Next Phase Newsletter

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

Life Science Nation (LSN)’s Redefining Early Stage Investment (RESI) conference stands out from the average partnering conference.  LSN, from the start, wanted RESI to be a dedicated partnering-centric event.  RESI content is centered on startups and the information they need to succeed in their fundraising endeavors, comprising of investor and licensing partner panels and service provider workshops (see program guides below).  There are two main parts to the equation, the 10,000+ early-stage capital investors and licensing partners in the LSN ecosystem, and the 10,000+ startups that are a fit for RESI. This includes those seeking up to 2M in seed funding, $2-10M series A funding, and $10M to 50M series B funding.

The LSN BD staff are not just selling RESI tickets or the LSN investor database but spend a lot of time assessing and making sure that RESI attendees are ready for a global fundraise and understand what it takes to go from the regional stage to the global arena.  LSN really cares about the ROI for our clients.  It is because of this challenge I have put a bunch of useful links and info that we send along to our RESI and Data leads so that they know what to expect when designing and launching a global roadshow.

At first glance, there are a lot of links/info, but we have found that startups who really want to understand what LSN and RESI are all about typically take the time to explore the subtlety and nuances of going from a regional to a global roadshow mindset.

• Watch the Introduction to Life Science Nation (LSN)

• Big4Bio Interview

Listen to the podcast from LSN’s CEO, Dennis Ford, about the journey and challenges life sciences entrepreneurs make when they set out to raise money, what investors care about, and what steps they can take to ensure their success best.

• New LSN Executive Summary
• It All Starts With The Story Watch the Recording (28-min)

The most successful entrepreneurs are always the best storytellers. Finding a way to formulate your company’s unique story naturally and portraying this through multiple modalities, whether it be a 1-minute elevator pitch or a 12-slide pitch deck, is one of the most effective ways to get potential investors and partners on board with your value proposition. This video will cover the importance of entrepreneurial agency, finding your voice and developing a compelling narrative for the players that will emerge along a deal chain, and language tools to refine your hook.

• Best Practices for Launching Your Startup Watch the Recording (28-min)

Launching a startup begins with commitment. Commitment to your startup initiative, your executive team, and your partners. Learn how to sustain this commitment by creating a proof of concept or prototype and create market traction initially, considerations to your corporate structure, simplifying finances in the beginning, and what tools to utilize. This video takes you through an honest look at best practices for launching a life science startup.

• RESI Program Guide

• RESI JPM January 2023
• RESI Boston June 2023
• RESI Boston September 2023
• All Program Guides Webpage from past RESIs.

• The Fundraising Manifesto Download e-book, written by LSN’s CEO, Dennis Ford.
• Entrepreneurial Education Courses Download Brochure

Life Science Nation (LSN) has developed a curriculum on the fundamentals of launching a global partnering campaign. 3 different options are available for early-stage life science startups looking to improve their skill set in fundraising, business development, sales, and marketing.

• Download Tear sheet template (Word doc)

By Momo Yamamoto, Investor Research Analyst, LSN

Life Science Nation is getting ready for RESI Boston September, just weeks away! RESI Boston September will be taking place in person on Monday, September 18 at the Park Plaza Hotel followed by virtual partnering on September 19-20.

To highlight our Global Family Office BioForum, we are excited to announce our Family Office investor panel, along with the panelists. We hope to create a space that will allow more connections between family offices and startups with investment opportunities in the life sciences. In addition to the Family Office panel, we will have six more investor panels including AI in Healthcare, Diagnostics, Oncology Innovation, Strategic Partners, Synthetic Biology, and Women’s Health. Our selected and seasoned panelists will give audiences the latest scoop on trends, risks, interests, and more.

