Recap— 10/10 Founder Series
BIOS: Nucleus of Life Science Innovation 🚀
JOBS
- BIOS Talent: Find Jobs @ Breakout TechBio Startups — Search Jobs 🚀
- Post Jobs: Add Your Startup to BIOS Talent — Post Now 🎉
- Students: Join Alix Ventures Fellowship — Join Now 🧬
- BIOS Contributor: Share Your Thought Leadership — Join Now🔬
CONTENT & COMMUNITY
- BIOS Daily: Join 25K+ Subscribers Following TechBio — Sign Up 🔥
- BIOS Insider: Premium TechBio Thought Leadership — Sign Up ✨
- BIOS Commons: World’s Largest #TechBio Community — Join Now 🎉
INVEST
- BIOS Angels: 1st TechBio Angel Investing Syndicate — Join Now 🌟
- Alix Limited: Invest in Breakout TechBio Startups — Learn More 🧠
By:
Alix Ventures: Supporting Early Stage Life Science Startups Engineering Biology to Drive Radical Advances in Human Health
Calling All Innovators — Click to Reach Out 🚀
Throughout this series, we are honored to feature:
Pair Team, Circularis Biotechnologies, Unnatural Products, MedRhythms, Coral Genomics, 64-x, Rarebase, Ochre Bio, Clara Health, Tierra Biosciences, Anagenex, Dimension Inx, A-Alpha Bio, Concerto Biosciences, Travera, 54gene, Strand Therapeutics, & SwiftScale Bio.
Thank you for sharing your perspectives with us!
In this final post, we summarize the series covered topics ranging from company culture, hiring strategies, fundraising / choosing investors, building advisor boards, & branding, amongst others.
1
“What traits do you look for in early startup employees?”
“Besides the skills and competency to perform in the role, I look for founder mentality evidenced by end-to-end execution, the ability to zoom in-n-out (switch from 30,000 ft. to 100 ft. view), and a bias towards action. A series of pointed why/how questions about a past project can give great signal on all of these! As for shared values, collaboration, integrity, and a growth-mindset are key.”
Neil Batlivala — Co-Founder & CEO @ Pair Team
“Good energy and motivations to solve problems. Your favorite employees will always be the ones that get things done versus the ones that are most fun. Ideally they can be both. I remember someone telling me to hire people you would want to have lunch with, not party at the club with.”
“Most of our early hires have been in network or one ring out which helps a lot of the vetting process. We normally look for people that are passionate, curious, easy going…and a dash of brilliance doesn’t hurt! I’d much rather have someone that can take initiative and teach themselves a new skill than a hyper-focused specialist, especially in the early days where things are constantly changing.”
Cameron Pye — Co-Founder & CEO @ Unnatural Products
2
“What does an effective startup culture look like to you?”
“The answer largely depends on the key objectives and strategy of the business because the culture should be designed to maximize the chance of delivering those behaviors from the team as you scale. A few transcending principles:
- Startups should be able to make decisions quickly and deliver rapidly towards results.
- Startups should be committed to the mission of the organization. A lack of this focus makes them less resilient in the face of adversity.
- Startups should reward all team members for the risk and efforts that they are putting towards creating something largely from nothing.”
Owen McCarthy — Co-Founder & President @ MedRhythms
“When a team can get a lot of high quality products shipped while enjoying themselves, amazing things happen. It always starts with a shared mission as the initial glue that holds the group together. The culture becomes one giant positive feedback loop if done right. It fuels further trust and collaboration between teammates, which in turn fuels company velocity. Each new employee adds their personal energy from day one as they are rapidly immersed in the fast-paced and caring environment.”
Neil Batlivala — Co-Founder & CEO @ Pair Team
“A successful startup culture is a culture where everyone understands and believes in the company vision, and knows how they are contributing to it. In this setting, people can contextualize their efforts to more effectively cooperate in building something far bigger than themselves. To sustain this culture, it is important that people feel valued for not only the quantity, but also the quality of their work.”
Jacob Borrajo — Co-Founder @ Coral Genomics
3
“Looking back on your founder journey, what do you wish you knew when you started?”
