The Biotech Startups Podcast

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners."The only way through is through. You have to actually go through some of this stuff."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, co-founder and CEO of Abalone Bio, Richard Yu reflects on how processing grief after losing his co-founder, Gustavo Pesce, brought clarity and renewed focus — stripping away the inessential and driving him forward at Abalone Bio. He unpacks the strategic thinking behind the pipeline, from developing CB2 agonist antibodies that reverse fibrosis and reduce neuropathy, to deciding which programs to partner versus develop internally based on value inflection points. Richard also reflects on hitting his 400th VC rejection, why the West Coast's frontier mentality fuels entrepreneurial resilience, how the rise of China's biotech ecosystem is pushing US startups toward novel targets as a competitive moat, and how AI has transformed once-impossible problems — from protein folding to natural language — into solved challenges that are fundamentally reshaping drug discovery.Key topics covered:Processing Grief & Finding Clarity: How Gustavo's passing reframed Richard's perspective on mortality, gratitude, and what truly mattersPipeline Strategy: Using value inflection points to decide what to partner versus build internallyVC Resilience: 400 rejections and why the West Coast frontier mentality keeps founders goingUS vs. China Biotech Landscape: How China's biotech rise is forcing US startups to bet on novel targetsAI & the Future of Drug Discovery: How AI turned yesterday's impossible problems into today's solved ones, and what's next for Abalone BioIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Richard Yu at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-c-yu/Website: https://www.abalonebio.com/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52390465-rangeWaking Up App (Sam Harris): https://www.wakingup.comInternal Family Systems (IFS): https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/internal-family-systems-therapyEnneagram of Personality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_PersonalityGPCR Drug Discovery & Novel Targets: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd.2017.178The Pharma Patent Cliff (2026–2030): https://www.drugpatentwatch.com/blog/the-data-driven-guide-to-winning-the-2026-patent-cliff/​Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/QB3: https://qb3.org/Gustavo Pesce - in memoriam https://www.abalonebio.com/about​David Epstein https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-epstein-5a37ba25Sam Harris https://www.wakingup.com/about​Lindsay Briner https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaybrinerJay Wilson https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-wilson-202224377Timestamps: 00:00 Intro02:22 Resilience, Perseverance, and the "I Will Not Quit" Mentality05:19 Pipeline Strategy: When to Partner vs. Develop Internally07:17 Navigating the Rise of China in Biotech and the Case for Novel Targets11:35 Abalone Bio's One-to-Five Year Vision16:53 The Entrepreneurial "Sickness": Why Founders Keep Starting Companies17:43 West Coast Frontier Mentality vs. East Coast Agricultural Mindset20:47 Authenticity in Fundraising: Seeking vs. Filtering23:35 The Value of Experience in a Youth-Obsessed Silicon Valley Culture26:28 Shout-Outs: Family, Co-Founder Gustavo Pesce, and Key Mentors30:45 Portfolio Construction Thinking in Life Sciences32:37 The Power of Breadth: How Diverse Experiences Drive Success34:32 OutroThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.“Every moment is like this opportunity to, like, do the right thing and make something better.”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Richard Yu, co-founder and CEO of Abalone Bio, reflects on building a company around a bold scientific vision — and the personal moments that shaped his leadership along the way. He unpacks the core insight behind Abalone Bio's yeast-based screening platform: that conventional antibody discovery optimizes for binding over function, like grabbing scissors by the blades. Richard also opens up about the devastating loss of co-founder Gustavo Pesce in a 2021 skiing accident, how the team and investors rallied with unwavering support, and how that crisis ultimately sharpened his sense of purpose and focus. From weathering hundreds of investor rejections to landing partnerships with Pfizer and Sichuan Pharma, Richard offers an honest look at running a biotech startup with a platform-driven, portfolio-management mindset.Key topics covered:Function Over Binding: Why traditional antibody discovery chases binding, while Abalone Bio screens directly for functional impact.Loss & Leadership: How Gustavo Pesce’s sudden passing in 2021 reshaped Richard’s priorities and leadership style.Team & Resilience: How a tight-knit core team, including CSO Toshi and AI lead Samir, rallied to keep the science moving.Platform vs. Pipeline: How Richard balances building the platform with advancing products that prove its value.Revenue & Partnerships: How Abalone Bio uses partnerships like Pfizer and Shichuan Pharma to blend near-term cash with long-term upside.If you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Richard Yu at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-c-yu/Website: https://www.abalonebio.com/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_protein-coupled_receptorBinding Affinity vs. Functional Efficacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_(pharmacology)Molecular Dynamics Simulations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_dynamicsDe Novo Drug Design and Artificial Intelligence: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl5364Platform vs. Pipeline Business Models in Biotech: https://ergobio.substack.com/p/founders-of-drug-discovery-engineDilutive vs. Non-Dilutive Funding for Startups: https://eqvista.com/startup-fundraising/dilutive-vs-non-dilutive-funding/Memento Mori and Stoicism: https://orionphilosophy.com/memento-mori/​Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:Pfizer: https://www.pfizer.comAbCellera: https://www.abcellera.comAdimab: https://www.adimab.comQB3: https://qb3.orgToshihiko Takeuchi https://www.linkedin.com/in/toshihiko-takeuchi-3135711/ ​Monica Schwartz https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-schwartz-67761b44/ Lauren Schwimmer https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenschwimmer/ Sameer Soi https://www.linkedin.com/in/sameersoi/ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro02:03 Abalone's Mission and the GPCR Drug Development Vision02:36 The Real Founding Team: Richard and Gustavo03:42 The Devastating Loss of Co-Founder Gustavo Martinez06:39 Finding Clarity and Focus Through Grief09:16 Running Out of Money and Leaning on Core Values11:13 Building the Team After Gustavo's Passing12:18 The State of the GPCR Antibody Market14:05 Why Binding Affinity Is the Wrong KPI15:44 Yeast-Based Screening Technology and Functional Data20:06 Balancing Platform Development vs. Pipeline Products21:01 Revenue Strategy and Business Philosophy25:05 Ideal Collaboration Partners: Pfizer, Sichuan, and Beyond25:41 OutroThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners."Sometimes it feels like a miracle anything works at all, but you keep going—because when it does work, it's worth every step it took to get there."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we continue our conversation with Richard Yu, CEO and co-founder of Abalone Bio, as he traces his path from academic scientist to entrepreneur—starting with the 2008 alternative energy boom that led him to co-found algae biofuel startup Green Pacific Biologicals and deliver a two-slide, science-only VC pitch that sparked a new sense of purpose. He reflects on shutting the company down in 2013 and realizing that scientific feasibility alone doesn’t build a business, then describes how joining QB3’s incubator immersed him in hundreds of therapeutics startups, taught him the business side of company building, and ultimately set the stage for founding Abalone Bio and entering Y Combinator’s March 2020 batch just as COVID-19 began disrupting the world.Key Topics Covered:First Pitch Energy: A two-slide VC pitch on Sand Hill Road that revealed Richard's true calling outside of academiaAlgae Biofuel Lessons: Why raising NSF SBIR funding and proving the science still wasn't enough to build a companyQB3 Incubator Experience: Running QB3's first Dogpatch incubator, learning the business side, and sitting in on hundreds of pitches at Mission Bay CapitalRevenue-Driven Startup Model: Bootstrapping Abalone Bio through service contracts before landing their first investor roundY Combinator During COVID: Getting into YC's March 2020 batch and raising a seed round as the world locked downIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Richard Yu at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-c-yu/Website: https://www.abalonebio.com/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:SBIR Grants https://www.excedr.com/blog/sbir-grants-guide Y Combinator Biotech & Life Science Companies https://www.ycombinator.com/biotech/The Number of Biology-Based Startups Funded by Y Combinator Has Grown Significantlyhttps://www.synbiobeta.com/read/the-number-of-biology-based-startups-funded-by-y-combinator-has-grown-significantlyARPA-E: Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy https://arpa-e.energy.gov/Venture