Please look below for our panelists:

Irene Blat Sr. Dir. Search & Evaluation, Oncology Servier	Jay Campbell Managing Director, CRI Clinical Accelerator and Venture Fund Cancer Research Institute Venture Fund	Rima Chakrabarti Partner KdT Ventures
Jeffrey Champagne Screening Committee Boston Harbor Angels	Bruce Cohen Venture Partner Xeraya Capital	Steve Curtis Director, New Ventures BrightEdge
Alex de Winter Vice President of New Ventures Danaher Corporation	Jessica Federer Managing Partner Supernode Ventures	David Fogel Member of Screening & Due Diligence Committees Mass Medical Angels
Ben Freeberg Founder & Managing Partner Oncology Ventures	Ser-Chen Fu Partner Pacific 8 Ventures	Gabriella Garcia Investor Two Sigma Ventures
Martin Gershon Managing Partner Endeavor Venture Fund & Venture Studio	Shahram Hejazi Partner BioAdvance	Robert Higginson Partner & Gatekeeper Par Equity
Ian Johnston Senior Investment Associate The Engine	Jennifer Jordan Venture Partner iGlobe Partners	Hewmun Lau Principal Broadview Ventures
Pengpeng Li Senior Investment Manager Lilly Asia Ventures	Fiona Mack Vice President, Head, Cell and Gene Therapy Co.Lab Cambridge Bayer	Andy Merken Partner, Corporate and Securities Co-Chair, Life Sciences Burns & Levinson
James Murray Partner ExSight Ventures	Parasvil Patel Partner Radical Ventures	Akhilesh Pathipati Partner MVM Life Science Partners
Rami Rahal Investment Team MPM Capital	Alyssa Reisner Director & Principal CVS Health Ventures	Jayson Rieger Managing Partner PBM Capital
Abigail Risse Investor Hyperplane Venture Capital	Muneer Satter Founder Satter Investment Management	Dov Shamir Founding Head of Elementa Labs & Senior Manager, Entrepreneurship Mount Sinai Innovation Partners
Paula Soteropoulos Venture Partner 5AM Ventures	Kristin Thompson VP, Chief Business Officer eureKARE	Anthony Viscogliosi Principal and Founder Viscogliosi Brothers
	Tingting Zhang-Kharas Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS US Northeast Johnson & Johnson Innovation

Big4Bio Will Distribute 30 RESI Audience Access Passes as a Promotion

By Caitlin Dolegowski, Marketing Manager, LSN

Life Science Nation (LSN) is excited to announce LifeSci Startup, a daily newsletter from LSN and Big4Bio. This is a daily newsletter recapping the latest developments of life sciences startups. From life-saving drugs to economic impact, the life science industry and community need constant coverage and supporting resources. Earlier-stage companies are key to advancing this industry, providing job creation, capital formation, and entrepreneurial inspiration. A dedicated daily digest is needed to support these efforts, and LifeSci Startup does that by providing key news, events, jobs, investor mandates, and more.

Susan Nemetz

Interview with Susan Nemetz, Founder and CEO at Corval By Candice He, Vice President of Business Development, Global Investment Strategist, LSN

Candice He

Candice He (CH): Introduce us to Corval.

Susan Nemetz (SN): Corval is a strategic planning platform that enables teams to quickly create a customized multi-year commercialization map with a companion budget and resource plan. Corval is pre-populated with 75,000 data points informed by industry benchmarks across different biopharma companies and therapeutic areas. You just need to guide the platform with your unique clinical/regulatory milestones, asset assumptions, and company information—then let Corval do the heavy lifting. The Corval platform quickly builds a 3-5 year strategic commercialization map, budget, and hiring plan with multiple executive views. The integrated logic allows you to quickly update the full plan when timelines and data change—as they always do.

CH: Your website reads before staff bios, “We’re a team with big ideas committed to changing the way that innovative therapies get to patients. And we’re growing every day.” Tell us about your team.

