Weave & Pitch

Join us on Wednesday, December 18th at 12PM PST for our final Use of Funds talk of 2024! Stephanie Wisner—operational leader, venture capitalist, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, author of Building Backwards to Biotech, and visiting faculty at Cornell—will share her insights on gearing up for a 2025 biotech fundraise. She’ll discuss how to navigate timing and key company inflection points to strengthen your fundraising strategy. Plus, we’ll have more dedicated Q&A time than usual. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from someone who’s successfully guided multiple startups through their fundraising journeys. RSVP here: https://lu.ma/9ppj0rcq

Unlocking Biotech Success: Insider Strategies from Scott Shively 🧠 Life Science founders with therapeutics -- if you’re thinking about successful commercialization (or if you’re not, but you should be), this post is for you. Any successful commercialization and launch strategy relies on laying a solid commercial development foundation. It sounds a lot like laying the groundwork for your business, but if you don’t decide early whether to partner for commercialization or build capacity in-house, or if you overlook the competitive landscape and market needs, your efforts may never take off. 🚀In our recent session with industry veteran Scott Shively, we uncovered actionable strategies and heard incredible war stories from his 40-year career. Here’s how to set the stage—even if you’re years away from launching: 🔑 Key Takeaways: *Harness the Power of the Target Product Profile (TPP):* A TPP isn’t just a document—it’s your north star. Define precise clinical outcomes, align regulatory milestones, and map out market positioning to ensure every decision moves you closer to your goal. *Look Beyond Today—Anticipate Future Competitors:* Competitive intelligence isn’t just knowing today’s market—it’s forecasting who else will be there when you launch. Position yourself strategically by understanding the pipelines of future players. *Strategic Engagement is a Game-Changer:* Early relationships with KOLs, investors, and stakeholders aren’t just helpful—they’re critical. These connections will unlock insights, innovations, and doors you didn’t even know existed. 💡 Real-World Impact: Scott shared how engaging with early-career KOLs transformed the trajectory of one of his companies. Their fresh perspectives led to innovative off-label uses and expanded indications, catapulting annual revenues from $7 million to $1.5 billion in just four years! 🔥 If you're aiming to accelerate your path to market and outpace the competition, these insights are invaluable. More takeaways and the full session available here: https://lnkd.in/eTne2-MA

It's happening this week! On Wednesday November 20th at 12PM PST Biotech legend Scott Shively will share his wisdom on commercialization strategy in early stage Biotech. **About the Fireside Chat** Scott will cover when to start thinking about commercialization (it's earlier than you think), how to work without a budget, and what it looks like to lay the groundwork for eventual success. Plus he'll share tales from the ground floor followed by Q&A! **About Scott Shively** Scott Shively is the former CEO at Bexion Pharmaceuticals and Neumentum and is an experienced CCO helping launch brands like Lyrica, Celebrex, Lidoderm, and more. He's held key roles at Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis. RSVP here: https://lu.ma/2p93f8en

Join us Wednesday, November 20th at 12PM PST for our next Use of Funds Biotech lunchtime talk! Biotech legend Scott Shively–former CEO at Bexion Pharmaceuticals and experienced CCO helping launch brands like Lyrica, Celebrex, Lidoderm, and more–will share his wisdom on commercialization strategy in biotech. This event will focus more on therapeutics than previous events, and provide more dedicated time for Q&A so you all can pick Scott’s very impressive brain! RSVP here: https://lu.ma/2p93f8en

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗩𝗖𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀: In our latest Use of Funds episode, Alex Efron from Telegraph Hill Partners (THP) broke down his unique framework for evaluating risk in early-stage life-science companies. Here are three key insights across specific risk areas he highlighted: 1️⃣ 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗩𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 For life sciences tools and diagnostics devices, Efron emphasized the need for recurring revenue models. Demonstrating a “razor-and-blade” model, where consumables or SaaS-like licenses fuel consistent revenue, can be compelling. Even if you’re still pre-revenue, discuss the future path to profitability—how you envision a mix of capital sales with recurring revenue that insulates your growth from economic cycles. 2️⃣ 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗣 Strong IP portfolios are a huge plus, but as Alex noted, "The number of patents doesn't translate to the strength of a company's IP estate". Just like risk, not all IP is created equal. Investors look for patents that are well-structured, novel, specific, and non-obvious. Explain the fundamentals of your IP estate rather than just the volume of patents and their current status. 3️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽 Use partnerships to expand your reach, but don't put your eggs in one basket. Alex suggests that a GTM heavily dependent on partnerships "rarely works out". Instead, work on building multiple distribution streams, whether that's through multiple partnerships, direct commercial efforts or more. Have a multi-pronged approach that emphasizes how partnerships fit within your broader vision for independent scalability. – If you're fundraising, keep in mind: Good investors identify risks and great investors identify ways to help you mitigate those risks. – To learn more about effective risk mitigation strategies, 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅'𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲: https://lnkd.in/eU_fxvcS This discussion was part of our ongoing Use of Funds series, where we decode sector-specific fundraising strategies. P.S. Next month, we're speaking with Scott Shively, a serial biotech founder, CEO, and commercialization expert who's launched multiple well-known products into the market. We'd love to see you there! You can find the event link in the comments below.

Join us next Wednesday October 16th for our next Use of Funds Biotech lunchtime talk! Telegraph Hill Partner's Alex Efron reveals how investors assess risks in early-stage life science companies, sharing tips on overcoming challenges in business models, differentiation, and clinical validation to enable investment. https://lu.ma/imh6zp14

We learned so much from our first Use of Funds session with Avant Bio's Sebastien Latapie. From smart strategies for early pilots and sustaining pharma interest, to key traction signals in biotech from Pre-Seed to Series A. Missed it? Catch our takeaways and the full session on our website and subscribe for the next one! https://lnkd.in/eda9vZfu

Excited to announce the first of this season's talks! Join us Wednesday Sept 18th for a quick 30-minute deep dive with Avant Bio Principal Investor Sebastien Latapie. We'll be discussing how to showcase traction and communicate customer pipeline in Life Sciences and Biotech, even in the face of long term commercialization and sales cycles. Register here: https://lu.ma/y49obart

Excited to announce the launch of our new sector-specific fundraising speaker series! Starting with Biotech and Life Sciences, we're diving into non-generic advice around traction, de-risking, commercialization and everything else needed to raise in early stage Biotech! Subscribe at lu.ma/useoffunds