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Ep. 19 Kate Beebe DeVarney on Channeling Cancer Challenges into Biotech Innovation
19 Plays28 days ago
Kate Beebe Devarney is a neuroscientist and biotech executive focused on bringing relief to cancer patients through Moxie Therapeutics. Listen in as she speaks candidly about the lessons she has taken from her own experiences with cancer as well as, in many cases, being the only woman in the room.
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Transcript
Introduction and Mission
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, everyone, and welcome to Spark Time. I'm Dani Stoltzfus. And I'm Will Riddle. Of Mighty Spark Communications. Our mission is to use scientific innovation to drive transformative change. We believe that compelling storytelling is the most effective tool we have in our arsenal to motivate and inspire audiences to invest themselves in audacious goals. We are scientists by training, storytellers by experience, and entrepreneurs by nature. Let's get started.
Investor-Focused Communication
00:00:29
Speaker
We primarily work with companies seeking investment and they often want to speak directly to what investors are looking for. So we really value Jessica's thoughts on this as a co-founder of the recently launched Initiate Ventures and how she shared what makes her excited to work with a new leadership team.
00:00:47
Speaker
Yeah, that was really interesting. And Jessica shared a lot of details from her time spent launching Grail, the diagnostic spin out of Illumina that I think we're all familiar with and how they were perceived as being so stealthy at the time of launch. And we are in a very different world now with regard to talking about your company actively, in large part because of social media, especially LinkedIn.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yes, she's absolutely correct in that the rules of engagement have changed significantly in the last 10 years. But I think even in the last 12 months, we've seen a major shift in the way companies are taking control of their own newsroom, and particularly via LinkedIn. Well, would you tell our listeners about our guest
Jessica Owens' Background
00:01:26
Speaker
today?
00:01:26
Speaker
So today we're joined by Jessica Owens, who is a co-founder and general partner at Initiate Ventures, which partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build transformative companies at the intersection of healthcare, life sciences, and technology. Prior to co-founding Initiate, Jessica was a co-founder and executive at Grail.
00:01:45
Speaker
where she led numerous aspects of business and commercial strategy, marketing, and communications. She led the incubation and spin-out of Grail, which in 2020 announced that it would be acquired for $8 billion dollars by Illumina. During her time at Grail, the company secured strategic partnerships with BMS, Merck, and J and&J. They hired over 350 employees and raised over a billion dollars in capital.
00:02:08
Speaker
Before Grail, Jessica was the founder and CEO of Spark Diagnostics, a digital health platform leveraging patient video and machine learning to improve the management of product neurological disorders. Prior to that, Jessica was a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, where she invested in and incubated life science companies. She was involved in the formation of Navigenics, Arresto Biosciences, VeriSight, and numerous other investments.
00:02:34
Speaker
Jessica is a Kauffman Fellow and served for nine years on the board of trustees at Agnes Scott College. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and MS in Cancer Biology from Stanford and received her bachelor's degree from Agnes Scott College. Hi, Jessica. Welcome. It's great to have you here. How are you doing today? Hi, I'm great. Thanks for having me. Pleasure to be here.
00:02:55
Speaker
Jessica, I want to start by asking you a question about your previous roles. and And that is, we know you've been both a CEO and a serial founder of many companies. And since then, you've transitioned to found initiate venture. So what I want to hear is what drew you to the other side to work as an investor, rather than someone who's developing a product?
Founding Initiate Ventures
00:03:19
Speaker
That's a great question. um So I actually have roots as an investor um and worked as a partner at Kleiner Perkins for a number of years before being ah a serial entrepreneur and founder. And my partner Yana and I um have a really strong conviction around um what it means to be a founder and and a leader in a company and And we're really bringing that experience to what we're doing at ah Initiate Ventures. So it it was born out of a desire to really support founders in the ways that, you know, we have experienced um as ah founders ourselves and operators, but also bring the lens of um our experience as venture capitalists
00:04:02
Speaker
ah so that we can sit on kind of you know the VC side of the table, but really roll up our sleeves in a way that we find there is an opportunity in the market to do, especially um in young health tech and life sciences companies.
