Running Through Walls

Venrock partners Andrew Gottesdiener and Nimish Shah speak with Michael Henderson, CEO of Apogee Therapeutics, about his role's unique challenges and opportunities. Henderson discusses his accelerated career trajectory, valuable lessons that have helped shape his success, and Apogee's recent Series B financing round. Henderson delves into the importance of culture building, including Apogee's guiding principles (CORE: Care, Original, Resilient, Ego-Less), and his strategies for navigating a challenging biotech industry.

Venrock's Nick Beim speaks with Steve Lockshin, founder of Vanilla, about lessons learned as a serial entrepreneur in wealth management services. Lockshin shares what drives him as an entrepreneur, the need for more digestible information in estate planning, and his most valuable lessons learned on the path to building Vanilla. Lockshin also discusses the importance of humility and how it helped guide his decisions as a business leader.

Venrock partner Nick Beim speaks with Bill McNabb, former chairman and CEO of Vanguard, an asset management company that pioneered low-cost investing for the consumer. McNabb shares important leadership lessons including the importance of being humble, having a clear definition of success, and knowing what makes a high-performing team. McNabb reveals significant decisions he made during his time at Vanguard, such as having "no layoffs" during a crisis, and highlights the importance of thinking long-term while still being agile.

Farzad Mostashari, founder and CEO of Aledade, speaks with Venrock's Bryan Roberts and Bob Kocher about improving the quality and efficiency of patient care with a focus on preventative care. With the recent launch of Aledade Care Solutions and new focus on Medicare Advantage, Mostashari delves into Aledade's efforts to scale and deliver where average primary care practices can't. Mostashari also reveals his approach to value based care incentive structure, and why building a valuable solution requires a long time horizon.

Venrock partners Bryan Roberts and Bob Kocher, speak with Heather Fernandez, co-founder and CEO of Solv, about Solv's mission, building more cap table diversity in tech, and the healthcare field today. Fernandez delves into Solv's Series C funding round where she created a special purpose vehicle (SPV) focused on women of color, bringing in first-time investors who wouldn't otherwise have access. Fernandez also shares how Solv is unlocking capacity with software, its pricing strategy, and its goals for the next 2-3 years.

Larry Hamann, co-founder, president, and CEO of Interdict Bio, speaks with Venrock Vice President Mariana Mihalusova about lessons learned from his career in drug discovery. Hamann delves into where his love for organic chemistry stems from and why inclusive environments are essential to building successful teams. He also speaks about the do's and don'ts when structuring collaborations with big pharma, when a drug is "good enough" to move forward in development and new approaches he's excited for.

Venrock partner Bob Kocher speaks with Dr. Drew Altman, CEO of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and founding publisher of Kaiser Health News (KNH), about dealing with misinformation and skepticism with expertise and facts. Altman reveals how misinformation, fragmented media, and a broken political system exacerbate the public's low trust in experts. Altman discusses KHN's origin story, the importance of busting liars without elevating them, and his thoughts on the Inflation Reduction Act.

Jim Del Favero, Head of Product at Figure, a fintech company using blockchain to help homeowners better tap their home equity, joins Venrock partner Brian Ascher to discuss what makes a great product manager. Del Favero reveals why great PMs focus on outcomes, not outputs, and critically think about the problem that needs to be solved. Del Favero and Ascher also talk through common mistakes PMs make, the engineering and PM relationship, and data-driven vs. years of experience decisions.

Venrock partner Brian Ascher speaks with Nicole Alvino, co-founder and CEO of Firstup, about effective workforce communication both digitally and in person. Alvino highlights fostering employee connection through authentic and transparent communication, using the power of video to drive engagement, and discusses expectations for corporate social responsibility. Plus, Alvino reveals a non-obvious lesson learned – employees want to hear from their peers (not just their leaders).

Company success is predicated on the people, according to Daversa Partners founder and CEO, Paul Daversa. Venrock partner Bryan Roberts chats with Daversa about the nuances of recruiting impactful senior-level leadership candidates who are a fit for the needs of the company. They cover hiring high will over high skill, understanding that candidates are stage sensitive and ways to avoid terminal hires. Daversa also discusses the intentionality of Dreamscape, the challenges, and the impact they've made thus far.