Gm Brazeryens. Itâs #LATechWeek af!
[Welcome to Issue 12 of The House Brazeryen, where we break down the latest Brazen Bio, Brazen Capital, and bio-startup-related news for you fortnightly, in roughly 5 minutes.]
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Brazen Capitalâs first investment: Guardian Bio (YC S22)
Brazen Bioâs lead investor found us on TikTok and now we are ecstatic to announce Brazen Capitalâs first investment was likewise discovered on⌠TikTok!
[WOT!?]
Guardian Bio is in the current summer batch of Y Combinatorâthe champagne of startup accelerators. CofoundersâAnanya Zutshi and Ricky Barrett, PhD along with Karolina Palucka, MD, PhDâare building an exciting dendritic cell-based therapy platform based on patient stem cells. Their vision is to train the body to fight diseases, starting with cancer.
âWe have been impressed by Shawn and Monica's willingness to engage and support founders in whatever way they canâŚâ âAnanya Zutshi, CEO, Guardian Bio
âOur investment in Guardian Bio is a full-circle moment and truly demonstrates the power of building community in biotech/STEM,â said Brazen Capital Founding Partner, Shawn Carbonell, MD, PhD. âRicky, and I first discovered each other creating science content on TikTok in 2020 and we began collaborating in 2021 through Brazen Bio. So, it was only appropriate he accepted our investment on behalf of Guardian Bio in a TikTok DM!â đ
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Ananya Zutshi, cofounder and CEO of Guardian Bio stated, âWe were heads-down focused on Y Combinator. We decided to partner with Brazen Capital midstream particularly for their valuable expertise heading into Demo Day and beyond. We have been impressed by Shawn and Monica's willingness to engage and support founders in whatever way they can and are thrilled to be Brazen Capitalâs first ever portfolio company.â
Brazen Capital is raising in public through Regulation D, 506c which allows general solicitation. Qualified purchasers and accredited investors interested in becoming a limited partner in Brazen Capital Fund I may register their interest HERE.
LINK to todayâs associated press release.
Venue Change for Brazen Mixer 01!!!
Bad news⌠we lost our original West Hollywood venue for our #LATechWeek biotech/healthtech mixer event this Friday.
Good news⌠we are now hosting it at our own Brazen House in Redondo Beach, the first ever biotech launch house!
Gooder news⌠we can now accommodate more guests!
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Again, the event is RSVP-only and approvals will be ongoing. We are sorting through HUNDREDS of RSVP requests. Plenty of health tech founders and VCs. However, we are still open to more biotech founders/funders attending. RSVP HERE. Thank you to our anchor sponsor, First Republic Bank and our partner Anja Health.
VC CORNER: PAM, meet LAM. Now get tf out of the building!
Contributed by Scott Alpizar, PhD â Last newsletter I told you about my new friend PAM, or the Potential Addressable Market â the highest-level view of your market. Today letâs talk about the other end, coming as the final step after youâve refined your market down from your PAM through your TAM, SAM, and SOM. Itâs here that you then move into something called the LAM, or the Launch Addressable Market.
What is this LAM? Well, itâs your market size using potential customers that youâve validated will actually purchase your product. You want to know that the people you want to buy your product (maybe even who should buy it), will buy your product! Even if your product addresses a need, adoption isnât a guarantee.
So, how do you figure that out? Simpleâyou get out of the building! This concept falls out of the Lean Startup methodology developed by Eric Ries and made famous by Steve Blank. Steve thinks this methodology changes everything, and I have to agree. Letâs break down the Lean Startup method and what âgetting out of the buildingâ really means.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Sketch Out Your Hypotheses. For early-stage companies, formal business plans may not actually be that useful since so many factors are still unknown. Instead, Lean Startup uses a Business Model Canvas to break the business down into different building blocks, each a different hypothesis that needs to be tested.
Listen to Customers. During Customer Discovery, you may find that your hypotheses are wrong. Maybe your initial customer isnât actually your customer at all. If they arenât, this is a good time to go back and pivot your hypothesesâ this should be an iterative process!
Quick, Responsive Development. This works hand-in-hand with customer discovery. Build your product in short, repeatable cycles with only the critical features. This gets you a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that you can test and validate quickly. Validate, revise, repeat.
It can be difficult to apply this to a biotech company developing a therapeutic. Of course a patient suffering from a potentially deadly disease is going to want what youâre developing. Iâve seen patients literally ask to buy the drug during customer interviews! You also likely need your business plan follow a very linear path and canât quite leverage speed and iteration.
But that doesnât mean there canât still be value! Talking to patients can help determine your initial indication where there is the most need or the most suffering. Hearing directly from patients can also be a huge motivator to do everything you can to bring their technology to market. Finally, this process can bring you other useful connectionsâthe doctors treating the patients, patient advocacy groups, and others within the broader ecosystem that you hope to sell your product in. These connections can go a long way in helping you get to market.
No matter the technology, Iâm constantly pushing our founders to âget out of the buildingâ and talk to their potential customers. Itâs always extremely valuable. See for yourself!
đ Brazen Snax
𼴠The devastating outcome of arriving where you wanted to
đ§ââď¸ The coming zombie pig apocalypse
đŚ The only rebound relationship nobody wants: COVID
đ¤ Can science ever understand itself? The science of science
đˇ Do baby jumping spiders have nightmares of humans during sleep?
đ° The unintended consequences of pay transparency: pay compression
đ Method to genetically engineer more brutal metal vocalists discovered
â° TikTokCrak: Dr. Ricky explains Guardian Bioâs technology
đŞ Carveout
VC Sunday Schoolâa weekly feature of This Week in Startups podcastâwith Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood is a great way to learn more about venture capital. Over two dozen episodes so far on topics from âSelf-destructive traits of VCs and foundersâ to âSuper prorataâ.
đđ˝ A Dose of Gratitude
We are grateful for our newest sponsor, First Republic Bank, the official bank of Brazen Capital!
đ Brazen Meme
âď¸ Feedback
Please tweet all thoughts, questions, and insults to us @brazenbio. Bring it. No, really. COMEđđ˝ATđđ˝USđđ˝BROđđ˝