Edward Lando | Getting From Seed to Series A in Longevity Biotech @ LBF + Longevity Workshop 2024

Summary

The speaker, without a formal background in the field, discusses their experience as an angel investor in various industries, including longevity and age-related diseases. They question why more money isn't directed towards solving these critical issues and propose that it's a marketing challenge. They suggest that with increased awareness, successful examples, and reframing the narrative around longevity, more significant investments can be attracted. The speaker also highlights the importance of government funding and patient capital for such long-term projects, offering insights into the potential of the longevity market as an investment opportunity.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker lacks a formal background in the space but has been investing for about 10 years and is actively involved in various companies.
• 🤔 There is a perceived marketing problem in attracting more investment towards aging and age-related diseases, despite their importance.
• 💰 The speaker expresses surprise at wealthy individuals choosing to spend on luxuries rather than investing in solutions to significant health issues.
• 🚀 The speaker suggests that with more success stories, people will become more interested in longevity and health solutions.
• 📈 There is a time horizon problem for venture capital firms with typical fund life cycles of 7 to 12 years, which may not align with the long-term nature of health and longevity research.
• 🌟 The involvement of eccentric billionaires and government funding can help kickstart industries that require long-term investments, like space and electric vehicles.
• 💡 The speaker proposes reframing the marketing of longevity to make it more appealing and understandable to a broader audience.
• 🏥 The speaker highlights the potential of early-stage research and the need for support to transform academic work into viable companies.
• 💼 The idea of a longevity index or ETF is discussed as a way to allow more people to invest in the space without needing to pick individual companies.
• 🌐 The speaker believes that a paradigm shift is needed to move longevity and health solutions from the fringes to the mainstream.

Q & A

What is the main issue the speaker believes is preventing more investment in aging and age-related diseases?

The speaker believes it is a marketing problem, as many wealthy individuals are not aware of the potential of investing in longevity and age-related disease research.

Why does the speaker think wealthy individuals often choose to spend their money on luxury items rather than investing in important causes?

The speaker suggests that wealthy individuals may not fully understand the impact and potential returns of investing in longevity research compared to traditional luxury investments.

What is the speaker's view on the current state of marketing for longevity and age-related disease research?

The speaker views the current marketing as insufficient, with the field still being considered fringe and not yet mainstream, which hinders investment.

What examples does the speaker provide of successful fundraising in the medical field?

The speaker mentions the significant donation to the Penn School of Medicine by the paraments and the increase in high-value gifts for cancer research and education.

What does the speaker suggest as a solution to the marketing problem in the longevity field?

The speaker suggests reframing the marketing approach, creating consumer brands, and showcasing success stories to make longevity research more appealing and understandable to potential investors.

Why does the speaker think there is a time horizon problem for venture capital investments in longevity research?

The speaker believes that the typical venture capital fund lifecycle of 7 to 12 years is too short for the long-term returns needed from longevity research investments.

What parallels does the speaker draw between the longevity field and other industries that require significant capital and time?

The speaker compares the longevity field to space exploration and electric vehicles, which also require substantial capital and time to yield returns but have seen success with the involvement of eccentric billionaires.

What role does the speaker see for government funding in longevity research?

The speaker views government funding as crucial for supporting longevity research, especially during the early stages before the market proves itself and attracts private investment.

What is the 'Fellowship idea' mentioned by the speaker and how does it relate to longevity research?

The 'Fellowship idea' is a proposal to fund early-stage research in universities and help transform academic work into viable companies, specifically in the field of longevity.

How does the speaker propose to make longevity research more accessible to a broader range of investors?

The speaker suggests the idea of creating an index or an ETF-like structure that would allow smaller investors to participate in longevity research without needing to be accredited investors.

Outlines

00:00

💡 Investing in Longevity: Challenges and Opportunities

The speaker begins by introducing themselves as an investor without a formal background in longevity but with a decade of experience in various sectors. They express surprise at the lack of investment in aging and age-related diseases, considering their importance. The speaker has invested in companies in the longevity space and questions why more wealthy individuals don't allocate funds to this area. They propose that the issue might be a marketing problem, citing examples of large donations to medical schools and cancer research, suggesting that personal connection often drives such investments. The speaker also highlights the need for more awareness and a shift in perception to attract investment, comparing the current state of longevity research to the early days of the computer industry.

05:00

🚀 Addressing the Longevity Funding Gap

In this paragraph, the speaker discusses potential solutions to the underfunding of longevity research. They suggest learning from other industries like space and electric vehicles, which also require significant capital and time. The speaker emphasizes the importance of reframing how longevity is marketed to make it more appealing to investors. They propose that once there are more success stories in the field, public perception will shift, and investment will follow. The speaker also mentions the role of government funding and the need for patient capital, especially from angel investors who can afford to wait for returns. They introduce the idea of a 'Fellowship' to support early-stage research and transform academic work into viable companies, aiming to bridge the gap between scientific research and commercial viability.

