Insights from the Trenches with Genomics Startup Founders
In the first Genome Startup Day event of 2021, we highlighted one of the most critical decisions facing early-stage founders: whether or not to enter an accelerator or incubator. Three genomics startup founders from across the US shared how their unique experiences helped shape their company’s foundation and path to success. From mentorship to hiring to building community in a virtual world, these founders’ candid and frank stories deliver tangible and educational takeaways for new and future founders alike.
Watch the video here or read the full transcript below.
Transcription results:
| S4: 30:15 | [Ed Winnick] Okay, great. Hello, everyone. As Ivan noted, I’m Ed Winnick. I’m editor-in-chief at GenomeWeb. I’m really happy to be participating in this event today. We have a great panel of startup founders today from three companies. We’ve got Natalie Ma of Felix Biotechnology. We’ve got Joe Miller from [Cqua?], and we’ve got Alex Rosenberg from Split Biosciences, which as of a day ago, is now called Parse Biosciences. And I’m sure Alex will tell us more about that in a moment. So what I like to do is start off by giving each of you a little bit time here to tell us about yourself, your company, and why you chose the path of being involved with an incubator, an accelerator, both or neither. So let’s start with Natalie, and then we’ll go to Joe, and then, Alex. |
| S5: 31:06 | [Natalie Ma] Great. Thanks, Ed, and thank you again, Kayla and Ivan for setting this up and inviting us. This is a fantastic event, hopefully, very informative for all of you. I am co-founder and head of business at Felix Biotechnology, where we develop phage technologies to essentially overcome the key limitations of phage therapy and produce commercially viable phage products. And so a lot of what we were interested in is solving two problems. One of them is evolution of resistance to [inaudible] microbes. And then, the second one is how strange a phage, because that’s a key challenge. They tend to be exquisite, essentially microbiome, skiable. If you want to edit a strain, a species, or even a strain with species of a genome or change the microbiome in some way, they’re perfect [inaudible] anything else if you get to host phage naturally, right? So what we do is we develop generalized therapies. So we’re essentially creating phages that are engineered from [tuned?] host range and then, we leverage the way the phages work against the host to actually try evolution to our advantage by targeting phages to specific mechanisms of the virulence, antibiotic resistance, whatever treatment you want to edit out of the genome, and allows you to take advantage of evolution instead of trying to fight it. So the resulting microbe usually because the phage ends up then being [inaudible] with antibiotics or less virulent [inaudible] the patient or lacking some trait you just want to get rid of. |
| S5: 32:36 | So quick background on myself and who I am and how I got involved with this super awesome work is I’ve PhD in Synthetic Biology or Molecular Biology, depending on who you’re talking to and how much trouble I’m trying to cause. And after that, went into management consulting in the healthcare space helping companies commercialize therapies and then jumped to essentially helping launch startups out of my, the same program I went to for PhD at Yale, where I helped roughly eight faculty, three ventures got off the ground by the end of my year there to the tune of about three million combined. And Felix by far was the coolest venture that I worked with. And our strategy was to go through an accelerator program. We were part of Illumina Accelerator. For us, sort of at a high level because I’m sure we’ll get into more questions around this, Ed, is the value to us was having a really well outfitted space, and then the sequencing that Illumina provided, because, again, we’re heavily data-driven startup, really we need to understand phage and host interactions and use that as the seed data for our machine-learning platform to understand what are the key genetic determinants of host range. So the services and support that Illumina’s provided were invaluable for us to get our first data set and understanding how these phages work. |
| S4: 33:58 | Great, Joe, why don’t you go next? |
