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By builders, for builders
A deep dive on today's very timely headlines, plus we feature a new company profile
Alex at TechTO
December 10, 2024
In partnership with
BUILDER’S PERSPECTIVE
A section focused on what builders are talking about.
Katherine Homuth, CEO & Founder of SRTX’s story is a call to action for those who believe in underdogs and transformative change.
Katherine has been busy opening up on her story in the last week and it’s critical to share her perspective directly. Read what’s been going on in her own words below:
Katherine opens the curtain about the ups and downs of building a rocket ship in this heartfelt LinkedIn post
In another post, she urges the West to reclaim its ability to build by prioritizing bold investments in manufacturing, infrastructure, and groundbreaking technologies. Read her substack post here
Others began to share their perspectives as well. Katherine’s courageous transparency on her business’ ups and downs inspired Allen Lau to write an open letter about “Naysayers”. In the letter, Allen responds to Katherine’s candid post about SRTX, drawing parallels between her journey and his experience building Wattpad. He highlights the challenges of reinventing traditional industries, noting that transformative ventures often face skepticism from naysayers who lack the full context.
For future newsletters, we want to hear directly from those building and making impacts on our ecosystem. Share your thoughts, news, and opinions here: [email protected]
STARTUP PROFILE
Meet BenchSci and the builders behind it
Today we meet the Co-founder, and CEO of BenchSci, Liran Belenzon.
Liran has spoken at TechTO before where he urges us to forget everything you know about fundraising.
For today’s company profile, he goes in-depth on building, the inspiration behind BenchSci, his own Founders Journey, and some great advice for those building today.
Let’s dive in.
What is BenchSci?
BenchSci is on a mission to turbocharge life-saving R&D, bringing new medicines to patients faster. With our AI-powered ASCEND platform, we're revolutionizing preclinical research, empowering scientists today, and redefining the future of drug discovery.
What’s the Founding story of BenchSci?
Tom Leung, BenchSci’s Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, faced a massive hurdle during his PhD at the University of Toronto: endless hours lost navigating dense data to understand disease biology. Frustrated, he envisioned an AI solution to instantly extract insights from scientific papers, saving researchers time and accelerating discoveries.
To bring this idea to life, Tom partnered with Elvis Wianda, a skilled data scientist at U of T. Together, they formed BenchSci's foundation, driven by a shared mission to revolutionize biomedical research.
I joined their journey through the Creative Destruction Lab at U of T, captivated by their vision despite my non-scientific background. As a co-founder, I added business strategy to their scientific and tech expertise. The result? BenchSci—a powerhouse speeding up life-saving breakthroughs through innovation and passion.
How did you build this?
Building BenchSci was a three-pronged approach.
First, we recognized the incredible and rapidly expanding volume of scientific data available.
Second, we invested heavily in developing proprietary and scalable AI technology. This wasn't just about processing data; it was about building an AI that could truly understand it, mimicking the nuanced understanding of a seasoned scientist.
Finally, and perhaps most critically, we collaborated with thousands of scientists throughout the process.
Their feedback and insights were integral to shaping our AI assistant into the powerful tool it is today – a tool designed to deliver the crucial data scientists need, exactly when and how they need it.
What advice would you give to someone building right now?
Building something meaningful is rarely easy, and BenchSci's journey has been no exception. For those who are on a similar path, I'd offer this advice:
“Embrace the grind. Building something from the ground up is a marathon, not a sprint. There will be setbacks, challenges, and moments when you want to give up. Don't underestimate the power of grit and perseverance.”
How did you know you were ready to be a Founder?
I didn't have a definitive moment when I knew I was "ready" to be a founder. It was more of an undeniable pull, and a feeling that I couldn't not do it. It felt like a calling, and despite the massive risks involved, I was willing to leap because the alternative – not pursuing this vision – felt impossible.
What’s some advice you wish you knew early on?
If I had known just how challenging the journey would be, and how many factors need to align for success, I might have hesitated before leaping. It's incredibly rewarding, but it's also a lot more complex and demanding than you initially realize.
Are you hiring right now?
Yes, we are always looking for top talent to join our team. Visit our careers website to learn more about some of the current opportunities at BenchSci:
Want to hear more powerful builder stories?
Mark the calendar for our upcoming events.
Peerscale Quarterly Dinner | January 9, 2025 — LEARN MORE
Together Toronto | January 13, 2025 — REGISTER HERE
Commerce Toronto | January 20, 2025 — REGISTER HERE (Katherine Homuth will be taking the stage for this one)
Travel Toronto | January 27, 2025 — REGISTER HERE
Together Toronto | February 3, 2025 — REGISTER HERE
Members Social | February 10, 2025 — LEARN MORE
Together Toronto | March 3, 2025 — REGISTER HERE
OUR MUSINGS
Our CEO in Residence, Marie Chevrier Schwartz recently shared a call to action challenging Canada’s negative rhetoric around building here.
The call to action was inspired by Katherine Homuth’s candid reflections and our community rallying against recent misleading headlines written at the expense of powerful takeaways.
Check the post out:
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