Capital Funding for Biotech Startups https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/venturecapital.asp​Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:QB3 https://qb3.orgMBC BioLabs (referred to as QB3@953 in the episode) https://mbcbiolabs.comMission Bay Capital https://www.missionbaycapital.comNSF SBIR (America's Seed Fund) https://seedfund.nsf.govY Combinator https://www.ycombinator.com​Doug Crawford https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-crawford-3826b21Bernie Suter https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernhardpaulsuterTimestamps: 00:00 Intro02:05 Co-founding Green Pacific Biologicals and the Algae Biofuel Idea03:36 First VC Pitch on Sand Hill Road04:46 Why the First Pitch Felt Better Than Any Academic Talk05:56 NSF SBIR Funding and Proof of Concept06:43 Lessons Learned: Science Is Necessary but Not Sufficient08:39 Shutting Down the Algae Company and Joining QB310:05 Running QB3's First Incubator in Dogpatch14:17 Building Pro Formas and Sitting in on Pitches at Mission Bay Capital15:31 Co-founding Abalone Bio and the GPCR Antibody Platform17:53 Revenue-Driven Model at Next Interactions Funding Early R&D20:19 Getting into Y Combinator and Demo Day During COVID-1926:58 Moving into the Old Pixar Sound Studio in Emeryville28:24 OutroThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.Episode Description:"The magic is always at the intersections."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore CEO & co-founder of Abalone Bio, Richard Yu’s journey from his Midwestern and New Jersey upbringing as the son of Chinese immigrants to UC Berkeley and Yale, tracing how living at the intersection of cultures and disciplines shaped his identity as a scientist and founder. He shares how a friend's pitch about “engineering proteins to eat dirt” pulled him from physics into biophysics, igniting a passion for treating biology as an engineering discipline. Along the way, Richard contrasts Berkeley’s sink-or-swim entrepreneurial energy with Yale’s rigorous East Coast culture, reflects on mentors who sharpened his scientific thinking, and explains how his early interest in systems biology and an unconventional postdoc path ultimately laid the foundation for Abalone Bio.Key topics covered:Immigrant Roots & Core Values: How Richard's upbringing as the son of Chinese immigrants shaped his core values of kindness, resilience, and an outsider's perspective that still drives him todayDiscovering Biophysics at Berkeley: A chance conversation with a friend that flipped Richard's worldview — turning a physics major into a biophysics devotee who saw biology as an engineering disciplineEast Coast vs. West Coast Academic Culture: Berkeley's sink-or-swim hustle vs. Yale's rigorous academic intensity — and how Richard drew from bothEarly Intersections of Biology & Computation: Applying early machine learning to protein structure prediction and why Richard believes the magic always happens at the intersectionsChoosing an Unconventional Path: Resisting the academic tractor beam to join the Molecular Sciences Institute, a scrappy, under-the-radar hub that helped shape modern synthetic biologyIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Richard Yu at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-c-yu/Website: https://www.abalonebio.com/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:Biophysics as an Engineering Discipline: https://www.nature.com/subjects/biophysicsProtein Structure & Crystallography: https://www.rcsb.org/ Early AI & Neural Networks in Protein Structure Prediction: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03819-2The Henderson-Hasselbalch Equation: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-chemistry-beta/x2eef969c74e0d802:acid-base-equilibria/x2eef969c74e0d802:buffers/a/henderson-hasselbalch-equationX-ray Crystallography & NMR in Structural Biology: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26864/Emergent Behavior & Complexity (Flocking / Murmuration): https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-simple-algorithm-that-ants-use-to-build-bridges-20180226/Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:UC Berkeley: https://www.berkeley.edu/Yale University: https://www.yale.edu/Molecular Sciences Institute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_Sciences_InstituteNIH (National Institutes of Health): https://www.nih.gov/Teresa Head-Gordon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresa-head-gordon-873b3759Roger Brent: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-brent-0a3b55Rob Carlson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-carlson-22a9792Sydney Brenner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_BrennerTimestamps: 00:00 