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, very cool. So you know on the topic of Initiate Ventures, we we know that there's been some exciting news recently. um And we'd we'd love to hear more about that. So could you tell us more about the announcement?
Focus on Early-Stage Companies
00:04:30
Speaker
Sure. So um Initiate is a a venture capital firm. um We are a new firm and ah we focus on companies at pre-seed through Series A at the intersection of of ah life sciences, healthcare care and technology.
00:04:45
Speaker
um When we founded Initiate, and we wanted to chart a strategy that allowed us to work and both as a co-founder and so you know really acting like a founder of the company and working on things you know before they're really ready to be financed, but also then to invest broadly across that continuum from you know pre-C to C to Series A.
00:05:09
Speaker
um So we ah we have focused in areas where we have you know a lot of industry experience. We work in biopharma tech and services, life sciences tools, diagnostics, and health tech broadly. um And we like to ah you know meet companies where they are with the challenges that they face and and you know ultimately help these companies in whatever way makes sense for them. so we're not formulaic about it. um We really just want to bring to bear, um you know, that sort of heavy lift that I think all too often, um you know, founders kind of face in ah in a silo alone. And so and we bring, you know, whatever it is that that a company needs, including, of course, capital.
00:05:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's amazing. And I was really excited to see that that press release come out the other day. And um congrats, because now it it does sound like you're at the fun part. So Jessica, from your experiences, what are you hoping to share with the founders and initiate?
Life Sciences Investing
00:06:09
Speaker
What are the key ideas that that you learned in your time on both sides? and And now you think you're especially prepared to bring to those folks?
00:06:17
Speaker
Yeah, so I think there's a couple different things. One of them is really um all of the persnickety things that come with investing and building in life sciences and healthcare. care You know, a lot of people come from outside the industry and they say, you know, oh, I, you know, I worked in tech, I can fix healthcare, care I can fix life sciences, I can just engineer our way out of this problem. And there's a lot that comes with scar tissue of having lived in these companies and understanding everything from you know the unpredictability of biology. you know You think you understand a hypothesis around you know some kind of biomedical premise related to mechanism. And it turns out that you know biology can be far more complex than we anticipate. and And the other side is the wacky healthcare incentives that drive
00:07:08
Speaker
Pay your, you know, hospital purchasing decisions, pay your behavior. And so I think there's one element that you can't understate, which is that, you know, when you've been in this long enough, you know, you've seen enough of these things that may not seem logical to a first-time founder, um but are really just kind of a piece of um what it means to succeed in in in the sectors we work in.
00:07:32
Speaker
And so I think bringing that um that experience is in life science is particularly important in a way that is really different than let's say consumer or pure play tech or or or more engineering focused.
00:07:46
Speaker
um ah ah industries. um The second is um you know having been an investor and sat in those shoes and and having you know those years at Kleiner
Trust in Investment Relationships
00:07:58
Speaker
Perkins um to work with people like Brooke Byers, you know the the investor mentality is um one where you know you have to be an optimist You have to root for your team your your you know your CEOs and their teams, but you also really need to be in a position to roll up your sleeves and help. And when it comes to financing, when it comes to you know your ecosystem ah and your network, and there's a lot of ways in which investors can be useful to their CEOs when the time is right. um And I wanted to be able to bring that to founders and CEOs
00:08:32
Speaker
while also having walked in their shoes and lived through board meetings where board members profess to know more than you about what you're doing. And I've been on that side of the table too. I've been in meetings where other executives have asked venture capitalists if they want their job because they could come and do it if they'd like to have it.
00:08:54
Speaker
um but And so you know it's it's so you got to be able to laugh, and you've got to be able to um to have a little empathy. And um I think having had the experiences on both sides, um it's it's really actually helpful to um threading that needle of aligning incentives and and just being a good teammate.
00:09:16
Speaker
um You know, we're all in this together. Once an investor invests in a company, you know, our our fates are all sealed, and it's typically an eight to 10 year run. um And you got to love the people you're in the trenches with, and you got to respect them, you got to be able to call them and be transparent with them. um And so, you know, that's when it comes to initiate, you know, that's what I really want to bring, um and bring to companies and and to founders.
