Venture Leaders Biotech 2023: Captain’s Blog by Navignostics, Mosanna Therapeutics, Limula, and Tandem Therapeutics

04.07.2023 12:46, Rita Longobardi

In mid-June, the Venture Leaders Biotech 2023 embarked on a journey to Boston, the thriving hub of the U.S. biotechnology industry, where they engaged with investors, experts, and fellow entrepreneurs. Curious to uncover the essence of their transformative week-long roadshow, we reached out to the Team Captains Jana Fischer, Jonathan Talbot, Thomas Eaton, and Mamta Chabria, who graciously shared their insights and behind-the-scenes experiences.

Sunday, June 11^th — Jana Fischer, Navignostics' CEO
On Sunday afternoon, about half of this year’s Venture Leaders gathered at the Zurich airport, ready to board a plane to Boston where they would meet the other team members that had already been in Boston or would fly in from locations scattered all over the world. It was about 10 pm in Cambridge when everyone arrived at the idyllic Irving House where we would stay for the week. The hungry and thirsty bunch of people that were not too exhausted from the flight took a first walk to the Cambridge center for a late-night snack and some drinks. Much excitement for the upcoming week was in the air, and the team members vividly exchanged experiences and advice. Clearly, this year’s Venture Leaders team was a fantastic group of people and highly supportive of each other.

Monday, June 12^th — Jana
Up bright and early, thanks to the jetlag, most team members managed to get some e-mails out of the way before gathering in front of the house for the first group picture, followed by a joint 10 minutes walk to the Swissnex offices that we considered the home base for the week. The week started with an introduction to Swissnex and how they support the internationalization of Swiss companies, in this case, of course, particularly with respect to the US and Boston area. In the afternoon, we had an expert session with a combination of investor and industry experts that gave us advice on our pitches in small groups. This was a great preparation for the many short pitches that would follow throughout the week and the many excellent questions we would have to tackle. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the wonderful reception at the Swissnex consulate in Lexington (MA), where we networked all evening over good food and wine with industry experts, investor representatives and fellow entrepreneurs. Great start to the week!

                 

Tuesday, June 13^th — Jonathan Talbot, Mosanna Therapeutics' CEO
On Tuesday, we started the day at Swissnex Boston headquarters with a session on Biotech commercialisation in the US and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), with BiotPort USA led by Mark Lesseroth. One very interesting topic, followed by one very complicated one that he made very easy to understand. We learned how prices are established for drugs, all the players involved in the process, and how much it costs to make it into the US market. In the afternoon, we met and had our first opportunity to showcase our pitch presentations at Locus Walk, a global investment bank that integrates corporate development strategy and execution with capital raising for innovative life science companies. The whole team had the opportunity to pitch in front of them and get valuable feedback.

                 

The highlight of the day was the pitch fest in the boat. The whole team, plus some US startups, had the great opportunity to pitch in front of investors, entrepreneurs, and industry people in just 3 minutes, distributed in two different sessions. The audience got to vote by investing in the startups up to “2 million” in each session. In the end, in a head-to-head duel between Switzerland and the US, Ahmed came out deservedly on top. We got to know very interesting people and had loads of contacts while navigating along Boston Bay and enjoying wonderful views.

                 

Wednesday, June 14^th — Thomas Eaton, Limula's COO
The roadshow continued with a packed agenda on Wednesday with two investor pitch events where each company representative had a chance to hone their 3-minute pitches and extensive Q&A from the assembled investor panels. It was refreshing and reassuring to meet the RA capital team of majority women investors, followed by Gurner Point Capital, who included their summer interns in the session, leading the way in the diversity of age and demography. With the weather closing in for a spectacular thunderstorm to wash away the stress of pitching, we had a change of pace to close the formal part of the day's proceedings at the EY offices. Gabriela Güntherodt and the team at EY shared insights on pharma market trends they recently published. The secret uncovered in the data; the best time to IPO may be in 5-6 years if statistics are on your side. This was followed up by a tax advice session addressing our fears of death by taxes – it all depends on what activities are transferred cross-border.

