“May you live in interesting times” – or so goes the phrase.
In 1966, RFK Jr’s father famously used that quote to capture the turbulence of the times, and continued: “Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty, but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind.” Ironically, this is how biotech feels right now in November 2024, dealing with the shockwaves of Trump’s nomination of RFK Jr as the nation’s new health czar.
Fortunately, though, 2024 had far more interesting things to talk about as well – from the innovation and impact related to obesity and China, to a dynamic and at times even constructive equity capital market for both private and public companies.
In the past few weeks, we’ve held our 2024 Annual General Meeting for our Limited Partners (our investors) and our Atlas Venture Retreat with industry executives.
It was a privilege to once again kick off each of these meetings with our Year In Review. Hard to believe I’ve been delivering this talk for over a decade… Using the last decade to frame up some of the change in our ecosystem, this year we explore a number of themes: obesity, China, immunology, AI/ML, financings, and more. This year’s talk was recorded in early November, so largely avoids any commentary on the recent craziness.
Here’s this year’s link: Atlas’ 2024 Year In Review
In case of interest for how many of these themes have evolved, here are a few of the past Year In Review presentations (2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018).
As I’ve noted before, listening at 1.25x+ speed is definitely recommended, and moves through the 50-minute presentation slightly faster.
Special thanks again this year to my Atlas colleagues Aimee Raleigh and Kristen Margeson, who were instrumental in helping me pull it together, and to Edward Goin, our graphic designer.
I’d also like to thank all of our friends in the industry who helped provide data supporting this talk, including BCG, BMO, Cantor, Colliers, Cooley, CFGI, Cowen, Deloitte, Evercore, Goldman Sachs, IQVIA, Jefferies, Leerink, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Pitchbook, Radford, Raymond James, SVB, Stifel/Torreya, and others (listed in alphabetical order).