00:09:42
Speaker
Yeah, so much of that resonates with us, Jessica, because we spend a lot of time talking and thinking about, you know, when we think of messaging is, you know, what is the investor looking for? What are they wanting out of this relationship? What do you need to tell them to convince them that this is the right thing to invest in? And I really respect that you also feel that clarity and honesty and transparency are really key factors in those relationships, because I think We've talked about that theme so many times now on this podcast. It's really cool to just see it coming to the surface time and again. So thank you for sharing those thoughts.
Grail's Vision and Challenges
00:10:18
Speaker
yeah but I want to transition now to rewind to the early days of Grail.
00:10:23
Speaker
we know that you were deeply involved with the initial pitching. And from your perspective, what made it such a strong call to action to investors? What was what was the hook that was really bringing people in? Yeah, so, um yeah, rewinding back to Graal. So in 2015, Illumina and its business underneath it, Verinata, the business unit, um one of the um clinical lab experts, a woman named Meredith Miller, who is a physician and a pathologist and and worked in the lab at Veronata, started to see these aberrant NIPT results that were, and that so that's not invasive prenatal testing. they They were a signal in a woman's blood um that ultimately turned out not to be trisomy or not to be a problem with the fetus, but turned out to be and the the ah type of chromosomal and abnormalities that are really hallmark of cancer. And and those findings inside a Illumina um and and actually other and NIPT companies um were published in a registry in the summer of 2015. And executives inside of Illumina, Rick Clauser, Alex Rabneis and others you know began to see this vision for what if you could
00:11:42
Speaker
ah detect early stage cancer of all types from blood. And if we can do it in, if we can see it, if we can see this signal in pregnant women um who, you know, women of childbearing age, it's actually a pretty rare event that you have um you know, women who also have cancer. um If you can see that without even trying with looking at it through the lens of NIPT, is there a way that we could build a test specifically to look for cancer in asymptomatic, otherwise healthy individuals?
00:12:17
Speaker
And I think the thing that, so I was brought in to lead the efforts to spin this thing out and hired specifically for that purpose. And, um you know, i I initially met that with um having worked on spinouts before. the ah My opinion was that that spinouts often don't work.
00:12:37
Speaker
And they don't work for a number of reasons. um And you know if this was successful, why wouldn't Illumina just keep it? And over the time of building the business plan and putting together you know the key milestones, the same thing we're doing right with the startups that you know we're working with today, um it became really clear that the expertise that this company would require was so different from the expertise that was currently inside of Illumina.
00:13:04
Speaker
um You know, with respect to clinical development, you know, this is this is more of, think of it more like building Genentech and less like building an instrument or a box. You know, this is this this is cancer screening. this is ah This is a clinical product to be used with really huge clinical implications when you tell someone do they have cancer or might they have cancer and what should they do next.
00:13:28
Speaker
And so the capital the capital requirements, the difference in the types of expertise, and the speed at which we would need to move um really required that it be its own company. And so I think the thing that when we went out and talked to investors about this that was so universally appealing is that from the lens of cancer, we've been nipping at it from they the stage four patients, right? Every therapy is developed in in really sick patients. And that's that's just because of the nature of drug development, right? We have to trial these things. They have to be shown to be safe. You have to give patients the standard of care and then add therapies on top of it. And this concept that maybe we could
00:14:14
Speaker
detect a huge number of these cancers at an earlier stage, when we could you know cut them out of people, when they may not need these expensive medications that are really you know can be useful, but oftentimes just extend life. um It's really a ah ah very um humanity-driven appeal, right? it's It's a completely different way of thinking about something I think that everyone has experienced at some point in their lives. They have ah known someone who but was diagnosed with cancer um and, you know, wish they had been diagnosed sooner. um And so I think just the human nature of the promise and the vision and the fact that
00:15:00
Speaker
you know Cancer touches everyone in in some form. um you know One in three people will get cancer in their lifetime. And um this completely new way of thinking about how to really put a dent in cancer mortality and even change our understanding of the biology of early stage cancer so that we could develop better therapeutics, um I think that's really compelling. um And I mean, i i still I still believe, you know, we're we're now like eight years later, almost nine from the launch of the company. You know, this whole field ah will transform the way we understand oncology and cancer and therapeutics. um But as we know in life sciences and health care, nothing happens overnight.
