THE HOUSE BRAZERYEN: 17JAN2023 🐉
Still recovering from JPM 🥹
Gm Brazeryens. Still also drying out my clothes from last week in SF. ⛈
[Welcome to Issue Number 22 of The House Brazeryen, where we break down the latest #STEM, #biotech, and #SciComm-related news for you fortnightly, in roughly 5 minutes. Brought to you by Brazen Bio, Brazen Capital, and brainsurgerydropout.]
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RE: BILLIONAIRE BLOOD BRUNCH
by Shawn Carbonell, MD, PhD — I received the brief e-mail invitation last Monday walking in the SF rain. Now—still walking in the rain in LA on Sunday—I found myself approaching his home… iPhone out recording video in case I decided to make a TikTok.
This is a tale of berries, Beaujolais Nouveau, and blood.
Just kidding. These are just a few ingredients of a surprisingly deep and jarring 3 hour conversation about health optimization over a delicious vegan meal amongst 10 strangers of varied backgrounds. It blossomed into much laughter, uncomfortable seat shifting, a surprise bloodletting, literal hand-holding, and—at the end—big smiles and warm hugs. Life-changing. I’ll refrain from saying more because a full write up by an award-winning journalist in attendance is in the works and you’ll just have to wait.
The point is this: How tf did I even find myself there?
IT WENT DOWN IN THE DMs
Two years into #startuplife—well-steeped into how hard being a first-time biotech founder was—I decided to seek out my peers in San Francisco. On Twitter, I reached out to Ethan Perlstein, PhD before he had even founded his company, Perlara (YC W16). On LinkedIn, I read an article about Elizabeth Iorns, PhD—cofounder and CEO of Science Exchange (YC S11) and sent her a cold DM as well. My company was already a user of her platform. This led to a joyous dinner between us three scientist-CEOs at the lovely Waterbar (I wish we took pictures). Although the scientist-CEO dinners did not continue much longer—scientist-CEOs have a lot of scientist-CEO shit to do—the waves continued to build.
Later that year Elizabeth introduced me to her awesome cofounder—Dan—and also to Cindy Wu, cofounder of Experiment (YC W12). Cindy, Elizabeth and I eventually collaborated on a major project which we successfully funded but that ultimately failed. In the excitement of the early positive data we sought additional funding to scale the project which led to Cindy making intros to several people… including the brunch billionaire. Ultimately, his fund passed, but 2 years later he offered me a leadership position in his new startup. Even though my own startup was in the trough of despair at that time, I wasn’t getting paid, and I was burned out… I realized I was not ready to give up on my drug. So, I politely turned him down and kept in touch.
JAB, JAB, JAB, JAB, RIGHT HOOK
I did conferences all wrong for over a decade during my academic training. As a scientist, it was merely a destination problem. Get in, drop knowledge, fuck around, get out. I was introverted and hesitant to network. I was buoyed by the consistent success of my research and felt safe in my own little well-funded sphere.
As a biotech startup CEO who wanted to have real impact on patients lives and the world, I realized: 1) I needed to level up IRL and online and 2) it was hard, but just a matter of practice. The real ones know all the action at events like JPM happens in the chance meetings in hotel lobbies and at the nightly receptions and small private dinners just like all the action online is happening in the DMs.
…
After I left OncoSynergy and moved to LA in 2019, Cindy introduced me to Wes Wierson, PhD, CEO of LEAH Labs (YC W19). When we were launching Brazen Bio in 2021, Ethan, Dan, and Wes were among the first to commit to speaking to our first founder cohort. Wes has become a good friend and invited me to speak on a panel this summer in Minnesota. Dan was the first to commit as an LP to our fund, Brazen Capital.
Through the years, the brunch billionaire and I stayed in touch and he graciously made time to give a provocative keynote at the Brazen Summit in June 2022. My first brunch invitation from him came in November 2022. I was at a conference in Tampa, but flew in and out of LAX on the same day to attend. Mind blown, totally worth it.
