🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.

As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.

Episode Description:

"Entrepreneurship is great, but, for me, family always came first. [My] wife and kids always came first. I didn't miss a single game or show or anything of the kids, whether it was at 3 PM or 5 PM or 7 PM, I did that. And then I figured out the work otherwise."

We’re revisiting some of our previous episodes over the holidays this year. Our next rerelease is part 2 of this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast with Parag Shah, where we discuss his journey from leading the life sciences practice at Hercules Capital to founding K2 Health Ventures. Parag shares candid insights about the pivotal moment he transitioned from banking to private credit, his decision to join Hercules as one of the first employees, and the challenges of scaling a fund from $25 million to over a billion dollars as a public BDC.

Parag offers rare transparency about the difficulties of navigating toxic corporate culture while building a successful business, and how those experiences shaped his vision for K2 HealthVentures. He emphasizes the critical importance of work-life balance in entrepreneurship, revealing how he never missed a single one of his children's games or shows despite the demands of building investment firms. The conversation explores the strategic advantages of evergreen fund structures versus traditional LP/GP models, and how K2's unique approach of combining debt and equity across the capital stack, along with dedicating a percentage of profits to underserved healthcare, represents a new model for impact investing in life sciences.

Key topics covered:

Transitioning from banking to private credit and joining Hercules Capital in its earliest days
Taking Hercules public and scaling from $50 million to over $2 billion in life sciences investments
Navigating difficult corporate cultures and the importance of building intentional company culture
Achieving sustainable work-life balance as an entrepreneur without sacrificing family priorities
Founding K2 HealthVentures with an evergreen structure and dual mission of profit and purpose

If you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.

Subscribe to the Podcast:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast

Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/

Find Our Guest, Parag Shah, at these links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paragshah333/

https://k2hv.com/

Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee

Learn more about Excedr:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/

Website: https://www.excedr.com

Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:

Website: https://flow.page/kyojin

Resources & Articles:

Biotech Startup Fundraising https://www.excedr.com/resources/biotech-startup-funding-options

Venture Debt Financing https://www.excedr.com/blog/venture-debt-for-biotech-startups-overview

Business Development Companies (BDCs) https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bdc.asp

Evergreen Fund Structures in Private Capital https://www.hamiltonlane.com/en-us/knowledge-center/evergreen-funds

Understanding LP/GP Relationships: https://visible.vc/blog/general-partner-vs-limited-partner/

Private Credit and Venture Debt Explained https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/venturecapital.asp

Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:

Comerica Bank: https://www.comerica.com

Hercules Capital: https://www.htgc.com

Roy Liu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roy-liu-36a35/

Anup Arora: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anup-arora-368ba81/

Meghan FitzGerald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanmfitzgerald/

John Hale: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hale-770158b/

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:11 Pivoting to Private Credit and Starting a Fund

13:06 Importance of Corporate Culture in Firm Building

14:50 Going Public: Benefits and Pressures of a Public BDC

18:60 Knowing When It's Time to Leave

23:33 Taking a Break and Finding Balance

29:34 Founding K2 HealthVentures

38:30 Raising $400 Million: A Stark Contrast

42:14 Evergreen Structure and Long-Term Partnership

45:04 Working Across the Capital Stack

48:46 The Value of Co-Founders

53:14 Looking Ahead: Growth and the K2 Foundation

54:38 Shout Outs and Gratitude

57:43 Advice to Your 21-Year-Old Self

01:02:06 Outro

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.

#107: Ho Ho Hedging – Absicherung vor dem Crash