Entrepreneurship is Alive and Well
Entrepreneurship is Alive and Well
I was honored to speak at the Venture Summit West hosted by youngStartup this past week.
Joining investors such as Subbu Nambi ( General Atlantic ), Ephraim Lindenbaum ( Advance Ventures ), Ashton Trotman-Grant ( Fifty Years ), and Lu Zhang ( Fusion Fund ), we discussed the current venture landscapes for life sciences and healthcare startups.
photo credit: Dominick Lee
From topics such as term sheet negotiation, data room preparation, cap table structuring, cross-border investment opportunity, and seeking value-aligned investors, each panelist offered some great advice to the audience.
When asked about our most important investment criteria, we all agreed that “team” is at the top of the list. As an entrepreneur myself, I know firsthand that even with the strongest intellectual properties or a largely untapped market, it takes a great team to execute. With the current economic downturns, the importance of an entrepreneurial team rings even truer.
As my first in-person conference since the pandemic, the Venture Summit West event has been very special. As a judge for the healthcare/life sciences pitches, I had the opportunity to meet some of the most amazing entrepreneurs.
From Genomics Diagnostics for PTSD to Precision Medicine for Neurodegenerative Disease to AI Drug Discovery for Cancer to Wearable Devices for Epilepsy Patients to AI Medical Imaging for Musculoskeletal ( MSK ) Diseases to AI-Powered Solutions Advancing Clinical Trials Efficiency, the pitches are just remarkable.
By meeting mission-driven entrepreneurs such as Charles Cathlin, a US military veteran who is driven to advance the treatment of PTSD after witnessing firsthand the 9/11 trauma, and Jonathan Grima, a neuroscientist who is frustrated by the lack of neurology drugs available in the market, and is determined to developing efficacious drugs for the neurodegenerative diseases ( Alzheimer’s, Parkison’s, ALS, etc ), and Marcel Frenkel, a biochemist who just won’t give up in looking for the best cure for his mother’s cancer when every treatment seems to have failed, I am just utmostly inspired. Despite all the challenges we have faced in the last several years, I am very excited to report that entrepreneurship is indeed alive and well.