have.

You know, uh, connections to, that's how it happens. They ask their clinician, say, hey, why don't we have this? You know, and they go on my website and say, well, what is this? You know, can we talk? And then we do a demo and we, we walk through it. And if it's a fit, we onboard them. Um, yeah, that's the best way.

Ask your clinician, ask your provider, do you offer OpiAID? Not why? Appreciate it. Why, why wouldn't they, that's the question. Yeah, that is honestly, it really is a question. Without sounding any sort of ways, there aren't solutions that are data driven that provide this. We're the only company in the world that's able to do this with biometrics.

The only one in the world. Right. You know, why wouldn't you have this in your clinic? [01:14:00] Why wouldn't you not make this? And it's not, it's not a shame fest. They often don't know about it. We're new. Um, but if they don't have it or they don't know who we are, they should. And soon, once the FDA clears it, like, this will be the standard of care.

So when do you suspect the FDA will be able to support I, I could tell you what it would have been pre the new administration. Post administration, I don't know. With the FDA that, you know, once we submit our interim analysis, you know, this could be something that takes 6 to 12 months to get approved. Um.

There's a chance it could take longer, there's a chance it could be shorter, you know, FDA, um, is gonna, there's gonna be a lot of shifting priorities at FDA, so it's hard to predict how long things are actually going to take. What I can tell you for a fact is that FDA, uh, is putting a lot of energy into OpiAID.

You know, when we have FDA meetings, it's common for most companies to maybe get two, possibly three people in the room. Last time I went to FDA in person, we had 16 people. [01:15:00] Wow. And , the reason for that is that we touch into a lot of other areas and they're so curious about OpiAID that they really are getting involved.

So we've got significant backing from NIH, National Institute of Health, National Institute of Drug Abuse, and they're using us as an example of how to cross this regulatory pathway and shape AI in such a way that it becomes an equitable and scalable and. Um, resilient way to address larger populations with less resources.

So I'm very optimistic about our FDA pathway, particularly this first de novo. I, I think this is a complete slam dunk. We've de risked this as much as any company possibly could. We spent a lot of time and thought on it. Um, but yeah, we've got a lot more runway. I've got multiple FDA marks that we can go for and we're going to, um, just a matter of time.

Well, this has been a very exciting conversation. I really appreciate you stopping by and. Sharing everything about your background and your journey. And of course your future with OpiAID. I appreciate it. Thank [01:16:00] you for the honor of bringing me here. And, uh, I'm really hoping that this stimulates some meaningful conversations for those that are listening and, uh, feel free to reach out to me.

I, I want to see our city win and. See our neighbors win. So thank you for, uh, bringing me on the podcast this morning. Absolutely. Thank you. You appreciate it.