Category Archives: Biotech startup advice

By Ankit Mahadevia, chairman of Spero Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC A common theme in startup literature is that by cutting a range of unnecessary tasks, a step-change in results will follow.  I’ve found

By Aimee Raleigh, Principal at Atlas Venture, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC From the outside, one might assume all biotech venture capital (VC) firms are more similar than different. However, once you look under the

By Robert Clarke, CEO of Kinaset, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC As I write, I am on the train back from New York after watching my son’s NYU basketball team play in the 2024 D3

By Aoife Brennan, CEO of Synlogic, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC I remember vividly my first vacation with the man who would be my husband.  In the days before Airbnb and on-line travel websites, he

By Ankit Mahadevia, CEO of Spero Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC Biotwitter is great for healthy debates.  The most recent has been on the merits of the hybrid vs.an in-person model.  John Maraganore’s excellent

By Joshua Brumm, CEO of Dyne Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC By all accounts, 2022 did not start according to plan for the biotech industry. The U.S. economy and growth stocks struggled with the

By Ankit Mahadevia, CEO of Spero Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC 2022 has brought unique challenges for growing companies.  Capital markets, shifting regulatory winds and other emergent forces are driving tough decisions on programs,

By Aoife Brennan, CEO of Synlogic, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC  A couple of years ago, my husband returned from a business trip with a random gift for me. He was running through an airport

By Sush Patel, CCO of Replimune as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. After close to 20 years at Genentech (GNE) shaping and directing marketing and commercialization efforts for novel oncology therapies, I finally took the plunge

By Ankit Mahadevia, CEO and Founder of Spero Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. The opportunity for each member of a NewCo to take on multiple responsibilities selects early for people ready to help a

By Philip Astley-Sparke, CEO of Replimune, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. Manufacturing of medicines based on biology is complex. Viral vector manufacturing to produce gene therapy constructs, vaccines and oncolytic viruses is especially intricate. Most

This blog post was written by Aoife Brennan, CEO of Synlogic, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. My first job at a public company was when I joined Biogen or Biogen Idec as it was then

This blog was written by Mark Manfredi, CEO of Ikena Oncology, and guest blogger Maude Tessier, CBO, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. When we started to think about changing our company name, we knew it

This blog was written by Mark Manfredi, CEO of Kyn Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. “Time flies when you’re having fun.” That’s how I feel as I reflect on the first three years of

This blog was written by Samantha Truex, Atlas EIR and CEO of Quench Bio, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. Some of the most promising and innovative research underlying biotech start-ups arises in research institutions.  It

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

Startups management teams often have a love-hate relationship with their Board of Directors: while Boards can be hugely helpful and constructive in the best of times, they can be dysfunctional and damaging in the worst. And most CEOs enjoy complaining

This blog was co-written by Deanna Petersen, Chief Business Officer of AVROBIO, and Paul Newman, head of Corporate Communications, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. “It takes twenty years to build a reputation, and five minutes

Over the past six years, the biotech sector has experienced an incredible run of IPOs, reflecting the longest and largest “open window” for new offerings. Much has been written about post-IPO performance here and elsewhere, but there’s been little discussion

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

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

This blog was written by Nessan Bermingham, CEO of Intellia Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC   Academic discoveries are oxygen for entrepreneurs. But, caveat subscriptor – be careful what you sign. Even high profile

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 Ankit Mahadevia, CEO of Spero Therapeutics, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. After many months (or years) of grinding, your science seems to be working, the market is responding to your story,

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

This blog was written by Ankit Mahadevia, co-founder of Spero, Synlogic, and Rodin Therapeutics, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. The concept of “getting s#it done” is central to our lives as entrepreneurs. With time and capital

This blog was written by Kevin Pojasek, co-founder and Acting CEO of Quartet Medicine and Atlas EIR, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. “Most of the smartest people work somewhere else.” The famous Bill Joy quote, often

Amidst lofty public markets and robust fund flows, it’s easy to forget the importance of equity capital efficiency in building new biotech companies. But like gravity, it’s a fundamental principle and rests at the heart of generating quality returns in

This blog was written by Ron Renaud, CEO of RaNA Therapeutics, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. Have you ever scrolled through your Twitter feed and found something distasteful posted about your company? You may be the

This blog was written by Chuck Wilson, CEO of Unum Therapeutics, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. This is an ongoing saga about finding a new home for my company, Unum Therapeutics. Google tells me that there

This blog was written by Mike Gilman, CEO of Padlock Therapeutics and Atlas EIR, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. Padlock Therapeutics is my second startup, and it’s not nearly as scary as the first one. Not

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

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

This blog was written by Jeff Hatfield, CEO of Vitae Pharmaceuticals, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. Over the past two weeks in LifeSciVC, I read with great interest and appreciation the blogs of two friends of

This blog was written by Ankit Mahadevia, Atlas EIR and c0-founder of Spero and Rodin Therapeutics, as part of the “From the Trenches” feature of LifeSciVC. As startup folks we are great at keeping our heads down and looking ahead; this

Building a performance based corporate culture is a key aspect of the biotech innovation business.  It can be easy to overlook this facet of company building as one focuses on determining the robustness of the new technology, refining your business

As with everything in life, it’s always about the people.  Bet the jockey, not the horse.  Great entrepreneurs and C-level executives are very hard to come by in R&D-intensive biotech companies, and its probably one of the biggest bottlenecks in