10:01

🌟 The Future of Longevity: Overcoming Skepticism and Scaling Investment

The speaker concludes by acknowledging the current skepticism surrounding longevity research and the need for a paradigm shift in public perception. They compare the current community's enthusiasm to the early days of the computer industry, suggesting that time and success stories will eventually lead to broader acceptance. The speaker believes that the development of consumer brands and visible successes in the field will help normalize longevity research and attract more investment. They also touch upon the importance of having patient capital and the role of government and eccentric billionaires in funding high-risk, high-reward ventures. The speaker expresses optimism about the future of longevity research and its potential to transform how society views aging and health.

Keywords

💡Investing

Investing refers to the act of allocating resources, such as money, with the expectation of generating an income or profit. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses their personal experience in investing, particularly in startups and companies focused on longevity and age-related diseases. The speaker's perspective is that investing in these areas is not only potentially profitable but also addresses significant global health issues.

💡Angel Investor

An angel investor is an individual who provides capital for startups, usually in exchange for ownership equity or convertible debt. The term 'angel' reflects the benefactor's role in providing financial support to entrepreneurs. The speaker identifies as an angel investor and shares their experience in investing in various companies, including those in the longevity space.

💡Longevity

Longevity refers to the state of living a long, healthy life. It is a central theme in the video, as the speaker discusses the importance of investing in technologies and research aimed at extending human life and combating age-related diseases. The speaker expresses a belief that longevity research is underfunded and should be more attractive to investors.

💡Age-Related Diseases

Age-related diseases are health conditions that become more common as people age, such as Alzheimer's, cancer, and heart disease. The speaker questions why more funding isn't directed towards addressing these diseases, which are among the most significant health challenges globally.

💡Marketing Problem

The speaker suggests that the lack of investment in longevity and age-related disease research is due to a 'marketing problem,' meaning that the potential benefits and importance of this research are not effectively communicated to potential investors. The speaker believes that better marketing could attract more funding to these areas.

💡High Net Worth Individuals

High net worth individuals are people with substantial financial resources. The speaker expresses surprise at how these individuals often choose to spend their wealth on luxury items rather than investing in solutions to major societal problems like aging and age-related diseases.

💡Cancer Research

Cancer research is a subset of medical research focused on understanding, preventing, and treating cancer. The speaker notes that wealthy individuals often donate to cancer research, which is a positive example of philanthropy but also highlights the need for similar support in other areas of health research.

💡Organ Transplant

An organ transplant is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed into another to replace a damaged or missing organ. The speaker mentions recent successful pig-to-human kidney transplants as an example of the type of medical advancements that should be more widely funded and accepted.

💡Time Horizon

The time horizon refers to the length of time an investor is willing to wait for a return on their investment. The speaker discusses how the typical venture capital fund's time horizon may not align with the long-term nature of many longevity and age-related disease research projects, which can deter investment.

💡Government Funding

Government funding refers to financial support provided by the state for various purposes, including research and development. The speaker suggests that government funding could play a crucial role in supporting longevity research, as it can be more patient with returns on investment and help validate the importance of the work.

💡Accreditation

In the context of investing, accreditation refers to the legal requirement that investors meet certain income or net worth thresholds to participate in private investment opportunities. The speaker touches on this concept when discussing the challenges of investing in private companies, which often require accredited investors.

Highlights

The speaker has been investing for about 10 years, focusing on various sectors beyond just the longevity space.

They have helped start companies and raise funds, increasingly getting involved in longevity-focused companies.

Invested in several companies present at the event, expressing excitement about their potential.

Raises a fundamental question about why more money isn't directed towards solving aging and age-related diseases, given their global importance.

Expresses surprise at wealthy individuals' spending on luxury items instead of investing in impactful solutions to major health issues.

Suggests that the lack of funding for longevity research might be due to a marketing problem, using the example of large donations to medical schools.

Discusses the importance of reframing how longevity research is marketed to attract more investment.

Mentions the need for more awareness and understanding of the different approaches to tackling aging, beyond just treating diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Believes that as success stories in longevity research emerge, public perception and investment will follow.

Points out the time horizon problem for venture capital firms with shorter fund life cycles compared to the long-term nature of longevity research.

Draws parallels with other industries like space and electric vehicles, where patient capital and visionary investors have driven progress.

Argues that government funding can play a crucial role in supporting longevity research until the private market catches up.

Proposes the idea of an index or ETF to allow broader participation in longevity investing.

Suggests the creation of a platform similar to AngelList but focused on longevity investments to democratize access to such opportunities.

Talks about the need for a paradigm shift in public perception of longevity research to move from being seen as fringe to being accepted as a viable field of study.

Emphasizes the importance of consumer brands and visible success stories in changing public opinion and attracting investment.