                 

The day's learnings were consolidated over dinner with a new experience that is Fire&Ice – think of it as a restaurant-sized raclette plate and fondue chinois combined in an American free-for-all. What at first seemed like the set-up for total chaos settled into a refreshing experience of pick your own meal buffet, ranging from raw fish, vegetables galore and fresh meat to be presented to the chef and grilled in the center of the room. All washed down with local craft beers, and for the brave, the cocktail of the week shall forever remain a mystery.

Thursday, June 15^th — Mamta Chabria, Tandem Therapeutics' CEO
This was going to be a busy day for the team, starting with a session “Financing your Biotech Startup in the US” with Guillermo Elias and Todd Woodworth from Proximity Therapeutics. It was a fast-paced presentation about fundraising in current capital markets, followed by their perspective on leadership ethos in building your startup. Both topics resonated with all of us and were peppered with personal examples from the presenters. The session ended with a moderated fireside chat with questions from our side focusing on the difference between the European/Swiss environment versus the US, we also spent some time talking about the difference in how early employees are incentivized.

                 

The next stop was Wyss Institute, where we had a working lunch session. We were introduced to the Wyss model by the Business Development team, followed by the opportunity for the team to present. We got insightful questions and were challenged on certain assumptions, which always helps sharpen our presentations. Next, we took Uber to get to the state-of-the-art Bayer Co.Lab, where we were received by Dr Alberto Nobili. He introduced us to the slick co-working lab focused on early-stage cell and gene therapy startups and the benefits of being in the incubator in the heart of Boston.
We were all ready for what is now the Venture Leaders' traditional team dinner at the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in the USA, where we enjoyed oysters and lobster (the first time for some of us). The most difficult part of the ordering was communicating how were wanted our lobsters ‘Boiled’ or ‘Broiled’. It was a really fun dinner! Thank you, Jordi, for the fantastic experience! The evening ended with team karaoke in the bar nearby.

                 

Friday, June 16^th — Mamta
It was our last day in Boston as part of the program. We had our last pitch session with Novartis Venture Fund. We got pointed questions and challenges to our individual pitches and broaden our understanding of downstream developmental needs. This was when we felt done with the week. Our next stop was another tradition, the Venture Leaders Sailing boat trip around the Bay. We all got packed lunches to bring on the boat and were greeted by a cheery crew. The weather held up, and it was an excellent way just to be together, debrief and celebrate a successful Venture Leaders Boston 2023. 

                 

I think each of us brought different startups and experiences into the trip and derived mileage and clarity to move our startups further with the energy and exposure to the Boston ecosystem. Thank you to all the sponsors to make it possible to have such an immersive experience: Swissnex Boston, Debiopharm, EY - Ernst & Young, Novartis, VISCHER, EPFL, ETH Zürich, Hansjörg Wyss, and the Swiss Biotech Association.

Thank you, Venturelab, for organizing what is now a benchmark roadshow for Swiss Biotechs. Thank you, Jordi, Omid and Adriana, for all the behind the scene efforts in making it look so smooth. You all made it a fun, fruitful and memorable one week in Boston. 

And most importantly, the Venture Leaders Biotech 2023 cohort is an amazing team together. Starting from the kick-off in Basel to the whole week in Boston, we have got to know each other’s pitch verbatim, learn from each other’s experiences in diverse topics and share a ton of advice. I look forward to seeing us succeed and stay in touch.

Thank you, Swissnex, for hosting us and being there for the whole week. Thank you to Benjamin, Orianne and the team. It was really great getting to know you. Thank you, Gabriela and Lambert, for spending the week with us. It was great talking to each of you and your help making connections and learning from your experiences. 

Learn more about the Venture Leaders Biotech 2023: