In this episode, we sit down with Tyler Bliha, founder of Abode Money, to unpack how he’s building an AI-powered financial manager for homeowners.

Tyler shares his journey from investment banking and private equity to early-stage fintech, and how his experience at UpEquity helped shape the vision behind Abode Money. We also dive into why homeowners are often overspending on property taxes, insurance, and other recurring housing costs — and how Abode is using AI to simplify and automate savings.

We discuss:

• Why property taxes are the perfect wedge into the homeowner financial relationship

• How Abode expanded from Texas to all 50 states

• The role of AI in automating complex, localized financial workflows

• Why founder-led fundraising requires urgency, process, and signal

• What makes homeownership one of the biggest untapped opportunities in consumer fintech

Guest: Tyler Bliha, Founder, Abode Money

🌐 Abode Money: abodemoney.com

Dr. Avi Jayaraman, physician, two-time founder, and CEO of Blue Light Health, joins Paul Anthony in the studio to talk about building healthcare businesses that actually get paid for. Avi went from earning his MD in Dallas to accidentally falling into startups with Sonara, a platform that let opioid-recovery patients take methadone at home instead of traveling to a clinic every single day.

After Wharton and a stint on the VC side, the founder seat pulled him back in. Blue Light Health is his virtual clinic taking on something close to home for a lot of parents: technology and social media addiction in kids. Avi breaks down the staggering numbers behind the problem and why a clinical approach beats a tech-only blocking app.

He and Paul close on the lessons every founder needs: when to go straight to enterprise decision-makers, why the right angel investors change everything, and practical advice for keeping your own kids out of a clinic down the road.

In this episode, you'll learn:

● Why the biggest opportunities come from picking a huge problem and catching a lucky confluence of timing factors

● How a few well-connected angel investors unlocked enterprise sales conversations Avi never could have reached on his own

● The case for going straight to the board, CEO, and CFO instead of testing your product in a small, controlled setting first

● Why technology and social media addiction in kids is a clinical problem, not a "use a blocking app" problem

● How existing psychiatric medications and therapy can address both the addiction and the underlying mental health disorder

● Why building the clinical science first is the real moat, and how that data unlocks value-based-care contracts with payers

● How AI is collapsing the old choice between building tech or providing a service into a single venture-scale model

● Avi's advice for parents on delaying screens and protecting kids' emotional regulation early

Timestamps

00:00 - Welcome and meeting Dr. Avi Jayaraman

01:12 - Avi's background: from med school to founder

02:00 - Sonara: at-home methadone and access to care

12:00 - Picking big problems and catching the right timing

12:39 - Finding room for the right angel investors

13:48 - Going straight to enterprise decision-makers

17:41 - Private equity in healthcare: the other side

20:46 - Blue Light Health and the gap on the clinical side

22:33 - Why screen addiction in kids is a clinical problem

24:16 - Therapy and medication for digital addiction

28:00 - Building a venture-scale business that's profitable early

34:08 - The team and tech behind Blue Light Health

36:51 - Proving ROI to insurance payers

40:20 - Where tech fits and the real moat

45:55 - Advice for parents on kids and screens

49:30 - How to support Blue Light Health

50:42 - Closing: the role OpStart plays behind the scenes

Connect:

● OpStart: https://www.opstart.co

● Paul Anthony on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-anthony-8a256087/

● Dr. Avi Jayaraman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avinash-jayaraman/

● Blue Light Health: https://bluelighthealth.com

Hashtags: #OpStart #BlueLightHealth #HealthcareStartups #StartupPodcast #FounderStory #DigitalHealth #MentalHealth #ScreenTimeAddiction #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #HealthTech #Wharton #FoundersJourney #Entrepreneurship #StartupLife

In this episode, we sit down with Tommy Flaim, founder of Silly Pickles, to unpack how he built one of the fastest-growing adult rec sports communities in the country.

Tommy shares his journey from investment banking to launching (and winding down) his first startup, and how he stumbled into building a scalable, software-powered league model that’s now live in 65+ cities.

We discuss:

• Why most adult rec leagues fail to attract young professionals

• How Silly Pickles scaled to a $3.4M run rate in 18 months

• The franchise-style operating model behind 100+ facility partners

• Raising capital while building custom software from scratch

• What founders should know before quitting their job

Guest: Tommy Flaim, Founder, Silly Pickles

🌐 Silly Pickles: sillypickles.com