| S6: 34:00 | [Joe Mellor] Thanks, Ed. Yeah, so I’m Joe Miller, I’m the founder and CEO at seqWell. So our company focuses on creating sophisticated library prep tools to sort of help power sequencers and collect more information. Our technologies are really focused on how to improve the scalability of multiplexed genomic assays focused on a variety of areas, single cell sequencing, high-throughput sequencing of other things, recently doing some really cool work to help accelerate some of the incredibly important COVID sequencing effort that’s now scaling up around the US and the world. When I started the company, myself and my co-founder, Jack Leonard, I would say the availability of incubator space was crucial. The sort of thinking of a company, especially at its early stages, a sort of a young person having a place to live is very, very basic on the hierarchy of needs. And the benefits from it were not just being in a space where we had the ability to really kind of test early product concepts and really do some of the work that was required. But also it put you in a space where there were other companies at that same stage of life. And that turns out to have all sorts of, I think, healthy psychological benefits. As a founder I think we don’t spend enough time probably as founders ruminating on the stress that it causes, but it is very stressful. And having other people around you who are going through the same thing is incredibly helpful. And really, it acts as a way of calibrating your own experiences with other companies. And you realize, hey, what we’re going through is very similar to what any company in nearly any space at our stage of growth would be going through. |
| S6: 36:20 | And I think back on the comments that Mostafa made a few minutes ago about the importance of team. Again, I firmly believe a company is really its team, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have brought in some incredible team members over the past few years as we’ve grown. And to me, that is what building the company is all about. The talent and getting everybody kind of rowing in the same direction is really what building the company entails. And the products are in some ways a consequence of doing things the right way and really, I think that has for us been, I think, the learning experience. You have to be willing to take those risks and make a few mistakes along the way, and I think, but certainly, I would definitely recommend any company getting started to take advantage of any incubator opportunity that they can. And again, I think seeing your company as part of an ecosystem with other companies, and incubators are a special place where multiple boats can rise at the same time. |
| S4: 37:49 | Okay, thanks, Joe. And Alex, how about you? |
| S7: 37:52 | [Alex Rosenberg] Sure, thanks, Ed. So I’m Alex Rosenberg, the co-founder and CEO of Parse Biosciences, and as Ed was just mentioning before, we actually recently yesterday just announced our Series A and rebrand from Split Biosciences to Parse Biosciences. And so the company what we’re doing is we’re offering a scalable single-cell sequencing solution where the key thing is you don’t need an instrument to use this technology. So it’s an all-inclusive kit that allows anyone to get started with single-cell sequencing and really scale up their experiments. And just in terms of my background, how I got into this, this was something I co-developed with my co-founder while I was a postdoc at the University of Washington. And so at the time, I think we were very focused on just technology, on developing. And as we’re kind of going along, single-cell sequencing was getting a lot bigger. We actually had a lot of people reaching out to us, “How do we get this working in our lab?” And for us, it’s really important to actually get this out to people. And I think a lot of times what you see is academic methods, they kind of die in academia. And to actually get it out to a lot of people and allow them to use it takes a lot of effort, and that’s not something that academia is well suited for. And so for us, we started the company. This is early 2018. It was about the same time we ended up publishing the work, and since then, we’ve really been pushing the company, growing. We’re 16 people at the company now, when I guess with respect to incubators, we were actually really lucky. So we spun out of the University of Washington, and they actually have a lot of support for companies and sort of a very entrepreneurial spirit in general at the university. And so one of the nice things is they actually have lab space for spin-out companies. And so it’s kind of like a pseudo incubator that has a lot of the resources you would expect at other incubators. But as Natalie and Joe have mentioned, getting lab space when you’re small is critical and just being able to operate in the beginning there is super important. We also, through the incubator, as Joe was mentioning, we were able to interact with other companies. A lot of people, I think, emphasized, it’s really important to talk to a lot of people when you’re getting started, especially when you’re coming out of academia, that there’s just a lot you don’t know that you’re going to have to learn. And some of that’s going to be from customers that you’re going to have to keep talking to customers. I think in some ways, given that I worked in kind of the same fields that my customers are, I had a pretty good sense of the customers, but you still want to talk to them. But a lot of the sort of business aspects that you’re trying to pick up, those are the things that you want to have good people around you, good advisors, also talking to other companies, learning about what other company’s doing. Maybe there’s better ways that you could be modeling things based on those other companies. |