Intro03:24 Richard Yu’s Upbringing and His Immigrant Family Story06:45 Moving for Work and Growing Up in New Jersey08:10 Early Interest in Computers, Physics, and STEM09:16 Discovering Biophysics at UC Berkeley10:39 First Wet Lab Lessons and Learning How Biology Works13:40 Choosing Grad School Over the Early Tech Boom15:36 Arriving at Berkeley and Feeling Like an Outsider20:10 Yale, East Coast Academic Culture, and Structural Biology25:56 Startup Energy in the Lab and Richard’s Management Style27:23 Moving Away from Academia Toward Applied Science36:47 OutroThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners."A startup journey is not one where you see the end goal; you don't even see the path in front of you, and you just have to have faith that the next step is there when you take it."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Sujal Patel recounts his transition from enterprise data storage to co-founding Nautilus Biotechnology — sparked by a 2016 email from scientist Parag Mallick declaring "I think I've come up with something important." Sujal breaks down why proteomics is one of science's most urgent unsolved challenges, explaining that while 95% of FDA-approved drugs target proteins, current mass spectrometry methods produce incomplete and irreproducible data. He details how Nautilus tackles this by simultaneously analyzing billions of molecules using iterative antibody binding on a chip-based system, and reflects candidly on his journey to becoming a biotech CEO — from YouTube chemistry lectures at 2x speed to learning how to lead PhD scientists who think very differently than software engineers.Key topics covered:The Proteomics Problem: Why 95% of FDA-approved drugs target proteins yet current methods produce incomplete, irreproducible data — and why solving this unlocks better biomarkers, drug targets, and AI-driven medicineNautilus's Platform: How iterative antibody binding across billions of spatially separated molecules creates a new paradigm for protein identification and analysisBuilding Four Technical Pillars: The nine-year, half-billion-dollar journey to develop the chip, antibody library, assay system, and machine learning algorithms that power the platformLearning to Lead in Biotech: Watching YouTube chemistry lectures, maintaining a daily "dumb questions" list with co-founder Parag Mallick, and adapting leadership style to manage PhD scientists in a startup environmentPath to Commercialization: Targeting academic institutions, pharma, and diagnostics companies, with an early access program focused on Tau proteoforms in neurology and preparations for hypergrowth as the full proteome product nears launchIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Sujal Patel at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patelsujal/Website: https://www.nautilus.bio/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:Overview of Proteomics and Its Role in Medicine:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8473418/Agilent https://www.excedr.com/blog/featured-manufacturer-agilentPerkinElmer https://www.excedr.com/blog/featured-manufacturer-perkinelmer Shimadzu https://www.excedr.com/blog/featured-manufacturer-shimadzu ​Nautilus Biotechnology Unveils Voyager Platform https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/02/24/3243473/0/en/Nautilus-Biotechnology-Unveils-Voyager-Platform-Enabling-Single-Molecule-Iterative-Mapping-at-US-HUPO-2026.html Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:​Illumina https://www.illumina.com​Parag Mallick https://www.linkedin.com/in/paragMatt McIlwain https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-mcilwain/ Greg McAdoo https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-mcadoo-bb912/ Matt Posard https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-posard-7321b016/ William (Bill) Ruckelshaus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ruckelshaus Ken Suzuki https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentaro-suzuki-7594b93/ ​​Timestamps: 00:00 Intro01:51 Why Proteomics Is the Next Frontier After Genomics​06:35 Raising Capital to Build Nautilus’s Four Technical Pillars​11:07 What Startup Lessons Translated From Isilon to Biotech​15:29 Who Nautilus Sells To and Where the Platform Fits Best​18:30 Convincing Researchers to Try a New Proteomics Platform​20:31 Building Nautilus’s Culture Around Talent, Grit, and Adaptability24:13 Preparing for Commercialization and Future Hypergrowth​27:34 Why Nautilus Is Even Harder to Build Than Isilon​28:35 The Complexity of Nautilus’s Supply Chain and Product Build​35:49 OutroThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.“As an entrepreneur, you have to be on it—taking advantage of every opportunity to build relationships and get the best people on your team.”