Strategic guidance for technical founders in biotech

Hey {{first_name|default:there}},

It’s Vadim - welcome to the very first Bio Founder GPS newsletter!!

I hope you’re as excited as I am! 🎉🕺🏻

Here’s what we’ll cover in today’s issue:

  • Why using the same pitch deck is costing you funding opportunities

  • The 5 Investor Archetypes Framework (and what each one actually cares about)

  • Your investor-specific pitch checklist before you hit send

  • Biotech-specific AI Mega-Prompt to perfect your blurb and pitch deck

  • And more…

Fair warning: This one's packed. We're covering a lot of ground today, so grab a ☕, set aside 15-20 minutes, and let's dive in!

FOUNDER STORY

Why one size (and deck) doesn’t fit all - especially in fundraising

Two weeks ago, I met Alex for coffee. Alex is someone I respect tremendously - a PhD from a top program, previous lead role at a unicorn, and now building an AI drug discovery platform.

On paper, Alex is exactly the kind of founder VCs should be fighting over.

But four months into fundraising, Alex was exhausted.

"I've pitched over 100 investors," he said, stirring his coffee. "Calls start great, but then I can feel the energy just... die."

He pulled up his outlook. Meeting after meeting with the same polite follow-ups: "Really interesting work." "Not the right fit right now." "We'll keep watching."

"Here's what kills me," Alex said. "Every investor gives me different feedback.

One says my market's too broad. Another says I'm not thinking big enough.

One wants more technical depth. Another says I lost them in the science.

It's like trying to solve a puzzle with contradictory rules."

I asked him to walk me through his process.

And before long, the issue was right in front of us.

Alex was using the same deck & pitch for everyone.

Same two-sentence email blurb. Same deck. Same rehearsed opening, then adjusting on the fly.

In truth, Alex wasn't doing anything wrong. He was just playing five different games with the same board pieces.

Here's what I told him: Fundraising isn't one game.

It's five games happening at once - each with different rules, different scorecards, different ways to win.

By sending the same deck to everyone, he was leaving 80% on the table.

The investors weren't confused about his company.

They were confused about whether it matched what they were looking for - because he never told them in their language.

This isn't about being fake or overselling.

It's about recognizing that a family office investor and a biotech VC are playing completely different games.

If you don't adapt your story to match how they evaluate opportunities, you're making their job way harder than it needs to be.

Let me show you how to fix this.

FRAMEWORK

Most founders are pitching to 5 different types of investors but treating them like they're all the same person - they're not.

Each archetype has different levels of industry knowledge, different investment theses, different risk tolerances, and different information they need to say yes.

Here's how to position your blurb, deck, and pitch conversation for each one.

ARCHETYPE 1: Friends & Family / Non-Industry Angels & Small Family Offices

Who They Are: Successful individuals or families with capital to deploy, but limited biotech expertise. They're interested in biotech's upside but don't have deep domain knowledge.

What They Know:

  • General business fundamentals

  • Risk/return dynamics from other industries

  • They've probably read headlines about AI or biotech breakthroughs

  • They may know someone who's invested in life sciences

What They DON'T Know:

  • How drug development timelines actually work

  • What makes a target "druggable" or why your approach is differentiated

  • Biotech-specific business models (platform vs. pipeline, licensing deals, etc.)

  • Realistic exit multiples and timelines for biotech companies

  • The regulatory pathway or what an IND actually means

What They Care About Most:

  • Can I understand this? (If they're lost in 2 minutes, they're out)

  • Why is this a big problem worth solving? (Human impact story)

  • Why now? (What's changed to make this possible/necessary?)

  • Can this founder actually pull this off? (Trust and capability)

  • What's the exit story? (They need to understand how they get their money back + return)

  • Who else is investing? (Social proof and validation from "smart money")

How to Position Your Blurb: Lead with the problem and human impact, not the technology.

❌ Bad Blurb: "We're building an AI platform that predicts novel small molecule binders for previously undruggable protein-protein interactions using transformer-based architectures."

