Angel investor and pharma industry executive-turned-consultant Shwen Gwee has worked with startups for more than 15 years, garnering insights for securing investment funding in the biopharma space. Shwen Gwee, a pioneer in digital innovation within the biopharma industry, is reshaping how startups and the pharmaceutical sector collaborate. As an angel investor, startup advisor, and founder of #GenAI4Pharma, a global events highlighting the application of Generative AI in the biopharma, Gwee leverages his experience in pharma and deep startup expertise to create impactful partnerships. “I’ve been involved with startups since before the term “startups” became common,” says Gwee. Gwee trained as a behavioral neuroscientist before spending 20 years in pharma, where he drove digital strategy and innovation across the commercial, clinical and enterprise-wide functions. Now, he consults with corporations and startups, for which he provides advice on value proposition, go-to-market strategies and storytelling, like how to pitch to pharma. With a deep understanding of both startup innovation and pharma’s internal challenges, Gwee is dedicated to bridging the gap between the two sectors to foster partnerships, with the ultimate goal of bringing better and faster solutions to patients. Here are five of his top tips for startups seeking out investors.
1. Be sure you’re solving a quantifiable business problem.
Whether it's an AI company or any other technology, there needs to be enough value and impact created from your product or solution. You need to demonstrate that it can be more efficient or more effective than the current solutions in market. It’s also critical to show some initial validation that the solution works, achieves a product-market fit, and offers a unique selling point or intellectual property (IP) that will create a moat between you and your competition. Ideally, your roadmap should also explain how your product or solution will be scalable and sustainable over time.
2. Put together a solid, experienced team.
Investors like to see a diverse, well-rounded team. If you have a mix — say, an engineer, a businessperson, and a healthcare professional — it shows a balanced and complementary team. It’s very important to have someone with experience with the VC process and someone with pharma experience who understands the regulatory hurdles in that industry. Also, if someone on your team has published research or holds IP, that will stand out to an investor.
3. Have a clear understanding of your customers and your competitors.
It’s imperative for a startup to know what the current solutions or products are in market that the customer might be using or considering, such as the “standard of care,” and the other players out there might be trying to create a novel solution. Do primary research by talking to people who would be your customers and asking them what they currently use to solve their problem. That’s your competition and your benchmark. Understand what challenges your potential customers continue to face that the current solution is not solving or how your product can be better — focus on the benefits and not the technical features of your solution. Your product must be valuable enough to that end user, and it can’t just be an incremental improvement to what’s already on the market. It must be significantly better than the current standard in order for investors to take interest.
4. Seek out investors who believe in you.
You want investors who are willing to support you throughout this journey, because you’re most likely looking at a longer timeline in healthcare and life sciences to get your startup to a point of maturity, where you can go to market and scale. The investor with the highest valuation may not always be the right partner. Many overvalued companies in the last five years are now struggling and had to take down rounds. So be careful.
5. Look for a good fit and a robust network.
If there’s friction with a potential investor from the start, pay attention to that. You don’t want to lock yourself into a partnership where you’re obligated to get along with people when there are signs from the get-go that you’re not on the same page, such as strategically, culturally or otherwise. Do your own due diligence to learn about potential investors’ networks — their larger circles can be equally or even more valuable to you than the funding they’re providing. So, find out more about your potential investors’ LPs (Limited Partners) and who those LPs are connected to as you consider whether they’re the right partner for you. If you're a startup, keep an eye out for more events in the global #GenAI4Pharma series in 2025.