Events

Why You Should Apply

The QB3 Bio Startup Speed Teaming program, in partnership with the UC Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center, introduces would-be startup founders with complementary expertise, with the hope of finding fruitful matches. Participants include technical experts with a potentially commercializable technology, and individuals with business, operational, or technical expertise who are interested in co-founding or joining a startup.

• Do you have a life science startup idea and are you looking for a co-founder, collaborator, or advisory with complementary skills?
• Do you have business or technical skills, but need a technology to commercialize?
• Or maybe you’re looking for someone to participate with in programs like Nucleate, NSF I-Corps, or Skydeck?
• If so, apply to participate in Bio Startup Speed Teaming!

You do not need to be affiliated with UC Berkeley or any UC campus to take part, but this program is intended to support bio-entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“This was the most effective networking event I have been to during my time at Berkeley, much more effective than throwing everybody into one room. The short bios on the Google sheet are especially helpful. I would love to attend again” — February 2022 Bio Startup Speed Teaming Participant

Our Motivation

One of the most commonly expressed pain points in academic life science entrepreneurship is that it’s hard to find a teammate, co-founder or advisor with complementary skills, particularly with business expertise. Investors expect balanced startup teams, and many entrepreneurship programs require it. Moreover, a balanced team helps gain admission to and ensure success in programs further down the road to commercialization.

Speed Teaming Solution

This program is the next iteration of the LSEC Bio Startup Speed Teaming run by Darren Cooke.

Inspired by the methods used to match Key Advisors with cohort startups at Berkeley SkyDeck as well as speed dating events, we run a non-curated and non-algorithmic approach to connecting possible would-be teammates. We facilitate a up to a ten 10-minute one-on-one meetings over the course of two hours, between would-be startup founders with disparate but possibly complementary areas of expertise. This Speed Teaming process runs with the understanding that most of the meetings will not result in a fruitful connection. However consistently one or two strong connections are made, which we consider a success. We are aware of two companies being formed as a result of connections made in Speed Teaming.

For each of the Speed Teaming rounds, participants are placed in a Zoom room with another attendee. At the end of each ten-minute session, they return to the main zoom room. We leave any follow-up conversations to be arranged by the attendees, who will be encouraged to communicate with each other after the event if they find potential synergies.

“Already recommended to a friend! Was a great session and got to meet some very interesting people.” — October 2021 Bio Startup Speed Teaming Participant

Campus Collaborations

This program is presented by QB3 with support from Berkeley LSEC and UC Berkeley’s Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances.

“I had some really great conversations and will be following up with about 5-6 people out of 10. Great evening! I’d love to participate in more of these.” — October 2021 Bio Startup Speed Teaming Participant

A Bio Startup Speed Teaming Success Story

Haas MBA/MPH student Hannah Weber and Abergel lab postdoc Julian Rees participated in Speed Teaming in Fall 2021 and had one 10-minute meeting. They then participated in I-Corps through the Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center, found a real market need, formed HOPO Therapeutics, and proceeded to launch with Berkeley SkyDeck’s Pad-13 program. HOPO moved in to Bakar Labs as a tenant. Could you be next?

Application