00:15:49
Speaker
Right? So this is going to take decades of work. um And, um you know, commercializing a test is one thing. But really, there's an enormous underbelly of science to understand. And and we've just scratched the surface.
00:16:04
Speaker
Yes, very, very true. There is always an enormous amount of science to understand that I agree on. Yes, and and thanks for describing that sort of initial pitch when when Grail started and how you're communicating about it. I mean, as you said, it's really human interest. It's such a ah great sort of hook into a conversation of we have a huge problem, this is how we're going to solve it. But I'm curious,
00:16:28
Speaker
As Grail ah evolved, how did that pitch change to speak to a BD audience rather than you know the initial investment community? And how did you use that pitch to form new relationships? And and what was so successful about your communications that brought about the acquisition?
Evolution of Grail's Test
00:16:45
Speaker
Yeah, well, okay, great questions there. There there are a little, so there there there are a lot of questions there. Yeah, there's a lot of questions in there. So um I will tell you my, so my tenure with Grail, I worked on it for a year before we launched in 2016. And then I was at the company until and the beginning of 2020. So end of 2019, right before COVID. um I was not at the company when it was acquired. And um partially, and you know, was because I had given everything I could at that point. And our last CEO transition um to two Hans Bishop, um i I told him in our first one-on-one together, I said, I've i've given this start-up everything I can. And I cared deeply about its success. um But it's time it's time for new leadership in in my post. And at that point, um
00:17:36
Speaker
ah Hans was actually the CEO who ended up selling it to Illumina. So I was no longer at the helm when the actual acquis acquisition took place. But um I will say that from the from the business plan that we constructed at Illumina to the launch of the product, the we iterated a thousand different products we could have built, and the multi-cancer early detection test was the same vision throughout, the one that the company has launched, the one that we built. um That actual vision for a product didn't change. We did noodle on what else could we build. right there's a you know In terms of the technology, you could build an MRD product.
00:18:22
Speaker
build a lung cancer screening product. You could build a hepatocellular carcinoma product. I mean, we we evaluated the opportunities to build all of those things. But overwhelmingly, the feasibility data demonstrated that a multi-cancer product was was feasible. It was possible. And that we could determine the tissue of origin um using the methylome and methylation signals in order to direct downstream care.
00:18:48
Speaker
um And you know it was the hardest product to build. It was um the most, I would say, um unprecedented. We used that word a lot. i think yeah i can mean It's one of those instances where it wasn't poorly applied. It wasn't exaggerated. It was an unprecedented product.
00:19:07
Speaker
and um And so, you know, over time, I think what became clear as we built that the body of data and the science, right, this was we enrolled um something like 10,000 patients in a discovery study and, you know, 1000 of those patients had different types of cancer.
00:19:26
Speaker
um And I think as we started to look at that data and share that with um pharma companies who were our collaborators and investors, companies like Merck and BMS, and I think it became compelling enough to even biopharma that this could really change their understanding of um how they develop drugs. right And I think today, one of I think one of the great victories of the companies of this era are that most biopharma companies, large pharma, in their oncology programs have what they call their CFDNA ah strategy. So they're collecting blood alongside every patient. And you know in the early days of GREL, we'd look at our collaborators, and and it was almost like a game of go fish.
Impact on Biopharma
00:20:12
Speaker
right They were like, do you have any stage four lung cancer patients? And we would be like, open. it
00:20:17
Speaker
Do you have any stage two colon cancer patients? you know um And so you know I think that that that bridging the the the understanding of of why this matters to drug development was a big part of what the data demonstrated over time, what we were able to show with the science.
00:20:37
Speaker
um And then ultimately, um you know, I can't speak to Illumina's rationale and the messaging around the acquisition because I wasn't there. um but um But I have to say as a founder, it's not where I thought the company would land. But I mean, you know, i it's true that's that's neither here nor there. i But yeah, so I wasn't there for the for the last hour. Sure, sure.
