Gm Brazeryens. Like your summer bod, this edition of THB is a slightly slimmed-down version of its usual self. 💀
[Welcome to Issue 11 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 Capital’s First Investment is…
…OFFICIALLY CLOSED (but not public information yet)! Stay tuned for a bigger feature; this major milestone was too good to hold in. The woman-led biotech startup is poised to be a game-changer in their field and Monica and Shawn are totally psyched to roll up their sleeves to assist as needed. A second deal is also brewing… stay tuned!
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
If you are a founder in the human health space looking to raise (pre-incorporation to pre-seed) please REACH OUT HERE!
If you are an accredited investor/QP interested in helping us support the next generation of scientist-CEOs please REACH OUT HERE!
Unlike Brazen Capital, the Brazen Mixer is oversubscribed
Brazen Mixer 01 (BrMx01) is collab with our friends at Anja Health (YC w22) and our anchor sponsor First Republic Bank! It is the ONLY official #LATechWeek community event solely focused on human health and it’s happening on Friday, August 19 at an amazing venue perched above the Sunset Strip in WeHo. 🤩
Already over 250 people have pre-registered (and unfortunately we won’t be able to accommodate you all)!
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
First, although we already have over 100 investors interested in attending we would like to see more bio/heath-tech FOUNDERS up in the mix. LFG people.
Second, apologies to all. We had a snafu on the event platform whereby dozens of folks were erroneously whitelisted to attend and oddly there is no way for us to reverse it. Therefore, we are starting over and have launched a new event page: BRAZEN MIXER 01 REGISTRATION. Please re-register and again, we are sorry for the inconvenience.
VC Corner: Who tf is PAM?!??!
Contributed by Scott Alpizar, PhD —I learned something new yesterday. Something that’s relevant to a lot of the current or aspiring biotech founders who read this, so I thought I’d share!
It has to do with that thing called market sizing—you know, where you Google “market size for XX”, find a whole bunch of reports you have to pay for, click through them until one gives you the number in the preview, and then copy and paste that number into your pitch deck.
If that’s you, don’t feel bad. Many of the founders I work with are in that camp. The biggest number is what everyone wants to show because it’s what VCs want to see, right? Sort of. We want to see that you understand your market and can do more than just Google. So, one thing I always show our founders is how to break down the market from the largest, and likely unrealistic, number to a reasonable one that you can actually achieve. To do this, we use the acronyms TAM, SAM, and SOM (which are explained below).
TAM, SAM, and SOM are hallmarks of market sizing, and they certainly help us to understand what we are estimating and communicating. —SA
But wait, what did I learn? Well, apparently there is actually a fourth (and maybe also a fifth, but more on that later) acronym that can be included in this breakdown—the PAM. It’s not all that common, but I really like the concept. Before I share my thoughts on why, let’s talk about what these all mean.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Potential Addressable Market (PAM). This is the highest-level view of your market, which includes people not currently your market, but that could be in the future. Think every possible user across the globe – there are no exclusions at this point.
Total Available Market (TAM). This is what is typically thought of and presented as “the market”. It is the total size of your target market if you were to receive all of the possible revenue from it. Include everyone in need of what you’re selling, even if they don’t have the means to buy it.
Serviceable Available Market (SAM). This is where you narrow down your TAM to the people that you can actually reach when you consider logistics, the competitive landscape, etc. It will provide a much more realistic revenue number.
Serviceable & Obtainable Market (SOM). This is the share of your SAM that you will be able to win over – or your expected customers. Knowing this number is important to help you generate realistic sales and revenue targets as you’re getting started.
PAM and TAM reflect the massive potential that could be captured, whereas the SAM and SOM help give a more realistic and actionable perspective. I’m used to thinking of TAM as the highest you can go. The PAM is something I like because it focuses on the bigger picture and is very future-focused. It can involve disrupting trends and shifting current norms, something that biotech should be striving for anyway.
Still confused? I know I didn’t give you much, so here’s a good non-biotech example with some additional information. Oh, and that 5th segment I mentioned? Well, this post is already too long, so that’s for another time. Get to know your PAM first!
😋 Brazen Snax
🧻 (alleged) scientific misconduct (definitely) wasted BILLIONS in funding
💉 UPenn sold COVID vaccine NFT for $226,800 at Christies auction
🤖 How to explain your research to your grandmother: outsource it to AI
☠️ Y men generally have a shorter lifespan than women
⏰ TikTokCrak: It’s hard to watch others living your dream
🙏🏽 A Dose of Gratitude
We are grateful for Katia at a16z for being a great new Brazen fren in the LA startup ecosystem.
✍️ Feedback
Please tweet all thoughts, questions, and insults to us @brazenbio. Bring it. No, really. COME👏🏽AT👏🏽US👏🏽BRO👏🏽