Encourages patience among investors, drawing a comparison with the early days of the computer industry and the potential for longevity research to follow a similar trajectory.

Transcripts

Okay cool so um I'm going to start off

with a quick intro about myself so I

don't have a formal background in the

space like a lot of you um but I have by

the way how do I go next just these

arrows yeah but unfortunately like

because of the Wi-Fi is not great so

maybe is it okay if it's showing this

just a lower okay perfect thank you so I

I've done a lot of investing um not sort

of only focused on this space but I've

been investing for about 10 years or so

as an angel quite actively in a lot of

different people and you know I just

wanted to to share my perspective as to

how to potentially draw more money to

this space which is a very important

space I've also helped start a couple

different companies uh raise a lot of

money for them uh and currently getting

more and more involved hopefully with uh

with companies in this space I've

actually invested in a few of the

companies uh that are here today which

which I'm super excited about so I have

a very sort of naive question to start

with which I've discussed with several

people I think even in this room which

is like if if aging and age related

diseases is kind of one of the most or

the most important problem to solve in

the world why is more money not going to

it and you know all the time I'm always

shocked you know I sort of I I've met a

lot of wealthy people I'm sure a lot of

you have you mentioned you know High net

worth people all the time I'm always

shocked where sort of like you know

where very wealthy people choose to

spend their money you know on sort of

like their third yacht or their fifth

plane or their 25th house and I'm like

that's cool you know and like a a yacht

is great but it's like why don't you put

a little bit more of your money to work

on things that are uh that can be useful

um so one of my points of view and and I

think again from discussions that I I've

had with people here is that it's like

really a marketing problem so I went to

pen so I gave an example from pen but

you know pen received a a huge donation

from uh from the paraments uh which is

awesome for the school of medicine uh

you know you these articles like 2023

was a breaking year for higher gifts and

in education you know sort of all of

these donations that have come in for

like cancer centers and research and

things like that again which is amazing

you have all of these different examples

of of wealthy people supporting cancer

research and and most often they're

motivated by when they're personally

affected by these things which makes

sense and most of us will be I'm still

curious you know about why more of this

money or more money in general does not

go to other approaches towards tackling

sort of the The Human Condition and the

sort of age related uh diseases and you

know you have examples of you know uh

sort of successful Pig kidney transplant

things like that yesterday I remember

Mark was like we're going to get into

the most sort of gruesome gross part of

the presentation which is you know sort

of replacement which is gruesome in a

sense but should not be because you know

there's a lot of surgeries every day

involving the brain involving sort of

other organs when people have problems

and they need an organ transplant

they're very happy to sign up for it so

I really do think that it is um I really

do think that it is a marketing problem

I think that like there's this box of

like longevity and even when I bring it

up with my friends I'm like I love this

space I'm investing in it they're like

what does longevity mean you know isn't

that just cancer heart disease

Alzheimer's you know what what what's

the rest and a lot of the cryo stuff the

replacement stuff and and you know sort

of uh that that that people are working

on here is still kind of on the fringes

and I I think it's a shame you know that

people who are working on body

replacement uh like John or people who

are working on sort of like brain

replacement things like that have to

sort of be a little bit like discreet or

they feel like they can't really be like

loud about it because they think it's

going to be weird you know or just all

those articles that say about Peter teal

experimenting with blood and and things

like that it's still on the fringes and

my belief is that whenever you we will

have examples more examples of success

people will be like oh my God I you know

I want this for myself and the people I

care about I think there's another

argument which is that it's a Time

Horizon problem you know so there's a

another person I work with closely Jesse

Horwitz I think some of you know him

here he was a Founder in other spaces

and he's involved in a a brain

replacement company and I think what

several of you have alluded to today in

the sort of funding problem is that for

normal VCS which have a fun life of like

seven to 12 Years A lot of these things

that people are working on you know it's

going to take too long it's going to

take too long to return Capital to

investors but I think we can learn from

other spaces where it's going to take a

long time like space or like electric

vehicles like you know I made an

investment in SpaceX a couple years ago

and you know SpaceX is is trading super

actively in the secondary markets and if

I wanted to sell it at couple hundred

billion dollar valuation I could and so

I think that like what mus did for

example in space and with electric

vehicles and so on people like him sort

of crazy you know billionaire types that

I think Nicholas was talking about

before you need those types of people to

sort of get it going and then I think

Government funding is really helpful uh

and it it it really is a timing question

because like once you sort of have these

people start it then suddenly VCS will

be like oh my God this is like you know

an amazing opportunity and frankly like

from a kind of a selfish point of view I

do think it's a great opportunity for

investment it just that you have to be a

little bit more patient and Carl was

talking about being able to invest as an

angel when you can invest your own

Capital you can be a little bit more

patient versus you know VCS and and

people like that so you know a couple

Solutions I don't know why they all say

