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Care in Space

26 May

By Alexander Vassallo, Manager of Business Development West Coast (US), LSN

For innovative startups in life science and healthcare, the early days feel like the sky is the limit. But what if it wasn’t? Care in Space is a newly launched initiative supporting the development and commercialization of technologies and solutions that will support long-term habitation and travel in space and/or utilize microgravity to manufacture new or more effective therapeutics. This first-of-its-kind program leverages the extreme conditions of space to not only drive innovation but to build viable businesses at the intersection of commercial space and biomedical science.  

For over a decade, Life Science Nation (LSN) has connected entrepreneurs with early-stage capital and licensing via events, products, and services designed specifically for them, and this program is offering a great opportunity for well-matched startups. 

Description: A challenge to find novel solutions and technologies that support human health in space and/or are manufactured in space to support health on Earth. Challenge winners (8-10 companies) will participate in a 13-week program culminating with a Demo Day.

Focus areas: Biological and technological solutions that support our ability to live in and travel long distances through space; from regenerative medicine (cellular protection & repair, radiation & aging research, stem cell therapy, 3D bioprinting) to pharma (drug discovery and manufacturing) to synthetic bio (new medicines, modified foods, gene therapy, nutritional therapy) to wearables (health monitoring, medical devices, AI assisted diagnosis) to precision medicine (big data, genomics, AI/ML).

Who should apply: Global pre-seed and seed stage companies

Terms: The winning teams will receive $100,000+ each in prize funding and on-orbit research support, in exchange for equity.

Key dates:

  • Applications: April 18 – June 17
  • CIS Challenge Pitch Day: July 28
  • Program dates: September 12 – December 9
  • Demo Day: December 8

The program is looking for solutions with space and terrestrial application, with strong scientific merit, business model viability, and overall feasibility. If you believe your technology could be viable for the Care in Space program, follow this link to apply.

Digital Fatigue and the Future of Partnering

19 May

By Rory McCann, Marketing Manager & Conference Producer, LSN

It will take decades to understand the full impact of the past couple years on the healthcare industry. These impacts range from public health adherence to treatments and even the rate of pharmaceutical development. However, beyond the obvious healthcare impacts are those that change how we work, interact, and communicate regularly. All these changes point to a need for connectivity, but also flexibility. Digital partnering has been a lifeline to many startups during the pandemic – building roads into networks of capital and licensing partners. However, as we move back into in-person partnering, the question remains is there a place for digital partnering in the future?

At Life Science Nation (LSN), we frequently source feedback from our clients and community. Surveys, one-on-one interviews, and conversations provide valuable insight into how market shifts have a real impact on the RESI network. We hear from the startup founder who is strapped for cash, looking for ways to connect with well-matched investors and strategic partners. For these clients, digital partnering is a low-cost alternative to in-person events. We also hear from busy investors, for whom the pandemic has increased productivity in that they can pack their days with meetings all from the convenience of home. We’ve also heard from entrepreneurs who would prefer to use their partnering budget for an optimum in-person option, as well as investors who have told us that it’s the quality of the in-person meeting that makes the deal, not the number of meetings in a day.

Digital fatigue is real, but it’s more complicated and nuanced than a single process or platform. One cause of fatigue is likely linked to the excess time and resources it takes to learn new systems and optimize them, not to mention the frustration that comes with knowing there aren’t other options available. We are now met with more options in the form of digital, in-person, and various forms of hybrid events. Going forward, it’s the goal of RESI to always offer attendees opportunities to connect with the partners who will join them along the way to their next milestone. This may take new forms but will prioritize both digital and in-person events to accommodate the unique needs of the early-stage ecosystem. As we look forward to our upcoming digital and in-person events, we hope to hear from our community how we can best support their efforts in continuing the important work they do to reshape the landscape of healthcare.

Digital RESI returns June 7-9 and may be the last chance before the summer breaks to connect with potential partners who are a fit for your product and stage of development. Participating in Digital RESI June could launch the second half of your 2022 global partnering campaign, with an in-person RESI September, Digital RESI November, and RESI JPM to round out the calendar. If you’d like an inside look at investors who are signed up who may be a fit for your needs or have questions about the digital format or your marketing collateral, contact us and we’d be happy to help!

Want to learn more? The Business Development team at Life Science Nation is available to answer questions and share additional details to help you meet your partnership goals!
International
East Coast (USA) & China
Midwest (USA)
& Canada
West Coast  (USA)
Alex
Greg Mannix
Vice President International Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Candice He
VP, Business Development & Global Investment Strategist
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Antoinette Lowre
Manager of Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Alexander Vassallo
Manager of Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me

The Global Entrepreneurial Classroom

19 May

By Alexander Vassallo, Manager of Business Development West Coast (US), LSN

Launching and successfully growing a life science company is an extremely challenging endeavor, but if done successfully, can foster new paradigms of healthcare and lead to healthier lives for individuals around the globe. It is for this reason that Life Science Nation (LSN), the industry leader in connecting early-stage life science firms with capital investors and strategic partners, has developed a series of new educational courses, ranging from half a day to three days, for aspiring scientist-entrepreneurs and fundraising executives.

