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 Philip Borden, CEO of LabShares, a Greater Boston company that gives emerging biotech teams flexible, capital-efficient access to fully equipped shared lab space so scientists can focus on their science instead of managing medical waste, freezer alarms, and five-year leases. Before LabShares, Philip spent more than two decades as a healthcare investor, from Frazier Healthcare Partners in Seattle to more than a decade as a general partner at Riverside Partners and later Galen Partners and Longfellow Healthcare Partners. He's a Duke molecular biologist and a Baker Scholar out of Harvard Business School, and his throughline is a conviction that the biggest edge in biotech isn't the flashiest round. It's staying alive. This is a conversation about relationships, capital efficiency, and the unglamorous discipline that actually keeps companies breathing.
Over the next four episodes, Philip traces his path from a small Indiana farm town to the top of healthcare investing, and finally, to buying and running the company he now leads. Today, we start at the beginning. A kid from rural Indiana who fell for molecular biology in a college intro class realized he didn't want to spend his life at the bench, and then cold-called his way into a top life science VC with nothing but a biology degree and a willingness to work. Without further ado, let's dive into part one of our conversation with Philip Borden.
Jon Chee - 00:02:15: Philip, so good to see you. Thanks for coming on the podcast.
Philip Borden - 00:02:17: Yeah. Thanks, Jon. Nice to see you too.
Jon Chee - 00:02:19: So we always like to go all the way back to learn a little bit about what influenced your journey and really what inspired you to get into business and science. We always believe that, like, those moments when you're younger really shape your journey, your philosophy around business and science. So take us all the way back. What was your upbringing like?
Philip Borden - 00:02:38: Yeah. So I grew up pretty far away from where I am right now. I'm in Cambridge, Massachusetts now, but I grew up in rural Indiana. So a really small town called Plymouth. And, you know, look, it was a fantastic place to grow up, but it is a lot of cornfields and, you know, one movie theater, one screen. It was a great place to grow up, but it was very different than where I am today.
Jon Chee - 00:02:58: Were your parents in business and science or completely different industry?
Philip Borden - 00:03:03: My family history is really actually in agriculture. Both my grandparents were farmers, beef cattle, corn and soybeans. My father was actually an agricultural lender, so most of his customers were small family farms and things like that. And then my mother was an English teacher, so she taught a business college, a state school.
Jon Chee - 00:03:20: Very cool. Yeah. I always think about The United States and how we have, like, a very kind of specific lenders for industries that are local. And, like, you know, you look at other countries, and there's always, like, only a handful of banks, not that many small banks, but, like, America has, like, 5,000 banks.
Philip Borden - 00:03:36: Oh, yeah. It's more than any place else. And so, you know, growing up, I always heard about, like, oh, bank mergers and things, which there's a ton of them out there. So
Jon Chee - 00:03:44: Yeah. And people forget, you know, your local community bank. That's what they do. They serve the community and the industry there. Like, JPMorgan doesn't really do agricultural lending. I mean, they might, but, like, it's not their specialty.
Philip Borden - 00:03:56: No. I mean, my father's favorite movie when I was growing up was It's a Wonderful Life. And if it's George Bailey who's the local banker who, you know, lends money to the town. He's like my father always said, you know, it's the only movie that makes bankers look good. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. And
Jon Chee - 00:04:10: I think for a moment, it became, like, hyper transactional, but then people started to realize you actually the relationships matter. Because, like, similar to, like, venture, a bank is gonna be making a bet on you, and you want them to actually know and care about you.
Philip Borden - 00:04:23: Yeah. Look. And, like, I've dealt with more lenders than I care to think about over the course of my career as an investor, and I will tell you, like, the ones that I go back to, it's not based on who gave me that last twenty five basis points on the loan. It's, hey, who treated me well when things didn't go in a straight line? Who worked with me? Who was willing to, frankly, just not be a jerk? You know, it's the relationships that have always mattered a lot more to me on selecting a partner on that front.
