Unconventional Career Moves in Biotech: Finding a Path to Leadership | Caitlyn Krebs (Part 1/4)

Intro - 00:00:06: Welcome to The Biotech Startups Podcast by Excedr. Join us as we speak with first-time founders, serial entrepreneurs, and experienced investors about the challenges and triumphs of running a biotech startup from pre-seed to IPO with your host, Jon Chee. Our guest today is Caitlyn Krebs, co-founder and CEO of Nelu Bio, a company unlocking the endocannabinoid system—the body's own built-in balancing mechanism—through an AI-powered platform that designs novel cannabinoid-inspired small molecules to tackle pain, inflammation, endometriosis, and metabolic disease. Before founding Nelu Bio, Caitlyn spent over two decades at the intersection of science, technology, and commercialization, building and scaling companies across AI-driven drug discovery at Entelos, diabetes prevention at Tethys Bioscience, Alzheimer's prevention at Neurotrack, and early cancer detection at BlueStar Genomics, completing more than 50 strategic partnerships and product launches across biopharma, diagnostics, and digital health along the way. At Nelu Bio, Caitlyn leads the AI and in silico platform, designing next-generation cannabinoid therapeutics targeting CB1 and CB2 receptors, and recently announced positive results for cannabinoid-based treatment for endometriosis, a condition affecting 100 million women worldwide.

With a $12,000,000 Series A and a focus on one of medicine's most chronically underserved spaces, Caitlyn's journey from a child tagging sea turtles in a Hawaiian lagoon to biotech founder demonstrates how two decades at the bleeding edge of science can converge into an entirely new class of medicines, making this a conversation you won't want to miss. Over the next four episodes, Caitlyn shares how her experiences growing up on the Big Island of Hawaii would drive her entire career. She traces her path from a humbling premed track at Brown to finding her way into the Bay Area biotech ecosystem through a modeling and simulation company that was doing AI drug discovery before it had a name, a prediabetes startup blindsided by Medicare on maternity leave, an Alzheimer's platform sold into Japanese insurance companies, and a cancer detection company that sharpened her thinking on focus and capital efficiency, all leading to the moment a co-founder called and said, "I'm thinking about starting a company. Let me tell you about the endocannabinoid system."

Today, we'll hear about Caitlyn's childhood in Hawaii, tagging endangered Hawaiian green sea turtles for a University of Hawaii conservation project and crediting that experience as the spark for a lifelong love of science and biology. We'll also hear about navigating Brown University, going from top of her class in Hawaii to being humbled overnight by students from Exeter and Andover, taking an extra semester of organic chemistry just for fun, and falling in love not with pipetting, but with datasets while doing her undergraduate thesis in an endocrinologist's lab studying leptin and early obesity science. Lastly, we'll hear about Caitlyn's entry into the Bay Area biotech world, how her brother pointed her towards BayBio, and how at 27 years old, she found herself running the organization and managing a 26-person board of CEOs from Genentech, Gilead, and Ernst & Young, including a chance encounter with a 20-year-old Stanford dropout who came in wanting to learn about how to build a business. Without further ado, let's dive into part one of our conversation with Caitlyn Krebs.

Jon Chee - 00:04:31: Caitlyn, so good to see you again. Thanks for coming on the podcast.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:04:33: Nice to see you, Jon. Thank you for having me. Excited to be here today.

Jon Chee - 00:04:37: Yeah. Really looking forward to this conversation. Before we hit record, we were talking about how it's been, like, six months in the making. We finally made it.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:04:43: You're a busy guy. I'm a busy gal, but excited to have this conversation.

Jon Chee - 00:04:48: Yeah. And, you know, we always like to start the conversation by turning back the hand of time really to just learn about what were some formative experiences that shaped you, particularly around, like, what got you into STEM and what influenced your leadership philosophy and business philosophy. So take us back. What was your upbringing like?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:05:07: Sure. I'll take us all the way back to the Big Island of Hawaii. So I was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii. I'm a haole, so I'm a foreigner even though I was born there, but absolutely loved growing up on the Big Island in nature. And I think that really piqued my interest in science and my real curiosity for being out in nature and surrounded by some incredible places. And so I think that, really, my love of biotech, my love of science ultimately goes way back to really my early days and early roots.

