Minisode: Innovation Energy And the Future of Biotech
Origins hosts Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners and co-founder of OpenLP, unpack their conversation with Zach Weinberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Curie.Bio. They discuss the “innovation energy” that drives new breakthroughs and take a closer look at Sapphire’s approach to biotech investing.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Curie.Bio: curie.bioSubscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox.CHAPTERS:0:00 - Welcome to Origins1:28 -Building Something That Wouldn’t Exist Otherwise4:27 - What’s Sapphire Doing in BioTech?8:38 - The Market & BioTech10:05 - "Vitamin O"
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Building The YC of Biotech with Zach Weinberg
Zach Weinberg, co-founder and CEO of Curie.Bio, is redefining early-stage biotech investing with an operator’s mindset and a founder-first philosophy. His approach combines funding with operational support and direct access to world-class drug hunters to dramatically increase odds of success. Today, Zach sits down with Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners to discuss the massive risk associated with traditional therapeutics startups, how pairing a drug discovery partner with a seed investor solves those inefficiencies, and how biotech, the global economy and the political landscape are all closely connected.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Curie.Bio: curie.bioFor a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter – delivered straight to your inbox: subscribe.openlp.vcCHAPTERS:(0:00) Welcome to Origins(5:08) Was Hunter High School Harder Than Penn?(10:22) Transitioning From SaaS to Biotech(20:55) Why Is Building a Biotech Venture Firm So Hard?(27:55) Building Curie.Bio(32:24) Zach on Drug Discovery(43:12) Biotech in China(49:42) AI in Biotech(54:51) "The Manhattan Project of Biology"
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Minisode: How Novel Strategies Become the Venture Industry’s Standard
Origins hosts Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners and co-founder of OpenLP, unpack their conversation with Theory Ventures’ Tomasz Tunguz, discussing how strategies that once set firms apart – like pre-seed or founder-centric investing – become industry standards over time. They dive deep on counter-positioning, adaptability, and the power of differentiation in today’s venture world. CHAPTERS:(0:00) Welcome to Origins(1:14) Is Tomasz an n=1?(5:51) How Do Firms Stay Relevant?(9:12) Do Founders Like Counter-Positioning?(11:50) Who Is An Emerging Manager/Nick’s Next CareerLearn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Theory Ventures: theory.venturesSubscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox.
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AI Agents Will Supercharge the Future of VC with Tomasz Tunguz
Tomasz Tunguz, Founder of Theory Ventures, is widely recognized for his analytical approach to venture investing. Now, he’s building Theory with a philosophy rooted in research and data-driven decision-making. Tomasz sits down with Nick Chirls, General Partner at Asylum Ventures and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners and co-founder of OpenLP, to discuss spinouts and succession in established firms and the value of running high-risk, high-reward experiments at specialist firms like Theory. Tomasz also shares his belief that investors will need to adapt to a future where asking the right questions of LLMs will be critical for success.CHAPTERS:(0:00) Welcome to Origins(4:05) Why Are So Many People Leaving Top Firms?(12:15) Getting the Probabilities On Your Side(16:01) Building Highly Concentrated Portfolios(17:33) Lessons Learned in Fund One(21:37) Tomasz’s Brand v. Theory’s Brand(27:15) Using Tech at the Core of Theory(34:31) Asking the Right Questions in AI(36:56) Predictions for 2026Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Top Tier Capital Partners: ttcp.comSubscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox.
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Minisode: Franchise Funds: Index Ventures & Picking Winners Early
Origins host Beezer Clarkson sits down with her colleague Nate Leung, fellow LP and Partner at Sapphire Partners, to riff on her recent conversation with Nina Achadjian, Partner at Index Ventures. Together, Beezer and Nate walk through the steps Index took to become a franchise - the decisions they made and the mistakes they avoided, plus the firm’s ability to pick excellent companies early. They discuss the edge GPs gain by investing with a broader purpose, as well as the LP POV on the need for distributions and consolidation in 2025.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Index Ventures: indexventures.comSubscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox.CHAPTERS:(0:00) Welcome to Origins2:04-Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing to Build a Franchise3:43-Liquidity and IPOs(4:45) 2025 - The Year of Reckoning(7:13) Let There Be More Distributions9:34-Finding the Great Companies Early
About Origins - Inside Venture Capital, Hosted by a GP and an LP
Hosted by a General Partner (GP) and a Limited Partner (LP), Origins dives into the venture capital ecosystem to learn how the people behind the money make decisions: How LPs choose VC funds to invest in, what drives performance in venture, the dos and don'ts of fundraising, what founders/entrepreneurs/CEOs need to do to raise a Seed, Series A and beyond, what it takes to go from emerging manager to franchise VC, and the latest private market trends and dynamics shaping the investment ecosystem.
Origins is co-hosted by GP Nick Chirls and LP Beezer Clarkson.
Listen to Origins - Inside Venture Capital, Hosted by a GP and an LP, The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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