No matter your success in business and life, you must never stop learning. This message is at the heart of Episode 24 of Philip Crowley’s “From Lab to Patient, Garage to Market” podcast. In this installment, he welcomes serial entrepreneur, industry mentor and angel investor Mario Casabona. A veteran of the New Jersey avionics and defense technology industries who currently serves as the managing director of Casabona Ventures ( CasabonaVentures.com ), Casabona presents an engaging overview of his long-running career and expertise in helping startups learn how to become financeable. Throughout the episode, Casabona shares several thoughtful insights into the world of angel investing, including how he selects startups to work with based on their knowledge of the marketplace and technology and their ability to embrace guidance. Although he may mentor budding entrepreneurs, he stresses that only the startup itself can determine and ensure its future success. “Whatever you decide, you have to own it,” he says. “It’s very important to me that the entrepreneur is listening and then making their own decision and taking ownership of their action.” Following a brief stint at a biotech company, Casabona enjoyed a design engineering and management career before founding the defense technologies company Electro-Radiation Inc. in 1982. After selling that business to Honeywell Aerospace Group in 2004, he founded Casabona Ventures in 2006 to give back to other entrepreneurs in the tech startup ecosystem. Since then, he has invested in more than 50 companies in robotics, SpaceTech, DefenseTech, DeepTech, MedTech and other fields. Above all, Casabona stresses that a startup’s ultimate success or failure depends on its willingness to learn new things and adapt to the changes and demands of its industry. “You’ll always find hurdles; you’ll always find reasons to stop, give a second thought and maybe not continue. But if you’re committed and persistent, you’ll pivot. If you run into a problem, you’ll pivot, modify and work around it.” Casabona encourages entrepreneurs seeking mentorship to send him a one- to two-page executive summary to Mario@casabonaventures.com . Hosted by Crowley Law LLC Founder and Managing Partner Philip Crowley, the “From Lab to Patient, Garage to Market” podcast explores the critical issues and concerns impacting the biotech, life sciences and startup markets by offering fresh perspectives from industry leaders and experts. It is available on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, all the major podcast channels and at CrowleyLawLLC.com . From Lab to Patient, Garage to Market Mario Casabona’s Mission for the Market-Minded
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leading me to consume several high school-level books while in grammar school. Science and mathematics became the areas that fascinated me most. A year before his death, he said, “Phil, you just know how to do things that I don’t know how to do.” He urged me to strive for excellence in my educational endeavors and was delighted to see me rise to become the best student at my grammar and high schools. Although he was no longer with me when I moved on to college, I was committed to honoring his belief in me. I was the valedictorian of my class at Stevens (which, in many ways, became a second home for me after Dad died) and in the top 15%–20% of the class at Harvard and Columbia Law School. He would have been so proud to see me later practice law at top-tier Wall Street firms. While I’m sad that he didn’t live long enough to see where my ambitions took me after high school, I start every day knowing that none of my success would have been possible without him. In the decades since we lost Dad, his early influence has kept me going. I’ve succeeded in building a life based on family, faith and belief in my country. In his book “Find Your Why,” Simon Sinek shares that having a purpose in life is the underlying cause of happiness. I’m so grateful to have found a purpose and a professional niche that allows me to use my skills in a way that’s fun for me and beneficial to my clients. To everyone who’s ever entrusted Crowley Law LLC to help fulfill their entrepreneurial goals, THANK YOU ! My other purpose is to help others pursue their dreams, like my father encouraged me to pursue mine. This desire was why I was so enthusiastic about the opportunity to help form Hope Through Education ( HopeThroughEducationUSA.org ) in 2018 and why I remain such an avid supporter of the organization today. I will always embrace ways to give back to my community and help younger people kindle their passion for and enjoyment of higher education. Please learn about Hope Through Education and support us on that journey. This Thanksgiving, I invite you to remember those special people who helped you find direction, purpose and fulfillment. I also urge you to do all you can to serve others in the same way. You never know how far a small gesture of support can elevate someone toward greatness. Thanks for that lesson and so many others, Dad.
–Philip Crowley
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