By Priyankaa Pitcheshwar
Just as she rounded the bend in her race for a PhD, Barbara Poinard began to ponder a career outside academia. Two little letters piqued her interest: “V” and “C.”
“Having not heard of the term ‘venture capital,’ when I chanced upon it at a conference I was intrigued,” Poinard says. She reached out to the Managing Partner of Esco Ventures X (EVX) via LinkedIn and met up for a coffee chat. Little did she know that this meeting would open doors to her future. At the end of the coffee chat EVX offered her an internship.
Just around this time, Poinard also got an opportunity to work at a talent incubator. With a thirst to explore the entrepreneurial side of science, she embarked on it, spending four months working with a co-founder, evaluating the prospects of commercialising their idea.
“When this didn’t pan out, I reapproached EVX about job openings, and here I am,” Poinard says happily.
EVX invests in pre-seed or seed stages of a company’s funding cycle, following the model of venture creation: they build a company from the ground up. If the venture’s business model proves valid and achieves robust performance indicators, more capital is injected to scale up the venture.
Poinard first started at EVX as an analyst, performing intensive scientific due diligence and systematically reviewing huge amounts of scientific literature, another challenging part of her job. Today, having progressed to an associate in the firm, she scouts for new technologies globally, reaching out to principal investigators (PIs) to assess the potential of spinning out a company with them.
EVX focuses on disruptive therapeutics platform technologies in areas such as gene editing, cell therapy, and gene therapy. These technologies might first be described in scientific journals or conferences, and some could be patented or might remain unpublished. In cases of patented technologies, EVX works closely with the tech transfer offices of the associated university or research institute to license out the technology into a company.
Poinard works closely with her fellow VC Associate Akshaya Bansal. When the duo identify a promising new technology, they place an introductory call with the PI. Although nothing confidential is exchanged, the call serves as a litmus test. Should they decide to progress, deeper due diligence on the prospective venture is performed, considering its competition and evaluating risks as well as limitations. Poinard and Bansal then present their analyses to the EVX management, followed by a collective go or no-go decision.
“We have no crystal ball,” Poinard says of EVX’s investment strategy. “But we try to estimate and see if, in three years time, it will still be a field of interest.”
“At EVX, we set up the company, lead the recruitment process, strategize ways to move the company forward, and expand the pipeline,” Poinard says. “We also think of the milestones that are necessary—perhaps key experiments and also help with planning the experiments that will be needed to proceed to a series-A funding,” whereby the business would be scaled up and its business model further optimized.
With a diverse portfolio and an expanding pipeline, EVX has made significant strides in the local biotech space. Poinard highlighted two of their current investments. The first, Carmine therapeutics, a spinoff from City University Hong Kong, was identified from a publication describing a technology to develop red blood cells’ extracellular vesicles as a gene delivery vector. “We managed to license out the intellectual property from City University Hong Kong and set up the company in Singapore,” Poinard says. The PI that spearheaded this discovery currently works at NUS and is the scientific co-founder of the company.
The second investment, PairX Bio, from Duke-NUS, was recently incorporated and focuses on designing next-generation cancer immunotherapies.
Because the EVX team is young, with less than 10 members, Poinard says, “we have to wear many hats.” As it searches for disruptive tech, EVX also works to nurture the local biotech ecosystem in Singapore. In line with this, they host Morphosis, a talent development program designed to train high-calibre scientists and individuals passionate about translating academic findings into biotech ventures. Through a series of lectures and workshops from biotech stalwarts complemented by close mentorship from the EVX investment team, Morphosis fellows learn the nuances of successful biotech ventures. High performers are invited to join EVX or one of their portfolio companies in future.
“When applications are rolled out for Morphosis, there is a lot of marketing work: we prepare the marketing material, webinar content and get involved in the hiring process of the participants,” Poinard says.
In addition to Morphosis, EVX recently launched their first grant call (PLATINUM Grant) in partnership with A*STAR, for PIs with promising early-stage platform technologies. Launching grants entails a good deal of marketing. Post-launch, the projects received are evaluated and a call is made on which ones can proceed to the subsequent round and receive the funding. At such times, “It is never a one person’s effort at my company,” Poinard says. “We support each other.”
What makes Poinard’s job worthwhile and fun? “When you talk to a PI, it gets exciting to see that the technology identified might have the potential to become something,” she says. “We look through so many technologies that when there is some level of interest from the team, it feels extremely rewarding, as if you have stumbled across a hidden gem.”
When asked for advice for anyone eyeing a job similar to hers, Barbara notes that “staying abreast with the latest global developments and emerging hot areas in the biotech space helps.” Also, she says, “perhaps follow newsletters focusing on the megatrends and latest deals happening in the area.”
