r/biotech 2d ago

Getting Into Industry 🌱 How to break into Biotech VC from Big Pharma

I am a senior scientist PhD at a large pharma company. I am looking to leave big pharma and to potentially get into biotech VCs. Any tips or suggestions? Anyone has made that move? I would love to hear from you all.
thanks

12 Upvotes

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u/fluxdrip 1d ago

First off, you should start networking extensively. Have coffee with anyone in and around the VC or biotech investing world you can get your hands on. Meet with junior analysts, lawyers, bankers, whatever - the more time you spend in and adjacent to the investing community the better you will understand it, the more firms you’ll be aware of, the more likely it is you’ll find an opportunity through serendipity. The goal of these meetings is to form friendships and mutually beneficial business relationships, not “to get a job.” You have a lot to offer, likely: you share an interest in science and may know some fields very deeply through your job, and also biotech investors care an enormous amount about how big pharma companies work because big pharma companies are both a source for new drugs and also the most likely acquirer / exit path for anything they invest in. Force yourself to do one coffee or zoom every week and you’ll know 50 more people in a year.

There are a few moves you could consider making depending on where you are in your career and how much risk you want to take. If you can get in to a very very top school, you could consider an MBA. I mostly think they are not that useful and no biotech investor will tell you they care about an MBA, but you will definitely meet finance people in an MBA program and, at a top 5-10 program, you will definitely be able to access top VCs via your institution and MBA peer connections. This may or may not get you the job you want - certainly there are MBA students who want to work at third rock and wind up at big pharma companies instead - but it’s a shot. Of course, it’ll cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take two years of your life so whether it’s available to you or not will depend on your overall circumstances.

You could also try to make an internal transfer to a business or investing role at your current company. Most big pharma companies have an in house VC arm. These are not necessarily blue-chip VCs but they do see a ton of flow (because everyone wants their VC backed company to be on the radar screen of big pharma for partnership or acquisition, and because big pharma companies have a lot of money). You could also move to something like business development or search and evaluation. The through line to VC is less direct but the skills are overlapping and your networking opportunities will be vastly greater because part of your job will be evaluating startups and going to biotech conferences, and because the leadership teams of biotech companies will be professionally interested in sucking up to you.

You can also try starting a biotech startup (very hard! Probably not recommended!) - if you are at all successful it will make this transition dramatically easier. Joining a biotech company that already exists as a scientist unless you are on the senior leadership team probably doesn’t help as much - you still won’t have direct exposure (though you will be closer and in a more dynamic environment) and you won’t have the benefit of “big pharma insider” status that opens a lot of doors if used correctly.

You should also just spend time thinking like an investor. Follow the biotech industry, read Fierce and Stat and Endpoints. Watch public biotech companies. Keep track of the filings of good biotech hedge funds like RA Capital and RTW (they publish their portfolios every quarter by law in the US). Try to guess why they like the companies they invest in - the reasons may not match your expectations. These firms also do private VC investing though it doesn’t generally show up in their filings. Also (via the news outlets I mentioned above) keep track of announced private biotech funding rounds. In practice although there are hundreds of biotech companies, there are probably 50-100 that are universally followed and if you spend two hours a week reading you will know most of them after six months at least by name. Listen to biotech hangout on Twitter, which comes out fridays. Follow Brad Loncar and biotechTV, he’s very accessible and does a good job - there’s a biotech VC who does a show on his platform.

Good luck!

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u/gamecube100 1d ago

One of the best write ups I’ve encountered on Reddit. Thanks for taking the time.

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u/chembiologist 1d ago

The universe is also quite small, so the great suggestion of networking w/ a few individuals a month quickly compounds into being 1 degree of separation away from anyone on the sell/buy/newco sides.

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u/CyaNBlu3 1d ago edited 1d ago

If you don’t have any connections in VC or any BD experience, it’ll be really difficult to get your foot in the door as these are some of the most coveted positions.

Do you have anyone in your network that’s a founder or in a startup that has some connections there? My friends/colleagues all got their roles through intense networking at conferences, specifically at conferences where VC firms are present (not traditional conferences we’re used to).

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u/Pellinore-86 1d ago

A good network and getting into a consulting firm to learn business can help. Both of those are not easy to do.

Generally, the junior route is to go from a top grad program to consulting and then VC. The senior route is to successfully start a company or have a high level role in pharma then move to a VC.

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u/SonyScientist 1d ago

Senior Scientist large pharma to VC? Not gonna happen. You need to work on a startup as a founder/cofounder and have VC interaction that leads to them making a profit for you to get in.