Jon Chee - 00:05:45: That's awesome. Yeah. My wife and I are actually—we love going to Hawaii. So we're going there in May, so we're very, very excited. And, yeah, exactly. Hawaii is just like—you're just immersed. Like, talk about immersed in nature. I can definitely see how inspiration struck growing up there. And were your parents in science, or was it something that was kind of a you thing?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:06:06: Yeah. So my parents actually weren't in science, but I'd say my real love of science came out of a project that I was part of in high school. It was a turtle tagging project. So back when I was growing up, the Hawaiian green sea turtle was actually threatened, and so I was part of a project with the University of Hawaii to actually track these turtles and make sure that people were not killing them.

And now today, when I go back with my kids, the turtles are everywhere. And so I feel like I had a very small part, but very small part in changing the status of the turtles. You know? No longer threatened. They're very common. So I used to go out into this brackish water lagoon called Kiholo Bay at night with lights, dive down, bring the turtles up, tag them, track them. So it was—it was really an incredible experience, and that really, I think, fostered my curiosity in science and biology.

Jon Chee - 00:07:03: What a cool opportunity too. And, yeah, friends of mine went to University of Hawaii and, like, did marine biology, and it was, like, what an experience. And sounds like you found this inspiration through this project. And as you were, you know, thinking about after high school, college, was it already just like, okay. I'm going in. I'm going to be in STEM. And, you know, did you also know exactly what college you're gonna go to? Kind of take us back to where your head was at during that time.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:07:30: Sure. So I definitely knew that I love science. I loved complex systems, biology. I also loved chemistry and physics, so I knew I was a STEM kinda gal at that point. I had a lot of friends who were premed around me. At one point, I thought I wanted to be premed, so I took all the classes. And organic chemistry, which is typically one of the most challenge—orgo, as we refer to it, right, is one of the most challenging classes.

I took an extra semester of orgo for fun, which most people didn't do. And it's really paid off because, you know, what I'm doing today, it's all about organic chemistry. It's about creating new molecules for drug development. And so I'm actually using my degree and what I learned today in the real world, which some people are not, but I always kind of knew that that was the place that I wanted to be. And I had some incredible teachers and mentors along the way that really fostered that curiosity.

Jon Chee - 00:08:31: Love that. And I had a similar experience too. It's like—it is the classic just like, alright, pre-med, and then you just, like, have this baptism of fire of, like, oh, god. It's time to do some synthesis here. And, you know, when you were thinking about college selection for your undergraduate, did you have, like, a shortlist? Did you know, like—or did you just, like, I'm going here? How did you choose?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:08:54: Yeah. So growing up in Hawaii, the college counselor who is also my calculus professor and a professional fisherman. So, again, in Hawaii, you play many roles. He had a list of schools for me, and they're mostly on the West Coast. And I was like, nope. I'm not interested in those. And so I came up with my own list, Brown included. And he's like, "I don't know. I don't know if you can get into Brown." And, of course, then I was upset, and I was like, okay. Number one, challenge.

And I did, and so I absolutely loved it. I mean, it's an incredible school. It really fosters individual thinking and curiosity, and it's also very diverse. And so I felt at home. Hawaii is obviously very diverse, and so I really felt at home at Brown because of the people and the way that they think. I had a mentor there at Brown that said, "Harvard students rule the world. Brown students change the world." And so I love that. That was her—I love that—her motto.

Jon Chee - 00:09:55: How was the transition from Hawaii just, like, personally to the East Coast, like, Northeast? Was it, like, a culture shock? There's, like—or a weather shock? Or were you just like, I'm loving this. It's like, I loved it, like, how different it is?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:10:08: Yes. All of the above. I mean, the weather was probably the biggest shock.

