Any tips from the gurus in here as to the best method for sourcing start-ups? Looking at the healthcare field specifically, in the seed or Series A stage. Obviously sources like Pitchbook are helpful, but are there any overlooked and/or underutilized sources or methods that you have found beneficial?
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FiercePharma and FierceBiotech.
You know your shit homie. Easily my favorite sources too.
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Most big pharma companies have a VC arm. Check those too.
To give a reference, one idea I had was looking at NIH grants to academic institutions. Sure, many times giving money to a PhD student and a post-doc may not bear any fruit, especially in terms of start-up formation, but at least keeping an eye on these things will give an idea of some new technology and where a company might start.
Research a specific sector within healthcare and finding startups will come. Write a thesis to demonstrate your skillz. If you're getting started, use CB Insights.
What are you sourcing start ups for? Just to learn about them -- The Pharma Guy is spot on with the Fierce newsletters/sites. CB insights is also quite good.
If you're looking at them with as some form of potential investor, the existing investor syndicate can give some color on who is supportive of the company. For example, GRAIL has a syndicate led by ARCH that includes GV, JJI, and Amazon, and several other corporate vc's. GRAIL appears to be a rockstar and is said to have the science to detect pre-symptomatic cancer with a blood test. However, everyone's favorite blood testing company Theranos (RIP), aside from Fortress, had a fairly weak syndicate with several low tier firms and individuals. Sometimes this can be seen as a red flag. From an investor standpoint, identifying strong Series A startups is very different from those in the Seed round. Series A companies will be drawing investors and these large VC operations can be quick to the punch. However, seed companies can often be very lowkey, since a lot of the info about them has yet to cross the investor's ocular path. This might be changing tho since VC's are adding very strong internal incubators (i.e. FS Venturelabs).
A final note, I also really like to learn from podcasts. My current favorite is A Healthy Dose, which is led by Steve Kraus of Bessemer and Trevor Price of Oxeon. Very interesting/funny/respected guys who get some fantastic guests.
Thanks for the thorough response
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