Launching and Funding Startups: Seed to Series B is a free half-day course designed to introduce early-stage life science executives to the tools and tips they will need to successfully launch a company and begin to interact with your target partners and investors. The course will cover several fundamental entrepreneurial concepts such as how to perform entrepreneurial due diligence, branding and messaging and the importance of telling a cogent company story through multiple modalities, and the 10 myths of fundraising. This course can be complemented by an optional afternoon session (bringing the course to a full day) where LSN staff will work directly with companies to help review their non-confidential materials, perform a competitive landscape analysis, and generate a global target list of investors.

Mapping the Landscape of Strategic Partners for Your Startup is a paid one-day course for fundraising executives who have launched an early-stage life science firm and will actively be seeking partners for capital (Seed to Series B), joint product collaboration, or licensing distribution deals. The course will cover a tactical to-do list for the early-stage entrepreneur and participants will be equipped with the skills and tools necessary to successfully undertake a global fundraising campaign. The course will finish with a Tales from the Road (TFTR) panel that will involve seasoned entrepreneurs in the LSN network sharing their experiences of their fundraising journeys and launching life science companies. The price of this course is $1,400 per company and includes two spots per company (one business and one science executive).

Preparing for Your Global Fundraising Roadshow is a paid two-day course that will cover an extensive dive into developing a professional set of marketing, non-confidential materials that the early-stage life science executive can bring to any investor meeting and partnering conference during their fundraising campaign: tagline, elevator pitch, executive summary, one-page data sheet, and pitch deck. Participants will also be taught how to research global investors, collaborators, and licensing partners who are a right fit for your company’s technology and stage of development and how to interact with your target partners. A third day of early-stage life science strategics can be added to the course (bringing it to a full three days) to further prepare participants for their fundraising journeys. Navigating the pitfalls that commonly catch first-time CEOs off-guard, creating a network of global alliances through social and business media, and mapping the competitive global landscape to elucidate the value of your startup are important themes that will be covered. The three-day version of the Preparing for Your Global Fundraising Roadshow course will conclude with a live Shark Tank to active investor judges. The price of the two-day course is $3,500, and the price of the three-day course is $4,500, with two spots per company for each course (one business and one science executive).

If you’re interested in learning more and participating in a course, please feel free to reach out to Alexander Vassallo at a.vassallo@lifesciencenation.com to schedule a call and explore the new range of LSN entrepreneurial education courses.

Crafting the Perfect Message

19 May

By Karen Deyo, Director of Investor Research, Israel BD, LSN

You’ve registered for a partnering conference.

You’ve filled out a profile in the partnering system detailing who you are and what your company does.

You’ve researched the investors in attendance and built a list of targets to book meetings with.

You hit “Send Message” and freeze.

What do you say?

Partnering is an involved process with multiple steps that must be taken to ensure optimal results. These steps often require major time investment, and we forget that, even after the hours we’ve poured into the process, none of it matters without a compelling message to pique the interest of a potential partner.

Life Science Nation (LSN) has developed and consolidated the messaging process into easy steps:

  1. Introduction: The first message is the one where you introduce yourself and your company, as well as request a meeting. It’s ok if your target investor does not respond immediately (hence this system). To help them understand your position, it’s important to include the following:
    1. Company tagline (5-6 words explaining who you are and what you do)
    2. Elevator pitch (1-3 sentences describing the company and tech)
    3. Technology differentiation, product innovation, or market position
    4. Raise and milestone information
  2. Follow Up 1 (Product/Tech): Why is your product and technology unique? Is it first-in-class? Best-in-class? This is your opportunity to dive into your company’s differentiated value.
  3. Follow Up 2 (Management/Team): Highlight your management and team. How have your people had a notable impact on the business development? What makes your people special?
  4. Follow Up 3 (One Pager): Condense all the important messages you’ve already shared into a one-page tear sheet for quick and easy reference later. Even if the investor you’ve targeted is not a fit, this will make it easier for them to share your company with another.

It should go without saying that the perfect message is meaningless without a well-researched and formulated target list and marketing collateral at the ready. Think of the perfect message like how an athlete approaches the arena on game day. It’s the starting shot of a long and exciting process. It won’t replace the training and conditioning that got you to game day, but it’ll ensure you’re off with a competitive edge.

Partnering is open for Digital RESI, June 7-9 and there is still time to register! Contact us to see which investors are currently active in our partnering system who may be a fit for you.