| S4: 41:06 | [EW] Great, thanks a lot, Alex. Natalie, I’m going to give it back to you here. Can you talk a little bit about the process of joining the accelerator and explain the attendees who might be a little less familiar with how they work, what a typical arrangement looks like? And tell us in the world that we’re in now, pandemic, people not being able to go into offices and lab spaces, would it be worth it to do without the access to the physical space? |
| S5: 41:36 | [NM] Yeah, that’s a great question, Ed. So in terms of the accelerator program process, it’s typically an application that you fill out, and there are generally pre-set terms, and that’s typically a percentage of equity stake in the company in exchange for the lab space and additionally, in our case, services through Illumina Accelerator. So you go to the application process and this sort of speaks, I think, one of the things that’s really nice about the accelerator programs is they’re often not just a lab space, but also, I think a mark of validations that way, right, because someone has vetted you, and so that can open doors. And so that, for us was helpful as well. So that’s how we got into Illumina Accelerator. In terms of the second part of the question, speaking to that value proposition, I think it’s incredibly valuable. One, because of that mark up, again, validation, it’s like, hey, we’re an Illumina Accelerator company. Mostafa and [inaudible] had looked at our program and thought, “Hey, they’re doing something super cool. We should support them, and we think that there is a path forward.” So I think there is still a lot of value there. And I know in the case of lab space, at least here in South SF, the lab folks are considered essential employees. Access to that lab space still exists, at least again in our area, are going to continue to exist unless something really existential happens. The office space, I think, there is value to it, but at least what we found is many of the connections that were valuable were came through digitally anyway. And so the other thing that was great was that the staff and Amanda could help us understand like who should we talk to to leverage our platforms and build out additional partnerships in addition to getting data on our lead asset? So both of those things, I think, are still really valuable for the sort of accelerator route, despite sort of the the changes that the pandemic has brought. |
| S4: 43:31 | [EW] Okay, thanks, and Joe, your experience was slightly different. You did an incubator. So how did that differ from the experience Natalie just explained? |
| S6: 43:41 | [JM] Yeah. So there was certainly a phase of trying to apply to get the space in that incubator, and certainly, there’s a process that requires a certain level of having things really well articulated and lined up in order to be able to do that, and I think that was certainly helpful. For me, I think joining the incubator again was– we were there for less than a year. And I think part of the reason why is because one of the benefits of being there we quickly sort of outgrew, which was the amount of space that we needed. And I think we certainly had a great experience there and the support structure that was there to kind of even in the case of the lab space that we moved into after we left the incubator was owned by a firm that was closely tied to the same organization. The network effects that kind of are created by tapping into a resource like this or you don’t really see them ahead of time. But so again, it’s really– but it’s an investment really in kind of the future of the company to put yourself in a situation where those effects are allowed to really work in your favor. So, again, I think I almost can’t imagine starting a company without that sort of resource in place. I think that especially a company that’s not starting with a huge sort of check up front, so I think it was clear in our experience. |
| S4: 45:47 | [EW] Okay, thank you. And Alex, you actually didn’t go through an accelerator or incubator, but you did get help from UW. Just wondering what was different about your experience compared to that explained by Joe and Natalie? |
| S7: 46:03 | [AR] Sure, I mean, I think ultimately you got to get to the same place that you have to build your network. You have to understand how have other people before you done this, and especially coming at it from the academic side where technically you might be good, but there’s still so much you got to learn. And as Mostafa was talking about earlier, the technical side, the idea is just one aspect of it. There’s all sorts of execution and different aspects that you’re going to have to learn from other people and bring people on to the company. And so I think for us, we were really lucky that University of Washington, they helped us start to build that network, and they have different people who have started companies, angel investors, who’ve started companies in the past