one uh but um you know one one is to

sort of learn from other Industries that

have have sort of taken a long time that

need a lot of capital like space like

EVS things like that two is I think

reframe marketing like I think a lot of

people even smart wealthy people think

that tackling aging sort of tackling

death and all that stuff is tackling

cancer tackling heart disease which it

is in Parts but but you know there's a

lot of other interesting approaches that

are here today that are underfunded uh

three is like make people aware that

this is actually an amazing investment

opportunity like I think that people a

lot of folks here think that this is

some sort of nonprofit thing like you

know we should give some money for

replacement or or CBE it's like we

should but it's really good investment

opportunity too like if this works like

everyone will want this uh four is the

government thing I think that if you can

tap into government contracts government

often makes you know things that they

want built you know available online

same thing for defense you know they

sort of list all the contracts they want

I think that's super powerful and then

you know we have a a thing where sort of

you know I'm sort of doing a little bit

of marketing for own thing here this

this Fellowship idea is sort of like

funding a lot more early stage research

that is happening in universities and

places where people who are not

necessarily super Savvy uh about

business sort of we can help them

transform what they're doing into

companies so that's it uh open to any

questions thank you

thanks um is that double the money than

the tier Fellowship gave for you I know

yeah we're we're twox

better um all right questions comments

some people were uh talking about it for

a while now uh how hard would it be to

make a like an index longevity index

like I'm not a professional investor but

I still want to like you know a number

of companies and it's your job to you

know give them the volume and figure out

all the logistics there I just put my

money there and it works itself like

because uh there are a lot of people

with the that don't have that that much

money but would still want to

participate right oh like ETF of sorts

uh like a private ETF uh I don't know

actually that's a good idea um I I I'm

not quite sure how it work for private

startups you could probably do some

syndicates or funds like that there are

a few funds focused on it right but um

it's not a bad idea I I personally you

know I want to invest in as many

promising companies as possible oh yeah

so the the major limitation would be

that most of the companies are not

public yet right

okay yeah someone is trying to build

yeah and someone is building like a

substack right now like an angelist but

as a substack where as an investor you

can subscribe to a specific topic like

on a substack and then you get those

deals and he wants to do one for

longevity so I think it's good and just

just adding one thing I think the the

discussions I've had it's not actually

that hard to get the first like couple

hundred K or million dollars You know

despite what we're trying to do here uh

except if you're in a university or as a

lab student it's kind of hard to get

that sort of you know $10 million check

or $50 million check and that's where

you kind of need the eccentric

billionaire or the government to step in

or or someone else in the meantime while

the market proves itself out so the

problem of investing in a private

company is you have to be accredited

investor and it has been solved there's

a company called W

founder they collect up to 2,000 for

from private individuals and then they

put a Syndicate there's a lead investor

uh you only deal with the lead investor

you report one invest bement but you

have a bunch of private citizens that

participate so an idea would be I don't

know if you've thought about that

something like Kickstarter specifically

for longevity where we can just do the

website use the legal basis of we funder

and push that forward yeah I think it's

a great point I think for some reason

though there's still this Paradigm Shift

like everyone in this room seems to be

you know like aligned here and I there's

also like the vitalist community right

with Adam gree and so on but it's like

when you talk to your other friends who

are a little bit more sort of

representative of the population they're

like that's crazy like what are you

talking about you know like cryo or like

replacement that's insane you know but

like once people are aware that it could

work like people don't talk about brain

surgery in the way that's the cre people

like yeah brain surgery makes sense you

know it happens all the time but for

some reason if it involves you know

living longer or whatever they're like

that's crazy that's science fiction and

until that moment I think it'll be hard

to sort of get Mass Market

funding yeah science fiction and or evil

um any other question comment um I want

you oh

who was it

sorrys no no go for

it great talk I'm just wondering how

would you solve the marketing problem

and like concretely what do you think is

the solution there I think you know I

just think it's one of those spaces

where I often say this again I'm no

expert at all but this feels like kind

of the the home brew club or whatever

you know the Homebrew Computer Club of

the when was it like the 1970s or

something when people were just getting

into computers and there was like apple

and so on like whenever I've been to

longevity events and conferences it

feels like a bunch of kind of Misfit

people kind of being like you know we're

not crazy it actually makes sense yeah

it does right it does and I I just think

that like time will like like I think

these people will end up being shown to

be correct but like time will sort of do

its thing but I also think you need kind

of like interesting new consumer Brands

you know there's like superpower that

pitched earlier that's kind of

interesting and sort of like more you

know not quite as intense as replacement

and things like that and then you need a

couple of successes and once have

successes just like the the transplant

from pigs and all that you people will

be like okay it makes sense like I I'll

accept it so I just think by definition

novel ideas are are often not accepted

for a long time all right thank you so

much thanks a lot

[Applause]