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. --  👊🏻 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? -- ⏳ 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 -- -- PODCAST INFO: Podcast website Watch on Youtube Join the community FOLLOW SARAH: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal Instagram: instagram.com/sarahchenglobal Twitter: twitter.com/sarahchenglobal