Jon Chee - 00:10:12: Yeah.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:10:13: So going from seventy, eighty degree, very temperate weather to cold Northeast winters in Providence, Rhode Island. Again, Providence was not the most beautiful city either, at least not at that time. It changed a lot, but the weather was a shock. The culture was a shock too. The people, very different. And it was also a humbling experience for me. I came out probably being the smartest kid in my class, and I got to Brown. And I realized, wow, there's some really smart people around me, and so it was humbling and really had to believe in myself. I did just fine, but, you know, I went to school with folks from Exeter and Andover and Choate, and so it was a different caliber of students. Yeah.

Jon Chee - 00:10:59: I know that exact feeling. And going to Berkeley, you're just like—you're like, oh, there's some, like, geniuses here. I was always the person that would have to, like, midterms come up, finals come up. I'm, like, grinding, like, weeks on end. And then, like, folks who are just like, oh, yeah. Just like the night before, just, like, breeze through it and then just ace it. You're just like, what? I'm, like, toiling away over here on this, like, whiteboard, like a beautiful mind. And then I'm just, like, suffering, and there's, like, it's a breeze. They're, like, putting their midterm early. And I'm just like, what? I'm, like, running out of time. This is rough.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:11:35: Yeah. I'm with you, Jon. I was very diligent. I had to study. I had my organic chem flashcards. I lent me a little molecule set. I went to the math resource center for a bunch of calculus classes. I was definitely the person who worked really hard to kinda get to where I am. It doesn't come naturally, let's say.

Jon Chee - 00:11:53: Yeah. And I—I think too, like, that experience of, like, seeing people, like, we're just, like, oh, like, there are levels to this, like, there are levels to this, is always, like, a humbling but, like, important experience is just, like, there are always going to be people who are exceptional at things that you may not be, like, NBA level on. But the key is it's just, like, how do I work with those people? How do I surround myself with these wizards, like, and cover the spots that—you know, we all have our weak spots, quote, unquote, and our strengths, obviously, and just, like, how do we assemble a team that kinda, like, covers all our bases?

I also had that in, like, an athletics experience too, just, like, going to, like, collegiate level sports. I was like, oh. And that was actually for me where I was like, I'm just gonna hang it up. I'm like, I'm actually done with sports, and I think I'm gonna hit the books instead. So it's kind of a—it's just like a eye-opening experience.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:12:47: I was thinking to say, I played soccer, although Brown is D1, so I played club soccer and loved it. And you're absolutely right. It's really—Brown is all—all about the people and building relationships, right, and building your community and being motivated by people who, yeah, are geniuses, but also willing to help others. So I believe that sports is really important in building businesses as well. So it's really about—it's definitely in biotech. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. And so those were kind of early days of building those skills. And long labs, the chemistry labs were very long, and so making it through those with your lab partner created a lot of grit that's with me today.

Jon Chee - 00:13:30: Absolutely. And so did you have, like, a undergraduate lab experience? Like, I know sometimes folks will actually find a lab and stick it out through their whole undergraduate, like, experience. Did you have that?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:13:41: I had all kind of the typical chemistry lab, physics labs, but then I also—my thesis was in actually, a mentor, a guy called Dr. Nilney. So he's an endocrinologist, so MD-PhD, at the Rhode Island Hospital. And that's where I really fell in love with the lab and ran experiments. You know, pipetted, changed media at 3:00 AM to, you know, babysit my cells.

Jon Chee - 00:14:06: Yep.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:14:06: And that's really where I learned. I love the data and analysis piece of it. Like, the pipetting and running gels, it's okay. But it was, like, when you had that dataset and could you look at it differently and could you really learn something about it? That, I think, really also fostered my love of science and just experimentation. And animals. We were doing animal studies, so I got exposed early to all of that.

Jon Chee - 00:14:31: How did that opportunity come about?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:14:33: They had a career office for who you wanted to work with, and so there was a list of physicians and PhDs who would take undergrads into their lab. And so it was through Brown, and it was a good match. He liked me. I liked him. And he was actually doing some really exciting science on the thyroid releasing hormone, so hormone in your brain, but also one called leptin. And leptin is the satiety hormone. So he was, like, early days in obesity research, obviously, being an endocrinologist. So really motivating, and we kept in touch. You know? He was a great mentor of mine.

