Update on COVID-19: The Harvard Innovation Labs has always been a hub for inventive thinking. All our programming and events will continue virtually. We will email Zoom information after you register.
Session Topic: Practice Pitch & Demo Day
Overview: Founders will give 5-10 min pitches incorporating what they have learned throughout this term’s workshop series. Founders will receive critical feedback from peers and from the workshop leaders in a low pressure session.
Speakers: Troy Norris and Michael Fenn
Speaker Bios: Troy Norris focuses on innovation strategy, transactions and new product commercialization to drive growth and value for life sciences companies and their investors. As leader of Locust Walk’s Strategy and Analytics practice, Troy advises clients on portfolio and partnering strategy. As Managing Director of Valamont Advisors, Troy acts as an independent business strategy advisor. Having held senior positions in the life sciences practices of leading strategy consulting firms such as McKinsey, L.E.K. and EY-Parthenon, Troy has advised each of the top pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and more than 125 other therapeutic, diagnostic, medical device and digital health innovators.
Troy was previously Vice President of Corporate Development for Biogen Idec, and earlier led Biogen’s R&D investment prioritization process. Troy also led Business Development for three new ventures. He began his career with Astra USA where he led Clinical Operations, Finance and Planning. Troy received a BA in biochemistry from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Troy serves as an Innovation Fellow with Harvard Innovation Labs, as a member of MassBio’s Academic Initiatives Steering Committee, and a mentor to entrepreneur founders via HiLabs and MassConnect.
Michael Fenn, Ph.D. is the Director of Healthcare & Life Sciences at Harvard Innovation Labs and Founding team member & Director of Business Development at Aviceda Therapeutics. He has over a decade of experience bridging the gap between academic research and life science startup ventures with a focus on translation and commercialization of innovative technologies backed by robust science. At Harvard i-Labs, he is responsible for advising and supporting all healthcare and life science ventures, and helps lead the planning of the new Harvard Medical School Blavatnik Life Lab as part of the $200M Blavatnik Gift.
Dr. Fenn hails from beaches of Florida, where he was formerly an NIH-funded Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Center for Medical Materials & Biophotonics at Florida Institute of Technology. He has a diverse research background, which includes biomaterials & nanomaterials, drug delivery, tissue engineering & regenerative medicine with applications across medical devices, diagnostics, and biotechnology. Dr. Fenn helped launch and advise multiple startups that have successfully raised venture capital, achieved FDA clearance, and participated in prestigious programs such as Y-Combinator. Dr. Fenn received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, and B.S. in Chemistry/Biochemistry, all from the University of Florida.
About the Workshop Series: This series of workshops is being held for early-stage life science founders from the Harvard Innovation Labs ecosystem. The series of workshops is being hosted by Troy Norris (an HIL H&LS mentor and renowned executive biotech consultant – Managing Director, Valamont Consulting) and Dr. Michael Fenn. The workshop will focus specifically on business development, commercialization strategy, and product development strategy for life sciences and healthcare markets.
Topics will include value hypothesis creation and testing, healthcare customer discovery and stakeholder value mapping, market and competitor analyses, prioritization of indications/applications, healthcare economics and clinical value analyses, competitive advantage creation (e.g., IP, regulatory strategy, payor reimbursement strategy, etc.), basic financial modeling & forecasting, elevator pitch prep, and fundraising strategy development. The workshop will focus on group discussions facilitated by Troy and Michael with the group of founders on these different topics, as well as on the related assignments given throughout the course of the workshop series.
The workshop series will include ‘homework’ given to the founders, which will then be shared and discussed with the group as a means to gain feedback and insights into other founder’s learning experiences. The workshop series will also serve the purpose of promoting a strong sense of community among the founders, allowing them to help one another through the challenges experienced as early-stage life science founders.