and been successful and sort of want to give back and help younger entrepreneurs. And so that was, I would say, a good way to start building our network. Obviously, from there, I think what you have to do is really branch out, and every person you get introduced to, you have to make sure you’re asking them if there’s other people they can introduce you to, and it’s kind of just this spiraling effect that if you really put effort into it, you’re going to meet a ton of people and that aspect is critical. So I think there’s different ways to go at it, and it sounds like a lot of these accelerator programs are actually a great way to do it in a very condensed time-frame. I think, in a lot of ways, we were lucky we had the support at the University of Washington. |
| S4: 47:43 | [EW] Yeah, great. And that’s a great lead into the next question, which is about mentors. Usually, if you belong to one of these programs, you have access to mentors. And I’m curious about your experiences with that. And can you talk about where you found mentorship or coaching or community to support you as you’ve gone through the startup process? Natalie, why don’t you go first? |
| S5: 48:07 | [NM] Yeah, yeah, and I just wanted to follow up on the last thing, I think the pathways in general will very much depend on your venture or your startup, right? So there’s not a right answer here. It’s very much what is the key next step you need to figure out and what tools will help you get there. So on the venture side, we again had great access to mentors, the folks that were connected to Illumina Accelerator, people who were interested both in DC as well as on the regulatory side, which was incredibly helpful for us. Again, because we’re a therapeutics oriented company, our lead asset is now in a phase one, two clinical trial. So all of that was incredibly helpful to help us know, okay, again, what’s the next step we need to do, and what is needed to get things off the ground? |
| S5: 48:55 | In general, there are sort of three buckets of folks I’d say you encounter in the venture or not the venture, the sort of startup space. There are folks looking who are for consulting services and want to see you transition as a client. They’ll provide some initial upfront help. There are folks who are looking for their next gig. So they would want to join you generally in a C-suite position, and they’re looking across multiple things. They might provide some help to you, but their idea is to get that next role. And then, there are folks who have been through the process, and really, I would say they sort of help out of our memory of having been there and someone helped them. So they’re paying it forward and helping you solve problems that they would want to have had help with if they were starting out. And so those three groups of people sort of can serve different roles and have different specialty, but understanding where the person’s coming from helps you frame the right questions. |
| S6: 49:50 | [JM] Yeah, I definitely agree with the value of that last category that Natalie just outlined. We had the benefit of, again, a network of in some cases, serial entrepreneurs who had worked in companies, perhaps some in life-science, but some not. I think when you’re a– especially when you’re a first time founder, the number of sort of unknown unknowns is extremely high, and you have to really collect as much of that type of advice as possible from people who have been there and done it. They’ve been through that. They were at some point the first-time founder or CEO themselves. But quickly realize, the goal was not necessarily to know everything, but certainly to know what I didn’t know and know where I might be able to go find it. And I think having people who have literally been there and done it who can help you think through and be a sounding board or just provide the pointers that are kind of critical in those early days, I think, is extremely important. |
| S4: 51:10 | [EW] Alex, you have anything to add on that? |
| S7: 51:14 | [AR] Yeah, I mean, I think Joe and Natalie hit it right on the head here. You really do need, I think, different types of mentors too. You’re going to have peer mentors who are maybe at similar stage with their company’s view. You’re going to have people who maybe they’ve done this multiple times, had several successful exits or high up at a big company. And you’re going to get different advice, I think, from different people here. And so I think it’s always good to kind of average out over the advice you get over different people because it’s always going to be very specific to that person. And a lot of times, people are sort of actually just rationalizing the decisions they made in the past, and it’s kind of important to see which of their pieces of advice actually apply to you. And we’re a bit different. For us, getting advice from someone who has started a therapeutics company, some of that advice, I think is still going to be very applicable. Some of it’s going to be different for us. And that’s kind of where you have to take that advice, but also as you’re moving forward in practice, you’ve got to think about how you should be applying it. |
