An Interview with Shelley Force Aldred: HiPower member and serial entrepreneur
Shelley Force Aldred launched a new biotech start up and began a fund-raising journey in the middle of the pandemic. Her company, Seismic Bio, Inc., focuses on the discovery and optimization of antibodies to high-value immuno-oncology targets. Shelley’s passion comes from seeing her own mother run out of medical treatment options, while she and her sister triumphed in their medical battles decades later through access to cutting edge therapies. Shelley sat down with fellow member, Betsy Tong, to talk about her journey thus far.
WHO ARE YOU?
I am a scientist and entrepreneur. I love the intersection of medical research and company building. My affinity for science and problem solving is deeply rooted. I also grew up watching my father build his own business. It taught me the difference between having a regular job and the deep engagement that comes from feeling ownership while creating something from nothing.
WHY DID YOU START A BIOTECH COMPANY?
First, cancer has had a profound effect on my family, and sadly we are not alone. My sister and I were fortunate to have access to cutting edge therapies and emerged from our cancer journeys healthier than ever. But more than 30 years ago, my Mom was not so lucky. I have a deep understanding of the despair that comes with being told that your loved one has exhausted all of her treatment options. I entered the fields of medical research and drug development to provide hope for families that are running out of choices.
Second, my dream is to find a calling that requires my specific combination of strengths and abilities, the kind of career I can sink my teeth into and do better than almost anyone else on the planet.
For me, biotech entrepreneurship is that calling. I can build something using my combined strengths in science, communication, strategy, operations, and finance along with a very high risk tolerance. Apparently, to feel truly alive in my work, I need to be terrified half the time.
Third, I start companies to create my own opportunities. Years ago, I was told I lack strong leadership qualities – when measures of team satisfaction, productivity, and overall performance showed otherwise. In another situation, I had the opportunity to lead negotiation and deal structuring for the acquisition of a company that I co-founded and led with my equal-status business partner. Despite our clear communication of equal status to the acquirer and having almost identical credentials, the first org chart presented showed my male business partner on a fast track to the C-suite and my trajectory peaking two levels below that. I quickly realized that the most direct path to exciting leadership roles is creating them for myself.
WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO WITH SEISMIC BIO?
We are developing new cancer medicines for patients with tumors that do not respond to currently available treatments, from old-school chemotherapy to the newest immunotherapy drugs. Generally, it takes three to five years and at least $12-15M to take a new drug from an idea on paper into human clinical trials. We must convince ourselves, our investors, and the FDA that a new molecule’s positive effects are highly likely to outweigh any risks or toxicities. It can be a long and challenging road.
WHAT ARE YOUR CREDENTIALS FOR BEING A BIOTECH ENTREPRENEUR?
I earned a PhD in Genetics from Stanford during the exciting heights of the Human Genome Project. Early in my education, I realized that while I was a very good scientist, I was not spectacular. Where I did stand out was in the ability to combine my scientific training with strong problem solving, communication, and people skills that aren’t always part of the typical scientist profile. I also had a jump on business skills having watched my Dad build his business and having studied accounting and economics in college, a condition of receiving tuition support from my parents.
In 2006, after finishing grad school, a friend and I decided to start a company – which we built up over six years before successfully selling. In this time, I learned critical lessons, including how to negotiate and structure many different kinds of deals. I also learned how fortunate I was to have entered a true business partnership with someone I trusted completely. The whole process was a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, but I was hooked.
WHERE ARE YOU WITH SEISMIC BIO?
In building Seismic Bio and novel bispecific therapeutic antibodies, my focus has been bringing together the optimal combination of team, technologies, and targets. The team is small and agile, with previous start-up success as well as the specific knowledge and experience needed to create preclinical data packages rapidly and cost-effectively. In addition, our deep expertise in genomics, informatics, and immunology will drive discovery of best-in-class molecules using cutting-edge technologies. Finally, we have leveraged the extensive immuno-oncology experience and connections among the team and scientific advisors to select high-value biological targets.
Raising $4M will allow the company to take two ideas from concepts to the basic data packages required to convince larger investors that the projects are viable. So far, I have raised $0.5M of the targeted $4M seed round. Fundraising during the pandemic has been a unique challenge to say the least. The size of the round places Seismic somewhere between angel investors and seed-stage private equity groups, and only a subset of life science investors will consider funding a therapeutics company. In the near term, though, raising an additional $0.5M (for a total of $1M) will allow us to push the first project through to an in vitro (cells in a dish) proof-of-concept stage. At that point, I can circle back to some of the more cautious investors having significantly de-risked the first project.
WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE RAISING MONEY REMOTELY DURING A PANDEMIC?
My experiences seem to be in line with those of my peers, with something like two to four conversations out of a hundred yielding an actual investment. You have to take the attitude that no meeting is a waste of time, every new contact can teach you something, and you never know where a chain of new introductions will lead. . When talking with new connections, I prefer to spend the first 45 minutes getting to know one another and the last 15 minutes talking about the company. Creating that personal connection feels critically important so that eventual business conversations are rooted in something more solid than a single deal or investment.
BEING A FOUNDER IS HARD, HOW ARE YOU MANAGING?
I could not do this without the support of my husband who has been a full-time parent and the family manager for the last 10 years. Women often find themselves with three jobs – professional career, care for immediate family, and care for extended family or elderly parents. It has gotten even harder during the pandemic with having to manage distance learning for two kids. With my husband’s support, I have the flexibility to focus on meetings and raising money, helping out with the rest of the family responsibilities whenever it fits into my schedule. I have the luxury to pick and choose the moments where I assume the lead role with my kids. While my kids understand that I love what I do, I want to be sure their memories are not dominated just by “Mom working.”
Joining the HiPower program has also been critical for my personal and professional growth. After my first gender-related run-ins, I looked to peers for support and realized they were almost all men. Somewhere along the way, many of the kick-ass women in my network had moved off in other directions. I had to make it a specific and deliberate goal to build up that female peer ecosystem again. When I was told I wasn’t a strong leader, my HiPower support system helped me see that commentary on personality is often code for something else. Unfortunately my experience is not uncommon, but stories of HiPower women facing and triumphing over similar challenges brought me hope at a difficult time.
More recently, a HiPower member also provided the path to the first outside investment in Seismic Bio. During an Ask and Answer session at an off-site weekend, a HiPower member who I barely knew at the time, generously connected me to a personal friend and angel who invests in therapeutics companies. He ended up being my first non-friends-and-family investor.
WHAT HELP DO YOU NEED?
I appreciate any and all introductions to interesting people in the biopharma and life science investor worlds. It is a bonus if any of them (or their connections) have the potential to become investors. I also ask that we continue reaching out to one another, being willing to share vulnerability and acting as support systems. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can help in any way!
A major lifeline for me is my weekly check-in call with a member of my HiPower Ring who is also getting her own start-up off the ground. We boost each other up on every call and remind one another to focus on the positive events of the last week rather than get pulled down by the inevitable disappointments. Being a founder can really lonely, and I don’t know what we would do without one another. I draw great strength from sharing war stories with other women fighting similar battles.
Betsy Tong is a business architect who has spent much of her career transforming organizations for scale.