Jon Chee - 00:15:08: Very cool. Yeah. I'm always curious about those kind of, like, first lab experiences. For me, it was very much like a stumbled into it. Like, just, like, talk to a friend, and they're just, like, come check it out. Like, I didn't even know this world existed. Yeah. Berkeley is not known for—you kinda just have to feel around. Like—

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:15:25: Okay.

Jon Chee - 00:15:25: And they're like, figure it out. And I was like, alright. I'm gonna feel—feel around. It was, like, poke, like, top of the shoulder of a friend. But, yeah, I always encourage anyone who's, like, curious, like, who hasn't been in the lab, who listens is, like, go seek these out. Like, it's—you don't have to necessarily go into premed. Like, there are things out there.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:15:43: There are other right. And he—yeah.

Jon Chee - 00:15:44: Yeah. That's a big unlock for a lot of people.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:15:47: You're right. You're right. And he showed that to me. He was a physician, but he had this whole lab. He published a lot, and that was also where I learned to read scientific papers as well. He'd give me his papers. I would highlight them. We'd ask him questions. It was a really, I think, helpful experience to get exposed to.

I would have to say, though, I did look at other folks' labs, and I did go with an OB-GYN at one point to the local prison. She was actually treating women in prison, and that was really eye-opening. And I also learned that, wow, there's also this human element of it. And if you can treat patients and you can solve problems, and I think that also really excited me as we're developing therapeutics for endometriosis, really understanding women's health and the needs of women. That piqued my interest as well.

Jon Chee - 00:16:38: That's amazing. I always think those, like, early lab experiences are super formative if you can get it. It was really eye-opening for me too. I was in an endo lab, and we studied, like, menopause and basically the estrogen receptor. Anyways, so that was kind of, like, my first foray into lab work. But pre that, I was just like, there's only one track in science. I don't know better. My parents weren't biologists or anything. They're—a structural engineer and the other one—my mom is in finance, so I was just like, they're like, "Yeah. You can be a doctor." Like—but, yeah, always a fascinating kind of, like, how people get there. And so as you're wrapping up your time at Brown, where was your head at? Did you know what was next?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:17:16: I mean, no. You know, at that point, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I knew that I love the science, the technology, and innovation. And it was the .com boom out in California. And I have an older brother who I would visit in San Francisco. And the energy, the excitement, you had tech, you had biotech, And so I knew that that's where I wanted to go. And so I moved to California, and that's where I found my first job at a .com, Zedo. And that was just an incredible experience and learned a lot.

Jon Chee - 00:17:52: Talk a little bit about that. I'm curious because the energy—you might be able to opine on whether, like, the energy is similar right now because we're in this kind of craziness of, like, technology. But what was it like being at a .com, like, tech company in San Francisco in the heart of it? What was that like?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:18:09: I loved it. It was an incredible experience. So I was a third employee. I convinced the CEO who had just graduated from Kellogg that I knew something about technology because I had coded a website in undergrad in Chagas disease. So, again, biology focused, but I had coded in HTML. I was very proud. I had coded HTML. That and I think just my curiosity and my aptitude to work hard.

So it was—it was a true startup. We are South Market. We are in one of those lofts. It was like a family. The team was so close. We worked seven days a week, and, you know, my 20-year-old girlfriends were like, "What are you doing going to work on a Saturday?" And I was happy. I loved it. I was like, I love doing what I'm doing, but the energy was pretty crazy. The launch parties, you know, it was Webvan and pets.com, and it was that. So it was—and that's where I learned that I loved entrepreneurship. I knew nothing about building companies. I knew nothing about pitching to VCs. We pitched to Redpoint for, like, $15,000,000 with a PowerPoint presentation. Like, no prototype, nothing, no product. And so it was a different time, but that's where I really learned that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Like, I knew that early days.

