BioVenture VoiCes with Chris Garabedian

He describes his career path, including time in the lab and doing quant work at Goldman Sachs. Plus, what he has learned about VC investing and biotech over time, and how Omega Funds is able to successfully invest in various stages and rounds of companies.

He describes this path to venture investing from his start in science at the NIH to becoming a pathologist, and eventually raising a modest first fund and building off of its success. Plus, his investment philosophy and investing in science - including outside of therapeutics.

Sara Nayeem, a venture investor with ~16 years focused on therapeutics and rare disease, describes career turns from medicine to early-stage biotech investing. She talks about firm styles and timing for investments. Topics include rare disease evolution, regulatory and clinical trial challenges, accelerator models, and how Innovate/Ennovate approaches larger first checks into therapeutics.

D.A. Wallach describes how he went from music to healthcare/biotech investing, and the similarities he sees between the two industries. Plus, the firm's investment philosophy and how he partnered with Tim Wright to create the firm.

Beth Seidenberg tells the story of how her career went from physician, to product development in industry, to investor. She describes the qualities she looks for in an entrepreneur, and discusses the Los Angeles core of Westlake BioPartners.

Bryan Roberts, longtime Venrock partner and early-stage healthcare investor, shares stories from the firm’s Rockefeller roots to building a Bay Area presence. He talks portfolio construction, backing first-time founders, differences between bio and health tech timing, views on AI/ML in discovery, and what makes for non-consensus, founder-first investing.