Claim OwnershipThe Biotech Startups Podcast
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The Biotech Startups Podcast by Excedr features weekly conversations with founders, scientists, and investors driving biotech innovation. Host Jon Chee dives into the challenges of building biotech startups, from pre-seed to IPO. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.
190 Episodes
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"Building a deep tech company or building anything, pretty much, like being a founder in anything, it's like planning a bank robbery. It's like putting together a crew where, you know, you need a driver, you need someone to pick locks, you need someone to not sell, and you need someone who has the intellectual capacity to come up with a plan."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Sergey Jakimov, Managing Partner at LongeVC, shares his journey from uncertain graduate student in Budapest to serial deep tech founder. He discusses launching his first startup at age 22 in the conservative oil and gas industry with zero experience, pioneering drug-eluting coatings for orthopedic implants, and building Lungesys—a clinical data platform that revolutionized trial patient recruitment and helped establish the world's largest biobank.
Sergey challenges the "dropout culture" narrative while defending both formal education and learning by doing. He reveals why the least specialized person often makes the best founder and shares surprising truths about big pharma, including that only 14% of first-in-class cancer drugs are developed internally.
"Retrospectively, this was honestly the best childhood one can get, and it was absolutely without gadgets."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore the formative years of Sergey Jakimov, founding partner at LongeVC, as he takes us from his childhood in post-Soviet Latvia to his graduate studies in Budapest. Sergey shares what it was like growing up in a small rural town near the Russian border, where limited resources, no technology, and long winters shaped his resilience, diplomacy, and drive to succeed.
Sergey recounts his unlikely journey into competitive tennis under a retired national coach, training on concrete courts and turning the sport into both a discipline and a livelihood. He describes the grueling path to university admission—waking at 2 AM every Saturday for four-hour bus rides to attend prep courses in Riga—and the intense workload that followed, surviving on just three to four hours of sleep while juggling translation work and coaching gigs. A pivotal parliament internship shattered his idealistic views of government, leading him to embrace technocracy and meritocracy as guiding principles. Finally, Sergey reflects on earning his master's at Central European University in Budapest, where diverse perspectives and world-class academics further expanded his worldview and prepared him for entrepreneurship.
"Risk management is really just planning for when things go wrong."
In this final episode with Jimmy Sastra, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Monomer Bio, host Jon Chee explores how Jimmy redefines biotech leadership by treating fundraising as a strategic tool rather than a necessity. The conversation dives into building a company that combines scalable software with hands-on lab services, the importance of creativity and risk management in uncertain times, and Monomer’s bold vision for "autonomous science"—where AI and robotics revolutionize experimentation.
Alongside deep biotech insights, Jimmy shares personal reflections on balancing entrepreneurship, family, and his immigrant journey while pushing the boundaries of automation in life sciences.
"People are looking at cells, making decisions, and then acting on them—that’s a robotics loop. I felt it could be done autonomously."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee sits down with Jimmy Sastra, co-founder and CEO of Monomer, to discuss how his team transformed hands-on lab automation consulting into a breakthrough biotech robotics company. Jimmy shares how Monomer’s vertically integrated platform unites robotics, software, and biology to automate cell culture, cut reliance on animal models, and boost reproducibility.
He also explains the company’s adaptive go-to-market strategy—ranging from software-only pilots to full robotic deployments—and reflects on the power of cross-disciplinary teamwork, global collaboration, and flexibility in navigating today’s challenging biotech landscape.
"Life is amazing, but it’s also very fragile. I could not think of a more important mission than trying to understand how life works."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee continues his conversation with Jimmy Sastra, CEO and co-founder of Monomer Bio, tracing his evolution from a self-taught PhD student to a Silicon Valley engineer at the forefront of robotics and biotech innovation. Jimmy recounts his time at Willow Garage during the rise of ROS, his groundbreaking work at Transcriptic—where he helped build the world’s first robotic cloud lab—and how those experiences shaped his vision for Monomer Bio.
He also explores the power of hiring for personal mission alignment and shares how a life-changing moment involving his brother inspired a career dedicated to understanding life through technology.
