Musician-turned-investor DA Wallach on his rockstar days, spotting Spotify early and investing in human health

He believes both types of founders are critical to biotech and life sciences ventures, and without one or the other, “it would be hard to succeed”. 

“What we find is that the technical founder may be a genius, but however smart they are, they have no experience in regulation or commercialisation,” he said. But rather than obtaining that knowledge on their own, Wallach and his team prefer a founder who has the humility to recognise where they lack and who they should surround themselves with that complement their skill set.

“As each of the domains is specialised, you have to attract remarkably skilled people to join your team. Even in the first year or two [of a startup’s existence], this is a factor we look for. Has the founder built their network and made the efforts to find high-quality talent to join them?” he said.

“Like anything great in life, nothing happens…