| S4: 52:28 | [EW] Yeah, that’s great, thanks, Alex. So we talked a lot about the benefits of joining these programs, but were there any unexpected drawbacks or challenges that you found with being involved with an incubator or an accelerator, Natalie? |
| S5: 52:44 | [NM] Okay, I’ll start off, but I think mine’s going to be pretty short. For IA, it is the nicest lab space you’re going to have for a while because it’s part of Illumina, and so the lab space is phenomenal. I mean, we’re now housed in J Labs at [Easter?] point. So it’s also incredibly nice lab space. But as we were looking around landscape transitioning out of Illumina Accelerator, we’re going from a place that had everything set up for us to more sending up on our own, which we knew was going to happen, but it always is in the moment like, oh, okay. We’re going to have to account for all of these things that we once relied on Illumina for. |
| S4: 53:25 | Joe? |
| S6: 53:26 | [JM] Yeah, no, I mean, if I was to kind of to simply summarize what Natalie just said, you can get spoiled. And I think, again, the role of the incubator is to get you kind of on your feet and on a path, but I think it’s incredibly important to realize that the goal when you’re there is to leave. And again, some incubators have kind of more rigid timelines as to when that needs to occur, sort of dates on the calendar that you– we need to be have some cash flow by this point in time. I think if I was to sort of generalize from what I have seen as a pitfall, is if there isn’t a kind of push to help companies leave the nest, I think they can linger sometimes. And again, it’s comfortable. It’s usually, well, very affordable, if not subsidized lab space. And so I think it’s important to keep that in mind as a founder that your goal in going to an incubator is [supposed?] to join, but then to also leave. |
| S4: 54:36 | [EW] Okay, thanks. Alex, I don’t know, given your situation was differently, if the challenges were similar or different for you. |
| S7: 54:48 | [AR] I mean, I would echo. I think in general, we were extremely lucky with our incubator space and just the support we had from everyone. I mean it. So really nothing negative to say there, Ed. |
| S4: 54:59 | [EW] Okay, great. So you all mentioned the importance of teams for [inaudible] startup. Do you think there’s a different combination of skills or personality that’s necessary for your team to be successful? Joe, why don’t you go first on this one? |
| S6: 55:16 | [JM] Yeah, I mean that’s a good question. I feel probably to really answer that question well, I would need to have more than one and number of companies. I can tell you from what my experience was, those early employees have to really– those co-founders and early employees have to be able to do nearly anything. Again, it’s wearing sometimes any hat any day. And I think so there’s a mindset that comes with that that is not going to– it’s not easily boiled down, but you hope that you learn to recognize that because those kinds of people are extremely helpful. So I think there’s certainly a mix that there’s probably– some mixes that are better than others, but ultimately that kind of flexible mindset to me really supersedes and dominates that, I think. |
| S4: 56:25 | [EW] Yeah, Natalie, do you have any further thoughts on that? |
| S5: 56:27 | [NM] Yeah, I definitely agree with what Joe said. Spot on. And I would only add being very, very acutely aware of what your skills and strengths and your weaknesses are, and then getting along with the team because that was one of the major reasons, when I had options to join various ventures, I chose Felix was by far the best team to work with in terms of compatibility, because you, as a co-founder, is going to be spending a lot of time together, and you want it to be enjoyable as well as fulfilling and world-changing, right? |
| S4: 57:03 | [EW] Yeah, great. Thanks, Natalie. Alex, how about you? |
| S7: 57:07 | [AR] Yeah, I mean, it’s just that [inaudible] some of those things. I think in general you have to have a mix of diverse people on your team with different skill sets. I think one of the things it’s extremely cliche, but I think when you’re running the company, you realize it is that teamwork is just incredibly important, and there’s very few things that are being done in isolation. It’s very different coming from academia where you have one project maybe you’re working on with one or two other people where that’s really there’s nothing like that. Very few things are like that in the company. Everything you have to communicate with other people. And so I think bringing– we’ve been extremely lucky to have people who are really excited to work together and all motivated towards the same goal. And that’s something I’m sure everyone has heard as advice. But I think when you live it, it’s really important. |
| S4: 58:04 | Okay, thanks a lot, Alex. |