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"A lot of decisions when you're doing a startup come down to being naive enough to not know how hard it's going to be—and taking that leap of faith."

In part three of our conversation with Alfredo Andere, co-founder of LatchBio, we dive into the early days of building a biotech startup from scratch. Alfredo shares how his team’s chemistry and blind faith led them to drop out of college and fully commit to solving biotech’s data infrastructure challenges. He details their rigorous market research process, which involved conducting hundreds of user interviews, and how this groundwork helped them raise an oversubscribed $5 million seed round led by Lux Capital.

Alfredo also reflects on the stark contrast between cutting-edge data tools at tech giants like Google and the outdated methods still used in biotech, emphasizing the massive opportunity to revolutionize life sciences.

Key topics covered:

Building trust and chemistry as a founding team: The decision to drop out and go all-in on LatchBio
Biotech’s data problem: Why outdated tools are holding back life sciences innovation
Market research done right: 200+ pages of notes and six paying customers before launching a product
Raising $5M in seed funding: How preparation and customer validation gave LatchBio a competitive edge
Lessons on naivete in entrepreneurship: Why bold risks are essential for tackling big problems

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:

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

Find our guest, Alfredo Andere, at these links:

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

Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/latchbio/

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

Resources and articles:

Viktor Frankl's "Man’s Search for Meaning": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning

Lux Capital Insights: https://www.luxcapital.com/riskgaming#content

The Acquired Podcast featuring Jensen Huang: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/jensen-huang

Taiwan Incubator Program: https://startup.sme.gov.tw/en/ia

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS): https://www.excedr.com/blog/next-generation-sequencing-101

Google and Facebook Data Infrastructure: https://medium.com/illumination/facebook-google-and-digital-public-infrastructure-ee854e1896eb

Bulk RNA-seq Analysis Tools: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RNA-Seq_bioinformatics_tools

Machine Learning Applications in Biotech: https://cdn.fortunejournals.com/articles/ai-and-machine-learning-in-biotechnology-a-paradigm.pdf

Companies, universities, & people mentioned:

LatchBio: https://latch.bio/

Lux Capital: https://www.luxcapital.com

Google: https://www.google.com

Facebook (Meta): https://www.facebook.com

Excedr: https://www.excedr.com

Vivos Therapeutics: https://www.vivos.com

Kenny Workman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennyworkman

Kyle Giffin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylegiffin

Brandon Reeves: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonreeves1

Jensen Huang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhsunhuang/

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:56 Team Chemistry and Founding Relationships

04:30 Exploring Different Project Ideas

06:34 The Decision to Drop Out of College

09:00 The Role of Naivete in Entrepreneurship

11:38 Biotech vs. Computer Science: Understanding Complex Systems

13:14 Taiwan Incubator Experience

17:22 Market Research: 200+ Pages of User Interviews

21:05 Biotech's Data Infrastructure Problem

25:21 Raising an Oversubscribed $5M Seed Round

29:38 The Future of Biotech Data Analysis

30:30 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.

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