Written by: Sandeep Mangrati
Edited by: Lucy Ahern and Megan Thomas
Podcast Hosts: Georgia Howard and Giovanni Maresca di Serracapriola
Guest: Simeon Superville
In our new Podcast series, our hosts Georgia and Giovanni invite guest speakers that have transitioned from academia to the startup world. The series brings together students, researchers, and professionals to explore the dynamic world of innovation in the life sciences. Each episode features insightful conversations with industry leaders, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and experts in technology transfer and pharmaceuticals. Our goal is to bridge the gap between academia and industry, providing listeners with practical insights, networking opportunities, and guidance for careers beyond traditional research pathways. In this accompanying article, we summarise the key points and the highlights of the podcast.
Join us as we demystify the path to entrepreneurship and explore careers beyond academia!
We kick off the series with our first guest, Simeon “Sim” Superville. Sim is a serial entrepreneur with a wealth of experience within the startup ecosystem and is truly an inspiration to budding founders. He founded his first company, Nanoshield Technology, during his master’s degree. A year later, he left the startup to join Katalyst Laboratories as a Lab Technician and in just two years rose to Head of Product. Following this, he joined BenevolentAI, an AI-driven drug discovery company, and although he enjoyed his time there, his passion for entrepreneurship led him to launch another startup, Silbello. Silbello was a software-based venture that enabled companies to analyse user insights for product discovery. Despite enjoying the experience and learning a lot, the startup’s financial challenges forced him to move on.
Today, he is Senior Product Manager at Punto Health, which is dedicated to managing dementia patients and supporting their caregivers using AI-driven approaches.
This is all in the span of just five years!
Sim originally thought he wanted to pursue the canonical academic pathway via a PhD. He always had “a desire to solve problems” which generally were research-based, but he realised he also enjoyed solving “more entrepreneurial or business-oriented problems”. A key moment in his journey was after a journal club session during his master’s, his friend suggested that the paper he shared could actually be an interesting startup idea with potential for commercialisation. However, he was still torn between the two paths (academia vs entrepreneurship) and felt like he was at a crossroads.
The true catalyst for his immersion into entrepreneurship and the startup ecosystem was his time at Katalyst Laboratories, which he refers to as a “key inflection point”. He described a time when the team was struggling with user onboarding, which involved sending lengthy emails. He proposed using an online form, like Google Forms. He expected his suggestion would be disregarded but actually they loved it, and it resulted in significant improvements in workflow. This pivotal moment made him realise that his ideas could have a substantial impact, and he found problem-solving within startups incredibly rewarding.
He has not looked back since.
Coming from a scientific background, Sim had to quickly get used to the notion of following one’s intuition because, as he said, “the answers are not always readily available”. He described how (compared to larger biopharma), there’s not always someone to guide you in a startup and things are somewhat unclear and ambiguous. You learn as you go, which is challenging, but also very satisfying. “It was a learning curve to be comfortable with not knowing things and taking a leap of faith and using intuition,” Sim reflected. Another aspect he likes about startups is that they are inherently small in size, enabling you to form strong bonds and develop a strong sense of camaraderie - “you really feel like you're one team going after one problem”.
However, Sim highlighted that burnout is a concern in startups especially because whilst hours are flexible with no strict 9 to 5, this can often lead to working really late. There is “always another fire” to put out. As he got more experienced, he realised and learned the value of taking a break - he emphasises the importance of taking time off and “detoxing”.
From his own experience, he urged caution if considering bootstrapping (i.e., funding a startup using your own money). “What I’d say is to really validate the problem and the need for the solution before you leave the safety net of [your job],” he said. The pressure of watching your bank account dwindle is immense. If he could do it all over again, Sim said he would really focus on acquiring one or two customers from the very beginning to ensure problem-solution fit or even a letter of intent from a client - these milestones provide some encouragement that the startup is heading in the right direction.
Sim said that aspiring students should understand that startups are looking for those who go above and beyond. This can be in the form of extracurriculars, for instance joining your university’s entrepreneur club and leveraging that to build your network. “It’s who you know, not what you know” - probably applies to this industry the most! The best piece of networking advice Sim received, he recalls, was “to be interested - not interesting. Just go and find out about people and see if you can be helpful to them and then eventually this will come back to yourself.” To add on to this, LinkedIn is a key resource for communicating with founders (and investors) - especially as startups do not use traditional job boards.
“Take that shot. Even if it fails, it’s still worth doing… at least you’ll have a great experience and something to talk about”.
Sim’s story truly is one of pursuing your goals despite setbacks and just giving it a go! He started the same as many of us do and through a lot of trial and error and learning, he has achieved what many of us in academia aspire to. We have many more interesting guests like Sim lined up so stay tuned and subscribe!
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