Poinard also volunteers for Biotech Connections Singapore (BCS) as a marketing lead. Working with two others, she sends out emails on upcoming events or job openings. “Since I am in the biotech VC space, I am sometimes more aware of what is happening in the area,” she says. Leveraging this advantage, Poinard posts relevant news on the BCS LinkedIn page, including investments or mergers happening in the local biotech space.
You can reach out to Barbara here: https://sg.linkedin.com/in/barbara-poinard
]]>BCS began its journey in 2014 as the Singapore chapter of BCS/Oxbridge Roundtable, a global biotech and entrepreneurship network, before it rebranded itself as Biotech Connection. The group aims to promote entrepreneurship in life sciences and serves as an engagement platform for a network of academics, entrepreneurs, industry professionals, and government agencies. BCS activities center around educational events, consulting services, and communications.
Former BCS President Dr. Sau Yin Chin sat down with ImagenScience to chat about her journey with this dynamic and evolving organization.
A beginning in consulting
Sau Yin first started volunteering with BCS as a technical consultant. Technical consultants are usually PhD students or post-docs selected based on the relevance of their domain knowledge and expertise. Most of the consulting activities at BCS involve technical due diligence for early stage investments; the rest concerns market and competitor analysis for their vendors.
For an early-stage investment in a startup, BCS volunteers assess the company’s product, the abilities of its founders, and its commercial potential. This is where mentorship from the lead consultant becomes essential—lab work alone does not typically prepare a scientist to uncover or assess relevant business data. At the end of the project the team assembles a presentation for the client with all the material they’ve scouted. Even this is a new skill, as business presentations differ markedly from scientific ones.
Sau Yin soon became a consulting lead, coordinating projects with support from a team of four or five technical consultants. Each BCS project lasts about three to six weeks.
Ten committee members run BCS, with a two-year maximum term for any one role.
Taking the helm
In 2017, Sau Yin became president of BCS. She determined that BCS needed to promote its consulting service more vigorously. “We weren’t pushing it as aggressively as we could have been,” she says. She did that through more assertive marketing and networking with potential clients about the service , and by creating a database of 200 technical consultants so that members’ skill sets could quickly be matched to projects and consulting teams assembled.
Project flow doubled and new clients came in.
For scientists seeking alt-science careers, being part of a BCS consultant team gives a taste of consultancy and business, provides free mentorship, strengthens one’s CV, and comes in handy should the scientist need to speak to an industrial collaborator. It can also deepen volunteer’s interest and knowledge in business, leading to other roles in the business side of biotech, such as investing.
Increasing visibility and diversifying membership
Sau Yin made other changes to BCS, such as assembling a marketing team to improve the group’s visibility. Through digital marketing efforts via social media, the team grew BCS’s LinkedIn following from 800 to more than 2,400 in one year (the total exceeds 3,800 today). Sau Yin also focused on promoting BCS events, making sure the BCS logo was visible during the gatherings and publicizing them after the fact through photography and media. Write-ups after events, sent out to the BCS mailing list, create a track record of events and help boost sign-ups for future events.
“Our events are really relevant to the community, and they’re well attended,” Sau Yin says.
In early 2019, when she noticed that many BCS members were seeking new career opportunities, Sau Yin introduced a separate mailing list for members interested in information on opportunities in Singapore’s biotech sector.
People join BCS for various reasons, Sau Yin says, and the result is a dynamic community network. Investors join to learn about new technologies and startups in Singapore; scientists who plan to stay in academia attend BCS events to find potential collaborators. In 2019, by changing the focus and topics of some BCS events, she brought more investors and clinicians into the membership. Often, Sau Yin says, researchers develop their technologies in isolation and don’t know the specific challenges clinicians face that might be addressed by new products.
Furthermore, Sau Yin says, PhDs sometimes arrive in the BCS network with ideas about industry or investing that may not be accurate. But frequently, she says, they find a rewarding, if sometimes unexpected, path better suited to their skills and desires.
BCS is “a good learning platform, to find out what you really want to do,” Sau Yin says.
What were the challenges?
Sau Yin juggled her presidency at BCS with a full-time research job in a molecular engineering lab. What are her main challenges? Time, people, and money, she says.
When we spoke to her, she said she was devoting many hours each week to BCS, where she met with key committee members and contacts who got in touch with her through the BCS platform. The week we interviewed her, she was preparing to meet with a chamber of commerce member who reached out to her via LinkedIn. “This would never have happened if not for the ‘President of BCS’ name card I carry,” she said. For a person who calls herself an introvert, Sau Yin has extended her professional network, made important connections, and improved her networking skills. She says she enjoys BCS activities tremendously and wishes she could devote even more attention to them.