00:21:05
Speaker
Cool. Well, I want to talk to you now about when you're thinking about investing in a new company and and found a founding team that you haven't met before and you know you haven't worked with, what is it in their pitch that is the most likely thing to draw you in and and for you to find really compelling? Because for everyone, it's slightly different, and I'd love to hear your thoughts about that, Jessica. Yeah, that's a great question. and um I think the number the number one thing that I think I'm i'm a definitely like a people person and an empath and um all of those things. And so um i I can really pick up on um founders that just have a lot of passion for what they're doing. i have so much respect, having pushed that bull's-ray up the hill so many times. And believe me, I mean, I've i've had just i've had just as many failures as success is. So, um you know, I think no one's track record is squeaky clean. And in terms of only successes, I mean, I think you've got to take big risks. new
00:22:10
Speaker
to have that kind of vision. And sometimes you're too early or sometimes the science doesn't pan out and or sometimes you make mistakes, right? And so um I love to see that passion um in a founder's sort of way they talk about their vision for how the future looks different if their company is successful.
00:22:30
Speaker
yeah And um you know that that just always lights me up. And I like to, in my first meetings with founders, I kind of like to assume whatever they're building is going to work. I mean, I might ask them questions like, why do you believe that? Or how is that going to work? Or what is the science basis of that? Or just trying to understand it. But I think if you can like kind of sink in and see the world through the eyes of of a founder and see their vision for how the world is different, um you know that I think is the first thing I i try to kind of you know, um tap into. and and And that to me is kind of the like step one. um And there's that goes a lot of different ways. That can go like, you know, when it goes well, you're just kind of like, yeah, wow, like, okay, I i get it. And then, you know, you hope that you can ask really
00:23:21
Speaker
smart questions or have enough experience to um have the founder not just have to say the same thing they say a million times when they pitch. They actually have a real conversation because you know they think about they think about their problem all day long and you're sort of dropping in for 45 minutes to think about it for the first time after maybe reading a 12-slide deck.
00:23:43
Speaker
so um So that's one. um The other is, um I really love it when founders um come from having been the customer for the problem they're solving. It's like they sat in the shoes of a frustrated customer and were like, why doesn't this solution exist?
00:24:01
Speaker
Why do I have to do the same broken thing over and over? what And you know that's always kind of a nice and nice um a nice feature. It doesn't always work that way, right? A lot of times founders can be inventors or scientists, um but that's always something that I think is is useful because they really deeply understand the problem they're trying to solve because it's been their problem. i And so that's another. um And then you know I think It's hard in this environment.
Investing in Transformative Innovations
00:24:31
Speaker
There's you know money flowing less freely than it is often. And um I think the other thing I look for is, like is this is this incremental or is this like a step function? Is this something that really changes the landscape or is this and in just an improvement? And and I tend to um i tend to
00:24:57
Speaker
you know, back things that to me are are really like kind of step function changes. um And sometimes that means, you know,
00:25:09
Speaker
saying no to an entrepreneur or a CEO I really like. um But you knows it's you know you in the end, as ah I think the other thing, having been an investor and also having been a founder, and also you know you have to remember that venture capitalists also have to raise funds. yeah everyone has so Everyone has to pitch.
00:25:29
Speaker
yes yeah But know but they just the laws of numbers around these things, you know when you're building a portfolio of you know whatever, 15 companies, 20 companies um in a fund, is you you have to say a lot of no's. And so I try to give people real feedback to the extent I can and hope that it's helpful you know as they um think about their own storytelling.
00:25:54
Speaker
um And if it makes entrepreneurs and feel any better, LPs give like zero feedback. know so i yeah Well, I just want to circle back to where you started with your answer, Jessica, and ask a follow-on question. So when I hear you talking about being really like lit up by people that are passionate and people that have lived the problem,
00:26:19
Speaker
I hear as well that maybe that speaks to there's some trust that comes with that because the way I think about it is if someone really demonstrates true passion and true conviction around solving a problem, that to me just leads me to feel inherently that I can trust them because I know how committed they are to it. I'm just wondering if you have a similar experience when you hear people who are really passionate and compelling and have strong conviction.