Jon Chee - 00:04:48: Absolutely. And I think that is underappreciated from just, like, who you're taking capital from is that the relationship matters a lot. And it's like it's I don't wanna say convenient to just take the cheapest deal, the best valuation, and kind of just, like, ignore the counterparty on the other side. I've also been leasing, working with the credit markets a lot. So work with a lot of lenders and, like, I, like, always go back to, like, the relate I will gladly pay some extra points for someone who will pick up the phone and, like, be a reasonable person.
Philip Borden - 00:05:22: It's true on lending. You know, as you mentioned, your venture partner that you're working with, I mean, the delta between the $65,000,000 valuation and $68,000,000 valuation, that matters like nothing in the great scheme of, like, are you gonna be successful? But I can guarantee you working with someone that you like, that you get along with, that, like, is gonna be responsive, you know, all of those things, that's what's gonna make the difference to whether you succeed. And I think that's one of the lessons I think over my career is how do I work with people that I really want to even if I don't necessarily get the exact best deal? I mean, I'm always trying to get a good deal, but I wanna work with the people that are gonna make my life easier. Being an entrepreneur and a business owner is hard enough. I don't wanna work with people who are gonna make that harder.
Jon Chee - 00:06:03: Yeah. It is like a actual mental tax. The cost savings do not reconcile with how much, like, time and just, like, mind share these things take up. So it's just like, I recommend anyone who's, like, trying to find a capital partner or just a business partner in general, don't overlook those relationships because they're, like, so so important. And I think when I was younger, I probably overlooked that. I was a bit more transactional. I was just like, yeah. That'll give me the best deal on, like, numerically, but then I didn't, like, appreciate the kind of more, like, qualitative elements of it. But now it is, like, after you get your bruises and you get punched and beat up a little bit, you're just like, okay. I now understand.
Philip Borden - 00:06:43: Yeah. Yeah. No. I mean, it's a little bit of game theory. Right? If you think of this as a single game, people are gonna defect and behave badly and whatnot. And but if you think about your career or any transaction as a repeat game of you're gonna tend more towards that cooperation and working with each other if you believe you're gonna have a long term relationship, and overall outcomes are better. So yeah.
Jon Chee - 00:07:02: Yep. Absolutely. And so you're growing up in Indiana. Did you know what you wanted to focus on academically at a young age, or were you more just like, I have a broad range of interests?
Philip Borden - 00:07:13: I always sort of liked the sciences. That being said, you know, I went to public high school in a small town in rural Indiana. And, again, I had some great educational experiences, but there are some deficiencies, you know, in that education as well. Yeah.
Jon Chee - 00:07:26: Yeah. And one
Philip Borden - 00:07:27: of them was in biology, actually, funny enough. I mean, that's what I ended up majoring in in college, but did we even cover evolution in high school? I don't think so. And, like, molecular biology? Like, no. So I kind of came into college thinking, oh, gosh. I kinda like STEM y things, but I'll sort of explore and try to figure it out. And turned out that I took the intro bio class when I was in college and just absolutely loved it. I was, you know, fascinated learning about at a molecular level, you could figure out what underlying causes of disease were, how humans replicate it. I mean, all this, like, crazy stuff that as someone kind of hitting it for the frankly, the first time when I was in college, embarrassingly enough, it was really captivating. So, yeah, I think that influenced how I came into that as the area that I was passionate about.
Jon Chee - 00:08:09: Awesome. And in terms of, like, just, like, picking a university, did you have any specific university, like, a rank list, or were you're like, I wanna stay in state, I wanna get out of state? What was your head space at?
Philip Borden - 00:08:22: When I was thinking about college, you know, I had good grades, so I had some opportunities and choices. And so I was thinking about what was important to me. So I did wanna go out of state. I wanted to broaden that experience a little bit. I was wanting to go to a place that was both academically rigorous, but also felt really fun. You know? And then finally, I was a big swimmer in high school. I knew I kind of wanted to swim in college, and so finding some place that fit on that dimension too, I mean, it's, you know, sort of silly now looking back on it, but that played a role in it as well. So I ended up going down to North Carolina to visit Duke. At that time, Duke had just won two back to back national championships in basketball and so, like, it was the cool school to go to as well. And so, like and it felt like a fun place to be, good science. I was gonna swim there. So, yeah, everything fit together. I ended up applying early, got in, and, like, knew I was gonna go there from, I don't know, early December or something, which took a lot of stress off. So yeah.
