I bought a one-way ticket to Silicon Valley when I was 21. I had just finished my bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where I worked with TALENs and created a gene editing, nanoparticle-based delivery system for editing mice.
The first years were tough. People would always ask, “what makes you think you can...” style questions. VCs would play games. It was like Silicon Valley, the TV show.
In 2017 we raised a seed round. With that cash we built a state-of-the-art, highly automated lab capable of everything from peptide synthesis to fluid handling automation and automated cell imaging, with integrated data outputs.
We showed we could delivery CRISPR using peptides to edit T cells, achieving industry-best non-viral delivery system efficiency.
I won’t get into the half a dozen or more hostile takeover attempts we survived during the course of our Seed and Series A raises, some after signed term sheets and completed diligence.
Then, COVID19 hit. We had built a novel approach for making peptides that are modeled off larger proteins. We had previously used this technique to create the world’s first universal cell-specific targeting technology using peptides to package up mRNA, DNA, CRISPR, and beyond.
COVID: by modeling the outside of the virus, it would be possible to make synthetic peptides that act like decoys, preventing the virus from entering cells. Additionally, the decoys would be able to expose the virus and present their own epitopes for forming antibodies.
So, 2020 has been focused on COVID. Peptide nano-scaffolds. No gene therapy or editing necessary. Comparatively, a more simple project.
Founders: hang in there. Entrepreneurship, and especially building hard things with worldwide impact, takes its tolls. You must take care of yourself. The more valuable what you’re building is, the more people will try to take things from you, the more people will denigrate you.
Persist. At times, your credit and debit cards may not work for months at a time. You may wonder how you’ll make it another week, let alone another month or year. Great things are born out of surviving these moments and not giving up or selling out. You are not alone.
Keep building value. Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in the project, find something you believe in, as this will be the only thing that keeps you going when things are tough.
The story is still manifesting. There will be more struggles, more successes, more moments of elation, and more moments of staring into the abyss. That is the nature of things. We must let these experiences flow throw us and become better, constantly.
There is only so much that can be said on Twitter, or in a book. Many stories never get told. All in all, it’s a beautiful experience, and invaluable. It is not easy. People see the bright shining stars, but they don’t see the darkness of the soul that comes with the territory.
At some point, you separate yourself from the equation. You learn to take care of yourself. To feed yourself. To sleep well. Those that don’t, burn out after a couple of years. You must be able to withstand many years of not having a sure paycheck, and fighting month to month.
You learn that the vision is bigger than yourself. So you must care for yourself. The anxiety of sending the email, posting the post, saying the thing — it all fades away. You start to see the cracks in the system. You start to see the opportunists and the sycophants.
You persist. What you are building drowns out all the noise.
You end up focusing on the future. On the world that must be built. Flowing attention towards the final state. You ignore friends, family and colleagues encouraging you to compromise. You withdraw for months at a time because no one understands. That is entrepreneurship. 
You clear your mind and your soul and continue on the path that no one has walked.
You withstand psychological abuse, torment, gaslighting, and months of being led along. You learn that there really are awful people in this world. You find ways to maintain purity of your soul and heart and keep going anyway. Making more mistakes, but not the same exact ones.
You improve. Continuously.
We have a big, dark, beautiful, at times luminous world that needs to be changed. The neutral and passive majorities outweigh the good and the bad. But passivity in the face of evil expands the sphere of influence. Fighting these battles isn’t easy.
They will try to take everything from you. At times, they will try to destroy your reputation, while being the same ones to smile at your face and tell you they always believed in you when you are successful. The wolves in sheep’s clothing and vultures run rampant.
We must not compromise to these actors. The good, fearful & neutral players must take a stand and support foundational innovation and entrepreneurs building core improvements to the world and its bleeding heart. We don’t have much time to reverse all of the damage we’ve caused
and this world is more about just us. It’s about the generations that come after us. It’s about maintaining the health of the planet and fighting against corrupt systems that only benefit the few, to the detriment of many. We must become more efficient, smarter, and less greedy.
Founders are:
2X more likely to suffer from depression
6X more likely to suffer from ADHD
3X more likely to suffer from substance abuse
10X more likely to suffer from bi-polar disorder
2X more likely to have psychiatric hospitalization
2X more likely to have suicidal thoughts
2X more likely to suffer from depression
6X more likely to suffer from ADHD
3X more likely to suffer from substance abuse
10X more likely to suffer from bi-polar disorder
2X more likely to have psychiatric hospitalization
2X more likely to have suicidal thoughts
Why? Is it innate that founders experience these things? To some extent, you have to live at the boundaries to go out and start something — yes. On the other hand, few people realize the actual conditions of starting companies.
thewealthadvisor.com/article/silico…
thewealthadvisor.com/article/silico…
Founders are told to be tough, to present an image, not to show weakness, to show prowess, to show that they know how to be cold-hearted, ruthless businesspeople. You must stand up for yourself, yes. And yet, this gauntlet shoots those in the foot trying to make a difference.
A lot of patterns of cycles of abuse seem to propagate into the community, especially with VC - founder relations. The relationship of venture capitalists with entrepreneurs is inherently sociopathic. You learn that there is an entire category of people who are not your friends.
Or so you are taught. The good apples get mixed with the bad. The VCs fight for their LP returns, for the hot deal, for derisking their investment, for pushing for a sale. And yet, their very philosophy holds back the process of innovation itself. It eats companies alive.
The few who do succeed either sell out, or build something that has extreme impact, but they too usually sell out.
When you see how investors behave when you have potentially life-saving medicine, and that they look at revenue and partnering models as if you’re building an app...
When you see how investors behave when you have potentially life-saving medicine, and that they look at revenue and partnering models as if you’re building an app...
...you begin to ask questions. Why does this person who doesn’t know what an immune cell is think that they understand your business better than you do?
Why does this person keep saying that you’re like a son to them, but insist on taking over your board?
Why does this person keep saying that you’re like a son to them, but insist on taking over your board?
Why does this investor think it’s okay to tell a founder to “shut the fuck up and put your head down?”
Why does this investor think it’s okay to try to take over your board and force an asset sale of your IP to their buddy who is “helping” you?
Why does this investor think it’s okay to try to take over your board and force an asset sale of your IP to their buddy who is “helping” you?
If VCs spent half the time they spend trying to extract value actually contributing value (which sometimes means writing the check, opening their Rolodex, and shutting up), founders could get back to building more valuable companies. Yes, y’all have timelines.
Stop abusing founders. Start looking at how you can contribute value. Stop trying to extract value from things before you understand the vision of people who are willing to sacrifice their livelihood for years to push something through in spite of you.
And then, you can have a better world.
Also, for the love of everything, stop asking what everyone else thinks. We should know and see clearly by now that few people think for themselves. Just flag yourself as someone who doesn’t think for themselves and sit the round out.
Also, for the love of everything, stop asking what everyone else thinks. We should know and see clearly by now that few people think for themselves. Just flag yourself as someone who doesn’t think for themselves and sit the round out.
This is 0.1% —- the very tip of the iceberg.
Here is what we are working on now:
@threadreaderapp unroll
