#22 - $20M Raised, Lives Saved, and Unstoppable Resilience with Oriana Papin-Zoghbi

Could you pitch investors for millions while caring for a newborn? In today’s episode, host Marcus Arredondo chats with Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, who shares her incredible journey of building a life-saving biotech company while navigating pregnancy, fundraising, and the chaos of startup life. From pitching investors with a newborn to securing millions in funding, she opens up about the challenges, sacrifices, and lessons learned. Oriana also reveals the harsh realities of raising capital in a changing market, the struggles of scaling a team, and why ovarian cancer detection is overdue for innovation. If you’ve ever felt stretched between your ambitions and personal life, this conversation will leave you inspired and thinking differently about resilience, leadership, and making bold moves.Oriana Papin-Zoghbi is the CEO and Co-Founder of AOA Dx, leading the charge in early ovarian cancer detection. With a background in global healthcare innovation, she has launched life-saving diagnostics in maternal-fetal medicine, oncology, and infectious diseases. Oriana successfully raised millions while balancing new motherhood, proving resilience is key in both startups and life. Recognized as a Top 100 Female Founder by Inc., she continues to drive groundbreaking advancements in women’s health.Find out more about Oriana Papin-Zoghbi: Website: https://aoadx.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orianazh/Episode highlights:(2:03) Startup while pregnant, fundraising with newborn(5:57) Founder and Mom challenges(11:10) Creating a maternity transition plan(14:30) Y Combinator: Preparing for a high-stakes pitch(19:24) Lessons from raising capital(22:30) Fundraising in 2021 Vs. 2023(27:10) Scaling a startup and hiring lessons(30:08) AOA Dx’s mission: Early detection of ovarian cancer(34:56) Challenges in healthcare innovation(38:22) Strong boards, smart hires: Lessons in leadership(44:08) How Oriana’s multicultural background shaped her resilience(47:52) OutroConnect with Marcus Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-arredondo/ X (Twitter): https://x.com/cus Scales of Success Website: scalesofsuccesspodcast.com X (Twitter): https://x.com/scalesofsuccess Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scalesofsuccesspod/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scalesofsuccess Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ScalesofSuccess —-- Leave a Review If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we’d love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scales-of-success-podcast/id1773864140 Get in Touch You can also Tweet @cus with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you’ve learnt from the episodes and we can thank you personally for tuning in.