Ariosa Diagnostics
Even though every company we have visited has been amazing, one company
that is really unique for several reasons was Ariosa Diagnostics. It was
the only biotech company on the trip and also had a founder who was a
venture capitalist before becoming a CEO rather than the other order which
was more typical. Unlike some of the internet tech companies with college
dropouts calling the shots, almost everyone at Ariosa has their MD or PHD
or both.
Ariosa is a company which is trying to take the promise of the human genome
project out of the laboratories of academia and into people’s every day
lives using the start up as the vehicle. Their first product is called the
Harmony Prenatal test and it is a safer and more accurate test than the
standard amniocentesis for telling expectant mothers about possible genetic
trisomies. Ariosa runs the test from their location in San Jose and has
recently expanded to make the test available not only in the US but also in
the UK.
Ken Song was nice enough to give us a tour of the facilities and answer our
questions about the company and how he came to be CEO. Because the medical
market involves so much testing and regulation, a quick cycle of iteration
might be 9 months rather 1 week at a software company. Also, there are
four main players that Ariosa must make happy to succeed. Rather than just
the customers, who are the first priority, Ariosa must also convince the
doctors to prescribe the test, the insurance companies to support the test,
and the regulation boards to approve of the safety. However, Ariosa really
tries to put the customers first, in both the low price of the test and the
type of feedback they give to sell peace of mind, and in this sense of
focus on the customer, they are like many of the other startups we saw.
Ken told us about how very important it is to choose really smart people
who you can rely on no matter how things are going. He had found the team
of scientists who developed a new method of testing while he was a VC at
Venrock and joined them to make it a real company back in 2010. Only a few
months in, they raised more capitol and realized that the method they were
planning to use wouldn’t actually work. Over the course of a few stressful
hours and practically in front of the other investing parties they were
able to figure out the method which is successfully used today. Ken says
that every startup will hit bumps like this that will really test the team,
so it is crucial to have not only smart people but people who you can trust
and work with when the times aren’t good.
One of the things we were curious about going in was how the culture would
be impacted by the much slower moving industry and the much higher levels
of education required to make a difference. While there was a subtly
higher level of professionalism and perhaps a few more ties worn to work
than hoodies, the Halloween decorations in all the cubicles and the
foosball table in the break room convinced us that they were a real
startup after all.