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we dive into part three of Founder and CEO at Nautilus Biotechnology, Sujal Patel’s story—zooming in on the high-stakes path to Isilon’s acquisition by EMC and what it really feels like to negotiate while your company, your board, and the market clock are all in motion. Sujal walks through how the “strategic partnership” conversations revealed themselves as acquisition positioning, why EMC’s approach felt unusually aggressive and old-school, and how a deal can appear to die on the finish line—only to roar back to life under intense time pressure.Sujal also shares the tactical and emotional reality of price negotiation, from holding the line when an acquirer tries to anchor you, to staying disciplined in your responses, to making decisions fast when the range tightens and leaks force a deadline. From there, the conversation expands into what happens after the announcement: the commitments he made to EMC about scaling the business, the organizational decisions that protected long-term value, and the personal calculus behind eventually leaving—even when bigger roles were on the table.Key topics covered:The acquisition coming together: From a voicemail intro to “OEM” talks that signaled M&A intentNegotiation under pressure: Anchoring, walking away, leaks, deadlines, and landing on a final priceFounder discipline in the deal process: Controlling reactions, board process, and strategic leveragePost-acquisition leadership decisions: Org design, integration choices, and protecting the “crown jewels”Lessons carried forward: Hiring quality, developing talent early, and redefining product-market fit beyond the productIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Sujal Patel at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patelsujal/Website: https://www.nautilus.bio/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:Mass Spectrometry-Based Clinical Proteomics https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12831324/​Fueling the Future with Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics https://www.americanlaboratory.com/607446-Fueling-the-Future-with-Mass-Spectrometry-based-Proteomics/​The Founder’s Guide to Product-Market Fithttps://innovatemap.com/resource/the-founders-guide-to-product-market-fit​Product Market Fit: Ultimate Guide for Startup Foundershttps://foundersnetwork.com/product-market-fit/​Go-to-Market Fit: Founders’ Guide to Crossing the Chasmhttps://www.11.vc/crossing-the-chasm-the-journey-from-pmf-to-gtm/Marketing & Sales Strategies for Early-Stage Biotechshttps://www.excedr.com/blog/marketing-sales-strategies-for-biotechsCompanies, Universities, & People mentioned:EMC (now Dell EMC):https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/storage/index.htm​NetApp: https://www.netapp.comPat Gelsinger https://www.linkedin.com/in/patgelsinger/ ​Harry You https://spacconference.com/speaker/harry-you​Parag Mallick https://www.linkedin.com/in/parag/ ​Michael Dell https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdell/ ​Timestamps: 00:00 Intro01:47 EMC's Unexpected Voicemail and the OEM Pretense04:35 Pat Gelsinger's Dinner and Harry You's Surprise Appearance07:06 The $25 Offer, Bidding Wars, and Walking Away from the Deal09:57 The Friday Fax: A Fully Executed Merger Agreement at $32.5011:15 Saturday Negotiation and How $33.85 Became the Final Price13:00 Post-Acquisition: Running the Division and Reporting to Pat Gelsinger16:07 Knowing When It Was Time to Leave EMC18:48 Key Lessons from Isilon: Developing People and Hiring Right23:15 Redefining Product-Market Fit Beyond the Traditional Definition26:18 Four Years Off: Investing, Board Seats, and Getting Back in the Ring29:07 Founding Nautilus: Meeting Parag and the Proteomics Vision33:47 OutroThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.“One of the traits of entrepreneurs: we have to have blind faith… if you know everything that could go wrong and does go wrong, no one would start a business.”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we dive into Sujal Patel's bold decision to leave RealNetworks and co-found Isilon Systems, a distributed storage company built to solve a problem he witnessed firsthand — enterprise customers spending millions on storage systems that simply couldn't handle media files. Sujal shares how a pair of scissors on his desk became the unlikely symbol that pushed him and co-founder Paul Mikesell to finally take the leap.Sujal recounts the harrowing experience of launching a company at the peak of the dot-com collapse, watching his RealNetworks stock fall from $100 to $8, and still managing to close an $8.4 million Series A as the only such deal in Seattle that year. He