✅ Good Blurb: "We're making it possible to drug cancer targets that have been 'undruggable' for 40 years - targets that represent 80% of cancer biology but can't be addressed with today's tools. Our AI platform has already identified three novel drug candidates that major pharma companies want to license."

Pitch Conversation Style:

  • Start with the problem and patient impact

  • Use analogies to familiar concepts ("Think of it like Google Search, but for drug molecules")

  • Avoid jargon - if you must use a technical term, define it immediately

  • Spend time on the why now and business model

  • Lead with validation and social proof

  • Make the exit story concrete with examples

ARCHETYPE 2: Industry Angels & Sophisticated Family Offices

Who They Are: Former pharma executives, exited biotech founders, healthcare-focused family offices with dedicated life sciences staff. They have operational experience and deep networks in the industry.

What They Know:

  • Drug development process and realistic timelines

  • What makes targets attractive or challenging

  • Biotech business models and partnership dynamics

  • Competitive landscape and who the key players are

  • What "good" early data looks like vs. overhyped preliminary results

What They DON'T Know:

  • Your specific technology's nuances (unless it's their exact domain)

  • Why your approach is differentiated from the 10 other platforms they've seen

  • Your specific go-to-market strategy and customer acquisition plan

What They Care About Most:

  • Is this technology defensible? (IP, technical moats, competitive advantage)

  • Can this team execute? (Operational maturity, not just scientific pedigree)

  • What's the realistic value creation path? (Partnership milestones, exit timing)

  • Who's already validating this? (Pharma interest, KOL advisors, early pilots)

  • Is the founder coachable and strategic? (Not just brilliant, but business-savvy)

How to Position Your Blurb: Lead with your differentiation and traction, not education.

❌ Bad Blurb: "Protein-protein interactions are hard to drug, and we've built an AI platform to solve this using deep learning."

✅ Good Blurb: "We've de-risked three oncology targets that Pfizer and Novartis couldn't crack with traditional methods - our AI platform achieves 10x higher hit rates than structure-based design. Two pharma BD teams are in active discussions for our first partnership."

Pitch Conversation Style:

  • Jump to differentiation quickly - they don't need the drug development 101 lecture

  • Get technical where it matters (assay design, endpoints, competitive benchmarking)

  • Show you understand the partnership landscape and BD timeline

  • Name-drop relevant advisors, partners, or KOLs credibly

  • Discuss realistic next steps and inflection points

  • Be prepared for detailed technical questions and welcome them

ARCHETYPE 3: Generalist Early-Stage VCs

Who They Are: Early-stage funds that invest across multiple sectors (tech, healthcare, fintech) but dabble in life sciences. They may have 1-2 biotech investments in their portfolio but aren't specialists. Often attracted to "tech-enabled" biotech companies.

What They Know:

  • Venture capital mechanics and fund economics

  • How to evaluate SaaS, marketplace, and tech company metrics

  • They understand "venture scale" outcomes and power law returns

  • General awareness of biotech trends (AI/ML, CRISPR, cell therapy buzzwords)

What They DON'T Know:

  • Deep technical evaluation of your science (they'll rely on advisors)

  • Biotech-specific timelines and capital requirements

  • The nuances of FDA regulatory pathways

  • How biotech exits actually work (acquisition multiples, licensing economics)

What They Care About Most:

  • Does this fit our fund thesis? (Often: large TAM, tech-enabled, capital-efficient)

  • Can this scale like a tech company? (Leverage, margins, network effects)

  • Is the market opportunity venture-scale? ($1B+ outcome potential)

  • Who else is investing? (Syndicate quality and lead investor brand)

  • Can we understand the technology enough to explain it to our LPs?

  • What's the path to next round? (Milestones that will attract biotech VCs)

How to Position Your Blurb: Bridge biotech and tech language - emphasize platform scalability and leverage.