Jon Chee - 00:09:14: Sweet. Yeah. Likewise, when I was looking at schools, I was also like they're like, I wanna have some fun too. It doesn't have to be all work and no play.
Philip Borden - 00:09:23: Yeah. I looked at the University of Chicago, which is a great school, but at the time, I felt, oh my god. That doesn't seem like nearly as much fun.
Jon Chee - 00:09:29: Yeah. Yeah. I have cousins who are wrapping up their time in college right now, and they're just like, the intensity is next level. But I'm just like, my god. Is there anything you do but hit the books?
Philip Borden - 00:09:41: Yeah. No. I'm I feel fortunate I went to school when I did because I do feel like it's been ratcheted up a lot from then. I mean, I worked awfully hard, but I had a great time too. So it was a great place to spend four years. I'd learned a ton. I my closest friends in the world who were in my wedding party and I'm still close with today all come from that time.
Jon Chee - 00:09:59: Yeah. And then I kinda wanna underline, like, importance of fun. I know that sounds, like, you know, trite, but I think especially being in San Francisco right now, there's, like, a lot of, like, grind slop and just, like, performative, like, I don't sleep, all I do is work. Just, like, nonstop. That's all I think about. And I think it's kinda silly. Look, we all work hard. Yes. Like, we all work hard, but, like, you have one life. You ought to have some fun while you're living your life. That's important. And also too, like, you know, my business partner, first and foremost, was, like, a friend. And, like, people forget that, like, business, even science, is relationship based, and you wanna spend time with people you can have fun with.
Philip Borden - 00:10:37: I couldn't agree more. I mean, look, part of having fun is, like, developing relationships. Some of it's dealing with some conflict, you know, dealing with things that don't always go your way in that regard. And, like, I think about the folks who I've worked with who are the hardest grinders but are not as interested in the kind of social aspect of things and, like, it's to their detriment overall. And so, you know, trust me, I certainly didn't underemphasize the fun part when I was in college, but I think that developed a lot of yet again, the richest experiences. Yes. I learned a whole lot about cellular molecular biology when I was in college, but by far the richest experiences were those relationships that I developed, which remain to this day. So yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
Jon Chee - 00:11:16: And I think too, especially with, like, everyone now has, like, a super genius in their pocket more than we did before.
Philip Borden - 00:11:22: Yeah. It used to be Google and now AI. I mean, good lord. Yeah.
Jon Chee - 00:11:25: Yeah. Now you just have, like, humanity's corpus of knowledge in your pocket. Not to say that, like, being technical is not important because, obviously, it still is. But I think what has happened is just, like, it is even more emphasized of that relationship where you, like the floor has risen on technical aptitude. There's, like, everyone can be technical now to a certain degree. It's kind of, like, what's left. It's just, like, oh, it's kind of, like, the soft qualitative elements that are, like, become more and more important. A buddy of mine worked at DoorDash, and he's not technical, but he's very good at the soft relationship building and, like, he's basically bringing more restaurants onto the platform. He, like, for the West Coast. But he's like, I feel like I just like the fun he had in college, he's just like, oh, yeah. Like, I kind of just, like, fell upward, like, into, like, a he's like like, these things that I was told are not important are now super important because, like, the restaurants want to work with him. They actually, like, want to work with him.
Philip Borden - 00:12:21: Yeah. I mean, just think about, like, what that means for the future. I mean, everyone's sort of freaking out about what okay. AI is entering the workplace and my industry, and what's that gonna mean? And what I think it's gonna mean is that these relationships and your ability to form good bonds with people, your ability to navigate complex social interactions, negotiation, those are the skills that are gonna actually be the ones that increasingly differentiate. It's not, hey. Can you remember the molecular pathway of, you know, what Yeah. No one cares anymore about your ability to recall. It's those relationships. And, like, I think those skills are the ones that are actually gonna be increasingly valued in a world of increasing AI.
