Season 2: 10/10 VC Series — Worldview Changes Since Starting VC Career 🌎
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Alix Ventures: Supporting Early Stage Life Science Startups Engineering Biology to Drive Radical Advances in Human Health
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Overview: 10 Questions to 10 Early Stage Venture Capitalists
This topic series brings together perspectives across a variety of early-stage VC funds to help readers gain insight into what investors believe to be key to their growth and success. In our belief that perspectives should be well-rounded and not monopolistic, we chose to feature 10 different investors rather than to dive deep with just 1 or 2 individuals. We have a lot to learn from each other and hope that by sharing 10 unique viewpoints, we may all come to our own insights faster. Our posts will be organized by question and cover topics including investment criteria, portfolio support, industry trends, and general advice.
We are honored to feature investors at:
Boehringer Ingelheim, Breakout Ventures, Arkitekt Ventures, Time BioVentures, B Capital Group, NEA, Bessemer Venture Partners, NFX, Not Boring, Mayfield Fund, & Alix Ventures
We asked our guests:
“How has your worldview evolved since you first started your VC career?”
“At the risk of sounding cheesy, the biggest waves can be started by the smallest pebble. By that I mean seemingly small ideas can have a huge impact. I do this job to work with multiple teams with one goal in mind, novel, approved medicines. If you get there, the rest of it takes care of itself. Watching the earliest stage ideas mature and evolve into drugs is the coolest think about biotech VC.”
Kanad Das — Investment Director @ Boehringer Ingelheim
“I did my first stint in venture 15 years ago, when I was still pretty young in my career and experience. I was a great analyst and thought deeply about inputs into a model. While I’m grateful for that skill set, time and time again, it turns out it is all about people. We often say a core part of the diligence process for early-stage venture is diligencing how founders think. You need confidence that you are backing people who you trust to navigate all the unknowable things ahead of you, and who you genuinely enjoy spending time with and respect.”
Julia Moore — Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Breakout Ventures
“I would say I’m much more optimistic! A career in VC forces you to ask yourself — what if this idea works? On a daily basis I get exposed to new approaches to make healthcare or medicine better and I’m so fortunate that I get to spend my time with founders that make me ask questions to imagine a future where they realize their vision: What if this care delivery model can help kids access better mental health treatment? What if this technology helps discover a new cancer drug?”
Pavan Choksi — Partner @ Arkitekt Ventures
“I’ve become increasingly convinced that the folks who start and build huge companies are very rare and very special. This underpins the patience with which we approach choosing investments.”
D.A. Wallach — Co-Founder & General Partner @ Time BioVentures
“We’re truly living in an era of unprecedented innovation. As disciplines collide and barriers to new company formation diminish, human capital is becoming scarcer and harder to attract than financial capital.”
Widya Mulyasasmita — Sr. Principal @ B Capital Group
“The volume of information available is more than one person could ever come close to absorbing. I’ve learned that it’s okay not to know everything and I can make a greater impact by focusing on elements that are critical to the specific companies we’re investing in.”
J.C. Lopez — Principal @ NEA
“VCs play a really small role in the journey of building a new company. I’m incredibly grateful to the founders that have allowed me to join them on the wild ride of entrepreneurship.”
Sofia Guerra — Investor @ Bessemer Venture Partners
“You learn how to be more selective. Seeing more deals helps your pattern recognition. You get to see that great IP and technology is not enough. The quality of the founding team is crucial. I would rather have mediocre technology with an incredible team, than an incredible technology with a mediocre team.”
Omri Amirav-Drory — General Partner @ NFX
“My venture career started by proving that scientists can become entrepreneurs, and that they would have the insights and ability to solve big problems through batch-based teaching. Now the joy of venture is in having the time and focus to help a small number of founders build iconic companies through the sum of my life’s experience and network.”
Arvind Gupta — Partner @ Mayfield Fund
“Venture capital has made me more optimistic. It’s hard not to feel hopeful about the future when your job is to work with extremely talented founders that are dedicating their lives to solving big problems. From treating diseases to mitigating climate change by creating sustainable means of production, it’s deeply reassuring to see the amount of effort technologists are pouring into creative solutions all around the world. Human ingenuity never ceases to amaze me!”
Elliot Hershberg — Partner @ Not Boring
“One company, founded by one person, born from one idea can truly change the world. As irrational as it sounds, we live in the time where radical change is possible and happens often. Every day, history somewhere is being made. To those with a dream, I say, “grab your slingshots!””
Chas Pulido — General Partner @ Alix Ventures
Click Here to read to read our next post covering founder backgrounds✨
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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.
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