What: Natural Cycles is the developer of the only digital method of birth control cleared by regulators both in the US and in Europe, based in Stockholm. The company's application uses its own algorithm to predict and detect women's ovulation, allowing them to prevent or plan pregnancies in a non-invasive, hormone and side-effect-free way.
Who: Elina is a particle physicist and entrepreneur who began her career at CERN before going on to build the Natural Cycles app together with her husband Raoul.
We talk about: Working on the hadron collider (yes, really), making fun of business partners, and using data to drive fertility innovations.
📝 You can also now read the accompanying "podnotes" to the episode on Substack, where key insights from every conversation will be shared for those who prefer short and snappy takeaways: founderskeepers.substack.com
Find out more: www.founders-keepers.com
Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod
Twitter: @founders.pod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast
Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
What: Vively is a software-as-a-service platform supporting people with lifestyle-related diseases: From providing real-time feedback to consumers on diet, exercise, sleep and stress to integrating continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and wearables for real-time data analytics about how users’ lifestyle impacts their health. The organisation collaborates with a team of leading integrative doctors, behavioural scientists and holistic health practitioners to create and combine digital therapeutic programs with on-demand coaching and health analytics, and recently secured AUS$1.5 million in pre-seed funding to support their expansion.
Who: Tim is a serial entrepreneur with a background in venture capital who prior to co-founding Vively had invested and founded various different startups active across Asia and Australasia.
We talk about: Tim's obsession with entrepreneurship from a young age; finding a solution to medical conditions brought on by lifestyle choices; and how building his own product at Vively identified a potentially serious health complaint in Tim despite his triathlete background.
📝 You can also now read the accompanying "podnotes" to the episode on Substack, where key insights from every conversation will be shared for those who prefer short and snappy takeaways: founderskeepers.substack.com Find out more: www.founders-keepers.com Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod Twitter: @founders.pod LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
What: Lazarus 3D is a seed-stage US-based organisation that produces 3-dimensional printed synthetic human tissue models for surgical training. They are proprietors of world's first FDA cleared technology that allows physicians to rehearse their case on a personalised copy of the patient before the “real” operation, claiming to improve surgical confidence, patient safety and outcomes.
Who: Both Smriti and Jacques hold PhDs in medical and human genetics from Baylor College of Medicine, with Smriti serving as Lazarus’ President and Jacques as CEO.
We talk about: (Literally) building a business from your kitchen table, personalising surgical care, and why job titles don’t really matter.
📝 You can also now read the accompanying "podnotes" to the episode on substack, where key insights from every conversation will be shared for those who prefer short and snappy takeaways: founderskeepers.substack.com
Find out more:
www.founders-keepers.com
Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod
Twitter: @founders.pod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast
Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
Wasted* is a Burlington-Vermont based start-up building the circular sanitation economy and transforming human waste into effective, safe, and sustainable fertilizers. The company was founded in 2020 and recently raised USD 7.5 million in seed funding from investors including the Collaborative Fund, Divergent Capital, Day One Ventures, Third Sphere, Pure Ventures, and Gratitude Railroad.
Taylor is a social impact entrepreneur passionate about utilizing research, storytelling, and education to redefine waste, and prior to co-founding wasted* was the co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit “Do Good Shit” which sought to implement and maintain improved waste management systems in outdoor recreation areas and their surrounding communities around the globe.
In this episode we talk about the taboo of sanitising human waste; and instead of moving fast and breaking things, moving intentionally to make things better for public health and the global environment. You can find out more about wasted* in the following ways: Website: https://wasted.earth/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wasted-earth/ Find us on: www.founders-keepers.com and www.founderskeepers.substack.com Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod Twitter: @founders.pod LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
AmyriAD is an LA-based clinical-stage biotech company working to advance effective therapies for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease, bringing together decades of experience with the singular goal of easing the devastation it causes. The Company's lead drug candidate, AD101, is a small molecule under development for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and will be entering Phase 3 clinical trials later this year in 2023 following successful randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trials where it has been administered as an add-on to stable donepezil (Aricept®) therapy.
Sharon was the global lead and development strategist for the highly successful Alzheimer’s Disease treatment, Aricept® (donepezil). From an incredible and widely varied career that started in figure skating and restaurant ownership, she has worked in high-ranking positions for several decades in the pharmaceutical industry and more recently in the startup space, leading the VC-backed AmyriAD.
We talk about one of her earliest ventures delivering food to half-naked frat boys, her expat life in Japan, and why she is so passionate about advancing a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease.
You can find out more about AmyriAD in the following ways:
Website: https://amyriadtherapeutics.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyriAD_Tx
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/amyriad-therapeutics/
Find us on:
www.founders-keepers.com and www.founderskeepers.substack.com
Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod
Twitter: @founders.pod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast
Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
Founded in 2016, South Rampart Pharma is a clinical-stage life science company dedicated to advancing the safe treatment of pain by developing new non-opioid small molecule solutions that lack the liver and kidney toxicity present in current pain medicines. The company's lead program, SRP-001, is currently in a Phase 1 study evaluating the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics with data expected later this year in 2023.
