Tolerate Failure, Not Incompetence: Building Biotech Startups with Brian Conn, Quantapore

"Tolerate failure but don't tolerate incompetence. Till this day, I regret how I let a company go bankrupt— I've learned from that"

From microbiome manipulation, to genomic sequencing, biotechnology promises an unprecedented future.

But what does it really take to build a biotech company that will last?

This week, we chat with, Brian Conn, serial biotech CFO, who has raised over $300M, completed 20 M&A deals and is currently CFO of genomic sequencing company, Quantapore, co-founder of synthetic biology company, Levadura and advisor to VC firm, General Inception.

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 👊🏻 5 THINGS YOU'LL LEARN:

- How a non-technical founder can play a big role in building biotech

- How an unfocused strategy, is a strategy

- The evolution of biotech - have we leapfrogged?

- Navigating competition

- Key fundraising tips - should you care about dilution?

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⏳ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro: What's on tab for this week: biotech, role of startup CFO, fundraising

02:49 - Brian's lucky start in biotech

07:47 - The lousy accountant turned CFO

11:49 - The long road of biotech

14:45 - Biotech vs non-biotech

19:34 - Dilution, funding "and then we're done" - hard lessons

24:10 - Evolution of biotech, have we leapfrogged?

33:01 - Dealing with competition

36:20 - Special! Cameo from Dr. Sarah Richardson, CEO, MicroByre

50:20 - Billion Dollar Questions

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PODCAST INFO:

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