“Starting a company is like jumping off a cliff and assembling a plane on the way down. I believe that’s Reid Hoffman’s quote and it’s spot on. With every step of the company-building journey, there is at least one thing out of equilibrium, and all your energy is focused on getting it back to equilibrium, only to reach a new state where something else is out of equilibrium. That’s what building a company is, by definition. If you accept that this is the process up front, you’ll stop trying to fight it in unproductive ways and quickly learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Alexis Rovner — CEO/Co-Founder @ 64-x
“Everything is negotiable and there are no right answers. I think as a first-time entrepreneur, at first it’s tough to recognize what are hard lines in the sand and what’s a starting point for negotiation. In hindsight it’s almost always the latter! The other thing is, when you’re starting out everyone has advice and if you get enough of it, chances are you’ll have a bunch of conflicting opinions, often from qualified individuals. But at the end of the day, if you’re building something new and innovative, there’s no well-trodden path to follow — it’s up to you to synthesize the advice and forge your own trail.”
Cameron Pye — CEO/Co-Founder @ Unnatural Products
“Celebrate more wins along the way. I’m the type of person where once I reach one summit, I instantly move on to the next one. Building a company is hard: it requires perseverance and a component of luck (e.g. you can’t predict something like COVID-19), so when you reach a summit, celebrate it, then get back to work. :)”
Owen McCarthy — President/Co-Founder @ MedRhythms
4
“What criteria did you have when picking the VC partners you ultimately chose to work with?”
“One of my investors once told me an investor is like “a hire you can’t fire”. The underlying message being that as a founder you should be at least as diligent about who you choose to work with on the investor side as with hiring your team. I look for investors I want to have on my team. Is there a culture fit? Is the VC the right partner for the stage of the company? Do we share the same vision?”
Onno Faber — Co-Founder & CEO @ Rarebase
“Domain expertise, candidness, conviction. People who know our space can challenge our thinking, directness is foundational to constructive working relationships, and demonstrating (at least some) immunity to the herd mentality of VC was valued.”
Jack O’Meara — Co-Founder & CEO @ Ochre Bio
“They must have the same long term vision for our company, and the background to strategically help with challenges we were facing or current weak points (e.g. sales network, operational scaling, building team culture, etc.).”
Sol Chen — Co-Founder & President @ Clara Health
5
“Looking back on your first fundraising round, what tactics did you find helpful?”
“Two things, one practical, one less so; 1) Identifying a lead investor will make everything else fall into place, and 2) Finding the right partners is a bit like dating, and takes time to get to know each other, even pre-pitch.”
Zachary Sun — Co-Founder & CEO @ Tierra Biosciences
“Personally, my favorite fundraising hack is to be fairly open. I’ve known people who have a “we’re in stealth” attitude and are very reluctant to share many details around the technology. Of course there are a few things you have to be careful about, and this depends on the sector and competitive landscape, but companies succeed on execution more than anything else. The VC and their investments are unlikely to be able to put your “bits” together the way you will, which is presumably the best way to do so. Giving a little more detail builds trust and helps the investor really understand your unfair advantage. It also gives you a chance to see what good questions they’ll ask, see above.”
Nicolas Tilmans — Founder & CEO @ Anagenex
“I always like to focus on the product. If fundraising efforts are going too slow or there’s too much friction, when possible I’ll go back to building the product, engaging customers, etc. This is the best way to ultimately get investors on your side, by de-risking the business and making progress on your product, which is what you need to do as an entrepreneur anyway.”
Onno Faber — Co-Founder & CEO @ Rarebase
6
“What is a seemingly random hack you found proved helpful in the hiring process?”
“If a hire or partnership doesn’t work out right now, maybe the timing isn’t right and there will be another chance to work together in the future. If there’s a hire you really like but for some reason it doesn’t work out, ask them if they know someone that would fit the role.”
Onno Faber — Co-Founder & CEO @ Rarebase
“When I interview candidates, I ask them “What would make your first day here perfect?”. It communicates our culture of valuing employees above all else and that we believe interviews are just as much about seeing if they are a fit for us, as it is to see if we are going to be a good fit for them. Many candidates have commented that they found us turning the tables during the interview to ask them this to stand out from other companies they were interviewing at, and for candidates who eventually join us we did get to make their first day special :)”
Sol Chen — Co-Founder & President @ Clara Health
“When I start a search process, I ping about 20 people on LinkedIn that I think could possibly be awesome in the role or who could point me to someone equally awesome or better. I use these conversations not just to identify candidates, but to hear different perspectives on what the role could look like and then tighten up what I am really looking for.”
Caralynn Collens — Co-Founder & CEO @ Dimension Inx
7
“How did you decide between Co-Founding vs. going solo for your startup?”
“I was a solo full-time founder out of necessity; in hindsight, going solo vs. finding a co-founder has its pros and cons to weigh, but whatever you decide best to do it before you actually start the company, it gets harder to add or remove people as time goes by.”
