🧬 Sales Skills & Resilience: Hidden Drivers of Biotech Success | Rabia Khan (Part 3/4)

04/21/25 • 38 min

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr —helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners."You have to be curious. You have to enjoy the problems as opposed to view them as problems. You can view them as puzzle pieces that you get to put together, which is a lot of fun."

In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Rabia Khan shares the pivotal experiences that shaped her approach to biotech innovation, from her time at BenevolentAI and Sensyne Health to building and leading high-performance teams at the intersection of biology, machine learning, and clinical data. Rabia discusses the challenges of aligning scientists and engineers around a shared language, the importance of integrating platform and program development, and the cultural shifts needed to drive real innovation in drug discovery. She also reflects on the value of curiosity, risk-taking, and the lessons learned from managing major pharma partnerships and scaling teams under intense pressure.Key topics covered:

Bridging Biology & Machine Learning: Breaking barriers to spark drug discovery innovation.
Platform vs. Program Development: Integrate or stagnate—unite teams to win in biotech.
Building & Leading Teams: Scaling fast and thriving in high-stakes pharma.
The Power of Curiosity & Risk-Taking: Question, risk, and grow—breakthroughs follow.
Sales & Resilience in Biotech: Master selling and stay tough to succeed in science.

If you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Rabia Khan, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rabiatkhan/ Website: https://www.serna.bio/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:ICD-10 Codes and the Classification of Disease: https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/enHubSpot CEO on 20VC: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/20vc-hubspot-ceo-on-where-value-accrues-in-saas-ai/id958230465?i=1000699464274The Economist’s Approach to Business Clarity and Value Creation: https://businesslibrary.uflib.ufl.edu/economicsbooksCompanies, Universities, & People mentioned:BenevolentAI: https://www.benevolent.com/Sensyne Health: https://www.sensynehealth.com/Serna Bio: https://www.serna.bio/Steven Hamblin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenrhamblin/?originalSubdomain=ukKate Yen, Ph.D.:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-yen-448b22108/Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:04 The Importance of Shared Language Across Disciplines03:02 Platform vs. Program Development in Biotech06:02 The Platform-Program Dichotomy and Capital Market Perspectives07:29 Aligning Machine Learning Engineers and Biologists09:30 Changi...

Bridging Biology & Machine Learning: Breaking barriers to spark drug discovery innovation.
Platform vs. Program Development: Integrate or stagnate—unite teams to win in biotech.
Building & Leading Teams: Scaling fast and thriving in high-stakes pharma.
The Power of Curiosity & Risk-Taking: Question, risk, and grow—breakthroughs follow.
Sales & Resilience in Biotech: Master selling and stay tough to succeed in science.

Previous Episode

🧬 Rabia Khan - Serna Bio: Bridging Science & Tech—PhDs, MBAs, & Biotech Innovation (Part 2/4)

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr —helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.“I wish someone had told me when I was starting my PhD to sit down and say, ‘what do I want out of this?’ and [then] write it down. Because, unlike the UK, where PhDs are three years and time bound, in Canada, they are neither time bound nor three years. And so you can meander."

In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Rabia Khan, founder and CEO of Serna Bio, joins host Jon Chee to reflect on her unconventional journey through academia, business, and biotech innovation. Rabia shares how her curiosity, resilience, and embracing uncertainty shaped her journey through a PhD in genetics and an MBA. She discusses the emotional challenges of working with animal models, the benefits and limits of business school for scientists, and personal struggles, including her father’s illness.She recounts early setbacks, like rejected consulting jobs, and how a cold email landed her at Meta (now part of Chan Zuckerberg Biohub). Rabia emphasizes “manufacturing serendipity,” differences between founder and employee mindsets, and lessons from her work at BenevolentAI, highlighting the importance of cross-disciplinary communication and challenging industry norms.Key topics covered:

PhD Realities: Tackling emotional and practical research challenges
Dual-Degree Insights: Balancing PhD and MBA, knowing business limits
Personal Adversity: Turning family illness into resilience
Career Breakthroughs: Creating and seizing biotech startup chances
Bridging Disciplines: Fusing biology and ML to expand drug targets

If you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Rabia Khan, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rabiatkhan/ Website: https://www.serna.bio/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:Case in Point (book): https://caseinterview.com/case-in-pointSWOT Analysis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysisCRISPR Technology: https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/CRISPRiPSC (Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cellGWAS (Genome-Wide Association Studies): https://www.nature.com/articles/s43586-021-00056-9Ensembl: https://www.ensembl.org/index.html The concept of the “druggable genome”: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioinformatics/articles/10.3389/fbinf.2022.958378/fullCompanies, Universities, & People mentioned:Francis Crick Institute: https://www.crick.ac.uk/BenevolentAI: https://www.benevolent.com/Meta (Acquired by Ch...

Next Episode

🧬 Redefining Biotech: Building Enduring Value Beyond Acquisition | Rabia Khan (Part 4/4)

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr —helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners."If you are that person, if you feel like you can't find your box and you're off doing these random things that no one else seems to find interesting, it's okay. Embrace it. It's who you are and it's going to be your superpower someday."

In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee sits down with Rabia Khan, founder and CEO of Serna Bio, to discuss her journey from Sensyne Health to building a data-driven biotech company pioneering RNA-targeted drug discovery. Rabia shares how she overcame scientific and operational hurdles, navigated contract research limitations, and boldly moved Serna Bio from the UK to San Francisco. She also reveals her intentional approach to company culture, frugality, and long-term impact—emphasizing her vision to create a biotech business built for enduring innovation, not just acquisition.Key topics covered:

Breaking Industry Molds: Serna Bio puts RNA at the center, challenging protein-focused norms.
Data-First Biotech: Massive RNA datasets drive unique insights.
Lean Operations & Frugality: Every dollar fuels innovation.
Company Building for Endurance: Built for long-term value, not quick exits.
Authentic Leadership: Bold, authentic leadership for lasting impact.