VDP-124 Company Building Management in VitaDAO

The trial period of the builder squad has come to an end, it is time to draw conclusions and decide what to do next, with the objective of advancing our portfolio of spinout projects as fast as possible, in an efficient way.

While the builder squad had the merit of prototyping the first setup to manage our growing number of spinout projects, the need emerged for alternative approaches.

Here is a simple proposal for the follow-up:

1. Confirm or assign an internal project lead to each of our spinouts with a formal mission letter setting clear goals for each project lead before he/she starts the work

2. Project leads will preferably have experience in biotech company building, in particular therapeutics. A single person can be assigned to more than one project, as is the case with Matrix Bio, Jonathan An, Evandro Fang and so on.

3. Each project lead is accountable for the execution of the research plan by the PI and/or the project research team (which can be internal, as in the case of ARTAN, or external, as in the case of ApoptoSENS, or a mix) and of the continuation of the project, until VitaDAO has skin in the game.

4. Builder Squad will be merged with the Dealflow Working Group. This will enable broader access to talent and resources from the community.

5. The builder squad is the community of project leads. The squad will be shepherded by an experienced biotech builder. Officially, the project leads will report directly to VitaCORE.

6. Day-to-day management of projects is the responsibility of the project leads, who can consult the builder squad lead, members of the dealflow working group (including the 3+ VitaCore members already in the group), and senior reviewers for advice, and who shall escalate major decisions to VitaCORE.

7. During quarterly reviews, projects will present progress to VitaCore and lean on SAB for expert-led advice

8. Each project shall comply with the portfolio management process, including quarterly project reviews, as a formal checkpoint on project progress, in terms of results, planning, and cost

9. Projects requiring more frequent supervision may be required to also report their progress on a bi-weekly basis at a company building routine, animated by one of the project leads and/or the Dealflow Working Group point of contact.

10. The objective of the builder squad is solely to advance our portfolio of spinout projects as fast as possible, in a collaborative and efficient way, leaning into resources from the community and VitaCore to accelerate projects’ development.

11. VitaCORE has the right to reassign a project to a different project lead based on performance with a majority vote

12. The builder squad and Molecule commit to find a constructive relationship as projects become fractionalized, taking into account the constraints imposed by the governance of intellectual property tokens, with the common goal of making each project a commercial success

The main features of this setup are:

• Giving the responsibility to those who are most qualified and who know the project best: the project leads

• Avoiding unnecessary management layers, boosting speed and efficiency

• Ensuring focus on a single well defined mission

This setup is compatible with a relatively reduced number of projects, some of which require relatively little supervision. As we scale, this setup may need to evolve.