Mike Goguen is the founder and managing partner of Two Bear Capital, investing at the intersection of tech and life sciences. Before founding Two Bear in 2019, Mike spent 20 years as a general partner at Sequoia Capital (1996-2016), investing mostly in tech with a lean toward biotech. Two Bear has ~25 portfolio companies across two main funds, with about a third focused on deep biotech in oncology and neuro.
Rob Williamson is the founder and CEO of Traverse Therapeutics, a stealth AI biotech developing a platform for targeted drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier. With 35+ years in drug development, Rob has brought multiple drugs to market. Former BCG partner, economist by training, he founded his first biotech (a genomics company) in 1999. He also serves on the board of a public radio-oncology company.
In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
- “I’ve Called It My Vow of Poverty” — Why Biotech Over Tech
- Minimizing Investor Dependence
- The Best Companies Are Founded in the Worst Times
- First-Time Founders vs Experienced Operators — What VCs Want
- Product-Market Fit in Biotech — Understanding Pharma’s Pain Points
- M&A Is Slower Than Expected — Why Deals Are Stalling
- The AI Revolution in Drug Discovery — What’s Real vs Hype
- AlphaFold, Digital Twins, and the In Silico-In Vitro Loop
- “Where’s the Beef?” — Spotting Real AI vs Window Dressing
- Biotech Can’t Compete for AI Talent — Half a Million Out of School
- Are We in an AI Bubble? Lessons from Multiple Crashes
- Quantum AI — The Revolution After the Revolution
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