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Two DMs and a dinner can change your life.
VC CORNER: BUILD A DIVERSE STARTUP
Contributed by Scott Alpizar, PhD — One of my 2023 predictions last newsletter was that clinical trial diversity would improve. While that’s needed, your company may not even be close to clinical trials. But that doesn’t mean diversity shouldn’t be something you care about!
“If healthcare companies want to serve communities properly, then they need to draw in more diverse talent.” – Patroski Lawson in Forbes
The stats are quite striking, so let’s just jump right in. According to BIO’s Annual DEI Report 2022, there are large discrepancies in representation in biotech both in terms of race and ethnicity as well as gender. People of color made up only 38% of all employees, 24% of executive teams, and 28% of CEOs. Meanwhile, women make up 49% of employees, 34% of executive teams, and 20% of CEOs.
The report mentions that while the numbers around gender slightly improved over the year prior, the numbers around race and ethnicity got worse. Even with slight improvements, we still have a long way to go. But what can you do to help?
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
Make the Commitment. This doesn’t work if you don’t want it to. Smaller companies have a great opportunity to make an impact by setting a strong foundation early.
Look at Your Company’s Representation. How diverse is your company? While you’ll certainly need to balance the best talent with being diverse, reviewing your team can tell if you should ensure that the next hire is talented and diverse.
Build a Diverse Talent Pipeline. There is talent everywhere, including in non-traditional places. If you’re only coming across one certain demographic in your searches for new hires, it may be time to widen the net you’re casting.
Feed it Forward. There isn’t enough training or mentorship for minority populations. Become an advocate not only through your own hiring, but by encouraging others to hire diverse candidates and by amplifying underrepresented talent you come across.
What’s in it for you? Well, more diverse teams have been shown to be more innovative. And you become part of the change, though these are just the first steps. That change actually needs to come from many places—it’s no secret that there isn’t enough VC money being deployed to underrepresented founders! But we’ll save that for next time…
📈 BRAZEN ALPHA
✊🏽 Pitch Competition for Black and Hispanic founders! (DUE TOMORROW!)
🧡 Y Combinator launches re-vamped Startup School curriculum
🧡 Y Combinator also launches a YC Founder Directory for the first time
😋 BRAZEN SNAX
🍆 Handjobs in an MRI suite [for science]: the neuroscience of orgasm
💙 Love in the time of layoffs, FTC moves to ban the non-compete clause
💉 Silver bullets DO exist: a chronic disease cash cow for obesity?
🐰 This is old, but couldn’t help going down the inflammaging rabbit hole
🫱🏿🫲🏽 If yer waiting for JPM to make a deal it’s too late: recent consolidations
💸 NIH may change grant proposal scoring to reduce vicious cycle of ‘clout’
⚡️ Fuck yes! One step closer to harnessing lightning like Emperor Palpatine
🐋 How to eat a full-sized adult blue whale, courtesy of Shamu
⏰ TikTokCrak: Handjobs in an MRI suite [for science]
🔪 CARVEOUT
Nicole LePera is probably the biggest social media star you never heard of. Her book “How to Do the Work” is a mental health game-changer. If you’ve ever wondered, “why am I this way?” start with her content and, if it resonates, read the book.
🙏🏽 A DOSE OF GRATITUDE
We are grateful for IndieBio/Breakout Ventures and Foley Hoag for having us at their respective JPM receptions on Monday; DLA Piper for their fantastic reception on Tuesday; Cadence/Platformers for their super intimate reception on Wednesday; and to all my faves who attended the Brazeryen Secret Society drinks.
🙃 BRAZEN MEME
🍿 #BRAZENCREATOR SPOTLIGHT
Coming soon…
✍️ FEEDBACK
Feel free to tweet all thoughts, questions, and insults to us @brazenbio. Bring it. No, really. COME👏🏽AT👏🏽US👏🏽BRO👏🏽