walks through Isilon's early growth, landing marquee customers like Kodak by overdelivering on impossible timelines, and the painful but necessary decision to fire both the CEO and CFO of a public company — all while his wife was pregnant with twins — on the same day Lehman Brothers collapsed.Key topics covered:The "Scissors of Opportunity": How co-founder Paul Mikesell's challenge pushed Sujal to finally leave RealNetworks and bet on his distributed storage ideaFundraising in a Collapsing Market: Navigating 50 VC introductions, relentless pitch meetings, and a dot-com bubble in freefall to close Seattle's only Series A of 2001Building Isilon from Zero: Using $400K of founders' capital to hire a team, build an alpha product, and hit milestones that unlocked Series B fundingCEO Transition & Public Company Turbulence: Firing the CEO and CFO of a public company during the 2008 financial crisis and rebuilding the entire executive teamThe Path to Acquisition: Transforming Isilon from a -40% operating margin to a billion-dollar run rate in just 23 months under Sujal's leadership as CEOIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Sujal Patel at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patelsujal/Website: https://www.nautilus.bio/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:Distributed computing (overview): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_computingDistributed file system (how scale-out storage works): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_file_systemSATA / Serial ATA :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATAMinimum viable product (MVP):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_productRevenue recognition: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/revenuerecognition.aspChapter 11 bankruptcy (context for “Lehman Monday”): https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chapter11.asp​Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:NetApp: https://www.netapp.com​Kodak: https://www.kodak.com​Corbis: https://www.gettyimages.com/collections/corbisRob Glaser: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-glaser-431687/ ​Craig Sherman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crsherman/ ​Jeff Rothschild: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Rothschild​Dan Warmenhoven: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwarmenhoven/ ​Don Valentine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Valentine​Pierre Lamond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierrelamond/ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro02:22 Spotting the Gap: Enterprise Storage Failing Media Files07:11 The "Scissors of Opportunity" and Leaving RealNetworks07:36 Day Zero: Taking the Leap During the Dot-Com Collapse15:55 Building the MVP and Racing to Series B19:27 Disrupting the Storage Market and Landing Kodak23:55 Finding Early Adopters and Building Champions25:36 Isilon's Growth Trajectory and Hiring a CEO28:41 Going Public, Revenue Recognition Issues, and Firing the CEO & CFO32:26 Navigating the 2008 Financial Crisis and Rebuilding the Team36:16 The George Bennett Story: Recruiting the Transformative VP of Sales38:58 Outro The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.“Get out in the world. You wanna go do something yourself. Be entrepreneurial. Go solve problems out in the world.”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Sujal Patel — co-founder and CEO of Nautilus Biotechnology and former founder and CEO of Isilon Systems — takes us back to his upbringing in suburban New Jersey, where his engineer father and an older brother's love of computers set him on a path toward a life in tech. From self-teaching programming on a budget Apple II clone to building operating systems from scratch at the University of Maryland and contributing to the FreeBSD open-source project, Sujal's early career was defined by curiosity and bold moves — none bolder than demanding his boss's job just three months out of college at RealNetworks, a decision that nearly turned out very differently thanks to one unanswered phone call.Key Topics Covered:Roots of an Entrepreneurial Mindset: How growing up as the son of Indian immigrants and the son of an engineer shaped Sujal's drive, work ethic, and ambitionThe Inflection Point: How his brother's love of computers and a budget-friendly Apple II clone sparked a lifelong passion for programming and technologyUniversity of Maryland: Building operating systems and compilers from scratch, contributing to the FreeBSD project, and blending computer science with early entrepreneurship courseworkLanding at RealNetworks: How open-source connections led to his first job offer and why a vibrant Seattle beat Silicon Valley