MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Clad in T-shirts, the startup founders cycled through the stage, each whizzing through a two-minute pitch packed with wildly optimistic promises and generously large market estimates.
Some pitched the usual Silicon Valley fare, like drones and live-streamed fitness classes and laundry detergent subscriptions aimed at hip millennials. But more than ever before, many of them pitched ideas for the life sciences: Transistors for synthetic biology. An experimental cell therapy for patients with liver disease. And a diagnostic that aims to bypass needles altogether by collecting blood from women’s used menstrual pads — and in doing so collect reams of data that are invaluable to pharma companies.
The occasion was Demo Day, something of a biannual ritual here at the end of each winter and summer. The storied incubator Y Combinator puts it on, so that the early-stage startups it backs can show off their progress and potential to a standing-room only crowd of top venture capital investors and other Silicon Valley royalty. You can think of it like a debutante ball.
About the Author Reprints
Shark Tank is an ABC show – reruns are on CNBC
Reading here about the bio startups that were selected by Ybio, and having been deprived of the chance of being part of it myself. More like, Y a combinator of incompetent people that don’t know squat.
FYI
debuttante spells with a double TT, and the plural version is debuttanti. Doing your homework when adventuring in foreign territory is always a good approach.
cheers