Gm Brazeryens. Did y’all vote or nah? 👀
[Welcome to Issue Number 18 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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Congraduations to our Junior Venture Fellows [JVF01]!
Hearty congratulations to our first crop of Junior Venture Fellows [JVF01]: Katie Pohl, a grad student at UCLA, and Liam Lewis, a grad student at Duke. They officially graduated last week… but will always be honored members of the BrazenVerse!
It was a fantastic learning experience on both sides over the past 3 months and we are grateful for their participation and feedback. Thank you also to everyone who helped out and to the early career scientist-VCs (fuck yeah! we just coined another banger term to complement ‘scientist-CEOs’!) who graciously hosted AMAs for the JVFs including Scott at FVCG/NJHF, Shelby at Compound, and (soon) Nima at Breakout.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
As JVF01 was a big success, we will run another cohort [JVF02] in early 2023! If you are interested in a career in biotech venture and want to learn alongside Monica and Shawn in their first fund, fill out the application! Applications will be accepted at least through the end of the year. Who knows? We’re totally winging it here, obvi.
Plant-Based Sex Serum, Cum Sponges, a Million Dollar Vibrator… Oh My!
You know that feeling you got on your insides when you read the title of this blurb? That is exactly the point! Imagine pitching these product ideas to crusty VCs on Sand Hill Road: they would never, ever exist! On October 27, Los Angeles-based #femtech founder and evangelist, Rachael Kim, hosted the second LA Femtech Salon—a masquerade-themed event no less—at Bioscience LA HQ in Culver City.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Brazen Capital attended to learn more about the space and meet some bold femtech founders and investors. Although the majority of the products are beyond the scope of our own fund, we have broad interest on the consumer wellness end of the spectrum and will keep our eyes peeled for opportunities. Have one? Reach out!
IRL ALPHA: A DAO for Diseases? Find Out More Tomorrow in NYC!
Vibe Bio is hosting a meetup tomorrow (Wednesday, 09NOV2022) in New York City! Meet Vibe’s CEO, Alok Tayi, PhD, and team to discuss a new mission-driven approach to developing medicines… by partnering with patient families!
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Read more about the mission HERE. Please RSVP for the NYC meetup HERE!
VIRTUALPHA: Founder Workshop on Protecting/Commercializing IP
The Alliance for SoCal Innovation is hosting this online workshop on intellectual property next week (Wednesday, 16NOV2022) featuring Maysam Pessian from Wilson Sonsini and Ruben Flores-Saaib, PhD from General Inception.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Reserve a spot for this 90 minute virtual sesh on Eventbrite!
VC CORNER: Playing it SAFE
Contributed by Scott Alpizar, PhD — A few weeks ago I talked about the pros and cons of debt funding. While there are definitely benefits, there are also a lot of moving parts to keep track of—maturity dates, valuation caps, discounts, interest, qualified financings…
What if there was a simpler way?
Well, there is! In 2013, Y-Combinator created the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) to simplify and standardize their investment process. These aren’t debt vehicles—although they’re often compared—they’re more like convertible equity.
How are SAFEs different from debt then? SAFEs typically have a specific conversion method while convertible debt can have varying conversion terms and their value can be more of a moving target. They also don’t have the maturity dates and interest rates that debt usually does. SAFEs are definitely simpler, but does this simplicity really benefit you? Let’s break it down.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Time Savings. Since SAFEs are so simple and easy to understand, you can quickly reach agreement without the back-and-forth negotiation.
Cost Savings. SAFEs aren’t usually significantly modified, so you may not need a lawyer to spend significant time reviewing—saving money.
Founder Friendly. SAFEs are freely available online to read and familiarize yourself with. There’s also less fighting with investors over terms, no equity lost until later, no maturity, no interest… sounding like a good deal, right?
Investor Comfort. SAFEs can also include a valuation cap or discount as an extra perk for the investor taking an early risk. A good deal for them too!
For a much more comprehensive breakdown than I can give in a short newsletter, check out the SAFE User Guide from Y-Combinator!
[n.b., I’ve mostly talked about “pre-money” SAFEs, which loop the holders into the next priced round to determine how much value they get. But recently (and by that I mean like 4 years ago…), Y-Combinator transitioned to a “post-money” SAFE, which makes the SAFE its own ‘round’ and more clearly articulates how much equity the holder will receive. It’ll typically convert after the money from the SAFE (“post-money”), but before the next priced round. In the end, regardless of pre- or post-money, SAFEs are a great and standardized way of funding your early-stage startup!]
😋 Brazen Snax
👴🏽 40-Year-Old Postdoc: making it in science is loving what you do
📱 New way to use old tech to identify couch potatoes on a national level
🌀 Determining the environmental impact of the God Particle
⚡️ Fold Wars: Meta’s ESMFold is 60x faster than Google’s AlphaFold but…
🥺 Operationally defining workplace bullying is an opportunity for innovation
🍺 The liver can regenerate… up to a point: the pandemic and alcohol use
🙃 Biotech layoffs happening so fast this update is totally out of date
🙏🏽 Perspectives from a dying 44 year old mother of two
⏰ TikTokCrak: beer bottle physics at 82,000 frames per second
🔪 Carveout
Hopefully, y’all attended Pillar VC’s virtual Founder-led Biotech Summit last week. In addition to a great program, they launched a revamped page of “Biotech Founder Resources”! We suggest you check them out and contribute!
🙏🏽 A Dose of Gratitude
We are grateful for Fay Lin, PhD, Senior Editor of GEN Biosciences for the opportunity to write a commentary on scientist-CEOs in the latest (Oct) issue. Download the PDF now, only open access for 2 more weeks!!!
🙃 Brazen Meme
✍️ Feedback
If you like, please like. If you feel offended, this newsletter is probably not for you. Feel free to tweet all other thoughts, questions, and insults to us @brazenbio. Bring it. No, really. COME👏🏽AT👏🏽US👏🏽BRO👏🏽