Jon Chee - 00:19:24: Yeah. And you can read about it in a textbook as much as you want. Like, you can watch YouTube videos on it too, but it's like there's nothing like just, like, joining something like that at the ground floor, like, wearing a ton of hats and just, like, getting your hands dirty and experiencing it. And it's also all not fun and games too. Like, it's like you're like—like, right. It's not just puppies and rainbows. But at least for me, I found that, like, when you get your hands dirty firsthand, you learn these lessons, and they're, like, seared into you. It's like, there's nothing better than that than just, like, learning the lesson the hard way with all the consequences that come of it. But, yeah, I can't imagine, like, during that time, the energy. And so, you know, how long were you there for? What were your, like, responsibilities? Was there anyone at the startup that, like, took you under their wing?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:20:13: Yes. So it was a digital ad serving technology. The CEO is the really one who—he took me under his wing, and I learned—I basically was kind of project manager that then moved into product management. And so I was the one who managed software engineers. So that was my first time managing engineers, and I learned that you cannot tell an engineer when something is due. "Here's my Gantt chart. It is due on this end." It doesn't work like that. You know, I learned that very quickly. Okay. Well, talk to me. Like, how long do you think this will take? What is a reasonable timeline?

And so I really appreciated the complexities of managing engineers. But, you know, I did everything from operations. We named the company, you know, HR. It was—it was from the ground up, and so that was also my first true startup and really learned what it takes and to fundraise. I learned a lot about fundraising, so it was a really exciting time to be in the Valley.

Jon Chee - 00:21:15: For sure. And right out of undergrad too to have the ability to, like, lead a team, that is a big one.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:21:23: Yeah. It was—I think it was very unique, and, you know, I think based on just kinda my personality and how I interact with people, they gave me the opportunity, and I was very happy to do it. It was as you say, it was challenging, but a ton of fun and humbling as well. Right? Like, things don't go well. I didn't really understand technology, the stack. I had to really learn all of that as well, but it was—you know? Google was new. You know? Right? Google was just starting, and so technology was changing and evolving very quickly.

Jon Chee - 00:21:58: Yeah. And I—I think too, sometimes when I talk to folks who want to get into life sciences, there's, like, an assumption that you have to come from a very specific experience or, like, I'm gonna get my PhD here, postdoc there, work at this company for—it's kind of like this, like, step-by-step track. But what I have found is that there's so many learnings. Like, it doesn't have to be in biotech necessarily where you derive your learnings, like, tons of learnings in just, like, other startups. Right?

Because the problems are—there's a lot of universal problems that you are trying to solve, and it's not just unique to—biotech does have its own unique problems. I'm not saying that, like, you can copy paste these things, but, like, people underestimate how sharp you can get in just, like, company building elsewhere.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:22:52: Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. I mean, all the elements of building a company are the same no matter if you're in tech, you're in biotech, you're a consumer. So I learned a lot there. And I think I'm very lucky in that I'm not kind of the traditional PhD, as you say, did my work in a very well-known lab. I've really had the opportunity to meet incredible folks in the Bay Area. I attribute a lot of my success to my network. So after ZEDO, I went on to BayBio, which is the trade association for the biotech industry, and that's where I really got access to an incredible group of companies, mentors, and that really launched my career. And so as a young person, you just need to find that "in" and, I think, expand on that and build on that.

Jon Chee - 00:23:43: Yeah. Absolutely. And there is not just, like, one door.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:23:47: No. There really isn't. No. There is not one door. And, you know, in my career, I've ended up going through kind of the business development, corporate development track to where I am now as a CEO, but there are many different paths. Right? You can be the science track, the PhD. You can be the financial. You can come at it from a financial kinda CFO perspective. So there are many different ways to get, I think, into leadership roles in biotech when science doesn't fit all.

Jon Chee - 00:24:14: Yeah. Exactly. I speak to a lot of grad students, and that's, like, a question that comes up, like, all the time. And there is an assumption that it is one door.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:24:22: It's not. Yeah.