"Maybe because of that experience, we still keep in touch. I feel fortunate that my friends and I built something together back then—even if it started with murals and late nights, it taught me about creativity, risk, and teamwork."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Jimmy Sastra, CEO and co-founder of Monomer Bio, unpacks his global journey from The Netherlands and Japan to transforming lab automation in biotech. Shaped by his father’s engineering legacy at Philips and ASML, Jimmy recalls lessons in creativity, rebellion, and resilience that guided his path from the University of Pennsylvania to a PhD in robotics.
His story reveals how curiosity and systems thinking became the foundation for Monomer Bio’s mission to empower scientists through smarter, automated lab solutions.
"If anyone comes to me and says, 'Hey, I’ve got this idea. I think we could do something with it,' I’m like, 'You gotta take the I-Corps class first... it really changes your mindset.'"
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Darren Cooke, Interim Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer and Executive Director of the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals how 100 discovery interviews turned a $3 million campus experiment into a powerhouse for biotech innovation.
He shares the creation of Berkeley’s flagship fellows program, the launch of speed teaming and venture grants, and how simple ideas like fostering connection and collaboration transformed campus culture. Darren also reflects on the leadership of Chancellor Rich Lyons and offers candid lessons on perseverance, mentorship, and the art of “showing up.”
"If you’re not challenging what you’ve always done, you’re not going to move forward or innovate."
In this episode, Darren Cooke, Interim Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer and Executive Director of the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals how he’s navigated the fast-changing world of financial advice by embracing regulatory shifts, championing innovation, and building trust through integrity and open communication, sharing hard-won lessons on personal growth, resilience, and finding new opportunities amid uncertainty and change.
"If you ever find yourself in a situation where you’re busy and bored, you really should be doing something else."
In this episode, Darren Cooke, Interim Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer and Executive Director of the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center at the University of California, Berkeley, traces his bold path from high-stakes law firm litigation to in-house IP leadership at Bio-Rad Laboratories, eventually launching his own practice to guide biotech startups.
He dives into career pivots, lessons from Berkeley’s entrepreneurial scene, startup investing, and why simply showing up is often the secret to transformative opportunities and growth.
"If you go down a road and then you realize, Ah, shoot. This was not what I expected, or Why am I doing this? you can do something else. Right? Yeah. Don't sweat it."
In this episode, Jon Chee interviews Darren Cooke, UC Berkeley’s Interim Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer, whose journey spans engineering cochlear implants, high-stakes patent law, and leading innovation at Berkeley. Darren shares how formative moments, career pivots, and mentorship shaped his approach to entrepreneurship, offering practical wisdom and behind-the-scenes stories from working with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to building collaborative biotech communities.
His multifaceted perspective inspires listeners to embrace change, seek hands-on experiences, and build networks that drive biotech innovation.
"If the door's not open, it's not open. I should only be walking through doors that are open. Why am I going to knock on doors that are closed?"
Sandra Shpilberg, Co-founder and COO at Adnexi, revisits her founder’s journey, sharing how setbacks and her son’s curiosity during the COVID-19 pandemic led to the launch of Adnexi, a mission-driven platform for biopharma.
She reveals lessons on navigating non-competes, collaborating with market forces, and building resilient teams, while highlighting the rewards and challenges of creating a lasting family business and intentionally cultivating a supportive circle for growth.
“There is something that happens when we create expectations that are actually realistic, that we have a chance to delight ourselves. And then that creates this motivation to keep going and be like, Oh, this is working out much better than I expected.”
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Sandra Shpilberg, Co-founder and COO at Adnexi, shares her remarkable founder’s journey, launching Seeker Health from her living room, landing her first customer on LinkedIn, and scaling a mission-driven startup without outside funding—all while balancing family life and navigating the emotional challenges of entrepreneurship and acquisition offers.
Her story challenges Silicon Valley myths, showing that pragmatic optimism, real customer traction, and staying true to one’s values can drive both personal and professional success.
“If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, what was exciting at BioMarin was that we were doing new things, innovating and creating from scratch.”
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Sandra Shpilberg, Co-founder and COO at Adnexi, shares her journey from leading commercial launches at BioMarin to discovering the pivotal market gap in digital patient recruitment while at Nora Therapeutics—a realization that sparked her leap into founding her own company.
Her story weaves together the drive for innovation, deep patient connection, and the blend of professional ambition with personal priorities that shaped each career move.
