De-Risking Your Start-Up

Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Invites

IN THIS EPISODE: In this episode our host, Denise Silber, is joined by Jon Hu and Samantha Dale Strasser, PhD, co-founders of Pepper Bio, a Boston-based life sciences start-up expanding the potential for successful drug discovery. By combining their knowledge of industries from venture capital to electrical engineering, Jon and Samantha share lessons that are applicable to almost any start-up.

Using transomics technologies, these founders are operating at the cutting edge of the intersection of technology and biology. Jon and Samantha share an honest account of how they have worked to de-risk the building blocks of their company: the product offering, the science behind it, their management team, branding, and more. This episode is not to be missed by any entrepreneur looking to pave a smooth path to success.

GUEST BIOS:

Jon Hu, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pepper Bio. At Pepper, Jon leads recruitment, partnerships, and investor relations to build the company and achieve its mission to treat the untreatable. Hu is experienced in pharmaceutical research and development (Shire Pharmaceuticals), private equity (Bain & Company), and venture capital (Guild Capital). Jon earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Economics from Northwestern University.

Samantha Dale Strasser, Ph.D., Co-founder of and Chief Science Officer of Pepper Bio. At Pepper, Strasser leads the science team and the advancement of transomics for drug development. Strasser developed the foundation of Pepper Bio’s technology during her time as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at MIT, where she earned her PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Strasser’s PhD co-advisor was Pr Kevin Haigis of Harvard Medical School and the research lab was at HMS Teaching Hospital Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Strasser earned her M.Phil in Physics at the University of Cambridge, as a Churchill Scholar, and her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University.