Oct. 23 seminar lays out strategies for building new med-tech companies

Brook Byers, a general partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, a venture capital firm that launched Google, Amazon, Genentech and several other industry-defining companies, will describe lessons learned from a decade of helping scientists and entrepreneurs build medically focused companies based on molecular diagnostics, biotech and informatics breakthroughs.

Brook Byers ©

Byers will speak at an Oct. 23 seminar that begins with a reception at 4:30 p.m. in the foyer of the Orchid Room of the Courtyard Marriott on the UC Davis Sacramento campus. His talk, entitled “Building new Med-Tech Companies: Not as Hard or Easy as you Think,” follows from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., with an informal discussion from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

The presentation is part of the ongoing Davis Technology Series, which Richard Levenson, vice chair for strategic technologies in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, launched earlier this year as a forum to connect leaders in industry, academia and science, and promote collaborations. The series is sponsored by the pathology department, and Byers’ talk is co-sponsored by UC Davis Venture.

Byers also will discuss the scientific, product-development, team, regulatory, reimbursement, adoption, market and financial challenges that must be managed and overcome to be successful. He believes the recently difficult funding environment is turning around and that previous time-tested strategies need to be refined to achieve success.

A venture capital leader in the medical health-care and biotechnology sectors, Byers formed the first life-sciences practice group in the venture capital profession in 1984.  He has been closely involved with more than 60 new technology-based ventures, many of which have become public companies. He is on the board of trustees of Stanford University and a board member of the UC San Francisco Medical Foundation and the New Schools Foundation. He was raised in Atlanta, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech and received an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Those planning to attend the seminar should register at http://DTSBrookByers.eventbrite.com. For questions, contact Anna Gutiérrez at 916-734-2350 or anna.gutierrez@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu