Gm! Do you Grok? (i.e., meet Elonâs spicy new AI chatbot)
[Welcome to Issue Number 43 of The House Brazeryen, where we break down the latest #startup, #biotech, and #ScientistCEO-related news for you fortnightly, in roughly 5 minutes. Brought to you by Brazen Capital and brainsurgerydropout.]
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Brazen Capital Junior Venture Fellows (JRFs): Where Are They Now?
Fully a year ago (!), we graduated our first crop of JVFs. However, Katie and Liam were so great that we scrapped the formal three-month programâpicked up Alex along the wayâand kept them all on for AN ENTIRE YEAR!
Demonstrating the power of building community, we first met Katie and Alex at the first ever in-person event for founder-led bio, the legendary 2022 Brazen Summit held at Bioscience LA HQ in Culver City.
All three started with limited venture experience, but through a combination of textbooks (by textbooks we just mean Venture Deals, duh), weekly virtual meetings, learning in context, and fantastic starting materials (i.e., their natural curiosity, intelligence, and persistence)⊠they quickly matured into who they now are:
ALEX LANJEWAR, PHD
THEN: Alex was a postdoc at USC when she joined us in October 2022 as an early entrant to the âsecond batchâ of JVFs. [Again, the âsecond batchâ never happened bc we had our dream team of JVFs as it was.] Alex learned venture mechanics very quickly and by the end was comfortable reaching out and meeting with multiple founders in a particular space without prompting (i.e., getting shit done).
NOW: She has since moved to the Sacramento area as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow for The California Council on Science and Technology. She will be participating in the state legislative process, bringing her scientific expertise to advise state policymakers in making informed, science-backed policies and policy-decisions. Alex will use skills that she learned at Brazen Capital, such as performing due diligence, and apply them to policy analyses.
LIAM LEWIS
THEN: Liam was (and still technically is) a graduate student at Duke when he joined the first JVF batch back in August 2022. Although he had some experience with VC due diligence previously, he had the opportunity to learn about all aspects of The Deal first-hand with us. In fact, as we detailed last month, Liam sourced, diligenced, and led Brazen Capitalâs investment in the Baltimore-based startup DrĆ«l! WOT!
NOW: Liam is still a Duke grad student (and is still technically with Brazen Capital) but has recently become a Venture Associate at Intelligence Ventures! IV is a new fund investing at the intersection of AI and healthcare. Follow Liam on LinkedIn to hear more about this new exciting chapter in his career, including IVâs series âThe Intelligence Reportâ.
KATIE POHL, PHD
THEN: Katie was a graduate student at UCLA last year (oddly studying the exact same obscure cell type as Liam!) and became involved in venture through her institution. Like Liam, she didnât have much exposure to nitty-gritty venture mechanics (i.e., venture math, term sheets, definitive agreements, etc.) but she dove in and did thorough and meticulous work (we have the extensive writeups in notion to prove it).
NOW: This spring, Katie became a Venture Fellow with our good friends at Breakout Ventures in SF. Speaking of SFâin the midst of defending her PhD this summerâ Katie secured a highly competitive position at the behemoth global investment firm, Sixth Street. She is the âStrategic Capital Analyst, Healthcare and Life Sciencesâ working with a certain amazing Nobel laureate! When they called Shawn for a reference he conveyed that if they didnât hire her he knew someone who would.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Monica and Shawn are super proud of all the JVFs and look forward to welcoming one to three more into the fam soon. Are you Brazen? Reach out!
Last Chance for a FREE Lab Bench in LA!!
Apply now for the Amgen Golden Ticket! The winning startup gets a FREE, no-strings laboratory bench at BioLabs LA at the Lundquist Institute for an entire year!Â
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Who will be the next Golden Ticket winner??? Applications are now being accepted online through November 17.
VC CORNER: Negotiating Vesting
by Scott Alpizar, PhD â Weâre straying from my original list of important term sheet provisions, but I want to touch on something that is definitely also important to understand when negotiatingâvesting.
If youâve already started your company, you probably already have equity. If you havenât formally started it yet, Iâm sure youâre expecting some when you do! In either case, when investors send a term sheet, it will likely include a vesting provision that determines when and how you can access your shares over time.
This is typically done in the form of time-based milestones. A common structure is to spread the equity evenly across four years, with a one year âcliffâ. This splits your equity into 48 total increments that youâll earn monthly. However, the cliff (in this particular example) means youâll get all your first year equity in one lump but only after youâve stayed for 12 months.
Vesting can protect both founders and investors. If a founder isnât willing to take any vesting, it can signal that theyâre not committed to staying at the company long term. This is a red flag for investors, who donât want their money going into a company where the founders donât stick around and there isnât enough equity left for a replacement. Vesting also protects cofounders from being stuck in a similar situation if one of them leaves and the other is left to do all of the work.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
There are two main questions you should consider when thinking about vesting:
When does vesting start? You want to make sure youâre earning the equity when youâre expecting to! A typical point of commencement for your vesting would be on the one-month anniversary of the closing of the investment. If youâre entitled to vest in any amount up front, this should happen at closing.
When does vesting accelerate? Acceleration usually happens after two different events occur (often called âdouble-triggerâ acceleration). One trigger would be if there is a change in control. The second would be if you are terminated without cause shortly after. Maybe you donât get along with the new CEO and they fire youâthat isnât cause! This structure is most effective in balancing the interests of the founders, investors, and acquirers. If you can get single trigger acceleration instead though, thatâs even better!
Vesting can certainly give the impression that the investors want to keep you from your equity, but what it really comes down to is trust. The founders and investors are agreeing to build a company together and shouldnât need to be worried about not getting what they deserve or being left holding the bag. If you figure this structure out up front, youâll know what happens in any situation and can focus on continuing to build the company!
đ BRAZEN SNAX
đ€ The neuro-cardial pathways of fainting identified (kind of)
đ Two standing ovations for immunotherapy trial results (kind of)
đ§ The Edward Cullen of brain-computer implants has arrived (kind of)
âïž How many Nature retractions is too many? (This physicist has TWO.)
đŠ Re-re-re-refresh your supply of FREE COVID tests (thanks regulatory capture)
đ§ŹÂ Super flawed hypothesis results in high impact genetics paper (kind of)
đđœ Outcomes from the academic âGreat Resignationâ(kind of)
đđŸ A greater focus on mental health in the workplace can backfire (kind of)
â° TikTokCrak:Â Hank Green wins this trend (definitely)
đȘ CARVEOUT
The âbrazenâ science leading to the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics (and more) retold in âGrace in All Simplicity" (new book released today by Robert Cahn and Chris Quigg)!
đđœ A DOSE OF GRATITUDE
We are grateful for I/O. Emily Whiteheadâthe first ever child cured of leukemia with CAR-T therapy (she was treated at UPenn in 2012)âis now a freshman at UPenn!!!
đ BRAZEN MEME
âïž FEEDBACK
Leave a comment and letâs continue the conversation on X:Â @brazencapital