❌ Bad Blurb: "We're discovering novel therapeutics for oncology using AI-driven protein-protein interaction prediction."

✅ Good Blurb: "We're building the 'Moderna for small molecules' - a platform that programs drug discovery using AI. Instead of one drug at a time, we're targeting 10+ programs simultaneously with 90% lower R&D costs. Pharma pays us to use our platform, creating SaaS-like economics in biotech."

Pitch Conversation Style:

  • Use tech analogies and language ("our platform," "network effects," "scalable")

  • De-emphasize long timelines - focus on near-term milestones

  • Show economic leverage (how each program costs less, how platform scales)

  • Address "why can't big pharma just do this?" directly

  • Frame the exit as acquisition by pharma/big tech (use precedents)

  • Acknowledge risks but show how you're mitigating them

ARCHETYPE 4: Biotech-Focused VCs

Who They Are: Dedicated life sciences investors with deep domain expertise. They live and breathe biotech, have PhDs or MDs on staff, and have seen hundreds of platforms and programs. They're the "smart money" in biotech.

What They Know:

  • Everything. They probably know your space better than you do 🙂

  • Your competitors, the science, the regulatory path, the exit landscape

  • What "real" differentiation looks like vs. incremental improvements

  • Realistic timelines, costs, and risks for your type of program

What They DON'T Know:

  • Why you specifically are the team to pull this off

  • What unique insight or execution advantage you have

  • Why this investment fits into their portfolio construction right now

What They Care About Most:

  • Is the science truly differentiated? (Not just "better," but fundamentally different)

  • Can this team execute at the highest level? (Operational excellence, not just brilliance)

  • What's the data quality? (Rigorous validation, not preliminary proof-of-concept)

  • Is this fundable through the next 2-3 rounds? (Capital efficiency and syndicate potential)

  • What's the portfolio fit? (Does this complement or compete with existing investments?)

  • Can we build a $500M+ outcome? (Venture-scale exit potential)

How to Position Your Blurb: Lead with scientific differentiation and data quality - they'll smell BS immediately.

❌ Bad Blurb: "Our AI platform discovers drugs faster and cheaper than traditional methods."

✅ Good Blurb: "We've identified a novel allosteric mechanism for RAS inhibition that's orthogonal to the KRAS G12C approaches—validated in patient-derived xenografts with single-agent efficacy. Our platform has produced three IND-ready candidates in 18 months vs. the industry standard of 4-5 years."

Pitch Conversation Style:

  • Get technical as soon as you confirm their understanding of the general area: they want depth, not simplification

  • Show rigorous thinking: controls, statistical power, reproducibility

  • Acknowledge what you don't know and how you'll de-risk it

  • Be prepared to defend every claim with data

  • Discuss realistic partnership timelines and BD strategy

  • Show you understand fund economics (why this is a good investment for them specifically)

  • Don't oversell - credibility matters more than hype

ARCHETYPE 5: Pharma Corporate Venture Capital

Who They Are: Investment arms of large pharmaceutical companies (e.g., J&J Innovation, Novartis Venture Fund, Pfizer Ventures). They have dual mandates: financial returns AND strategic value to the parent company.

What They Know:

  • Everything biotech VCs know, plus internal pharma priorities and capabilities

  • What therapeutic areas or modalities their parent company is focused on

  • What partnerships have worked (or failed) historically

  • Exactly what assets or capabilities their company lacks and wants to access

What They DON'T Know:

  • Whether you're willing/able to work with their parent company strategically

  • If your timeline matches their internal development roadmap

  • Whether you'll be a good partner culturally (vs. just a good investment)

What They Care About Most:

  • Strategic fit: Does this align with parent company's therapeutic focus or capability gaps?

  • Partnership potential: Could this lead to a co-development deal, licensing agreement, or acquisition?

  • Competitive advantage: Will investing give the parent company an edge over competitors?

  • Financial returns: Still need venture-scale outcomes, but strategic value can justify higher risk

  • Execution credibility: Can you deliver on timelines that match pharma planning cycles?