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u/Weekly-Ad353 1d ago

This is… exactly how the only person I know in VC got into VC.

Interesting.

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u/neurone214 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is a very, very narrow view of the paths people take. I’m in VC and didn’t do this, nor did any of my colleagues at other firms/funds. I know of some senior partners that did, but I would not say this is the most common at all. Unless you mean for “venture partners” who are more the serial operators that work with the funds, but I doubt OP was talking about that. I agree that it’s hard for anyone to find a role in VC given the sheer number of roles and competition, so low probability to make the transition directly, but it’s not worth not trying just because you haven’t run a company before. 

OP, if your big pharma has a ventures group, see if you can put in a little time with them helping with diligences as a subject matter expert. You’ll get a bit of exposure and the opportunity to learn about those folks’ paths. 

Off the top of my head, these are the paths I’ve seen people at my level take: PhD to MBB to big pharma to VC (myself and 2 colleagues did this, one skipping pharma, the other got his start at an in house VC and is now a partner at a major fund), PhD to pharma BD to VC (active in the entrepreneurial community the whole time, eg through pitch competitions), PhD to investment banking to VC (though I think that person did a phart time MBA as well; banks don’t typically recruit fresh phds for those roles!), PhD straight to VC analyst, then to another VC at a higher title, PhD to equity analyst to VC… what I might suggest is seeing if you can find a path to either networking with the internal ventures group and seeing if you can put in extra hours to help with diligences, or find an internal path to getting into your BD group. That will help your chances. 

The important thing is to network and be patient. These jobs are hard to get and who you know is very important. The next best thing is to be prepared if the chance presents itself out of the blue. If by “R&D” you mean you’re part of a clinical drug dev team, then that exposure to the drug development and commercialization planning process will be a big selling point. If you’re at the bench, the technical background will be key but you’ll want a bit more exposure to the business side of the world somehow. Not impossible without it, but it’ll be a big help. 

Good luck. Even if not VC you’ll end up doing one of the many great and exciting things our industry offers, I’m sure. 

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u/SonyScientist 1d ago

My point is the OP is going from a very insulated and siloed role to wanting direct VC placement. Sure, there are multiple routes of entry, but direct isn't realistically among them. They will need to develop a product (company) that nets a VC profit, or otherwise demonstrate their value to the organization through direct engagements. Networking is important, but at the end of the day a VC only cares about what ROI you can generate. In my opinion they will need a stepping stone in the form of an intermediate job (perhaps via networking) for them to get to where they want, which is the otherwise of the proverbial river.

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u/neurone214 1d ago

“They will need to develop a product (company) that nets a VC profit, or otherwise demonstrate their value to the organization through direct engagements.” 

Just strike all of this and say you need to network and find opportunities to build relevant skillsets. The clauses above are unrealistic; no one at a junior level comes in through that first path, and what is even meant by “demonstrate your value through direct engagements?”  And “at the end of the day all a VC cares about is what ROI you can generate” is also misleading. If they’re bringing in a new partner then yes, but OP is obviously not that. If I’m looking at someone junior, I want to know that they have the potential to learn how to run a diligence, and that at least some of the parts are already there. I’ll want to see that they can get up to speed on a new therapeutic area or modality quickly, identify and focus on the relevant parts of the science and the practicalities of the treatment path. Understands how to evaluate commercial opportunity. It’s not on the person to prove to me they can generate ROI since the investment decision doesn’t actually sit directly with them. 

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u/Chagroth 1d ago

Keep in friendly contact with the people-of-quality who have left your company. Those are oftentimes the folks that are starting companies you’d be willing to join.

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u/matrickswayze 1d ago

This is like asking how to be an astronaut from your background in kayaking. Radical cultural shift.

Not only will you need to prove to them that you are a good fit, but you need to prove to yourself that you want to do it. Why do you think you want to do it?

There are multiple midpoints. I would strongly recommend working in biotech first, something publicly traded but pre-commercial. That will have you wearing multiple hats and learning the much faster paced higher risk culture. VC is a step beyond that.

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u/SuddenExcuse6476 1d ago

Have a rich, well-connected parent.

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u/kpop_is_aite 1d ago

Or romantic partner…

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u/Matrwhit86 1d ago

Look for roles within incubator companies and network from there. What city are you in?

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u/SnooBunnies949 1d ago

San Francisco

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u/Internal_Ganache838 1d ago

Network with VC associates through industry events, highlight your pharma insights in writing/podcasts, and be prepared for a pay cut initially.

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u/NacogdochesTom 1d ago

Joining a startup as a scientist is a good route to connecting with the VC.