Health Tech Startups Roundup with Richard Lin (August 23, 2022)

On August 23, 2022, Founders Network is hosting another Health Tech Startups Roundup. In this latest installment, we’ll hear from Richard Lin, founder of Explora Biolabs which was recently acquired for $295 million.

Lin’s experience working in the fast-paced biotech industry led him to identify a key pain point in the drug development process: a lack of readily accessible turnkey preclinical labs, which are crucial for the drug discovery process. Explora provides drug industry customers with contract vivarium operation facilities and management services for early-phase research.

At the Health Tech Sector Roundup, Lin will talk about how he transitioned from a bench scientist to a successful entrepreneur. The talk will also focus on Lin’s experience exiting the company by partnering with another entrepreneur with a deeper business acumen, who scaled the company to the next level, leading to its recent acquisition by a large global life science service company.

Join Lin and other health tech startup founders for a discussion about the challenges you are facing in your startup journey. During the month of August, our sector events are open to the public to give outside startup founders a taste of the Founders Network experience.

Agenda:

• Remarks from Richard Lin
• Around the horn: introductions and business challenges
• Next steps

Richard Lin was trained as a PhD scientist in cancer research. After working for several biotech companies in San Diego and witnessing the boom-bust cycles of the industry, he recognized that the traditional build-from-the-ground-up laboratory model no longer serves the needs of lean and fast-moving startup biotech companies.

In 2004, Richard founded Explora BioLabs, a lab-as-a-service company. After bootstrapping its startup and growing the company to seven facilities entirely by organic growth, he led a successful exit and sold the company to a search fund in mid-2018. Explora's subsequent strong growth and reputation eventually led to its acquisition by Charles River Lab in April 2022 for $295M. Richard currently serves as an investor and co-fund manager at San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC). Richard also serves as a board member and advisor on several emerging life science companies, including BioXceed, VisiCell and PhenoVista. Richard holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Guests Are Welcome!

Please bring a guest! Every member can bring one (1) guest to each event. Each guest must be a full-time tech startup founder so they can bring new perspectives, skillsets, and experience to your chapter.

All guests must be full-time tech startup founders and you can register them directly on this function page. See How to Register a Guest here.

Confidentiality Reminder

All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record. In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.