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Celine Halioua is the founder and CEO of Loyal, a biotech company developing medicine to help dogs live longer and healthier lives. And dogs are just the start - Celine thinks Loyal could one day do the same for humans.
She takes us inside what it’s like to build a biotech company from scratch. We talk through how Loyal’s longevity drugs work, the process of getting FDA approval, her biggest mistakes as a founder, how to approach building in a new market, lessons learned failing to raise her Series B, why rate of growth is all that matters in hiring, and almost not starting the company in the first place.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Preview
(03:30) How a longevity drug works
(06:08) Predictions around longevity
(08:26) Why Celine cares so much about not failing
(12:05) Differences between biotech and software startups
(14:15) Sizing a new market
(16:53) Why biotech startups are more dilutive early on
(20:22) Getting FDA approval
(22:57) Why its hard to prove longevity drugs actually work
(24:48) The reason Loyal started with dogs
(25:27) How Loyal’s drug slows aging
(33:42) Working on longevity to increase free will
(34:25) Culture shock at Oxford and dropping out of her PhD
(37:22) What makes Josh Koppelman a good VC
(39:44) Celine’s two biggest mistakes as a founder
(42:39) Why rate of growth is the best indicator of success but the hardest to predict
(45:33) Self awareness & how being a CEO is both fun and miserable
(48:11) How Laura Deming convinced her to start Loyal
(50:18) Finding the science behind Loyal
(54:21) Deciding it was the right path to start a company
(56:30) Lessons from failing to raise a Series B initially
(1:02:18) Why Silicon Valley can build 10x more deep tech startups
(1:04:05) Doing big things that improve the world
(1:04:50) What Celine looks for in startups
Where to find Celine:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/celinehalioua
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celinehh/
Celine's Website: https://www.celinehh.com/
Where to find Turner:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak/
Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/
