You founded SQZ Biotech based on your PhD work at MIT and led it for nearly a decade through IPO and clinical trials. What were some of the biggest lessons during this journey?
I think one of the common sentiments you’ll hear is “it’s all about the people”. I certainly agree with this, however, the slight modification I would add to it is that the biggest difference makers are the people that took a chance on you/your company when they didn’t have to.
Meaning these were people that had ‘safer options’ at the time, be it in the context of partnership, investment, joining the team, etc. But chose to join or support the company because they also got excited about the people and the vision. The most impactful investors, employees, external partners along the way were these types of people.
Another significant lesson has been to never forget the value of time. Getting things done quickly and efficiently, big or small, really matters as your most expensive resource is time (i.e. runway till cashout) and you need to make enough progress in a given period of time in order to reach escape velocity.
At Portal Bio, you describe the technology as the “intel inside” of a new generation of therapeutics. What inspired you to start again after SQZ, and how is your vision for Portal different or evolved from your previous venture?
I really wasn’t sure what I would do after I was out of SQZ. But fairly quickly, I found that my passion for cell therapies and the future they can enable was undiminished. It was hard to get excited about other, more conventional, modalities and so we got Portal started to help catalyze the broader impact of cell therapies.
One of the key differences between SQZ and Portal is that at Portal we have decided to pursue a platform only strategy – i.e. we do not intend to develop any of our therapeutics but rather purely focus on enabling others.
Through this approach, we hope to have the broadest long-term impact while also limiting the risks associated with potentially binary clinical outcomes.
You developed the Cell Squeeze® platform at MIT, which became the backbone of SQZ. What were some of the biggest scientific or technical breakthroughs that unlocked its potential?
While the platform has a lot of flexibility across cell types and cargos, many people, including ourselves in the early days, are not accustomed to the broad design space that these technologies give access to. Scientists are so used to operating under substantial cell engineering constraints, that inevitably their thinking has been shaped by the current ‘rules’.
Our technology changes all that because it makes it so simple to delivery many cargos simultaenously into virtually any cell type. Forcing ourselves to think more broadly and creatively now that we were unshackled from the conventional constraints took some practice but has led to some of the most interesting applications ranging from uses in oncology to regenerative medicine or even small molecule discovery.
Portal Bio focuses on a cell engineering platform – what are the main challenges in translating powerful platform technologies into real-world therapies, and how are you addressing them this time?
A lot of times, the challenge with a platform is that:
a) you don’t know which of the many possible clinical applications will be the first big hit
b) our field is conservative and most people don’t want to be the first to use a new technology in humans.
In addition to making our technology rapidly ready for the clinic, we have adopted a simpler non-royalty based business model that reduces the barriers to adoption.
With SQZ, you raised over $300M and struck a $1B+ pharma partnership. How do you approach strategic partnerships differently now, especially with the experience of bringing a company to IPO?
While I think we had a great partnership with Roche, we learned that the large licensing deals are few and far between. Moreover, if you want many groups to adopt the technology, a licensing model will discourage broad use.
Instead, we are trying to minimize the barriers to entry by having an open platform model. Economically, instead of betting on one big hit to make the return, we are betting that there will be many hits and a modest share of that upside across many applications should be sufficient
How do you balance deep tech development with investor expectations in a world that’s increasingly cautious with biotech funding?
While biotech is reeling, particularly therapeutics, we think a revenue generating model is one that can provide some cushion during tough times.
Also, generalist investors are more willing to look at platform business models when they would normally avoid the unpredictable world of therapeutics.
How did you go about building the team and culture at Portal after such a long tenure at SQZ? Were there any aspects you intentionally did differently?
Across both companies we’ve been trying to keep the patient impact as the number 1 reason we do what we do.
In addition, we try to maintain a fast-paced but otherwise casual work environment to hopefully ensure maximum flow of ideas/feedback with minimal interpersonal friction.
Inevitably, as you scale, corporate politics can rear its ugly head and with Portal I’d hope we can be more discplined about dealing with those issues early on.
You’re on the board of Genenta and part of Pear VC’s Bio Advisory Council. How do those roles shape your own thinking as a founder and CEO?
It has certainly been interesting seeing how the other side looks at a company. Perhaps the most striking realization to me has been just how vast the information delta is between management teams/founders and their investor or board stakeholders.
Having only been an operator before, I underappreciated how comparitively little the other stakeholders are likely tracking and therefore has made me much more conscious of how best to communicate, so that important nuances are not lost.
Who or what has shaped who you are?
Many things but probably two of the more significant ones are:
1) I grew up across Iran, Dubai and the US and saw firsthand how unfair life can be for people purely because they were born into a different socio-economic status and nationality. This made me determined to do my part to make the world better in the longrun.
2) In 2015, while we were getting SQZ off the ground, I was diagnosed with a blood cancer and went through 6 cycles of chemo before luckily being cured. Seeing the medical field through the perspective of an oncology patient helped further my resolve to make that difference.
Could you share something about yourself that few people are aware of(anything – could be a hobby, etc.)?
Probably item 2 above. On a lighter note, I still love going to EDM concerts.
What drives you?
Making the world a better place.
You’ve now seen the biotech world from academia, startup, IPO, and back to startup again. How has the landscape changed for platform biotech companies, especially in cell therapy?
While the overall financial markets were more robust during our time at SQZ, I was learning many new things on the job and was often met with skepticism from potential investors/partners because of my young age and lack of past experience.
This time, it is a very tough financial environment but the credibility and battle scars from the past have made many activities easier. The biotech landscape, particularly for cell therapies, is pesimistic today, but I think some of the technologies being deployed today are likely the big change drivers of the long-term.
We are past the initial hype cycle of cell thearpy, now lets see what the real long-term impact trajectory can look like as the remaining groups grind through.
Looking back, what advice would you give your younger self at the moment you spun Cell Squeeze® into a company? And what’s the one thing you still remind yourself of today as a founder?
I would say even though you hate disappointing people, deal with people problems early despite the discomfort.
Also, there are many moments along the journey where it can be tempting to hire/retain/promote someone because of perception while passing on the high potential, inexperienced, rising star.
I found that generally the latter category far outperformed the former so I keep reminding myself to have the courage to bet on potential.