20VC: Why Raising A First Time Fund Is Like Raising A Seed Round, Why We Need New and Different Fund Models & Why Longevity Is The Most Rewarding Place To Invest with Laura Deming, Founding Partner @ The Longevity Fund

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

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4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2018

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Laura Deming is Founding Partner @ The Longevity Fund, the first VC firm dedicated to funding high-potential longevity companies. To date, Laura has raised $26m across 2 Longevity funds and has backed the likes of Unity Biotechnology, Precision Biosciences, Metacrine, Navitor, and Alexo Therapeutics. Prior to Longevity, Laura was accepted to MIT at the age of 14 to study physics and then dropped out to join the Thiel Fellowship and start The Longevity Fund. If that wasn't enough, Laura most recently founded Age1, a four-month startup accelerator program focused on founders creating longevity companies.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Laura made her way from studying physics at MIT at just 14 to founding The Longevity Fund and dropping out to join The Thiel Fellowship?

2.) As a 16-year-old, looking to raise a fund to invest in longevity, how was the fundraise process for Laura? Why does Laura believe that raising your first fund is very much like raising a seed round for a company? What was the catalytic moment when the fundraise started to come together? What were the biggest challenges of the raise?

3.) Why does Laura believe that there is a shortage of young biotech founders today? What can be done to solve this and increase pipe? How does Laura find biotech founders compare to more traditional consumer and B2B founders she engages with? How does what they look for from their investor base differ?

4.) Laura has spoken before of "the importance of going against the herd"? How does Laura assess the current landscape for biotech investing? Is Laura concerned to see the entrance of much more traditional VCs into the space? How does Laura look to try and avoid groupthink? What is crucial to this?

5.) How does one need to think about portfolio construction when investing in an inherently riskier biotech space? Does Laura agree with the conventional wisdom around the lack of follow-on funding for biotech companies? How does Laura think about reserve allocation with Longevity today?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Laura’s Fave Book: The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain,

Laura’s Most Recent Investment: System1

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Laura on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are back for another week in the world of the 20 minute VC with me, Harry Stebbings, at H. Stebbing's
0:04.6	1996 with two Bs on Instagram. And my word, what an episode we're back with today. I have to say,
0:10.2	I really couldn't be prouder of this episode. It's such an incredible individual, with a phenomenal
0:14.8	journey to today and could not be more excited for the next chapters ahead for her. So with that in mind, I'm thrilled to welcome Laura Deming, founding partner at the Longivity Fund. The first VC firm dedicated to funding
0:26.0	high potential longevity companies. And to date, Laura has raised $26 million across two longevity
0:32.0	funds and has backed the lights of unity biotechnology, precision biosciences, metacrine, Navitor and Alexo therapeutics.
0:39.9	Prior to longevity, check this out. Laura was accepted to MIT at the age of just 14 years old
0:45.0	to study physics and then dropped out to join the Teal Fellowship and start the longevity fund.
0:49.7	If that wasn't enough, Laura has also most recently founded Age 1, a four-month startup accelerator program
0:55.3	focused on founders creating longevity companies. And I'd also want to say huge thank you to former
1:00.0	guest, Daniel Gross at Pioneers. For the intro to Laura's today, I really do so appreciate that,
1:04.9	my friend. However, before we dive into all things life extension with Laura, I want to spend a little time
1:09.7	on hymns, a new wellness
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1:27.5	Thanks to science, baldness can be optional.
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1:35.7	No waiting room, just answer a few questions, and you get the product shipped to your door.
1:39.9	Even better, though, listeners of 20 VC get a trial month of Hymns.
1:43.1	For just $5 today while supplies last.
1:46.0	Go to 4hems.com slash 20VC. That's F-O-H-I-M-S dot com forward slash 20VC. Thanks to my friends at
	...

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