The Biotech Startups Podcast 🧬 Stephanie Sirota - RTW Investments - Part 3 | The Emergence of Crossover Rounds | Building & Explaining Your Investment Thesis | Creating a .600 Batting Average Investment Fund | Transparency Between Investor & Founder | How to Get LPs to Say “Yes”
Jan 24, 2024
31:10
Part 3 of 3.
My guest for this week’s episode is Stephanie Sirota, Partner, and Chief Business Officer at RTW Investments, a full lifecycle life sciences investment firm dedicated to solving the most challenging unmet patient needs. Stephanie is a seasoned expert and leader in business development, strategic partnerships, communications, and investor relations. Prior to joining RTW, she was a director at Valhalla Capital Advisors. She worked in the New York and London offices of Lehman Brothers, where she advised on various mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, and capital market financing transactions for the firm's global corporate clients. Her deep insights into investment banking, strategic partnerships, and business development, offer founders many lessons.
Join us as I sit down with Stephanie to discuss RTW’s interest and investments into gene therapy and the biotech industry. Steph also touches on company development, and specifically why working with biotech companies as an investor is so important. Steph talks about RTW's approach to building an investment thesis that is laid out for both the investors and the entrepreneurs. She also speaks to the importance of transparency and trust between investors and founders. Finally, we also touch on why the biotech industry is on the brink of something special right now. Please enjoy my conversation with Steph Sirota.
Find Our Guest, Stephanie Sirota, at these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephsirota
http://www.rtwfunds.com
Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee
https://www.excedr.com
Timestamps:
00:28 Intro
01:24 Episode starts, RTW’s early development, growth, and the emergence of the crossover round
03:55 Investing heavily in gene therapy, despite many challenges, selling the company for nearly 9 billion
06:34 Focusing on building a single company, which would become Rocket Pharma
09:29 Developing companies at extremely early stages and how RTW did this in China
11:32 How to form and then gain conviction in your investment thesis
14:08 Building a 5 billion dollar fund, explaining your thesis and getting LPs to say “yes”
17:48 Having a .600 batting average fund, managing investors through bear and bull markets
20:03 Why we might be living in a Berkshire Hathaway or Warren Buffet moment, excitement for the next few years
24:18 Investing in resiliency and why Steph is optimistic about the biotech industry
26:03 Shout outs to old tennis coaches, parents, mentors, and colleagues
28:25 Advice to Steph’s younger self about not being afraid to think ahead
29:42 End
Social & Website
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@excedr
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/excedr_inc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExcedrInc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/excedr
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@excedr
Podcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/
As a podcast listener, you can redeem exclusive discounts with a growing list of biotech vendors and get $500 off your first equipment lease by using promo code “TBSP” on www.excedr.com/rewards.
Enriched Notes:
Topics Mentioned:
Crossover Investing https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crossoverinvestor.asp
Rocket Pharma https://rocketpharma.com/
JiXing Pharmaceuticals https://www.jixing.com/
Top Biotech Seed and Angel Investors 2024 https://www.excedr.com/blog/biotech-seed-and-angel-investors
What is Molecular Biology https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-is-molecular-biology
Top Pharma New Sites https://www.excedr.com/blog/top-pharma-blogs-websites-for-biopharma
Top Medical News Sites https://www.excedr.com/blog/medical-news-sites
Biology Lab Equipment List https://www.excedr.com/blog/biology-lab-equipment-list
What Type of Equipment You Need for Molecular Biology Lab https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-type-of-equipment-is-used-in-molecular-biology-research
Importance of Preventative Maintenance https://www.excedr.com/blog/laboratory-equipment-maintenance-guide
Top VC Firms for Biotechs https://www.excedr.com/blog/top-vc-firms-for-biotech
VC Term Sheets https://www.excedr.com/resources/venture-capital-term-sheets
VC Term Sheet Clauses: A Glossary of Key Terms https://www.excedr.com/resources/vc-term-sheet-clauses-and-terms
What are Your Funding Options https://www.excedr.com/resources/biotech-startup-funding-options
Getting Funding for Lab Research https://www.excedr.com/blog/how-to-get-funding-for-lab-research
Post vs Pre Money Valuations https://www.excedr.com/resources/pre-money-vs-post-money
Marketing and Sales for Startups https://www.excedr.com/blog/marketing-sales-strategies-for-biotechs
What is Capital Outlay? https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-is-capital-outlay
People Mentioned:
Gaurav Shah https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurav-shah-md-a435baa
Ning Lin https://www.linkedin.com/in/ning-lin-31b5155/
Rod Wong https://www.linkedin.com/in/roderick-wong-543aa64/
Bryan Fiedler https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-fiedler-525485164/
My guest for this week’s episode is Stephanie Sirota, Partner, and Chief Business Officer at RTW Investments, a full lifecycle life sciences investment firm dedicated to solving the most challenging unmet patient needs. Stephanie is a seasoned expert and leader in business development, strategic partnerships, communications, and investor relations. Prior to joining RTW, she was a director at Valhalla Capital Advisors. She worked in the New York and London offices of Lehman Brothers, where she advised on various mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, and capital market financing transactions for the firm's global corporate clients. Her deep insights into investment banking, strategic partnerships, and business development, offer founders many lessons.
