@CurlyJungleJake Excedr journey: breakthroughs, exits, now scaling @centivax. #SuccessStories.

"One size does not fit all. One way to fundraise does not fit all. It's really context dependent, not just on the company, on the market, and on the dynamics of your team.". In Part 1 of my conversation with KiraGen Bio CEO & Co-Founder, Aaron Edwards, on The Biotech Startups

You don’t have to sacrifice what excites you to “make it.”. #biotechnology #lifesciences #leadership.

And if you’re still not sure, because biotech feels harder than chicken fingers…. Look up The Biotech Startups Podcast on Fengru Lin, Founder & CEO of TurtleTree, and how she’s chasing her R&D dream without losing the vision.

If you’re not sure that your niche passion is something you can build a business around, I encourage you to listen to the Founders podcast episode about Todd Graves (Founder of Raising Cane's) and his “$10 Billion Chicken Finger Dream.” ;).

Whether it's pizza, podcasting, or life sciences – your genuine enthusiasm creates a magnetic pull. You can't fake it, and it’s really hard to succeed long-term without it.

Your team can sense when you're authentically invested versus just going through the motions. Your content resonates when it comes from real enthusiasm, not forced "thought leadership.". Focus on what genuinely excites you, then share that.

Sad for me, AMAZING for him!. This principle applies everywhere in business:. Your customers can tell when you genuinely care about solving their problem versus just making money.

I had the best pizza of my life in Japan. There is one guy who dedicated his entire existence to perfecting Neapolitan pizza. His passion was on another level (and because of that, his pizza SO GOOD), that now you can't get a table.

Those patterns matter more than you think. #biotechnology #lifesciences #leadership.

My advice: Pay attention to what energized you early on. There’s usually some clues there for where you’ll find your biggest strengths.

It may only be obvious in hindsight, but they’re plain as day when you review the game tape. You rarely wake up and completely change what you do.

It's not something I learned - it's just naturally me. One thing I’ve learned from studying the autobiographies of successful founders through history… they usually have these early patterns that end up informing their success later on.

The way I interview on the podcast?. I've been doing that since I was a kid. I used to grill my family friends and parents this way at gatherings.

Something to think about, regardless of how you’re funded. Food for thought as you’re building. #lifesciences #biotechnology #founders.

Fundamentally, this also creates stakeholder alignment, as what is good for customers is good for the company. When there’s stakeholder alignment, that is when magic happens. There’s less friction to growth and the flywheel is sustainable.

On the flip side, bootstrapped companies rarely have the luxury of solving value-creation/capture later. Their customers pay their bills and fund their growth (not investors), which means they have to get their offer right from the get-go.

Or a separation from the realities of value-creation/capture. If you kick that can down the road long enough, you can get into a real jam when the rubber meets the road and your investors need to see a return on that capital.

There are certainly times when a strategy like that makes sense (like for Uber trying to create a monopoly/massive moat). But in the wrong context, that kind of “cash to burn” can also create a misalignment of values….

In the early days, Uber was vastly subsidizing ride costs to attract users to the platform. And they had the capital to do it.

When Uber first started, it used to cost $3 to go from my house to downtown San Francisco. Now that same ride costs $35.