Hernan is an accomplished academic vascular surgeon who holds degrees in molecular biology and medicine and is a former Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Research Scholar at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is the co-inventor of 7 issued or pending patents and has authored over 50 publications.
In this episode, we talk about the innovation landscape in pain management, the challenge of translating scientific evidence into the clinic, and tackling curveballs thrown at you in business.
You can find out more about South Rampart Pharma in the following ways:
Website: https://southrampartpharma.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SR_Pharma
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-rampart-pharma-llc/
Find us on:
www.founders-keepers.com and www.founderskeepers.substack.com
Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod
Twitter: @founders.pod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast
Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
This is a special segment podcast episode with a focus on questions around conferences, given that it’s currently conference season for bio, med and health tech organisations in the US. Blue Water Vaccines showcased at JPM Healthcare in January and is an early-stage biotech company focused on manufacturing a universal influenza vaccine in partnership with the University of Oxford in England.
Joe is a seasoned health tech entrepreneur, holding multiple degrees in everything from neuroscience to molecular genetics and business. He has a background in company creation, early-stage technology development, and both private and public market financing. Over the course of his career, he has founded or led eight entrepreneurial companies in cutting edge areas of healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
In this episode, we talk about the post-covid vaccine landscape, the value of human interactions for business, and changing with the markets.
You can find out more about Blue Water Vaccines in the following ways:
Website: https://www.bluewatervaccines.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blue-water-vaccines-inc
Find us on: www.founders-keepers.com and www.founderskeepers.substack.com
Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod
Twitter: @founders.pod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast
Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
Convergent Therapeutics is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing next generation radiopharmaceutical therapies for prostate and other cancers. The company's proprietary technology involves dual-targeted radionuclide therapy that has been licensed to Convergent by Cornell University (USA). If FDA-approved, its flagship therapeutic would be the first antibody approved to direct a radioisotope to prostate cancer.
Dr Kantoff is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and medical oncology; a member of numerous professional societies and editorial boards; author of more than 500 articles and books; and has lectured throughout the world on the topic of cancer treatments. He has been honored with the Harvard Medical School Kantoff-Sang Lectureship Award, and recognized with the first Prostate Cancer Foundation Mentor of Excellence Award.
In this episode, we cover raising money in difficult climates, the important “engine of discovery” that is the biotech industry, and dealing with the unpredictable both as a physician and a company CEO.
You can find out more about Convergent Therapeutics in the following ways:
Website: https://convergentrx.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConvergentRx
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/convergent-therapeutics/
Find us on:
www.founders-keepers.com
Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod
Twitter: @founders.pod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast
Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
CONNECT Care is a UK-based startup that uses tech to track prescriptions for elderly patients and their carers. Supported by Innovate UK, their founding team brings together a combined 20 years of deep industry expertise at the intersection of digital health, pharmacy, and the oft-neglected social care. Through working with NHS partners across the country to roll out trials of its prescription tracking tech, they have a mission to make medicines management and access easier for patients and the people who care for them.
Issa is a graduate of Oxford and Harvard universities, and founded CONNECT Care in 2021 with business partner Mehfuz, having since raised £1.4m in funding to date, including a £614,000 grant from Innovate UK and capital from angel investors.
In this episode, we talk “adherence” as a dirty word, how chaos and turmoil can create opportunity, and why - to paraphrase the former Zuckerberg motto - moving fast and breaking things doesn’t always work for healthcare.
You can find out more about CONNECT Care in the following ways:
Website: weconnect.care/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/connectedhealthsystems/
Find us on:
www.founders-keepers.com
Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod
Twitter: @founders.pod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast
Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com
Launched in 2017, Mojo is an AI-powered fertility care platform that helps people to understand, test, and improve their fertility in preparation for starting a family. Having raised a total of US$5.5 million over 2 funding rounds, Mojo's main offering is an at-home fertility testing kit that provides detailed results to users within 48h of sampling, alongside on-demand consultations with UK-leading fertility specialists.
The company achieves rapid test turnaround through their WHO-complaint, proprietary, in-house built AI-powered microscope that revolutionises both accessibility to and the level of standard in sperm analysis. , and has been profiled in Wired magazine as well as multiple other media outlets.
Mo has a PhD in materials engineering and nanotechnology, and set up Mojo in 2017 along with three other founders to apply his research skillset to a real-world problem. In this episode we cover his personal health reasons behind starting Mojo, shining the light on male fertility issues, and how “failing a lot” has helped his entrepreneurial journey.
You can find out more about Mojo in the following ways:
Website: https://mymojo.ai/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mymojo.ai/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyMojoAI
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-mojo/
Find us on:
www.founders-keepers.com
Instagram: @founderskeepers.pod
Twitter: @founders.pod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-keepers-podcast
Get in touch: hi@founders-keepers.com