Join us as I sit down with Stephanie to discuss RTW’s interest and investments into gene therapy and the biotech industry. Steph also touches on company development, and specifically why working with biotech companies as an investor is so important. Steph talks about RTW's approach to building an investment thesis that is laid out for both the investors and the entrepreneurs. She also speaks to the importance of transparency and trust between investors and founders. Finally, we also touch on why the biotech industry is on the brink of something special right now. Please enjoy my conversation with Steph Sirota.
Find Our Guest, Stephanie Sirota, at these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephsirota
http://www.rtwfunds.com
Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee
https://www.excedr.com
Timestamps:
00:28 Intro
01:24 Episode starts, RTW’s early development, growth, and the emergence of the crossover round
03:55 Investing heavily in gene therapy, despite many challenges, selling the company for nearly 9 billion
06:34 Focusing on building a single company, which would become Rocket Pharma
09:29 Developing companies at extremely early stages and how RTW did this in China
11:32 How to form and then gain conviction in your investment thesis
14:08 Building a 5 billion dollar fund, explaining your thesis and getting LPs to say “yes”
17:48 Having a .600 batting average fund, managing investors through bear and bull markets
20:03 Why we might be living in a Berkshire Hathaway or Warren Buffet moment, excitement for the next few years
24:18 Investing in resiliency and why Steph is optimistic about the biotech industry
26:03 Shout outs to old tennis coaches, parents, mentors, and colleagues
28:25 Advice to Steph’s younger self about not being afraid to think ahead
29:42 End
Social & Website
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@excedr
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/excedr_inc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExcedrInc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/excedr
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@excedr
Podcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/
As a podcast listener, you can redeem exclusive discounts with a growing list of biotech vendors and get $500 off your first equipment lease by using promo code “TBSP” on www.excedr.com/rewards.
Enriched Notes:
Topics Mentioned:
Crossover Investing https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crossoverinvestor.asp
Rocket Pharma https://rocketpharma.com/
JiXing Pharmaceuticals https://www.jixing.com/
Top Biotech Seed and Angel Investors 2024 https://www.excedr.com/blog/biotech-seed-and-angel-investors
What is Molecular Biology https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-is-molecular-biology
Top Pharma New Sites https://www.excedr.com/blog/top-pharma-blogs-websites-for-biopharma
Top Medical News Sites https://www.excedr.com/blog/medical-news-sites
Biology Lab Equipment List https://www.excedr.com/blog/biology-lab-equipment-list
What Type of Equipment You Need for Molecular Biology Lab https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-type-of-equipment-is-used-in-molecular-biology-research
Importance of Preventative Maintenance https://www.excedr.com/blog/laboratory-equipment-maintenance-guide
Top VC Firms for Biotechs https://www.excedr.com/blog/top-vc-firms-for-biotech
VC Term Sheets https://www.excedr.com/resources/venture-capital-term-sheets
VC Term Sheet Clauses: A Glossary of Key Terms https://www.excedr.com/resources/vc-term-sheet-clauses-and-terms
What are Your Funding Options https://www.excedr.com/resources/biotech-startup-funding-options
Getting Funding for Lab Research https://www.excedr.com/blog/how-to-get-funding-for-lab-research
Post vs Pre Money Valuations https://www.excedr.com/resources/pre-money-vs-post-money
Marketing and Sales for Startups https://www.excedr.com/blog/marketing-sales-strategies-for-biotechs
What is Capital Outlay? https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-is-capital-outlay
People Mentioned:
Gaurav Shah https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurav-shah-md-a435baa
Ning Lin https://www.linkedin.com/in/ning-lin-31b5155/
Rod Wong https://www.linkedin.com/in/roderick-wong-543aa64/
Bryan Fiedler https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-fiedler-525485164/
The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.