Jon Chee - 00:24:23: It's really not. Yeah. It really is not. It's much more, like, orthogonal. Like, you can just, like, approach it from a ton of different directions and find your way in. But I always, like, think about it—just, like, follow the passion. Like, what is the part that, like, interests you in the most? And you create this kind of a distortion field where you, like, attract the right people who can, like, point you in the right direction. And so for BayBio, how did that opportunity come about?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:24:47: So my brother who had lived in the Bay Area, I had said I really miss the science. And in fact, when I was at Zedo, I was still reading scientific papers, and the software engineers are like, "What are you reading? Like, I don't understand it. I don't understand any of that." And so I knew I wanted to get back into the science and be in the biotech industry. And my brother actually knew of this organization, and he said, "You know, you should go and talk to them." And I went and talked to the woman, and we hit it off. And I was really excited about it. And she's like, "Okay. Why don't you come in and work with me?"

And so I did. And she then retired a couple years later. And so I actually had the opportunity to run the organization and be the president. I was 27. I had a board of 26 directors from Gilead and Genentech, you know, top guys at Ernst & Young. And so I met all of these incredible, mostly CEOs of large biotech companies, and that was just an incredible opportunity at a really young age. A lot of pressure. I learned how to manage a board very quickly, a very large board, but I loved it. And what was really incredible is all these individuals—John Martin, he's no longer with us, but from Gilead, he was on the board—they were so committed to the biotech ecosystem and wanted companies to succeed. That was very motivating too. Just being around a group of individuals who are doing this in their spare time to support other entrepreneurs and the community.

Jon Chee - 00:26:18: That's so wild. So you were just dropped into the deep end?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:26:21: I was dropped into the deep end. I had no training. You know, I had to figure out that on a board of 26 that had biotech, it had service providers, it had the academicians, how do you tap into what that person is interested in and get value out of them for the organization? And simple things. When I showed up, the previous CEO would do a paper deck of, like, a 100 different pages. And the board had to read this paper deck, which, of course, nobody did. And so I showed up. I was like, "Okay. Can we just switch to PowerPoint? I'm gonna have 20 slides." And they were like, "Oh, this is incredible." So yeah. Thank God. Yeah.

Jon Chee - 00:27:05: Yeah. Yeah.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:27:06: So it was fun. And I learned a lot, obviously, about the Bay Area being the biotech hub. So we would be the poster child for other biotech hubs. So you'd have folks from Boston and San Diego. You know, we're always competing with San Diego, but coming up here to really understand what the key elements were. Top universities, VCs, service providers, how do you recreate that energy, that entrepreneurial energy? So, yeah, really loved it. Elizabeth Holmes also came in. She was, like, a 20-year-old who had just dropped out of Stanford, wanted to know how to build a business, so I got exposed to everything. Yeah.

Jon Chee - 00:27:47: Yeah. Well, something I'm curious about and, clearly, you have expertise, not to make it into, like, a fortune cookie, just like one tip to rule them all. What are some key considerations when managing a board? Because, like, I know that a lot of, like, entrepreneurs out there who—this might be their first time. Obviously, a 26-person board is a massive board. Yeah.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:28:07: It's a huge board.

Jon Chee - 00:28:08: It's massive? Yeah. Like, for anyone who is out there who is the first time having a board, they're starting a company, what are some key considerations and maybe, I guess, common pitfalls when it comes to managing a board?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:28:19: Yeah. I mean, managing a board no matter what the size, it's challenging no matter what. I would say the first thing is to really understand where that board member is coming from, what are their motivations, what are their incentives, and really understanding that first in how you interact with them. So I might interact very differently with a VC than with an independent board member. Right? Or I have right now on my board two co-founders. So it's—there's always a very unique dynamic, but I think really being clear about the role that they play on the board and making sure that they sit within that role, and you're very aware of kind of their decision making. You know, number one, it's governance. Right? But really understanding the lens in which they see the company through. And then their passion too. Right? Like, why do they sit on the board, and how can you foster their passion for the company? And I have some board members that really care about the science. Right? Some that really care about just the commercial, the exit, some that really love the patients. And so tapping into that and making sure that you get the best out of your board is kind of how I think about it.