Want to learn more? The Business Development team at Life Science Nation is available to answer questions and share additional details to help you meet your partnership goals!
International
East Coast (USA) & China
Midwest (USA)
& Canada
West Coast  (USA)
Alex
Greg Mannix
Vice President International Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Candice He
VP, Business Development & Global Investment Strategist
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Antoinette Lowre
Manager of Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Alexander Vassallo
Manager of Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me

Selling, Cold Calling, and Follow-Up Are Not Dirty Words

13 May

By Dennis Ford, Founder and CEO of Life Science Nation, Creator of the RESI Conference Series

The coaching and mentoring universe is divided between those who think that selling, cold calling, and follow-ups are dirty words. They’re likely to proselytize that if you do not have a warm referral, you are wasting your time. The other camp (where I live) supports finding partners based on the fit of product and stage of development and reaching out until you book that meeting or are told, “No.” Life Science Nation created the RESI conference to be a vehicle to make this happen, based on fit – the other “warm referral.”

Opportunity abounds in the golden age of life science with new tools and technologies adding to the dynamic, but we’re also seeing startups fail faster, and therefore pivot, restart, and draw a straighter line to viable targets and products. I hear frequently that the magic combination is being smart and lucky, but somewhere in the middle of being smart and lucky is determination, commitment to hard, tedious work, and navigating the path to a new product. This is the case for founders taking their companies from regional to global and finding investors and licensing partners that are a fit.

RESI is a conference designed for these entrepreneurs to flourish. It’s frustrating to see partnering events with little vetted investors or licensing partners, but rather services providers wanting to charge for their partnering services. These other partnering events are more of a social gathering for reconnecting business acquaintances, which makes it a challenge in choosing the right event for you. None of this is inherently wrong, but the current need is for real vetted partners who are looking to fulfil investment mandates and product pipelines.

The early-stage marketplace is heating up with growing buy-side players seeking these startups. Join us for Digital RESI, June 7-9 and mark your calendar for the first in-person RESI since 2020 – RESI Boston, September 21-22.

Book Meetings, Form Partnerships, Save the World

12 May

By Karen Deyo, Director of Investor Research, Israel BD, LSN

The time has come to launch the partnering platform for Digital RESI, June 7-9. Launching on Monday, May 16, the partnering platform – powered by the LSN Investor Database – enables companies to identify investors and strategic partners who are a fit for their sector, product, and stage of development, among other important criteria.

Using the partnering platform to its fullest capacity can seem like a daunting task, and it is a lot of hard work! We have compiled a lot of tips and tricks to help companies get the most out of their partnering experience. Check out the links below.

Still have questions? Our business development team is happy to aid and answer any questions!

Want to learn more? The Business Development team at Life Science Nation is available to answer questions and share additional details to help you meet your partnership goals!
International
East Coast (USA) & China
Midwest (USA)
& Canada
West Coast  (USA)
Alex
Greg Mannix
Vice President International Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Candice He
VP, Business Development & Global Investment Strategist
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Antoinette Lowre
Manager of Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me
Alexander Vassallo
Manager of Business Development
Book a Meeting
Email Me

The Story of Innovator’s Pitch Challenge

12 May

By Claire Jeong, Chief Conference Officer, Vice President of Investor Research, Asia BD, LSN

claire

Just as a good story is the backbone to any pitch, so the story behind the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC) explains why it has become a RESI mainstay and one of the event’s most popular sessions with both startups and investors alike. Prior to the Covid-19 global pandemic, pitch sessions were included in the RESI agendas, but not met with the same enthusiasm we now see. In early 2020, the entire life science industry scrambled to figure out how to best adjust and shift perspectives and workflow.

As the world came to a halt, RESI had to pivot, and we reassessed how to best add value to the growing need for early-stage technology assets in life science and healthcare. Pitching is necessary for startups to share their story and increase their exposure to investors and other relevant industry experts. However, there is often a noticeable lack of engagement. At other conferences, we saw companies that had dedicated hours and days to practicing and perfecting their pitch got little value-add beyond the single encounter. Adding this value to a virtual format became our singular goal.

The IPC is unique in that all companies have a dedicated landing page where they can share any relevant company materials, viewable by all conference attendees. All IPC finalists are assigned to a live Q&A session with investor and industry expert judges who actively work with companies in their sector and stage of development and receive early access to each company’s marketing materials, which allows for more targeted, detailed questions. These judges often self-select, so they participate with genuine interest in the participating companies. See what judges have had to say about their participation:

“The Pitch Sessions were a great opportunity to engage with the CEO/Founders of very innovative Life Science startups. Despite the COVID-related transition from in-person to virtual meetings, the RESI team did an outstanding job organizing these sessions, ensuring that the live Q&A was very productive, and facilitating follow-up with these exciting companies.”


Gary Gershony, Life Science Angels / BayMed Venture Partners

 

“The Pitch Sessions are a great opportunity to connect with startup CEOs and learn more about their work…It really has been an effective and efficient way to make connections, create deal flow and help startups raise money for their upcoming raises.”

Mayank Taneja, OSF Healthcare

“It was a very economical use of time; the investors got to ask their important questions and the Innovators got a good idea of the most pressing questions from the investors point of view.”


William Kuziel, MedPro Investors
To date, 700+ companies applied to present and 300+ unique investors and industry expert judges have participated in the live pitch sessions. Join the companies featured below and apply to pitch at Digital RESI, June 7-9 by Friday, May 13!
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