  • Relationship quality: Are you someone they'd want to partner with long-term?

How to Position Your Blurb: Lead with strategic alignment and partnership potential—show you understand their parent company's priorities.

❌ Bad Blurb: "We're an AI drug discovery platform looking for early-stage funding to advance our oncology pipeline."

✅ Good Blurb: "We've de-risked three oncology targets in [Pharma X's] core therapeutic areas—including a RAS pathway program that complements your KRAS G12C franchise. Our platform approach could accelerate your early discovery timelines by 18+ months. Open to discussing both investment and partnership structures."

Pitch Conversation Style:

  • Do your homework on the parent company's pipeline, recent deals, and strategic priorities

  • Frame your work as complementary to what they do, not competitive

  • Discuss multiple partnership structures (don't assume they only want to acquire you)

  • Show awareness of pharma timelines and decision-making processes

  • Be prepared to discuss IP positioning and freedom-to-operate

  • Emphasize long-term relationship potential, not just transaction

  • Ask smart questions about their portfolio strategy and how you might fit

The Common Thread: Match Your Story to Their Lens

Notice the pattern? The same company can be positioned five completely different ways - not by lying or exaggerating, but by emphasizing the aspects of your story that matter most to each audience.

  • F&F/Non-Industry Angels need the problem and human impact story

  • Industry Angels need to see differentiation and traction

  • Generalist VCs need to see scalability and venture economics

  • Biotech VCs need to see rigorous science and execution capability

  • Pharma CVCs need to see strategic fit and partnership potential

The fix isn't to create five completely different companies. It's to understand what each archetype is evaluating for, and lead with the elements of your story that answer their specific questions.

Your technology, team, and vision stay the same. But the order, emphasis, and language you use to tell that story should flex based on who's listening.

YOUR INVESTOR-SPECIFIC PITCH CHECKLIST

Before You Send That Deck: The 5-Archetype Review

Use this table to ensure your blurb, deck, and pitch are optimized for each investor type. Review each row and confirm you're emphasizing the right elements for your target audience.

How to Use This Checklist:

Step 1: Identify which archetype(s) you're pitching to this week.

Step 2: Review each row and ask yourself: "Does my current deck/blurb/pitch emphasize what this column says it should?"

Step 3: Adjust your materials accordingly. You don't need to rebuild your deck from scratch - just reorder slides, adjust emphasis, and refine your opening blurb.

Step 4: Practice your pitch with the new framing. Notice how the same content lands differently when you lead with what they care about.

Investor Archetype Table
Archetype Who They Are What They Care About Lead Your Pitch With Key Mistake to Avoid
F&F/Non-Industry No biotech expertise Problem + exit story Human impact, why now Leading with mechanism
Industry Angels Former execs/founders Differentiation + traction Competitive edge, data Education they don't need
Generalist VCs Multi-sector investors Platform scalability Tech-like economics Long timelines without milestones
Biotech VCs Deep domain experts Scientific rigor Breakthrough data Overstating differentiation
Pharma CVC Strategic + financial Partnership potential Strategic fit Ignoring parent company priorities

BONUS RESOURCES

Putting this all into action

Now that you understand the 5 archetypes, it's time to customize your materials.

I've created a resource to help you implement this framework immediately:

🤖 AI Mega-Prompt for Pitch Customization

Copy-paste this prompt into ChatGPT or Claude to get:

  • Analysis of your current blurb and deck

  • 5 tailored email blurbs (one per archetype)

  • 5 customized deck structures using your existing slides

  • Conversation strategies and anticipated questions

[ACCESS IT FOR FREE HERE]

THAT’S A WRAP!

Was this helpful?

I'd love to hear from you. What's been your biggest challenge when pitching to investors?

Hit reply and let me know. I read every response, and your feedback will shape future newsletters.

Until next week,

- Vadim

PS: Are you an investor and would like to get connected with Alex? Reply and let me know 💪