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Job Summary

The Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), as a member of the Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships, will facilitate technology commercialization activities by helping Caltech scientists and engineers define a realistic path to market for their ideas. He or she will serve as an experienced mentor to faculty, students and alumni. The EIR will be a seasoned professional with technology domain expertise and broad experience in both academia and industry and will advise on efforts to translate lab research to the commercial sector for broadest impact and efficient translation. The EIR will establish a streamlined process to assist and mentor faculty, students, and alumni with limited IP commercialization and start-up experience. The EIR will help define milestones necessary to position the technology for outside investment and tactfully focus researchers on achieving these milestones.

Job Duties

50% campus-wide effort on the commercialization of life science technologies

The EIR will spend 50% effort on evaluation of candidate technologies identified with the assistance of OTTCP and through outreach to Caltech faculty and students. He/she will prioritize candidate technologies in terms of market potential, technical and regulatory risk, intellectual property status, near-term financial needs, outside investment potential and other relevant criteria. The EIR will work with researchers with the most promising technologies to put together and execute a short-term plan for commercialization. This plan may include market research, further technical proof-of-concept work, or other risk reduction activities that will inform the right commercialization path for the technology, either through the formation of a start-up or by approaching potential industry partners. When these activities lead to a decision to move forward on the start-up path, the EIR will work with the faculty or student on practical tasks such as company formation, team building, selection of corporate counsel, milestones determination, budgeting, pitchdeck creation, fundraising, etc. The EIR will help the founders prioritize start-up activities to maximize value in order to secure long-term financing. The type of support that the EIR provides a start-up will depend on its needs. The EIR will also assist in recruiting leadership and other management personnel to the company, and may act as a mentor to the company to provide advice on managing financial and personnel resources.

In addition to start-up creation, the EIR will support entrepreneurial activities at Caltech. This may include supporting technology Demo Days or Tech Reviews to highlight Caltech technology which may be of interest to corporate partners or investors. As directed by OTTCP management, the EIR will engage in outreach activities with faculty, students and alumni to make them aware of the entrepreneurial resources Caltech offers. Outreach efforts will primarily include one-on-one meetings with faculty, but also small campus events which showcase the technologies actively supported by the EIR. Additional responsibilities will include, providing connections to the venture capital community, maintaining a list of experienced entrepreneurs and domain experts to serve as mentors, and serving on the selection committees of the Grubstake, Caltech Innovation Initiative (CI2). The EIR will work to build a network of alumni entrepreneurs who can act as mentors, funding sources and potential leadership to new Caltech start-ups. The EIR will propose and develop additional programs and activities to support entrepreneurship at Caltech and will work with OTTCP to continually enhance commercialization efforts on campus and other duties as requested.

In all of the above activities, he/she will work closely with OTTCP management and OTTCP licensing associates throughout the commercialization process. He/she will keep detailed records of his/her activities and will report to OTTCP staff regularly on the progress made for each of the technologies of focus. This reporting will occur no less that biweekly. At the end of his/her term, he/she will submit a detailed report of his/her efforts. Such report will detail the technologies he/she focused on, the specific activities he/she performed to help researchers and companies, and recommendations to help improve the overall commercialization process of Caltech technologies.

50% effort on commercialization of gene therapy technology

The EIR will spend the remaining 50% effort working directly with the Professor Viviana Gradinaru lab at Caltech, a position covered by a Moore Inventor grant whose goal is to ensure inventions move past the basic research stage and have impact on the research enterprise, public health, etc. As part of this effort, the EIR will work with the principal investigator and scientists in the Gradinaru group to advise on best strategies for research and product development to meet market needs. This includes, but is not limited to, an understanding of unmet needs in the broader gene therapy space and design strategies and securing resources (human and capital) to pursue them including: basic research, partnering (with academia and industry), funding (including internal and external, for e.g. NIH and NSF SBIRs, NSF iCorps), intellectual property.

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s degree with 10 years’ experience at large life science company, including hands-on experience in research and product strategy, drug discovery, process development, and new product development, or equivalent experience in start-up companies
• Significant, hands-on domain expertise in Food & Drug Administration (FDA) development and regulatory approval pathway for bringing small-molecule drugs, biologics, or medical devices to market
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills are required
• Proficient computer skills
• Excellent organizational and time management skills

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD degree in a life science
• Experience with bringing a scientific or engineering product to market from initial concept to product development
• Experience recruiting leadership top candidates
• Have a network of life science regulatory contacts and resources with existing relationships in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry

Required Documents

• Resume