“The experience is what you make of it,” she said.
In her role as president, Sau Yin said she learned how to manage different types of people who make up the team, alongside the different activities—it takes an open mind and willingness to listen to others, she said.
Sau Yin is fiercely protective of her teammates. As she reflects on some of the past mistakes and lessons on this journey, she said she has learned to be a stronger leader and not let her team be taken advantage of—after all, she said, everyone on the BCS team volunteers their time and effort.
Afterword
Since we first sat down with Sau Yin she reached her maximum 2-year term as president. Since June 2020, she has taken on the role of director of research operations at a seed-funded biotech startup.
More than half of the committee members from 2017-19 have moved on to new careers after volunteering at BCS (ranging from joining industry/startups to funds that invest in biotech).
Sau Yin remains an advisor for the BCS committee and is succeeded by Natasha Ng, who has responded to the challenges of running the organization during the coronavirus pandemic by creating a wide range of webinar topics and by finding new partners and new ways to run virtual events.
You may connect with Sau Yin at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sau-yin-chin-ph-d-712b98136/
Chai Lean Teoh provided research assistance for this article.
]]>by Brian Shott
Why did you leave academia?
Our interviewees describe their frustrations.
“I was on about my fourth temporary contract in academia, getting a bit frustrated. I would just get started with projects and then have to move on to the next job.”
—Dan Metcalf, microscopy sales manager
“After becoming a mother, I was thinking, ‘Do I really want to go back to research?’ And with two scientists at home—my husband is a researcher—I thought, it’s not possible.
—Gloria Fuentes, medical illustrator
“I realized that academic research wasn’t for me while trudging through days of failed experiments…I wanted to work on something that impacted society in my lifetime.
—Bani K. Suri, entrepreneur
“I realized I became a postdoc because it was the ‘default’ choice, rather than something I really wanted to do.”
—Anjana Narayanan, consultant and product manager
“We were doing non-applied science, basic research, and I had reached the point where I was like, ‘Why am I doing all of this?’ I decided to go to a company because I needed to have meaning in the work I’m doing.”
—Carla Pratt, organic farmer
On taking the leap…
Preparing, and then no turning back.
“When a recruiter approached me about selling Nikon products and training Nikon customers in superresolution microscopy, it seemed like a natural step.”
“I stumbled onto an opportunity to be part of a talent incubator. I learned a great deal about startups, thought processes, customer relations, doing market analysis and other ‘real-world’ skills.”
“I tried to learn as much as possible about management consulting. I read articles about top consulting firms, connected to consultants on LinkedIn, did informational chats, and signed up to a consulting newsletter.”
…and landing on your feet.
What skills did you need in your new position?
“Presentation skills are important in the medical liaison industry. Communication really underpins everything we do.”
—Sheri Hussain, medical liaison
“You need to know and communicate the science in order to put all these things into a visual that makes sense for the project. I find illustrating trickier than writing sometimes.”
“Being my own boss, I have to be strict enough to keep my own schedule and make sure I do all the work. ”
In a startup, you work long, intense hours on your own work while putting other processes in place at the same time—you roll up your sleeves and do what needs to be done! You learn a lot and wear many hats.”
The best part of your new career…
It’s still about science, many told us.
“Meeting with clinicians and talking to them is probably my favorite bit.”
“I really enjoy keeping up with the latest research. Even when I was on maternity leave, instead of watching Netflix I was reading scientific papers. Today, I’ve been burying myself in papers related to Covid-19 just like any other researcher.”
“When I was a consultant, I loved working on different cases, understanding business scenarios and problem solving.”
…and the worst.
Paperwork, managing people, and oh, the emails!
“Meeting tender deadlines is the most stressful. Filling out tender documents can be several days of work…You can miss a £300,000 sale by missing a tender deadline by just an hour.”
“The least favorite is probably admin. That’s something I work on; I try to make sure I make time for my admin first up.”
“Continuous human interaction, which is often lacking in a lab setup, is a major part of startup life that can sometimes overwhelm people from academia.”
“After two years as a consultant I realized that consulting is more than a job, it is a lifestyle. Constant travel and living out of a suitcase was hard.”
Advice for those who want to leave academia?
Words of warning and encouragement.
“As a scientist, you have many transferable skills that are highly valuable. The key is to make sure you showcase them in the right light.”
“For creative people, I think the field of medical illustration is here to stay—especially animation. Five years ago, you wouldn’t think someone working from home could do it. Now, you invest in a GPS card and you can make it.”
“My advice for biologists venturing into entrepreneurship is to carefully consider the type of incubator you wish to join and thoroughly assess their capability to support your specific ideas and startup style.”
“Employers are less interested in knowing which labs you worked in and for how long. Focus on things you have done and skills you have picked up at each stage of your professional journey.”
—Tony Cabrejos, recruiter
“It’s only as difficult as you make it in your head.”
]]>
Like many PhD students, I realized that academic research wasn’t for me while trudging through days of failed experiments. Pursuing a PhD in a failure-prone field was challenging and drained the self-confidence, youth, and energy of my mid–20-year-old self. At the lows of research life, which for an experimental biologist are way too many, my resolve to leave academic research was strengthened. But since quitting wasn’t in my DNA, I decided to persevere, complete my PhD, and then leave.
Surprisingly however, the thrill of finishing my thesis and successfully defending it made me itch for a more fulfilling research experience—in a new lab, under a new mentor/supervisor, in a different university. My talk at a conference got me conversing with an interesting clinician-scientist and made me wonder, ‘Why not give research another chance, but from a more clinical perspective’? And so I started my postdoc (which I had sworn to never do!), which was initially planned for 2 years but grew to 4—practically like doing another PhD in a different environment but with more scientific maturity. Interestingly, while my postdoc experience exposed me to different perspectives, thought processes and techniques, it once again drove the point home that research was indeed not something I found fulfilling. My personality was at odds with the demands of the profession and I did not feel a sense of connection to what I was doing. I realized that I wanted to work on something that impacted society in my lifetime, and the time-consuming nature of academic research was not the career path for me.
In preparation to find other opportunities I decided to add on non-academic skills to my kitty and increase my risk appetite. After making the decision to leave academic research, I applied incessantly to science-related jobs in industries and startups. Following a friend’s recommendation, I stumbled onto an opportunity to be part of a talent incubator. There, I learnt a great deal about startups, related jargon, thought processes, customer relations, problem statement validations, doing market analysis and other, as I would call them, ‘real-world’ skills. However, with my background in basic biomedical sciences, it was difficult to come up with ideas that could be translated into an actual product in a span of just 3 to 6 months. Hence, I chose a cofounder whose technical skills were something upon which I could add on rather than provide the core technical foundation myself. Also, I wanted to be the ‘talker’ and ‘thinker’ (read CEO) rather than the ‘doer’ (read CTO/ CSO).
The idea that my co-founder and I arrived at was not new science, but explored a novel application by tweaking an established technology. It was quite a hit based on weekly reviews and feedback we had from peers as well as mentors. In time we realised that short term incubators such as the one we were part of were better geared to support digital health or software related startups than those like ours that focussed on biomedical research-based technologies. The former typically requires very low startup costs and short time frames to launch marketable products, while the latter has high cost and time requirements for product development. We later realised that our product idea did not align with the incubator’s investment strategy and portfolio as well. The experience was an experiment in itself for both the incubator and us, to test whether a startup like ours could function within their monetary and time framework. While my cofounder and I didn’t receive funds to convert our idea into reality, we surely acquired a wealth of knowledge, such as the process of ideating, evaluating, meeting diverse bunch of smart people and networking with this varied bunch! While we failed to access pre-seed funds, we encountered one of the most common themes in the startup world—the inability to raise funds. Thankfully, coming from academic research, moving on from failures is second nature!
My advice for biologists venturing into entrepreneurship is to carefully consider the type of incubator you wish to join and thoroughly assess their capability to support your specific ideas and startup style. In my opinion, an incubator is a great place to meet people, find a co-founder and get initiated into your startup journey. The experience has surely whetted my entrepreneurial appetite and my next goal is to either work for a startup or develop one from scratch. I personally loved that every day was different, starting from researching, thinking, discussing ideas to talking to customers or even attending workshops to get your prototype built. However, the transition from an academic to a startup culture isn’t easy and I had to cultivate several interpersonal and soft skills to ease into this. Continuous human interaction, which is often lacking in a lab setup, is a major part of startup life that can sometimes overwhelm people from academia. Also, working in a 2- to 3-year-old startup would give a person better insight into what to expect and how to grow, especially for folks from academia. Fast-forward to today, I am currently looking for jobs in startups to experience and learn more about what the journey entails and to grow with it. I think I have bid adieu to the lab bench; but if it is a stepping stone to better things, I wouldn’t mind. An important thing I have learnt from my relatively short life experience is to always seek growth and not get too comfortable!
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author’s and not that of ImagenScience.
You can reach out to Bani here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bani-k-suri/
]]>