Episode 128: The Return of James Zanewicz – Building a Lasting Biotech Innovation Ecosystem with Connect

Today we reconnect with a voice from our past. Curious? You gotta listen for more. You're listening to Bio from the Bayou, empowering biotech leaders with the tools, assets, and expertise to improve healthcare outcomes.

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Serving the entire Gulf South, but recorded in the heart of New Orleans. Wonder Twin Powers activate.

I'm back.

You're back. Oh, yay.

For a limited time only.

Limited Billy.

A short guest stint again. I love it.

I can't get rid of me. Can't get rid of you, nor would we want to. And honestly, we talk all the time anyway. Now we just have somebody recording us, so, you know, we probably should behave this time.

Just this one time.

You need to behave. Yeah.

This time I'm not in the studio and Ian can't stop me. I'm on Zoom like you.

Oh, no.

He has no control. No control of either one of us.

Oh, I love it so much. Well, if you've ever listened to our podcast, you've definitely heard the dulcet tones of James, who's joining us today. And he is also coming back, not just as the OG creator of this podcast, he's also coming back as CEO of Connect, which is the OG innovation hubs. So welcome back, James. I'm so happy to have you back.

I miss you. It's so much fun to be here.

Yay. Well, Connect has been part of San Diego's innovation story for a really long time. I've heard about it even being in Oklahoma, all, all here. It's, it's got an incredible history, which I think is really amazing. When you hear a lot about ecosystems, it's not always a long storied history. It's usually like, we just started it 10 years ago. Not the case with Connect. So talk to us a little bit about the history and then what you're thinking about for the future as the new CEO.

Well, so Connect is the original accelerator before accelerator was a word. So the place that helps startup companies go, like, they do things before they become words. Then they were the first intentional ecosystem before ecosystem was a word. And I say intentional because the Bay Area up north will say they were first, but they just happened. San Diego actually intentionally created it. So it's the first intentional one.

Yeah.

And now we're at the new spot. We're 40 years in. What do we do? And so kind of our, our 1.0 was that 40 years ago where there was no help for entrepreneurs, especially coming out of academia. Elaine, as you know, even when you were coming out, it was still hard, but imagine being a few years before that when there was no help anywhere. And Connect really was hands-on helping entrepreneurs form companies in many ways, kind of helping them do that work, do those kinds of things. And that was the 1.0 phase. The 2.0 was really almost 20 years in where Duane Roth spun Connect out of the UCSD, the University of California, San Diego, where it started. into an independent nonprofit, still took nothing from the companies they helped, no cash, no equity, no anything else. But in addition to helping those companies, also spun out a lot of other ecosystem support services, groups like the Cleantech Association, the San Diego Sports Innovation Council, Athena to support women CEOs, but all these different groups. And so it's kind of like the teenage years of an ecosystem where you're almost creating your own competition, which I would view more as collaboration now, but at that moment, They're kind of creating competitors to, to help entrepreneurs in different ways. And then you look 40 years in where you are now, you have this incredibly mature ecosystem that, that has been copied around the globe where you probably, if you're an innovation entrepreneur, whether you're life science, tech, climate, defense, AI, bi-national health, all the things that San Diego's fortunate to be good at, there are probably 300 people who say they're there to help you, most of whom want either cash or equity. 'Cause Elaine, as you know, as a startup CEO, Mm-hmm. most people don't help you for nothing. They all want something.

Oh.

'Cause it's a business. We still take nothing. So we're actually at a point where we can help serve by getting back to our roots, by helping entrepreneurs on a basic level, but becoming that front door to San Diego where our program is, how do you navigate what is in San Diego? And really focusing kind of on pathways, proof, and platform for our entrepreneurs.

Ooh, I like that. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm really tired of paying people in hugs because it turns out that's not good currency. So—

I love hugs. Ian loves hugs. We're good.

That is your currency, 100%. But I love that you guys don't— are like, it's not pay to play. It's not you have to give up equity or give up control of your company to receive the help. And one thing I want to talk to you about, I mean, when you talk about 40 years, what do you think is the secret to that sustainability?

The sustainability is constant evolution. Connect is a startup like the startups we serve. And if we're not constantly evolving, we're not relevant. And that's where we talk. And it's probably— we're probably more on like a 10 or 20.0 with all the incremental things. Sure. You can kind of look at 3 distinct shifts. So we say 3.0 now, but I do think that's what it is, is that Connect has not been afraid to always look to what's next. And if you believe in Guy Kawasaki and some of his teachings, that Connect jumps to the next curve. They're not the people cutting the ice out of the lake, waiting for somebody to start manufacturing it in a factory that eliminates them. And then those factory people, oh, there's a freezer in your house now. We're irrelevant. Connect, I think, has seen those things and jumped to that next curve and been the architect for that next curve versus waiting for it to happen around them.

Well, and then what that says to me, I love what you said at the beginning, which is that you guys think of yourself as a startup and the most successful startups are the ones that listen and respond to customers. And it sounds like that's something that you guys do. And a lot, sadly, a lot of ecosystems don't do that. They preach it to a lot of their startup companies of you always got to do customer discovery and development, but rarely do they take the time to actually go out and have the conversations of what is needed and then predict what's going to be needed next. So I think that's such a great phrase that you use of thinking Yeah, and that's where Dr.

Petra Stegman, who's been with Connect the longest of any of our staff, she lives, eats, sleeps, breathes helping entrepreneurs and startups and really understands that space, but gets to know them and helps mentor them and assemble mentors around them. And she keeps her ear to the ground and lets us know, what are we hearing? What are the good things? What are the pain points? And it's also how we activate our board is, what are you hearing? And we're adding 2 directors, one for life science, one for tech and defense, so that we can get deeper into verticals and understand what some of the differences are, as well as some of the commonalities. And can respond a bit better than perhaps we have in the past.

One thing that I love is that you're also now a CEO of a startup, and now you know my pain.

Yeah, which I call to you all the time, like, you did not warn me or tell me how amazing it is.

Girl, I 100% warned you. What are you talking about? I said, sure, listen. Well, since becoming CEO, where have you been focused in the early months? And what have you wanted to strengthen or do a little bit differently?

Yeah, so I think a lot of it was taking stock. So the first 4 to 5 months, it was working with the current team and myself and talking to the community. And that was our board, but also companies, service providers, investors, and companies large, small, in between, the academic centers, again, because so much of this is generated from academia, research institutes, that kind of stuff, ensuring they're engaged, but really absorbing information and getting the feedback of what are we doing well? What do you wish we did? Where do you think things are needed to help move things forward? And that's kind of where the Pathways Proof platform has come out of. And with that, we've rebuilt the team, or in the process of finalizing that right now, to kind of fit that model where before we had people dedicated to programs who kind of would run a program and keep it going, but when they left, that knowledge kind of left and you had to build somebody else back up. What we're doing now is putting people into innovation verticals, starting with life science, tech, and defense, potentially AI next, splitting tech and defense into 2, maybe with life science, dividing it out into pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, tools. We do what we can with the resources we have as a nonprofit, but our dream is to grow that, then have that group of directors work together as a team, kind of supporting both our chief strategy officer and our head of entrepreneurial affairs. In their work, but to come together to run programs. And they'll probably all treat this as a career accelerator where in 3 to 5 years they'll have created their next job or their next position and moved on, but had a tremendous impact on the ecosystem and created an opportunity for somebody else to come in and learn and grow in their space. But hopefully they don't all leave at the same time, and then they can start training each other and get supervisory experience. So really long-term sustainability of the organization as a whole. In addition to service to the ecosystem as a whole is what we focused on.

Ooh, that service piece is good. And of course, you've executed this way, and it goes back to the— when you think of The First 90 Days, which actually is a book that you recommended to me, uh, The First 90 Days as a CEO, the first thing they talk to you about is going and having a conversation with the people that you will be working with, not just internally, but externally. And again, it goes back to listening and having conversations with the people that you Serve. And that's such a good piece of it versus just coming in. There's a new sheriff in town kicking in doors and trying to squeeze in things that you've learned from the many other ecosystems that you've been in, New Orleans and Kentucky and D.C. You're finding what makes, you know, San Diego unique and finding what makes that special sauce there. And I really like that, that you've thought about that. And so what are some of the biggest lessons or surprises or shocking realities or cold water thrown on your excitement? Anything that you found that was different than what you thought it was going to be or something that you have learned in the process of this first, I guess not first 90 days, but in the first, how long have you been there now? I guess it's been—

Uh, almost 7 months, 6 and a half months, almost 7. Yeah. Yeah.

So what have been the biggest surprises or lessons that you've had?

So I'd say the biggest surprise is that San Diego and New Orleans are very similar places, which was shocking to 'Cause I spent my 5 years in Los Angeles, and Los Angeles and New Orleans are very different places.

