Daily Blog
We're back… Sorry bout that. Friday was so unbelievably dense in activity that it took away my ability to do anything creative or interesting over the weekend. I'll recap everything with notes along the way.
Woke up at 5:30 AM to catch a train to Boston. Not fun, but we ball. Met with my group and walked to Union Station. Brain was off. As I boarded the two-hour train ride, my lack of sleep and absurd tiredness battled with the unholy amount of caffeine I consumed, leaving me in a state of limbo between sleep and wakefulness. This battle made time tick slower, stretching the ride into an eternity. My anguish, coupled with extreme boredom, had me looking into the speed of trains around the world. Theoretically, if Amtrak used the same trains as Japan or China, the trip would only be 40 minutes (according to a ChatGPT query I submitted while half asleep). Amtrak gotta step their game up. This had me thinking about natural monopolies, and why China and Japan had much better transportation options despite a lack of capitalistic competition. Maybe privatizing everything isn't the move—idk tho, not an economist or a politician, and definitely not educated enough (I took intro micro ≠ expert economist).
Anyway, tangent aside, I got to Boston. Honestly, pretty underwhelming. Boston is a lot more similar to New Haven than it is to a city like NYC or Chicago (sorry Bostonians). Quiet energy. First stop on the trip was Quiver Bioscience. The CEO, Dr. Graham Dempsey, gave us a tour of the lab. What I found most interesting was his background. Unlike a traditional CEO, Dr. Dempsey is a scientist at heart. Up until a few months ago, he was the Chief Scientific Officer of the company. Super cool guy, took finance classes at night to get ready to be CEO. His passion for the impact of his tech stood out most. He had pictures up on the wall of the families that his brain screening tech was saving. He was clearly driven by an unwavering hunger to reduce human death and suffering. In a field with so many garbage drugs and overhyped pipelines, it is incredibly refreshing to see a vision like his.
Next up was AI Proteins, founded by Prof. Chris Bahl. You can learn more about the specifics of his tech in his TED Talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pSMgmL7vF0). Prof. Bahl is a self-proclaimed protein geek, and it shows. His love for the science behind his tech was clear when we spoke. However, what stood out most at AI Proteins was the company's incredible culture. For a company working on literally the most important challenges in medicine, their walls were covered in jokes. Also, infinite snacks everywhere, and a very very very nice espresso machine. They gave me a cool mug, so that's also awesome. I asked Prof. Bahl why he left academia; he told me to go into a pharmacy and read the labels on the medications. You will never find a university on a label; he said that universities are great for training, but to make an impact, you need to step into industry. Whether that's a good or bad thing is debatable in my opinion, but it is true in our current world. He did say, however, that in biotech, you need a PhD or some form of formal training to get enough experience to go into your own venture. The next person I met disagreed.
Next stop was the Harvard Future of Aging Research Mixer. Met way too many people to write full paragraphs about each, so I’ll just list them out here: Prof. Kristen Fortney (CEO and founder of BioAge Labs), Prof. Brad Manor (Harvard scientist studying age-related disease), Martin Jensen (founder of Gordian Biotechnology and hilarious guy), Alex Coville (founder of age1 VC), and Nabiha Saklayen (CEO and cofounder of Cellino). However, by far the most fascinating person I spoke to was John Bailey, Head of Hardware at Until Labs. Until has two primary goals: freezing donor organs long term, and sci-fi style cryonic hibernation.
There are a myriad of noteworthy qualities about John. First, note the lack of “Prof.” before his name. John Bailey does not have a PhD; in fact, he dropped out of his master's program at Stanford after finishing his BS there. He also did research at Yale's Wu Tsai Institute (big up Bulldogs). When I asked him what he thought of PhDs, he said that living and breathing one topic for 8–12 months has more utility than a PhD in the modern entrepreneurial space. Traction will always beat degrees. By building a team that produced a proof of concept in organ freezing, he got the attention of dozens of investors, ultimately leading to over 100 million dollars in investment. Second, he is hands down the greatest presenter I have ever seen. The way he presented Until's short-term revenue proposition (freezing organs) and how it tied into their long-term goal of indefinite hibernation made it seem like the worst case scenario was still an immense success. Also, every technical and hardware innovation was tied to the number of people it would save. Super awesome guy—we exchanged numbers at the end of the talk, and hopefully this won't be the last time Until is mentioned here.
After that, I got interviewed by the Harvard Aging Initiative IG, and then boarded the train back to New Haven.
Alright, this is my longest blog post yet. Huge huge thanks to Soleil Wizman for organizing the trip. Lesson of the day/weekend, I guess, is to put yourself in the right positions to absorb as much information as possible, and growth will be guaranteed after. Also bonus lesson is to not be afraid to take a much much much needed break.