for the young graduateDemanding the Corner Office at 22: How Sujal asked for his boss's job three months into his career, negotiated an equity package, and managed a team of 40-year-olds fresh out of college — and how not leaving a voicemail changed the entire course of his lifeIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Sujal Patel at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patelsujal/Website: https://www.nautilus.bio/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:How Open Source Contributions Can Launch Your Career: https://opensource.net/freebsd-steady-shifting-open-source-world/Hypergrowth: Strategies for Scaling a Startup: https://ekoicentre.com/articles/hypergrowth-hacking-strategies-to-scale-your-startup-rapidly-2/​The Dot-Com Boom and the Rise of Streaming Media: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubbleProteomics and Single-Molecule Analysis: https://www.nature.com/subjects/proteomics​Nautilus Biotechnology Unveils Voyager Platform https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/02/24/3243473/0/en/Nautilus-Biotechnology-Unveils-Voyager-Platform-Enabling-Single-Molecule-Iterative-Mapping-at-US-HUPO-2026.html Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:RealNetworks: https://www.realnetworks.comMicrosoft: https://www.microsoft.comIsilon Systems: https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/storage/isilon.htmEricsson: https://www.ericsson.comBill Pugh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billpugh​Timestamps: 00:00 Intro04:15 Growing Up as the Son of Indian Immigrants in New Jersey07:12 How a Brother's Love for Computers Sparked a Lifelong Passion09:52 Learning to Code: Books, BASIC, and the Franklin Ace 100011:26 Choosing University of Maryland for Computer Science13:54 Early College Life and the Arrival of High-Speed Internet15:15 Building Operating Systems and Compilers from Scratch18:05 Contributing to the FreeBSD Project20:46 Landing the First Job: How FreeBSD Led to RealNetworks24:10 Early Days at RealNetworks and Moving to Seattle27:56 Demanding His Boss's Job at Age 2232:05 Managing 40-Year-Olds Three Months Out of College34:56 Lessons from Scaling RealNetworks from 100 to 1,000 People37:40 OutroThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.“This is where the real scientific innovation and the impact meet. So for me, it's the most exciting type of opportunity to have, and I'm not looking anywhere else.”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we follow Roy Maute’s journey from the Gilead acquisition of Forty Seven Inc. through COVID-era corporate life—where he spent over a year at Gilead without meeting colleagues in person—to co-founding Pheast Therapeutics in 2021, clarifying his passion for early-stage company building. He unpacks how he, Amira Barkal, Irving Weissman, and Ravi Majeti rallied around CD24 as the next macrophage checkpoint target, explains PHST001 and why macrophage checkpoint inhibitors could form a new class of immunotherapy, and reflects on building a lean, 34-person clinical-stage company, navigating a tougher post-COVID fundraising environment, and charting the road ahead as Pheast generates pivotal clinical data.Key topics covered:Getting the Band Back Together: How Roy, Amira Barkal, Irving Weissman, and Ravi Majeti co-founded Pheast Therapeutics around the CD24 macrophage checkpoint targetThe Science of PHST001: Why macrophage checkpoint inhibitors represent a new class of immunotherapy and how PHST001 addresses the toxicity and potency limitations of prior approachesNavigating the Biotech Funding Cycle: How Pheast stayed lean and capital-efficient through the post-COVID investment downturn and what the fundraising landscape looks like todayBuilding a Clinical-Stage Company: How the Pheast team has evolved from a group of bench scientists to a full clinical-stage organization, including the hiring of a Chief Medical OfficerPipeline Strategy and Partnerships: How Pheast is thinking about external collaborations, early-stage partnerships, and advancing its next-generation pipeline programs alongside its lead assetIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Roy Maute at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roy-maute-2b31b975/Website: https://www.pheast.com/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:CD24 Macrophage Checkpoint Discovery https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1456-0Biotech Funding Cycles & Market Impact https://www.fortrea.com/insights/biotech-funding-challengesPhase I Clinical Trials: Dose Escalation Methods https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2684552/Cancer Biomarkers in Drug Development https://www.abcam.com/en-us/knowledge-center/oncology/cancer-biomarkers​Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:Gilead