00:26:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think um think trust is like a that's such a it's such a good word that you brought up. We don't use it like as frequently in business as we use it with our are personal relationships and our our our children. you know Tell me the truth. I need to be able to trust you.
00:27:06
Speaker
Yes, but ah happened it's it's such a crucial ah ingredient to ah highly functioning teams. And as you think about your investors and board members as part of your team, yeah um you know, in the end, they they should be working for you in a way that drives the company forward. And that trust piece um is is really is critical, I think, to success.
00:27:36
Speaker
hu Yeah, yeah, i I feel the same way. And it's true, like, it's not the first thing you think about in business. But I always go to the the team aspect as well, like you did, it's say but good teams and excellent, good, sorry, excellent teams, really trust each other. and They're the ones who are the most capable, I think, of really bringing things to fruition for that reason. So yeah, really great insight.
00:28:02
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic insight. Thanks, Jessica. We really resonate with that. On this podcast, we talk about I think trust in almost every episode. i will So I want to ah subject you to another very open ended question now. um You know, Jessica, you've had so much success and in founding companies, investing in companies and and leading comms efforts in in biotech, for example, at GRAIL.
00:28:29
Speaker
And you know we strategize, Danny and I strategize deeply about how to evangelize the work that our clients do such that it's ah always attracting new stakeholders that are aligned with that mission that the founders are carrying forward. So in biotech, be it diagnostics or therapeutics, what is the 2024 version of the communication strategy that that teams should be utilizing for earlier funding rounds? For example, seed rounds.
Biotech Communication Strategies
00:28:58
Speaker
Hmm, great question. You know, I think that there is such a fine line. It comes back to this trust and credibility. um you know one One of the things we did at GRAIL, I'll be totally honest, is we were oftentimes, because we didn't want to talk about anything about them besides the results, besides the science, we were actually perceived as being like overly secretive.
00:29:25
Speaker
um and it was It was hard to strike, I'll say, like in the rearview mirror. and i Actually, ended up um we hired a really wonderful comms person named Charlotte Arnold because it was a really challenging thing to do. is you know When you're doing something really groundbreaking, ah we wanted to focus the message on the science.
00:29:45
Speaker
and while we were you know, obeying the laws of physics of enrolling clinical studies, clinical, you know, the patients into our clinical studies, and then doing the actual science itself, you know, these large periods of time would pass and people, you know, reporters would call and they want to know what was going on. It was like, we're we're literally hiring, you know, trying to recruit the right people and do the right science. There's not a lot else to talk about right now.
00:30:11
Speaker
and um But I think that even not talking can come back to bite you. And so it was like, oh, girl, i'm secretive. And, you know, that's the last thing we wanted to to be. um And so I think that that there is this balance of the way that I think about it now is looking out onto the horizon.
00:30:31
Speaker
looking at the events that you can attend with you know you're whoever your target audiences are, whether they are investors you want to get closer to or um you know your peers in industry or business development um ah collaborations or talent you want to acquire, um how do you get out there and strategically tell them the story you want to be telling at the level that is um appropriate for your audience?
00:30:59
Speaker
and so um you know If you're telling a story to investors, that that those key messages are not that dissimilar from the messages that you're sharing if you're recruiting um you know junior scientists. so you know you want to You want to be able to succinctly articulate you know the vision, how you're differentiated, and um and and why you believe what you're doing is important in the world. yeah um And then you wanna have, I think the supporting pieces are that of that are the, you know as you guys know in in what you do so well, are the the credibility, the the proof points. So you know this is the vision, this is why the world is different if we win, and this is why what we're doing is really special. Here are the three pieces of supporting data that support what I just said.
00:31:53
Speaker
yeah um and And when you're in the weeds, i get it's hard to crystallize it is write everything down. though so It sounds easy to say it, but right um you know proof points and and and the big picture message is um are the things that in this fast-paced world, nobody can hold on to more than that.
