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?

👊🏻 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

ABOUT BRIAN CONN

Brian Conn has served as the CFO of numerous biotech companies over the past twenty years. The majority of these firms have been in the startup phase or early stages of growth where stress levels are high, and everyone wears many hats. During his career, Brian has raised about $300 million for his companies and completed 20 M&A deals. Currently, Brian is the CFO of a genomic sequencing startup in the Bay Area called Quantapore, is a co-founder of a synthetic biology company in San Diego called Levadura, is an advisor for the VC firm General Inception and serves on the board of an Australian biotech company, Imagion Biosystems.