Paul Hartung - Secrets of Biotech Funding

Sal Daher Introduces Paul Hartung

"... Tell me the story of the first syndicated angel funding here in New England..."

"'... there's a bunch of guys like you and me who've been successful in business, who are starting to get together.' He said, 'I just joined a group called Launchpad...'"

"... I was CEO from the start and chairman, the president and secretary and [laughter] and all the offices..."

"... The story here is that technologies are coming out of labs that are amazing, that are just astonishing, that could do things that couldn't be done 10 years ago by any stretch of the imagination. It's not one-off, they're multiplying. The cost of developing this technology is a coming down..."

"... how do I support angels? Due diligence I think is part of it, creating due diligence, and I think part of it is also syndication..."

"... What is the end game? Who would be the strategic partners that might end up acquirers or might license the technology...?"

Pros and Cons of Grant Funding

".. the timing of strategics is not the timing of startups..."

"... I think there's a lot of room for Angel-friendly venture funds that will work with Angels and will help bring Angels over from software investing into the life sciences, perhaps initially for digital health, but eventually, in wet lab..."

Advice to the Audience

"...Don't just have a purely science team. You need to have someone who's going to be your business representative if you will..."