What Would Lisa Suennen Say?
Chronic diseases are the leading driver of U.S. health care costs, accounting for 85% of all healthcare spending. We try to direct, cajole, influence, motivate and otherwise engage with patients to get them to better self-manage their many chronic ailments. We train clinicians to treat these afflictions and invest heavily in new drugs and devices […]
John Groetelaars learned to work with his hands on his family’s vegetable farm, but he realized early that he was more interested in using those hands to build motorcycles and mechanical devices. He followed his inclination first by helping manufacture engines and axles after earning his engineering degree through the GM Institute; he later transferred […]
Note: This article was authored by a trio consisting of me and my colleagues Nancy Nan and Rich McDerby in the Manatt Emerging Companies/Venture Capital Group; it originally ran on Manatt.com’s COVID resource website, found HERE. Thought I might pass it along here to my startup friends. As has become clear to all of us, […]
Two weeks ago my blog post was directed to investors (and by implication, to entrepreneurs) and encouraged them to ask three essential questions before making an investment in a healthcare company, particularly a digital health company. Note that I don’t think my post was entirely applicable to biotech investments since most of them are intended […]
Many people have heard of Nancy Schlichting, as she has been part of the fabric of the U.S. healthcare system for nearly 40 years. She has built a long and amazing career as someone who takes chances, makes unconventional choices and leads with her conscience. While her path to success wasn’t always easy, she learned […]
As I have mentioned before, I teach a class on healthcare venture capital at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. For the final, students are asked to pick a private company which they think would be a great investment and write, for all intents and purposes, an investment memo to justify their recommendation and highlight […]
Note to readers: I originally wrote this piece in May of 2014. I was reminded of it today when a colleague from work suggested I look at the Spurious Correlations website, which I hadn’t checked out in a while. While we don’t often call it “Big Data” anymore, having moved on to the new jargon […]
One of the things I most often get asked is how one gets themselves appointed to a Board of Directors. In the world in which I travel, this is apparently one of the signs you have arrived. As a result, it is a highly sought-after role and a shining star on one’s LinkedIn page that […]
It has been a tough couple of weeks for America and it has finally caught up with me. I usually sit down to write this blog with relish for whatever topic I have on my mind and sense of humor ready to go, but this week I can only think of dark things and many […]
As part of my Aspen Institute Health Innovation Fellowship, I am required to dream up and start a “venture,” which can be anything that advances the leadership of innovators in healthcare. I had come up with an idea but wasn’t quite satisfied with it. I knew that I hadn’t hit on the right thing yet […]
Lisa Suennen is a venture capital investor and the managing partner of Venture Valkyrie, LLC, which publishes the Venture Valkyrie blog and co-produces the Tech Tonics podcast. She is also co-founder of CSweetener, a women's healthcare mentoring organization.