Jon Chee - 00:13:01: Yep. For sure. And I think what I'm starting to see, especially with, like, our sales team, they're super pumped because now they're, like, sweet. Like, I can actually just, like, focus on being a good partner to the clients rather than having to do the rote monotonous aspect of sales of, like, okay. Like, update the CRM or, like, you know, no one wants to do that. No one has ever wanted to do that. So it's, like, kind of liberating in a way.
Philip Borden - 00:13:29: It is. Our growth team is definitely starting to use some of these great tools and we're working on it, but like I want them to be able to go in and spend time with customers and to get to know them and to do some background research and whatnot to be well prepared to be able to talk about the value proposition that we have and their needs and how those things meet each other, and that's something that AI Slop is never gonna replace.
Jon Chee - 00:13:51: Yeah. Exactly. And so you're at Duke. You kind of found yourself in MCB, in like molecular cell biology, and then you're wrapping up your time at Duke. I guess, before we move on from your undergraduate, were there any professors, graduate students, or courses that had a big impact on you or perhaps mentored you?
Philip Borden - 00:14:09: It's a really good question. Unfortunately, one of the realities was biology is the biggest major at Duke. It's a lot of really big classes. So I had a lot of those large classes that were less personal and that's one of my regrets. I think the thing that I remember the most from undergrad, I actually did an independent study completely unrelated to science of any kind. While I was at Duke, my great great great grandfather's journals came into my father's possession. And so I did this in-depth analysis of what farming life was like in the middle of the eighteen hundreds and did this sort of deep dive into a primary source document from those journals, which will span fifty six years. And he wrote in them every single day of his life for, like, 27,000 consecutive entries. And so, you know, I did this really cool kind of study of, like, what that was like. What was a farming community like in the eighteen hundreds? And a real true pioneer, like, clear the land farmer. You know? So so that was the most memorable thing from college.
Jon Chee - 00:15:03: That's really cool. Also in Indiana?
Philip Borden - 00:15:05: Yeah. Yeah. So the land that he settled is still in my family.
Jon Chee - 00:15:08: Holy moly. That's so cool. That's really, really cool. So our outside counsel and our general counsel were having a discussion, and our outside counsel's parents were academics, and they recently passed away. But when they were publishing, there was a bunch of publications that were just in the attic in boxes. And they, like, unearthed them, and they're like, oh, crap. This is like a treasure trove. This is a proper treasure trove. And so, like, now they're, like, going through it, and they're trying to figure out, alright. What do we do? Who can, like, best utilize this information and just, like so they're going back to universities and being like, hey. Like, don't know if these are published, but I mean, it was, like, kind of a while ago. So, like, here, maybe you could, like, actually contribute to, like, the archive and so on and so forth. It was really cool when those kinds of things come up.
Philip Borden - 00:15:50: It was a great project to do. I think it was meaningful to my parents, the rest of my family, and whatnot just to kinda learn about this. I mean, it covered a period of time at the beginning. His name is Oliver Borden. You know, his wife dies in childbirth about a year into this. He's raising, like, two kids on his own for a period of time before he gets remarried and what that's like in a rural Indiana farm pre civil war. So, yeah, it was pretty amazing.
Jon Chee - 00:16:11: That's badass.
Outro - 00:16:14: That's it for part one of our series with Philip Borden. Next time, Philip trades the bench for the phone, talks his way into Frazier Healthcare with a list of 30 firms and a lot of cold calls, and learns the lesson that shaped the rest of his career. In this business, how you treat people matters more than the last 25 basis points. If you're enjoying the series, follow the show and share it with a friend. See you next time. The Biotech Startups Podcast is produced by Excedr. Don't want to miss an episode? Search for The Biotech Startups Podcast wherever you get your podcasts and click subscribe. Excedr provides research labs with equipment leases on founder-friendly terms to support paths to exceptional outcomes. To learn more, visit our website, www.excedr.com. On behalf of the team here at Excedr, thanks for listening. The Biotech Startups Podcast provides general insights into the life science sector through the experiences of its guests. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from the podcast is at the user's own risk. The views expressed by the participants are their own and are not the views of Excedr or sponsors. No reference to any product, service, or company in the podcast is an endorsement by Excedr or its guests.