Oh yeah, very different.

It, it kind of comes down to culture and that this is much like New Orleans. It's a world-class city, but it's a big small town. I think the really interesting, you know, people are genuinely here to help each other and they mean it and they celebrate each other's successes and lift each other up. And I think San Diego's fortunate that they've got the 40 years behind them. So they have this incredibly mature ecosystem. And I see the future of the Gulf South in many ways in where San Diego is now. is where the Gulf South could be in 40 years. And that's what's really exciting is I'm like, oh, the things we were doing there can get you to where this is because it is the same culture and the culture's so impressive. And one of the examples of that, and I was just talking about this with some of my team last night, is when you have a CEO who does really well here, Mm-hmm. they tend to not get back into grinding immediately for a next huge exit. They go coach their kids at soccer practice and they start a venture fund and they mentor other companies. They want to help someone else get there. They're kind of like, I did really well and I got mine, but now it's my turn to give back to the community, but also enjoy life. And it's that work hard, play hard in the same sense that the Gulf South has. I think also the surprising thing is you hear about what a great ecosystem San Diego is, and I'm aware that I'm biased living here now, but having spent so much time in Boston, in San Francisco, in these other major ecosystems that get a lot more press. San Diego has so much more in so many different verticals. They're almost Australian, where it's that, oh, you know, don't stand too tall among the poppies, like we learned about when we had the podcast with the Australian people. It's almost like that, where they want the work to speak for itself. And you and I know you have to speak the work. And that's something where Connecta is really jumping in with kind of that, that, that platform bit where we're going to amplify our CEOs. That's why we're starting the podcast, why we're doing press releases, why we're positioning people. But, you know, it's that you have to help our entrepreneurs understand that it's not a dirty thing to promote yourself. It's what gets you investment and funding.

I like that. Although we have better cocktails. You guys don't have mosquitoes though. So there is—

No, no mosquitoes.

That's wild.

Very little humidity, although we think we do.

Although, you know what's funny? And this is a crazy science aside, but like when I first started working at Tulane, someone was telling me that they were coming up with a new technology for like fake blood for mosquitoes. And I was like, okay, yeah, I'm definitely in tropical medicine here. So anyway, we won't talk about parasites, but I do like the idea of what you said. One, you have that 40 years of trust. That trust is so, so important.

It is.

And the other thing that I really like is that you've had those different verticals because most ecosystems shouldn't and couldn't be just one thing. You have to diversify to have a sustainable ecosystem because if one thing goes belly up, you have the other verticals to help support the economics of the community. And that's something that we think a lot in the Gulf South, as well as where I live in Oklahoma, is that we think about sort of oil and gas and we can't be all oil and gas. We have to find ways to diversify. But what I like about it. is the cross-collaboration that you can establish by having those verticals. So what are the things that you guys are thinking about in that piece of it?

And I think, you know, it really comes down to, you know, AI in healthcare is huge, as you and I are passionate about. It's that biotech is now driven by data and tech. It all comes down to that. Biotech is not just on its own. And it's almost a perfect storm of these things that have existed as separate verticals are converging, converging, converging, converging.

Converging.

Oh, I like converging. They're converging. We have a new word. They're converging in San Diego, but they need to in the verticals. Verticals are less and less distinct and more and more bleed into each other. And San Diego already has that where other regions are having to build some of those others now. And so it's a tremendous place to come do that. And while San Diego is not an inexpensive city to live in, the benefits are incredible and you don't need as big of a house. The other thing we were talking about last night is you don't need a big house because you're outside all the time because it's so gorgeous here. Like, the entire city is your living room. You don't need a massive living room because you have 9 months of winter or 110 degrees and 1,000% humidity in the summer. Like, it's great.

Wait a minute. Are you telling me you don't take 2 showers a day now? That's crazy.

No, I don't have to. One's good.

Oh, I long for the days of not having a sweaty bra. But that's all right. Let's talk again about those verticals because sometimes it can just be like setting up the world's most awkward playdate when you just sort of try to force people to convene with each other. Then you have people in the tech organization lumping into one group, and it just becomes cliquey. And so no one actually, actually engages with each other. Are there ways that you're thinking about how to pull in these sort of cross-collaborative opportunities?

I mean, just like New Orleans parties with alcohol.

That's one way to do it, yeah. Well, one way to make things less awkward is to just add a little alcohol. That's fair.