00:32:12
Speaker
Right, absolutely agree. That's really true. It's like information overload, like 24-7 is how it feels in 2024, at least in my opinion. So I really like that takeaway.
LinkedIn's Role in Professional Communication
00:32:24
Speaker
Yeah. You know, the other thing I would say is, you know, LinkedIn has changed the way that um the way that we communicate and maybe even more so the way that we understand other people. And so I think that one one piece of advice I would have, and and i don't I try not to spend too much time on LinkedIn because I will go into the rabbit hole and never come out.
00:32:51
Speaker
But what everyone's doing is interesting. and you know I get click, click, click, and I'm like i'm on people's websites and reading the news. But um I think one thing to keep in mind, and you guys probably train people on this as well, is thinking about your LinkedIn on two different levels. One is um One is, you know, how much engagement do you get, blah, blah, blah. The other, though, is thinking about it like almost like a running resume so that when you ah maybe apply to be on a panel or you're being selected to speak at a conference,
00:33:29
Speaker
um and that ah a reporter or industry organizer can really quickly go to your LinkedIn and kind of see what you're about by what you've posted, not just by what you've done. And that's something that I think has changed in the last three years, like in maybe the last two years. There is so such a huge volume of stuff on LinkedIn now.
00:33:51
Speaker
and And if you're not, it used to be like a nice to have if you posted. And now if you're not posting and you're trying to get the word out about your company, um it's important, I think in the process of being selected to be on those podiums or to be on stage and to for people to be able to very quickly vet you and what you're talking about on LinkedIn.
00:34:16
Speaker
100% agree. it's ah It's a whole new world on LinkedIn. In the last probably even 12 months, it's changed even more. So we are always educating people about the importance of controlling your own like news channel on LinkedIn and making sure that you are not quiet and that you are you know sharing content, especially things that like that you just spoke about so that people can quickly see that you're a thought leader and you do understand what the space that you're in because people want to work with you when you're validated and credentialed.
00:34:52
Speaker
it's it's It's noisy and I have kind of mixed feelings about it. I i don't love self-promotion on LinkedIn. Personally, I find it awkward, and but you know i it's kind of I think it dates me a little bit um because i I grew up in like when When I was an investor at Kleiner Perkins, um you know i mean I left in 2010. That's like 15 years ago. and um this that The art of the stealth company and not ever releasing anything until you were ready, it was like a mindset. like Why would you tell your competitors what you're doing?
00:35:32
Speaker
yes Why would you ever like say anything until you have something to really say? why would We used to say, why would you ever press release a financing?
00:35:43
Speaker
like yeah right but <unk>s yeah So I guess it dates me a little bit. It's like, don't press release a financing. You're just going to tell your competitors that you have money and you're going to try and recruit their people.
00:35:57
Speaker
right um So yeah, it's just the world has really changed. And so the rules of engagement are just, they're wildly different now. Yes, very, very true. And I think there's definitely something to be said for keeping on top of what's going on and then figuring out the right way to partake in the conversation. Yeah, yeah.
00:36:18
Speaker
Well, we've had such a great conversation with you today, Jessica. You shared so many great insights. And the final thing I want to ask you about, is aside from what's happening at Initiate you know this year, what else are you really excited about for 2024? We always like to hear things that get you out of bed every day and get you motivated and would love to hear what that is.
Future of Data Science and Biology
00:36:42
Speaker
Yeah. um So I'm really excited about, it may sound kind of redundant with what we're hearing in the echo chamber, but I continue to be impressed by um the interface of data science and compute with biology.
00:37:02
Speaker
um You know, it we're now about a decade into this journey, I would say. When you look at the companies, you know, like Recursion and even Grail, we were doing a lot of advanced data science around all of the signal in the blood. Like, you know, how do you make sense of all of these tiny bits?
00:37:22
Speaker
of um you know DNA floating around in your blood, and how do you make sense of them then on top of that, the the millions of methylation signatures that are contained on these little fragments of DNA. And without the power of compute, we the like this the test itself could not have been created.