"I walk around the world wanting to tell everyone that healing is possible. All types of healing are possible: physical healing, mental healing, spiritual healing. Healing is possible."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore the remarkable journey of Sandra Shpilberg, Co-founder and COO at Adnexi, from her early childhood in Uruguay to becoming a serial entrepreneur in biotech. Sandra shares the profound experiences that shaped her leadership philosophy, beginning with her family's Holocaust survivor background and her grandparents' courageous decision to start over in a new country with nothing but hope.
Sandra opens up about the defining moments that forged her resilience - from a traumatic accident at age four that sparked her lifelong belief in healing, to her family's immigration to Brooklyn when she was 16. She describes navigating American education without knowing English, watching her parents rebuild their careers, and her own journey from Wall Street to Wharton to discovering her true calling in biotech during a transformative internship at Genentech. The conversation reveals how these experiences instilled the entrepreneurial mindset and fearless approach to starting over that continues to drive her success.
“If our real mission is to truly help companies get drugs to patients faster and cheaper, the amount of complexity we have to solve goes way beyond science.”
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Jon Chee talks with Andrey Doronichev about his leap from tech at YouTube and Google to launching OPTIC and reinventing it as BIOPTIC, an AI-powered drug discovery startup.
Andrey shares the ups and downs of projects like AIorNot, the pivotal link between big data and drug development, and how “agentic AI” now drives BIOPTIC’s rapid progress—proving that real biotech breakthroughs require humility, adaptability, and big-picture thinking.
"If you as a leader of a startup—no matter how small—or you as an employee of a big organization, you could be the agent of change."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Andrey Doronichev traces his path from launching mobile content in Russia to transforming YouTube for mobile, overcoming fierce Google-Apple rivalry to deliver the iOS app, and pioneering VR at Google. He candidly shares lessons in resilience, startup highs and lows, and the critical role of personal influence behind major milestones, culminating in his pivot to AI-powered biotech with OPTIC.
Listeners get practical insights into team-building, dealmaking psychology, and the dynamic realities of entrepreneurship in fast-changing industries.
"If you're genuinely passionate and curious about things, people will feed that curiosity. Do not underestimate that."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Andrey Doronichev takes us from his formative years hustling in post-Soviet Russia to launching a mobile startup amid economic chaos, emigrating as political tides shifted, and boldly landing a role at Google—all powered by grit, curiosity, and risk-taking.
Andrey reveals how bootstrapping in Russia’s early Internet boom, betting on mobile YouTube before smartphones were mainstream, and championing innovation at Google transformed both his life and the way billions interact with online video.
"If you leave the queue, you lose your place, and you wait for, like, four hours outside in winter in Moscow to buy some butter, literally. So those kinds of things, it's a massive change."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee speaks with Andrey Doronichev, Founder and CEO of OPTIC, about his journey from surviving the chaos and scarcity of the collapsing Soviet Union to leading a cutting-edge AI-powered drug discovery platform.
Andrey reveals how his upbringing amid upheaval and restricted information, paired with a strong science-driven family, forged his resilience and bold approach to leadership—traits that now drive his ambitious efforts at the intersection of technology and biotech entrepreneurship.
"If you lose that passion, why would somebody else do this? And it comes down to how hungry you are. How bad do you want it?"
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee talks with Eswar Iyer, co-founder of Aikium, about launching a biotech platform during a market downturn and building a resourceful, mission-driven team focused on data-rich therapeutic design.
Eswar shares hard-won lessons on blending computational and experimental innovation, maintaining intentional focus, forging the right partnerships, and fostering a culture of resilience and critical thinking. They also explore fundraising strategies, the rapidly evolving biotech landscape, and the personal leadership philosophies that shape success in early-stage company building.
"If you gain so much knowledge in each of your respective fields, you should be pushing something deeper. Yes, it's harder, but isn't that what you really want to do?"
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Eswar Iyer shares his journey from George Church’s groundbreaking lab to launching spatial biology at 10x Genomics and founding Aikium, candidly revealing how mentorship, bold decision-making, and cross-functional teamwork drive innovation and company creation.
He explores navigating tough challenges, learning the business side of biotech, and embracing risk to tackle unsolved problems in drug discovery using AI and high-throughput data, delivering an insider’s perspective on both technology evolution and startup disruption in the life sciences sector.
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