Inviting people together just in casual ways, but also more intentional ways, looking at smaller salons to pull people together for topics that can cross verticals in together, you know, in smaller groups, because the big groups are great, but it's harder to— Establish those intentional relationships. We're trying to create more of those moments. And that's something we've heard from our sponsors and board partners that they like more of too. While the big splashy things are great, it's all about establishing that relationship. And that's our hope what we can do with the smaller, more intimate type things, having directors who are focused on causing those creative collisions more often.

Yeah.

And leaning into our history and looking at what we did when we worked with those other countries around the world who kind of copied Connect in a box. How do we leverage perhaps what they've developed in some of these spaces and bring some of that back here? As well as part of a collaboration, reactivating that network that has been kind of dormant for a while. But we had Norway come over earlier this year, and they were doing a trade mission where they sailed a sailboat from San Francisco down to San Diego and came in and met with us. And we're like, we want to reactivate our relationship because we're connected to Norway, and we worked with you 20 years ago to establish, and now we want that. And so that's something coming up at the end of the year. Get on the boat. Yeah, it was. Yeah, I did not have to get on the boat. Thank you. Because they had to work the whole way. It was not fun.

Yeah, I was like, that sounds like a lot of work.

That does not sound like a little fun little I'm like, Elaine and I will be at the Camp Four Seasons when you come in.

We'll be below deck. Thanks. Bye.

No, but I think those kinds of things, looking at what can we learn from other places, because while we do service San Diego companies and San Diego entrepreneurs, and that is our mission, you can't do that without being global at this point. And so, we can bring the world to San Diego and take San Diego to the world and still do our mission.

I love that. Well, let's talk about— this will be the last question of this podcast, because there will be more between you and me. So, just dropping that little spoiler alert. What does practical support look like? Because I have people that say, we're here to support entrepreneurs, and that's such a, a nice little soundbite, but honestly, it doesn't always follow through and it doesn't in a practical, tangible way. And I say that as an entrepreneur, I've had really great supporters that they put their money where their mouth is. They walk the walk, they talk the talk. But what do you think about when you're, and when an entrepreneur comes to you and is asking for help?

Well, one of the key things is always helping them find capital. I mean, that's huge.

Thank you.

You're like, duh, thanks. We all know.

No, but that's true though.

It's huge. Yeah, it's huge. And so we are making sure we establish those relationships and we do that in different ways. And we have a strategy towards the end of this year to work more on that. We can talk about that. Maybe we'll do a little cross-podcast between Buy Open to Buy You and Connect Current together and talk about these strategies and how we can do it between regions. Forward-looking hint. But, you know, it does come down to getting people to the right resources at the right times and understanding that's not you. At many phases and it's great to refer them, but I think the thing that we can do to add value and we're really fortunate. So Daniela Gama on our team, amazing, amazing young professional who has this expertise in data and marketing and does wizardry like things with Airtable that I don't understand. But you know, when we refer someone out layering into the database that 6 months later it generates an email.

Yeah.

And if they're a tech company, the director of tech gets a draft email that says, Hey, 6 months ago we referred you to the bank for that really, because you were really early stage, but it might be time to start looking at Series A. You should be talking to us about doing a springboard panel, preparing for cool companies. And how do we leverage technology to help us be more in touch and not less in touch? And again, helping people get to those right places at the right times throughout the entire journey. And yeah, honestly, just make us more productive. And it's not eliminating jobs, it's ensuring we can do more with less.

That's good. More with less, which is something that startups struggle with all the time. What a great way to end this. Thank you so much for coming back on. I'm so excited to be on the microphone with you again, and I'm excited to have our additional podcasts that we're going to have. So, I hope that our listeners will stay tuned to our next episode of Bio from the Bayou, and that's going to be also including our very special guest.

Thank you.

special, special, special guest, which is James Zanewicz.

And Ian's probably ready for us to get our little stint over again because I bet you don't talk about your sweaty bra with other guests. He's like, oh my God.

I definitely don't talk about my sweaty bra with other guests.

She talks about some things. I feel like he's used to it because he doesn't even blush anymore. I'm like, poor Ian. I'm too used to y'all. She's broken him.

I broke him. I've been so buttoned up. You just bring that out in me. You bring the sweaty bra out in me, James. What can I say? Oh, we'll save that for the blooper reel. Well, thanks again, James. And we'll talk to you soon. As always, we will make sure to have James's contact— well, his new contact information and informational links posted in our show notes. Make sure to check them out to learn more. Thank you again for joining us.

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This podcast was edited by Resonate Recordings.