Jon Chee - 00:29:36: And when they're all together, like, it sounds like there's, like, a lot of, like, different perspectives. How do you keep it from just, like, going into pure chaos? You know? It's just like, well, this person cares about this. This person cares about this, and this board meeting can't be seventy-two hours—or maybe it could. Like, maybe it could. Maybe go for a really, really long time, but, like, how do you make sure that this board meeting is effective and not just, like, going crazy all over?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:30:04: So we are focused on a system called the endocannabinoid system. So largest receptor system in your body. We're developing therapeutics to target a few receptors, CB1 and CB2 in the body. And so, really, it's the first ambition. Right? We are trying to solve for endometriosis and post-surgical pain. We're trying to solve for pain. Our goal is to create non-addictive opioid-like molecules. And so making sure that everyone is focused on the mission, and then just strategically, here's the decision we need to make today. Are there any decisions? What's the decision? And just keep them very focused on the agenda because you're right. Sometimes I have a board member that asks very detailed science questions. Yeah. Okay, Phyllis. Yes. We will get to that, or let's take that offline. Some of the other board members might not even understand her question. So it's staying focused like a startup is. You only have so much time. But it's challenging. I'm not sure that I have the silver bullet for that, but I'm learning. I'm always growing and learning.

Jon Chee - 00:31:08: Absolutely. Yeah. And I think to—going in prepared, at least for me, it's just like exactly what you said. Have the agenda, have everything kind of, like, teed up, and, like, not have the board meeting be, like, a fact-finding mission.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:31:22: That's right.

Jon Chee - 00:31:23: That's right. Be as prepared as you can entering it. Hopefully, not a 100-page of preparation. But yeah.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:31:28: No. In fact, a plug for a tool that I love is Zeck. I don't know if you've heard of this.

Jon Chee - 00:31:34: I think I've seen it.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:31:35: Yeah. It's no longer a board deck. It's actually a web-based tool. Super easy to use, and I ask that people pre-read. And you can do it on your phone. You could scroll through it. It's very user-friendly. And so that has allowed me to take away from just the updates, but you actually can then say fundraising is number one. This is the topic that we're—if you really want all the updates, you know, read the Zeck. Or operational decisions, we can make those decision. And so you actually—it's a discussion versus a tactical update, and I found that that tool has really changed the board dialogue.

Jon Chee - 00:32:16: Love that. Love that. It's kinda that thing where you're just like, "This could have been an email," and, like, and we could—Exactly. Yeah.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:32:22: Yeah. Exactly. Like, just read your email.

Jon Chee - 00:32:24: Yeah. Yeah. Let's keep that to the email. And then while we're all, like—we have, like, finite time here, let's, like, use this finite time as effectively as possible. Your guys' time is precious. Let's do this. Yeah. Is that Ed Norton's?

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:32:37: Yes. It is Ed Norton's. I know. Which is so funny, but he's pretty good. He's created a pretty good tool.

Jon Chee - 00:32:43: That's so cool. I was like, is this, like, Fight Club's, like, board tech? It's like Fight Club's, which is kinda awesome.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:32:49: Cooley actually introduced me to it. So we use Cooley as our law firm, and they're a supporter of it. So yeah. But, yes, it's Ed Norton's face on it for sure.

Jon Chee - 00:32:57: Very cool. It's very cool. Just like Fight Club and just like, uh, like, board decks.

Caitlyn Krebs - 00:33:02: Yeah. I guess he sits on a lot of boards and realized that they were really inefficient and slow, wanted to create a better tool. By the way, I have no association with Zeck.

Jon Chee - 00:33:12: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. No. No. This is like just like shouts out. Yeah. That makes my life easier. Oh, for sure.

Outro - 00:33:21: That's all for this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast featuring Caitlyn Krebs. Join us next time for part two where Caitlyn recounts launching BayBioNest, a startup-in-a-box pre-accelerator she built years before accelerators existed before joining Entelos, a company running virtual patients and digital twins twenty years before the rest of the industry caught up, where she would go on to close 40 deals with the world's biggest pharma companies.

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