Zachary Sun — Co-Founder & CEO @ Tierra Biosciences
“I had experience working with my co-founder during graduate school in a high-pressure environment and knew that I could fully depend on him to step in and help with whatever needs doing and to be there as a sounding board for half-baked ideas. We push each other, support each other, and enjoy spending a lot of time together.”
David Younger — Co-Founder & CEO @ A-Alpha Bio
“I met one of my co-founders several years before we started to work together. Not only was I beyond impressed with the technology she and our other co-founder invented, but I loved her passion and commitment to turning it into a commercial product. When I was starting to think about building my next company, I sought them out, and after spending a number of months “dating” to ensure we were aligned on the vision and strategy (and that we worked well together), we all committed to moving forward together.”
Caralynn Collens — Co-Founder & CEO @ Dimension Inx
8
“What should founders keep in mind when building out their advisory boards / how should they approach this?”
“As much as possible, try before you buy. And try a LOT before you buy. We talked with >40 potential scientific advisory board members before selecting our first 2 SAB members. Develop a “job description” of sorts, and know what you’re trying to find. Then test that through real-world interactions (actual problems you’re facing, actual data you’re interpreting). Only sign when you’re ready.”
Cheri Ackerman — Co-Founder & CEO @ Concerto Biosciences
“Understand if you are building an advisory board or a credibility board. If you are attracting industry luminaries to give your company credibility, be very careful about taking their advice. They are probably looking five years over the horizon, and their advice might not align with your startup business needs for a very long time. If you are building an advisory board whose advice you want, find people who are in the trenches and can give you current and realistic advice. But then you need to be OK with the fact they are probably not well known and will not lend you much credibility. Be clear in your own mind what you want. Getting both good advice and credibility from an advisory board is really difficult.”
Clifford Reid — Co-Founder & CEO @ Travera
“The needs of companies change at each stage and it’s hard to find members at the beginning of the journey that can be true advisors throughout the lifecycle of the company. Oftentimes when founders are starting a new company, the focus of the advisory board is on names and reputation (which is what is needed). But that changes later on to include the needs of the company.”
Abasi Ene-Obong — Co-Founder & CEO @ 54gene
9
“What advice should founders keep in mind when telling their company story / branding their startup?”
“I’m a perfectionist and too often, I’ve performed branding in a vacuum as a fixed process with a defined final work product. We’ve completely switched and started treating branding as an experimental iterative process. It’s helped us identify the message components that resonate with potential team members and partners. Then use that messaging to help guide our companies technical, commercial, and cultural roadmap.”
Nick Goldner — Co-Founder & CEO @ Resistance Bio
“Brand the company with the mission and values you truly plan to incorporate into the ethos of your company. Stay away from buzz with no substance. People will remember how you make them feel, and you should make them feel excited.”
Jake Becraft — Co-Founder & CEO @ Strand Therapeutics
“Develop a compelling story that highlights the crises of opportunity. What is the dilemma? and how does the theme of your story solve the dilemma directly, quantitatively, and simply?”
Michael Jewett — Professor @ Northwestern, Co-Founder @ SwiftScale Bio, Pearl Bio, Design Pharma, amongst others
10
“What has been the best piece of advice you have received throughout your career as an entrepreneur?”
“Be resilient, maintain focus, have fun, and always re-evaluate what is the most important thing to be doing right now.”
Michael Jewett — Professor @ Northwestern, Co-Founder @ SwiftScale Bio, Pearl Bio, Design Pharma, amongst others
“Seth Bannon at 50Years told us to take the time and invest the energy to find and recruit the best company stage-specific people for your team. They will define the company’s success or failure, and thankfully we’ve been able to create an incredible team.”
Nick Goldner — Co-Founder & CEO @ Resistance Bio
“There are many, but the one that comes to mind now is “if you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right”. As an entrepreneur, you are often creating, and in the early days, there are often doubters saying “if this is the case, how come no one has done this”, etc. You need determination and the belief that you can.”
Abasi Ene-Obong — Co-Founder & CEO @ 54gene
📣 If you enjoyed this post please clap 👏 & comment 💬 to let us know
❤️ Huge shoutout to Sasha Eremina for putting this together!
Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, and content sponsors.
Join BIOS Community 🎉
Become a member, continue the conversation, connect with like-minded Life Science innovators, access exclusive resources, & invite-only events…
Apply to Join — Membership Application
For More Interesting Content 💭
🧬 Podcast — Stream Full Episodes
🧪 YouTube — Watch Videos
🩺 Twitter — Explore Feed
🦠 LinkedIn — Read Posts