Sciences: https://www.gilead.com/Pfizer: https://www.pfizer.com/Amira Barkal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amira-barkal-md-phdIrving Weissman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Weissman​Ravi Majeti: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/ravindra-majetiTimestamps: 00:00 Intro02:17 Deciding to Leave Gilead After the Forty Seven Acquisition05:35 Navigating COVID's Impact on Biotech06:40 Co-Founding Pheast Therapeutics and Assembling the Team09:57 The Macrophage Checkpoint Opportunity and PHST00113:40 Pipeline Strategy and Partnering Philosophy17:43 Evolving Capital Raising Strategies in a Post-Boom Market21:25 How Pheast Has Grown and Evolved as a Company24:13 Building the Right Investor Base28:05 One to Two Year Outlook for Pheast32:22 Closing Advice for FoundersThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners."If we set goals in the most aggressive realistic way that we can and everyone has visibility into our progress, it's all good—even if we fall a bit short, as long as it's for good reason."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we dive into Roy Maute's journey from academic scientist to biotech entrepreneur, exploring the founding and acquisition of Ab Initio Biotherapeutics and his subsequent roles at Forty Seven Inc. and Gilead Sciences. Roy reflects on the lasting influence of Irv Weissman's hands-off, trust-driven lab culture at Stanford and how it shaped his philosophy on building teams.Roy shares how he co-founded Ab Initio with colleagues from Chris Garcia's and Brian Kobilka's labs, navigating early-stage challenges like seed funding, a Pfizer collaboration, and managing a lean team of 10. He explains why the company ultimately chose acquisition over raising a major round, and how Ligand Pharmaceuticals' interest in their directed evolution technology brought that chapter to a successful close. Roy also discusses stepping into a biomarker strategy role at Forty Seven Inc., and what it was like to witness the company's $4.9 billion acquisition by Gilead — all as COVID lockdowns began.Key Topics Covered:Leadership Styles: Why Irv Weissman's hands-off management shaped Roy's own vision for building teamsCo-Founding Ab Initio: Assembling a founding team, securing seed funding, and running a scrappy 10-person labPfizer Collaboration: Balancing startup autonomy with the accountability of a big pharma partnershipAcquisition Over Fundraising: Why selling to Ligand Pharmaceuticals was the right exit over raising more capitalForty Seven & Gilead: Joining a rocket ship mid-flight and learning translational science through a $4.9B acquisitionIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Roy Maute at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roy-maute-2b31b975/Website: https://www.pheast.com/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors https://tlcr.amegroups.org/article/view/4780/html​Overview of PD‑1 Pathway Blockade and Biomarkers of Response https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-022-01743-4Magrolimab in Cancer: NCI Drug Dictionary Entry https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-drug/def/magrolimabClinical Study of Magrolimab in Solid Tumors (example of ongoing CD47 checkpoint work)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40140179/​Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:Pfizer: https://www.pfizer.com​Ligand Pharmaceuticals: https://www.ligand.comGilead Sciences: https://www.gilead.com​Irving Weissman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_WeissmanKenneth Lin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kslinAndy Kruse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-kruse-0517b116​Tim Springer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-springer​Chris Garcia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/k-christopher-garcia-964651139​Brian Kobilka: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2012/kobilka/facts/Timestamps: 00:00 Intro02:19 Key Lessons from Irv Weissman's Postdoc Lab06:58 Co-Founding Ab Initio Biotherapeutics: Technology and Early Days14:25 Ab Initio: From Founding to Acquisition in Four and a Half Years14:44 What Makes an Effective Big Pharma Collaboration16:41 Setting Aggressive Goals vs. Sandbagging17:59 Navigating the Acquisition Process: "Watch One, Do One, Teach One"20:58 Joining Forty Seven Inc. and Leading CD47 Biomarker Strategy25:48 Inside the $4.9B Gilead Acquisition of Forty Seven28:02 What Big Pharma Does Well — and Where Startups Have the Edge31:09 Startups vs. Large Organizations: Capturing the Best of Both Worlds33:28 OutroThe Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.