SN: With a novel, disruptive technology like the Corval platform, we need a team that is driving innovation in technology AND biopharma. We need people who know how it has been done while also knowing how it could be done more efficiently to ensure companies achieve their vision of serving patients’ needs. We have built a team where every member has a superpower, where every member brings something incredibly special. Having said that, the team also represents many years of cumulative experience across biopharma commercialization, consulting, SaaS platforms and technology innovation, customer success, experience in how technology has revolutionized other industries and vision for how the same can be done in biopharma commercialization planning. As an emerging growth company, we remain a very flat organization which means for us, every member—from interns to senior executives—is heard and trusted and we have an amazing meld of talents.

CH: What type of personal support does Corval provide to its clients?

SN: Because every customer is unique and because the Corval team is nimble and agile, we create a bespoke support plan guiding each of our clients’ journeys. Our onboarding allows us to deeply understand (and then solve) the pain points of emerging biopharma and more mature pre-commercial companies. Our team will closely follow updates around your asset and company and help you customize your plan throughout the span of the subscription. Corval can also help identify consultants for any specialized projects that the company needs to address to jumpstart the implementation We also have a robust educational tool embedded within the platform on both technical and commercialization questions and every term and activity is defined. In summary, the Corval team will support not only the technical onboarding on the platform but also the strategic thinking behind tailoring the commercialization map and budget to the customer’s market/asset/company situation and the ongoing update of the plan as assumptions and conditions evolve over the course of the commercialization planning period.

CH: Corval is a sponsor at RESI and we’re excited to have you as a part of our RESI community! Who are looking to connect with at RESI Boston September?

SN: We are interested in speaking to anyone who has a vision for their asset and needs to make sure all the steps and resources required are accounted for so their drug will get to the patients who need it. Specifically, pre-commercial companies at about P2 who need to understand what it takes to commercialize in either a go-it-alone or partnering scenario. Often these companies are also looking for funding and need to tell the story regarding use of proceeds to commercialize their asset. In summary, we are looking to speak to companies who are building plans that can involve one pre-commercial asset or portfolio of assets and may also involve modeling/comparing different scenarios to inform strategic decisions.

CH: What is the right time for an early-stage biopharma company to reach out and prepare for the commercialization process?

SN: It’s never too early to start strategic commercialization planning for your asset. Early-stage biopharma often ignore the need or kick the can down the road in later P3 because they are only focused on the science. But studies have proven that the companies that DO engage in early strategic planning are much more likely to reach their financial goals and serve the patients’ needs that are a focus of their science. I cannot stress enough the importance of planning as early as possible (typically around Phase 2) so commercialization thinking can inform in all aspects of clinical development resulting in strong differentiated product profile that is foundation of success in the market at launch and over the product life cycle. This is why we all do what we do in this industry.

CH: How do you define commercialization?

SN: Commercialization is often incorrectly assumed to be limited to the commercial function or used synonymously with launch, but it is really a company-wide orientation and ethos that pervades all aspects of development and preparing to bring a product to market and, ultimately, optimizing its value for patients and the company.

CH: As a founder of both a consulting firm, The NemetzGroup, and a tech platform, how do you position both offerings?

SN: Consulting is incredibly important to solve complex problems in the biopharma industry. Consultants offer experience and well-vetted frameworks to support biopharma companies. Technology alleviates much of the time-consuming processes, thus allowing the humans to focus on the less conventional, less standardized obstacles. This enables differentiated solutions that are effective and targeted.

CH: What role should technology play in building a commercialization plan?

SN: Technology should play any and every role it can. The possibilities are literally endless, and we are just beginning to scratch the surface of what is to come by utilizing technology in our industry and in commercialization planning specifically. Technology, like Corval, can be focused on supporting efficiency, readily leveraging past experience/benchmarks thus allowing time and energy to be focused on the strategic thinking/actual content of the plan and related strategic decisions.

CH: What is the one most important piece of advice an emerging biopharma company should follow regarding commercialization?

SN: Begin planning early, but stage-gate your implementation. Most failed launches are because critical steps were not completed early enough or they missed some entirely. Use Corval, and you will save time, money, energy, and, just maybe, your sanity!