D.A. Wallach Explains Why Biotech VC Is So Different
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Next week on Leaders with me, Francine Lacqua, I speak with Harvard Business School Professor Linda Hill about what CEOs need to know to be successful.
It really is not about them. It is about the organization.
About how to lead in the age of AI. That requires a lot of confidence. And why great leaders embrace conflict. You need to amplify difference. Listen and watch Leaders the Podcast with me, Francine Lacqua, on Bloomberg TV or
wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, OutLots listeners. It is that time of the year. Again, we are going to be doing a call-in show on the podcast. You can ask us any of your burning questions.
That's right. You wanna ask us about finance markets and economics? Go for it. You wanna ask us about the year in podcasting? Go for it. You wanna ask about where Tracy is with growing chicken or raising chickens
growing chickens. G
raising chickens on her uh on her burgeoning farm in Connecticut, uh, go for it. This is your chance to ask us anything.
Joe's favorite cut of steak, right?
My favorite code of state, my favorite Chinese restaurant in the East Village. It's all fair gang.
All right. Uh all you have to do is send a voice memo with your question, your name, your age, and your location to oddlots at bloomberg.net.
Deadline to submit is December seventeenth, so get them in as soon as you can.
We're looking forward to hearing what what you have to ask. And uh yeah, that's coming up.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Oddlots Podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway.
And I'm Joe Weisenthal.
Joe, we were doing a QA this morning.
That's right. It was a lot of fun. Go on.
A live QA. And someone asked a question about whether or not we're gonna do more healthcare episodes.
And we don't do enough, do we?
No, we don't. And there's a reason for that. Um, I personally am incredibly intimidated by the US healthcare system. I do not understand it at all. It is just a complete mystery to me. But I was very happy to say in response to that question that this same day we're actually recording a healthcare episode uh with someone that we've wanted to speak to for for a long time.
Uh, I'm the same way in the sense that, first of all, yes. I'm the same way in the sense that I really do not know much about how the healthcare system works. I I don't even know where to begin asking the right questions. This is all you do. You have to just start a random episode and that gives you the germs of the next question, the next episode, the next episode. But they're so it seems so big and sprawling, et cetera, that how what is the first question to ask? So we just have to plunge right in and just pick. one, which we're doing now, and then maybe that will lead to the string of healthcare episodes, which we should have done a long time ago.
That's exactly right. There's also a lot of new stuff happening in healthcare at the moment and we recorded an episode on Chinese biotechs a little while ago. That was incredibly fascinating.
Definitely.
I'm very curious to see what's going on on the US side of biotech investing. And we do have another episode plan that's sort of tangentially related to that. But clearly there's a lot to talk about. The other very oddsey thing with this guest is we like people who have interesting career histories, right?
That's right. How we uh how they got to where they are today is often a very interesting question. You know, I have nothing against people who just took the normal path, people who just sort of, you know, went to college and then they got their MBA and I forgive them. That's totally fine. But it's also interesting to hear about the people who uh maybe walked in through the side door, so to speak.
Absolutely. So we do in fact have the perfect guest. We have someone who has a lot of thoughts on US healthcare and who is also a biotech investor and also formerly the lead singer of uh Chester French. So DA Wallach, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for coming on.
Thanks for having me, guys. I'm uh I'm a odd lots junkie. So this is like going to the Grammys.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–19:22
2
Who is D.A. Wallach and how did he go from indie rock singer to biotech venture capitalist?
19:22–20:58
3
What three career phases shaped Wallach’s path to biotech investing?
20:58–29:04
4
How does Wallach compare a biotech investor to a record producer for scientists?
29:04–33:32
5
Why is biotech investing fundamentally different from software‑focused VC?
33:32–45:16
6
What heuristics does Wallach use to source and evaluate biotech deals?
45:16–52:03
Speakers
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