Attended: NYC Bio Meetup – Nuts and Bolts of Biotechnology Entrepreneurship – Session IV

This is the second time I’ve attended the Bio-Entrepreneur Meetup and it’s a pleasure to see how many post-docs, early stage companies and potential investors show up. The emphasis here is on earlier stage companies and there was an enthusiasm in room that I rarely feel when out at networking events.

Tonight’s event was called “Crossing the Valley of Death and it focused on getting funded. The speakers were interesting: Jahan Ali of the NYC Investment Fund, Colleen Gibney of ITAC – the Industrial & Technology Assistance Corp. – two entities focused on business creation in New York City – and Brian Cohen of New York Angels.

Jahan spent some time discussing the BioAccelerate NYC prize, a citywide competition to provide funding for biomedical translational research. Companies receiving the awards could receive up to $250K, as well as space at 29th Street (where?) or at the new East River Science Park. One interesting thing Jahan suggested for early stage companies is to develop relationships with patient advocacy groups since many have funds for startups. This is a smart tactic for any company focusing on a particular disease stage, BTW.

Colleen Gibney of ITAC spoke about those seemingly ubiquitous but elusive SBIR grants. ITAC holds a monthly workshop on how to apply for those, the next one will be held January 13th. She pointed out that applying for SBIR grant is likely to get tougher in 2010 give that funding for the program may increase, making it less attractive to 1-2 person startups. In addition, ITAC offers a Fastrac program that focuses on the business side of any business and might be important for company founders that come from the research world.

Brian Cohen defined what angel investors do and how they take the biggest risks by betting on the earliest stage companies. He noted that Angels invest in pre-revenue companies at a much lower valuation than later-stage investors. He said, in general, they are looking for a strong business plan and strong people. He admitted the NY Angels don’t see that many life science startups because the earlier stage companies might be more likely to go to a university or a company-related fund.

His advice to the bio-entrepreneurs in the room:

“Present relentlessly. Meet people. Expand your network. Hustle.”

Networking at the event was topnotch. I spoke with Brian afterwards, traded notes with him on last week’s UltraLightStartups, and spoke at length with Jim Chinitz of Population Diagnostics, who, a few months earlier, gave one of the most memorable presentations on being an entrepreneur in NYC.

It’s too bad there aren’t more events like this in NYC. The death of Lab 2 Wall St. quarterly Molecular Mixers has left a void that has yet to be filled. The NY tech community has events nearly every night and provides several models for events that could be duplicated for the biotech startup community.

UPDATE: NOTE TO NETWORKERS: It’s kinda bad form to try to pitch a speaker at an event. Worse, trying to put a business plan in their hands. They are likely surrounded by others trying to get their attention, get their business card. And, if they do listen to your pitch and glance at your plan, it won’t have their full attention. Plan these interactions carefully.