00:37:42
Speaker
And so, you know, I think of us ah as about a decade into this journey where advanced data science methods are really meeting biology with new force and gusto. And um I continue to be excited about the step function innovations that are happening in the ways in which R and&D productivity can be changed for biopharma,
00:38:06
Speaker
um and biotech companies and the ways in which we are starting to really dissect organ biology in all new ways. And so, for example, I'm i'm working on a company right now um that we co-founded in the studio and and we're using the signals in blood that come from organs like the liver and the lungs um to actually um deconvolute organ biology and organ disease.
00:38:35
Speaker
And so when you think of diseases like like NASH, which is a huge, ah now called MASH, um which is ah a liver disease, um there's a new therapeutic on the horizon um ah ah actually that was just launched two ah two quarters ago from a company called Madrigal Pharmaceuticals. the first um um drug ever indicated for mash for liver disease. There's 20 million patients out there in the world or sorry in the United States with mash and 80 million with precursor disease. So that's that you know, it goes hand in hand with diabetes, obesity,
00:39:10
Speaker
um And I think we're just beginning to scratch the surface on non-invasive ways to um determine mechanism, um biology it with respect to patient stratification. um And all of kind of our lessons learned in oncology and precision medicine, I think we're just beginning to see those um those lessons start to be possible in other um other diseases outside of oncology.
00:39:39
Speaker
um And so i'm I'm very excited about um translating the lessons learned in oncology to other large population scale diseases um where we can really impact people's lives and change mortality rates. um You know, the GLP-1 class of drugs is is not just effective in um you know helping people with diabetes and obesity. um There is phase two and phase three data and that is coming out with liver disease and other cardiometabolic diseases associated with um obesity and diabetes.
00:40:19
Speaker
And um being able to get the right patient on the right drug and for biopharma companies to understand mechanism around um you know how their drugs work in which patients. um I think we're going to see this play out again and again. And and then the business models that these companies deploy um you know range from tools companies to um precision medicine companies. um Ultimately, even to um companies predicting liver talks um and ah helping biopharma companies develop safer ah safer medications based on their technology. And so um I'm really excited about the promise um that this space holds. And I think in some ways, like the buzzword of like data science and generative AI and this these things are is kind of overused. But yeah in the practical applications, um I think there's just still so much room for value creation.
00:41:13
Speaker
I completely agree. it it is It has become a bit of a buzzword, but there's so much good science backing it. yeah And we'll just see where it shakes out now. So it should be a good show. So Jessica, this has been so fun talking to you. You've shared such great insights and and we can't wait to share them with our ah listeners. So thank you very much for for joining the podcast today.
00:41:37
Speaker
Every investor has a slightly different belief than what will make his founder successful. I loved hearing Jessica's take on this. She said that hearing the vision of how the product will change the world is essential for her, but also that she really appreciates hearing the founder was at one time a frustrated customer. That's seeking a way to fix the problem. And of course I deeply resonate with this as that's one of the key reasons that we founded MoneySpark Communications. Yeah.
00:42:06
Speaker
Well, we ourselves see so many pitches and it's always surprising to me when the pitch doesn't speak directly to what makes the company different from their competition. And Jessica spoke to this in saying she really wants to see how the program is going to change the world and not just in incremental change, but also the data that directly supports that vision. And that's one of the first concepts we bring out in narratives that we build with our clients.
00:42:34
Speaker
Yeah, and continuing on from that point, we've heard before on this podcast, specifically in our episode with Josh Shimmer, that investors face a lot of information overload. Tailoring your deck or your pitch or whatever material to speak to the minimal data set that sets you apart helps to cut through that overload and bring in new investors. And Jessica spoke about this also.
00:42:58
Speaker
Well, Jessica had me pretty excited toward the end of the discussion, especially when she spoke about the lessons we've learned from oncology and precision medicine and how she sees those lessons carrying over into new disease areas today. And I agree with her that those learnings are going to transform so many disease areas and we're going to see a lot of new treatments on the horizon.
00:43:21
Speaker
Anyway, join us next time as we continue to power scientific innovation with storytelling to drive transformative change and solve our most demanding challenges.