iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

On universal access to fertility care: affordability is just the start. kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

What a privilege to be asked to contribute to the Reproductive BioMedicine Online special issue RBMO @25. My article, "How will IVF be delivered in 25 years’ time?" is up -- no paywall or registration needed. Comments and abuse welcomed. kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

a bunch of my students were writing for TTR. Year in and year out, one of the least promotional but most substantive leaders in #biotech.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

the industry, his path, his approach to storytelling and how to listen to others to my Columbia University Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology class; fast forward a few months and...

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

A huge shout-out to the incomparable Luke Timmerman on the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Timmerman Report. I have been a loyal subscriber ever since. A few years back, Luke gave an exceptional, freewheeling talk about...

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Skating away on the thin ice of a new day.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

25!!! HBD to absolutely the world’s best daughter.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

What was the breakdown between pre and post menopausal women? May be helpful.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

More of a Tangled Up than a Rhapsody In. (At the Guggenheim)

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Happy holidays. Wishing you a safe journey searching for the lost empire of cool.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Nature imitates Rothko: winter solstice on the Upper West Side

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

The faces behind the Sable - Sirus criteria for value assessment in IVF innovation. (and HBD Abigail Sirus!)

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

My Unofficial Investor’s Letter, December 2024 The fund had a pretty good year. I’ll get to business in a bit. But first a story. medium.com/@dbsable/les...

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

“When you perform a vaginal delivery , there is a very brief moment, right after the baby’s head emerges, where you and the baby are the only people in the world.” dbsable.substack.com/p/i-was-an-o... #ivf #REI #embryology #obgyn

dbsable.substack.com

I Was An Obstetrician Once

You have to be an obstetrician before you can be an IVF doc

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Anything that the parties agree to is acceptable. The investors will internally model a conversion into equity at varying later valuations and calculate their margin of safety from that. In the meantime they hold debt and can recover any liquifiale assets in the worst case scenario.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

A founder asks: How do I sell a piece of my company when I don’t know what its worth? entrepreneurshipinbiotechnology.substack.com/p/if-you-und...

entrepreneurshipinbiotechnology.substack.com

The Virtuous Seed Stage Term Sheet

Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology Shadow Curriculum week 3

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

“When pitching, be acutely aware of the clarity of your language. Your toolkit is filled with words. Use that toolkit thoughtfully. You are creating something novel. It is intuitive to you. It will not be intuitive to others.” entrepreneurshipinbiotechnology.substack.com/p/the-existe...

entrepreneurshipinbiotechnology.substack.com

The Existential Pitch

Basic Science of Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology, Part 1

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

That’s a start — more to come!

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Bruce Booth, a partner at Atlas Venture, writes an excellent blog about drug development and science: lifescivc.com Bruce usually includes a good data set with each article. @LifeSciVC

lifescivc.com

LifeSciVC

Bruce Booth, partner at Atlas Venture, blogs on all facets of early stage biotech.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

If you end up doing a lot of biotech, there is a good book on biotech forecasting and modeling: @Frank_S_David amazon.com/Pharmagellan-G… (Self promotion disclosure: I wrote the foreword.)

amazon.com

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Two more business of biotech books that are really good: Peter Kolchinsky (PM for RA Capital) The Great American Drug Deal peterkolchinsky.com @PeterKolchinsky (You can read much of it on his medium posts: medium.com/the-biotech-so…

peterkolchinsky.com

Peter Kolchinsky

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Not as much science, but Elisabeth Rosenthal’s book American Sickness gives a really good (and depressing) overview of the US healthcare system. @RosenthalHealth t.co/TOUETFhIqk

t.co

https://www.amazon.com/American-Sickness-Healthcare-Became-Business/dp/1594206759

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

A little more dense, but very readable, are Siddartha Mukherjee’s books on cancer, genetics, and cell biology. Sid was a guest speaker in class in 2023 @DrSidMukherjee siddharthamukherjee.com

siddharthamukherjee.com

Siddhartha Mukherjee

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Anything Atul Gawande writes is great (his column in The New Yorker is a must read.) My personal favorites for getting up to speed on healthcare and science: amazon.com/Better-Surgeon… amazon.com/Complications-

amazon.com

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Biology: I would not spend too much time on basic bio, instead learning it in the context of applied biology ie medicine and biotechnology. The background science will sink in within the context of the stories and case studies. Some good sources:

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Dr. Lowe is brilliant and while some of the pieces are really dense and jargon-y, a lot of them are really accessible. The vocabulary eventually sinks in.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

For basic science, you may want to read small amounts regularly rather than try to learn the vocabulary all at once. Chemistry: A personal favorite science resource that I use is Derek Lowe’s blog “In The Pipeline” in Science. blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/

blogs.sciencemag.org

Science | AAAS

Science/AAAS peer-reviewed journals deliver impactful research, daily news, expert commentary, and career resources.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Charles Wheelan's Naked Statistics (easy to read) amazon.com/Naked-Statisti… Harvey Motulsky’s Intuitive Biostatistics (denser and not so intuitive at times — free download below) academia.edu/40433614/Intui

amazon.com

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Brings us to statistics — to me the single most important skill for really understanding innovation in healthcare A could of good resources, one general and one specific to healthcare / biology:

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Back to data: if you are given raw numbers, convert them to %’s. If you get %, find out the # of people in the trial and convert it to numbers. If they both look impressive — great. If one does not believe the one that is least impressive. @Columbia students know this one well.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

For med devices: they are almost all a combination of an energy source and a delivery system. To understand them quickly break it down into the two and figure out how novel one or the other is.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Neurology and psychiatry are minefields for data — nature did such a good job protecting our central nervous systems that they are extremely difficult to study. Women’s health too!

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

2) related to #1 — over time you’ll get a feel for how reliable the measurements that make up the data readouts are. Specific easily reproducible numbers (weight, % survival) are much more reliable than arbitrarily made up “scores.”

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

1) look at the name of the disease — is it highly specific? (“TRK-fusion positive tumor”) or a random label (“Alzheimer’s Disease”). The more specific the understanding of the disease — especially on a genetic level — the more likely that things will work.

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

My advice to graduates of my class who still (!) insist on going into #biotech investment banking First, a few tips re science/medical data:

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David Sable @dbsable.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Don't Make Sh@% Up. Biology Always Wins ...and Other Rules of Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology entrepreneurshipinbiotechnology.substack.com/p/dont-make-...

entrepreneurshipinbiotechnology.substack.com

Don't Make Sh@% Up. Biology Always Wins

...and Other Rules of Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology

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