Category Archives: Bioentrepreneurship

By Aoife Brennan, former CEO of Synlogic, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC I have recently completed a turn around the biotech sun: a seven-year assignment at Synlogic that ended this year when an early readout

By Arthur Tzianabos, CEO of Lifordi Immunotherapeutics, as part of the From the Trenches feature of LifeSciVC Well, this is a first…. while I have read and enjoyed the the LifeSci VC blog for years, being asked to contribute for

By Jeb Keiper, CEO of Nimbus Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. @JebKeiper Earlier this year, Nimbus closed the sale of our allosteric TYK2 program, which was acquired by Takeda for $4 billion upfront. To

More Musings from an Old CEO By Natalie Holles, CEO of Third Harmonic Bio, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC The only way we grow as leaders is by stretching the limits of who we are

By Robert Clarke, CEO and founder of Kinaset Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC 2022 has been a hallmark year for Kinaset Therapeutics as we’ve continued to advance our P1b trial with our lead asset.

By Rene Russo, CEO of Xilio Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC As one thinks about the iconic break-up lines, it doesn’t take long to come up with: It’s not you; it’s me… I am

By Bob Clarke, CEO of Kinaset Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. In December 2019, I was in London meeting with my future co-founders to discuss an asset that would eventually become the cornerstone of

By Rene Russo, CEO of Xilio Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches features of LifeSciVC When your team’s priority is to execute a well-formed plan, then a “heads down” focus is critical. We all recognize this situation, using

By Jonathan Montagu, CEO of HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC Returning to work following the pandemic presents an opportunity to think creatively about how to re-configure the workplace.  CEO’s that I have spoken

By Samantha Truex, CEO of QuenchBio, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC I have been privileged to read and write for this LifeSciVC blog for a handful of years now.  One of my favorite editions is

This blog was written by Ankit Mahadevia, CEO of Spero Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.  One of the joys of building a company is that meeting one’s milestones routinely places us in positions that

Gary Pisano’s recent Harvard Business Review piece, The Hard Truth About Innovative Cultures, beautifully frames up how innovative corporate environments are frequently misunderstood. Innovative startups aren’t just about being cool and nimble, having beer taps in the kitchen, or an

This blog is written by Samantha Truex, Atlas EIR and CEO of a stealth-stage biotech, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. In a 2014 analysis  of biotech boards and a reprise analysis in 2016, Bruce Booth

After last year’s inaugural success, we’re excited for 2019’s Science2Startup conference in April 2019, an invitation-only university-focused biotech entrepreneurship event aimed at building connectivity across the academic, tech transfer, and venture communities. Working with a steering committee comprised of Atlas,

This blog was written by Jonathan Montagu, CEO and co-founder of Hotspot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.   In the quest towards building high-performing teams, biopharma can lift a page from the tech playbook around

Biotech venture investors often prefer to back executives and entrepreneurs with a bit of grey hair. Seasoned industry veterans that possess leadership charisma along with years of experience, and the oft-accompanying learned judgement, are highly sought-after in biopharma’s seemingly endless

Back in the summer, I got the call that no biotech venture investor wants to get. On the morning of August 8th, I received an urgent text of “can you talk now?” quickly followed with a call. I learned then

We’re excited to announce the launch of Science2Startup, an invitation-only university-focused biotech entrepreneurship event aimed at building connectivity across the academic, tech transfer, and venture communities. This event is in many ways a relaunch of the successful URES (University Research

Corporate culture is often hard to precisely define. Yet it’s always cited as being one of the key drivers of company outperformance, especially for startups. Recently I was asked to define what culture means by a young entrepreneur: beyond the

Two key geographic clusters dominate the biotech landscape today. These two areas, Boston and San Francisco, combine a unique blend of biomedical science, venture capital, entrepreneurial talent, risk-taking culture, and geographic density. Other regions have some or all of these

Jumping into a first-time CEO role in an emerging biotech is a daunting but exciting opportunity – both for the newly-minted chief executive and their Board of Directors. A great hire can be positively catalytic to a startup; and, sadly,

University tech transfer offices play a central role in the biotech ecosystem, as the successful commercialization of an academic discovery is the aspiration of many young startups. Navigating – and optimizing – this tech transfer process is therefore critical to the

This blog was written by Jason Gardner, Atlas EIR and founding CEO of a new stealth-stage startup, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. What are you doing? This is the most frequent yet simple question that

As 2015 comes to a conclusion, it’s a good time reflect on the year’s progress – celebrating the wins, thinking through the losses, and learning from both. One specific reflection of late regards this blog: I’ve looked back at the

This year I celebrated my 10-year work anniversary with Atlas.  Hard to believe how fast a decade flies by, and this milestone triggered some reflections on how times have changed in biotech and the early stage venture business. As we

The relative absence of women from significant leadership roles in the biotech industry has rightfully become a front-and-center topic, in part prompted by a wave of coverage on the subject (here, here, here, here). Liftstream’s recent report, titled “Diversifying the

This blog was written by Rosana Kapeller, CSO of Nimbus Therapeutics, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. A few weeks ago, a member of our board sent an email to a group of biotech CSOs suggesting that

This blog was written by Michael Gladstone, Principal at Atlas Venture, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. I had an interesting discussion with a veteran of a rapidly growing biotech. He’d been at his company at the

This blog was written by Ron Renaud, CEO of RaNA Therapeutics, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. In a previous post I was extolling the virtues of leading a private company. Specifically, the freedom of being able

In a period of surging optimism for our industry, it’s easy to forget that historically most of the therapeutic projects we undertake don’t make it to the market (see the data here if you absolutely have to remind yourself of

A great CEO makes all the difference, and a poor one destroys a ton of value. But recruiting great CEOs is often hard, especially when picking, as is most often the case, from a list of potential first-time CEOs. How

Three years ago, I was walking across One Kendall Square in pursuit of a late lunch and bumped into a friend – another biotech CEO. I was a year into my role as CEO of Idenix, a publicly traded biotech

I am a scientist by vocation and training and an entrepreneur by accident.  I got into the business of starting companies when I decided almost a decade ago that I wanted to work on a new crazy therapeutic modality and the