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Advice For Hard-Tech and Biotech Founders

This document provides advice for founders of hard-tech and biotech companies. It discusses what constitutes a hard-tech company, reasons for starting one, and common challenges they face. Key advice includes starting with simplified versions of products, proving customer demand through pre-sales, and taking projects step-by-step rather than trying to accomplish everything at once. Fundraising is also addressed, recommending an incremental approach starting with a seed round and growing funding over time in stages. The overall message is that ambitious technical goals can be achieved by breaking them into small, achievable steps.

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Shatir Launda
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221 views28 pages

Advice For Hard-Tech and Biotech Founders

This document provides advice for founders of hard-tech and biotech companies. It discusses what constitutes a hard-tech company, reasons for starting one, and common challenges they face. Key advice includes starting with simplified versions of products, proving customer demand through pre-sales, and taking projects step-by-step rather than trying to accomplish everything at once. Fundraising is also addressed, recommending an incremental approach starting with a seed round and growing funding over time in stages. The overall message is that ambitious technical goals can be achieved by breaking them into small, achievable steps.

Uploaded by

Shatir Launda
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Advice for hard-tech

and biotech founders


YC Startup School 2019
Outline

• What is a hard-tech company?

• Why should you start a hard-tech company?

• The 2 most common problems for hard-tech cos

• Fundraising for hard tech co's


What is a hard-tech
company?

1. It will take a lot of time and money to build


the first product

2. It may or may not be possible to build it


• Market Risk: Do people want it?

• Technical Risk: Can we make it?


Why start a hard-tech
company?
"In many ways, it's easier to start a
hard company than an easy company"

- Sam Altman
There's never been a better
time to start a "hard"
company
Hard-tech, Biotech and YC

• Funded over 250 bio companies

• YC is the largest bio seed investor in the world

• YC is the largest hard-tech seed investor in the world

• Biotech and hard-tech applications have 10X higher


acceptance rate
How much of YC's advice applies to
hard-tech founders?

Most of it.
How much of YC's advice applies to
hard-tech founders?

WEEK 1 WEEK 6
Startup School 2019 Orientation Building Culture
How to Talk to Users All About Pivoting
How to Evaluate Startup Ideas Pt. 1 WEEK 7
WEEK 2 How to Improve Conversion Rates
How to Plan an MVP Startup Pricing 101
How to Set KPIs and Goals WEEK 8
Analytics for Startups How to Prioritize Your Time
WEEK 3 How to Evaluate Startup Ideas Pt. 2
Nine Business Models & Metrics Investors Want WEEK 9
How Investors Measure Startups Q&A Advice for Hardtech and Biotech Startups
WEEK 4 Intro to Modern Startup Investments
How to Launch (Again and Again) WEEK 10
Growth for Startups How to Talk to Investors About Your Startup
WEEK 5 How to Become a $100B Company
Startup Finance Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them
How to Work Together
How do you make progress
when you have a "heavy MVP"?
Boom
Do things that don't cost money

• Assemble a team of top advisors

• Build computer simulations

• Build a plastic model

• Show customer demand


Solugen
Start small
2019: huge chemical plant
Solugen
Start small
2019: huge chemical plant 2016: a beaker
AirX
Launch a simplified version

Original plan:

Medical Device

3 years to get FDA approval

New plan:

Use existing medical device

Write software

Zero FDA approval

Notable Labs
Bootstrap with a service

Long-term vision: develop new


drugs for cancer

Hack to get started: provide tumor


screening services
Astranis
Start with a proof of
concept
Ginkgo Bioworks
Sell it before you make it

How do you prove people will


want your product, if you
haven't built it yet?
Pre-sales
Ideally, you sell your product before
you build it
LOI: Letter of Intent

"Non-binding contract to buy your


product when it's ready"
Good LOI's Include:
• How many units they will buy
• The price they will pay
• When they will buy
• What specs your product needs to achieve
Fundraising for Hard-Tech
and Biotech companies

50M Series A

Time
A better fundraising plan

Series B:
$30M

Series A:
$
$15M

Seed 2: $4M

Seed 1: $1M

YC: $150K

Time
Final Thought

The way to accomplish incredibly ambitious


things is to break them into very small steps

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