Gm Brazeryens. Fuck paywalls, but hear me outā¦
[Welcome to Issue Number 17 ofĀ The House Brazeryen, where we break down the latestĀ Brazen Bio,Ā Brazen Capital, and bio-startup-related news for you fortnightly, in roughly 5 minutes.]
Was this forwarded to you? Mash this subscribe button, homie.
BRAZEN MANIFESTO RE-REVISITED āš½
THE GOOD NEWS
We [specifically, Shawn Carbonell, MD, PhD and Bryanna Reinhardt] penned an epic new commentary which is essentially a love letter to all you future scientist-CEOs which you may now read here: HOW DO WE FUEL THE RISE OF THE SCIENTIST-CEO? Thank you Senior Editor, Fay Lin for the opportunity!
THE BAD NEWS
Shawn fucked up and didnāt verify it would be fully open access and, indeed, it is only open access for the next 30 days. BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF WHILE YOU CAN MFERS!!!
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
While we hate paywalls and would never have published this article in a paywalled journal a priori, we are grateful to GEN Biotechnology for the opportunity.
If you are [sadly] reading this more than 30 days from today there are two remedies: 1) you can contact us at Brazen Bio and weāll email you the PDF for free or 2) you can get approx 66.6% of the gist of it from this FREE CrunchBase article from August. lol
Brazen Capitalās second investment: Malama Health (YC S22)
To be clearā¦ Brazen Capital has two other active NON-YC deals in the works and we are āØNOTāØ a YC-focused fund lol. š
Itās just that when Monica and Shawn met Mika Eddy, cofounder and CEO of Malama Health, we recognized a total BOSS when we saw one and were compelled to move fast to make a deal (the next day, in fact).
MÄlama is Hawaiian forālike Drake in 2011āātake careā which is perfect because Malama Health is taking care of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with the first HIPAA-compliant remote monitoring solution.
The current archaic standard is still tracking blood glucose levels and meals in a paper notebookāwhich sucks. Itās an important problem bc hyperglycemia in pregnancy can significantly increase the risk of emergency cesarean sections and preterm birth. [BTW, GDM is just the beginning.]
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Why is Mika (along with her team, Dani Bahamon Arango and Orlando Li) the right entrepreneur to bring this technology to the world? She is not just the President & CEO, but also a user! Mika experienced GDM with her first pregnancy and is presently nurturing baby #2 (thankfully, sans GDM this time)!
Incorporated two months ago, Malama has already launched several pilots and is soon to announce a trial with a major academic center. Malama Health is the second woman-led startup (out of 2) funded by Brazen Capital!
Brazen Capital Fund I is soon to initiate a second closing. If youād like to help us launch the next generation of scientist-CEOs consider becoming a Limited Partner!
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!
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Who will be the next Golden Ticket winner??? Applications are now being accepted online through November 4.
VC CORNER: But Waitā¦ Thereās More!
Contributed by Scott Alpizar, PhD ā The last few newsletters I broke down my three main types of startup funding for early-stage biotech companies: equity financing, debt, and grant funding. While these are the most common, there are certainly others out there.
And believe it or not, some of these options involve *spoiler alert* NOT raising capital. Counterintuitive, right? Before we dive in, letās talk about why youād potentially pursue an alternative. Well, the reality is some of these alternatives can just be a better fit than VC funding for some startups.
VC is usually best suited for drug development companiesāthese companies are either going to hit it big and generate the desired returns or are going to fail. But companies that are offering a service, developing diagnostics, or selling tools may not necessarily generate the returns that VCs are seeking. In these cases, VC funding may not give the company a chance to reach its full potential.
It's critical that a biotech company looks at its business plan and considers the type of funding that best suits it. Obviously, as Iāve discussed before, debt and grant funding are strong alternatives to VCābut letās look beyond those. Ā
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Patient Advocacy Groups. These groups are typically working to increase funding for treatments that will benefit patients. If youāre focusing on a specific disease, a relationship with a patient advocacy group can be extremely beneficial. They often provide grants and sometimes even support industry R&D. Youāll also get so much more than just funding; these groups are often riddled with expertsāand potential customersāto help support your startup.
Family Offices. Family offices are private wealth management firms that serve ultra-high-net-worth customers. Their support can be similar to that of an angel investor. However, they often focus on ālegacy buildingā and want the startups they fund to focus on health concerns relevant to the interests of their clients.
Crowdfunding. While this model is best for companies that can pre-sell a product, the life sciences sector has also found its way into equity crowdfunding. Here investors get a stake in the company rather than a product. The amounts may not be overly significant, but as an initial investment to help the company make progressāor to validate to VCs that there is interest in your productāthis option can go a long way.
Strategic Transactions/Outsourcing.Ā Sometimes the easiest way to obtain funding is to find someone who already has funding! In these cases, itās often a similar and/or bigger company.Ā These can take different forms: joint ventures, mergers, partnerships, or even outsourcing certain work. But before getting into bed with a bigger company, know that there is the potential for your IP to be exposed and that you may need to surrender some ownership.
Generate Revenue. Itās possible for a startup to generate early revenue to help fund their R&D, but this greatly depends on your operating modelāand may take a long time. And to be clear, generating revenue doesnāt always mean selling your final product. There are unique ways to do this, such as renting out an instrument or selling an early component of your final product. In many cases, even just a slight amount of revenue coming in is favorable to future investors.
Each of these alternative sources obviously requires a different approach and has certain pros and cons. Depending on your companyās technology and path forward, it can be beneficial not to forget these options alongside grants, debt, and VC funding as youāre looking to maximize their funding potential.
š Brazen Snax
š„ Prominent journal makes move to end gatekeeping in scientific publishing
š§¬ Only took Nature two years to spotlight racism in science after Floyd
š¦ āP.Ph.Dāāpandemic hampered grad student paths to defense (duh)
š© When Harvard Biz Review tries to do science you get bullshit like THIS
š¢ Farewell olā fren: FDA winding down the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)
šš½ This would have been a Cell paper if only they replicated with human samples
š¦ A scientist-CEO (MSTP dropout) to watch: Verge Genomicās Alice Zhang
ā° TikTokCrak: Recap of YC health & bio summit in under 60 seconds
šŖ Carveout
Y Combinatorās latest podcast episode hosted by Anu Harinan features a fireside with the CEO of Mutiny, Jaleh Rezaeiā¦ a perfect compliment to the Acquired LP Show interview also with the CEO of Mutiny, Jaleh Rezaei!
šš½ A Dose of Gratitude
We are grateful for our friends at Breakout VenturesāLindy, Julia, Dana, and Nimaāfor a fantastic event and [unofficial] afterparty in San Francisco. Shawn was very hung over during the Y Combinator event the following day.
š Brazen Meme
āļø Feedback
If you like, please like. Feel free to tweet all other thoughts, questions, and insults to usĀ @brazenbio. Bring it. No, really. COMEšš½ATšš½USšš½BROšš½