He Raised $80 Million To Build A Global Company Providing Gene Delivery Technologies To Enable Research And Clinical Studies

Bruce Lahn’s entrepreneurial journey is anything but conventional. From a childhood marked by hardship in China to founding groundbreaking biotech ventures, his story is one of resilience, innovation, and an unrelenting drive to make the world a better place.

A scientist-turned-entrepreneur, Bruce has successfully transitioned from academia to leading businesses like VectorBuilder and Cyagen, reshaping gene delivery and genetic research. Here’s a dive into his extraordinary path and the lessons he’s gleaned along the way.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

Early Life and Foundations in Science

Born in a small town in central China, Bruce moved to Beijing at a young age, growing up in a family of physicists. His parents were physicists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, “which is why physics is a part of my DNA,” he comments wryly.

This scientific foundation profoundly influenced his intellectual curiosity. Initially drawn to physics for its logic and precision, Bruce pivoted to biology, pursuing his bachelor’s degree at Harvard and a PhD at MIT.

By his 30s, Bruce had become a professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, leading cutting-edge research. But his ambitions didn’t stop at academia. Reflecting on his journey, he says, “I grew up in a desperately poor China, always dreaming of making the world a better place.”

That dream and witnessing the hardships around him drove Bruce to work hard and achieve more. He was also keen on getting accolades from top universities.

The Leap Into Entrepreneurship

For Bruce, entrepreneurship wasn’t the original plan—it was a solution to a problem. Leading a research lab at the University of Chicago with around 15 to 20 people, he spent 20–30% of his time applying for grants, which he considered a waste of his time when he could be doing research.

The constraints of grant funding led him to explore alternate sources of financing to support ambitious projects.

“I realized I could fund my research better by starting companies,” Bruce explains. “Entrepreneurship allowed me to create tools that would not only advance my work but also benefit the broader scientific community.”

This pragmatic approach laid the foundation for his entrepreneurial ventures. Over the years, Bruce has launched five companies, each tackling unique challenges in genetics and biotechnology. While some ventures thrived, others stumbled, but as Bruce notes, “You either succeed or learn.”

Bruce’s motivation was just to provide better tools to the community. For instance, he wanted to help researchers do their research better and drug developers to develop drugs more efficiently. That was his way of contributing to the world.

Transitioning from the highly technical aspect of his profile to the business side wasn’t easy for Bruce. He recalls how running a research lab differs greatly from running a company. He had to learn many things from scratch, like creating good products, doing R&D, and generating revenues.

Bruce had to ensure his employees were paid and investors were getting good returns from their investments. The way he sees it, running a research lab would require a skill set level of 10, but running a company requires a 20 to 30, all of which he learned from the ground up.

The Creation of VectorBuilder

Bruce’s flagship venture, VectorBuilder, stemmed from a simple observation. While at Cyagen, a company producing genetically modified animal models, he noticed researchers, like his grad students and post-docs, spent excessive time constructing gene delivery vectors.

They were creating DNA or RNA packages used in genetic medicine and research, using mouse and rat models. This process involved a lot of genetic manipulation. The packages could be delivered to the cells and were vital vaccine material.

VectorBuilder revolutionized this process, enabling researchers to design custom vectors through an intuitive online platform. Bruce likens the service to “ordering books on Amazon.” He explains that vectors are highly custom reagents with different applications, and various experiments require different vectors.

Just as photographers need not waste time building cameras, researchers need not build vectors when customized versions are easily available. Nor do they need to waste time acquiring the expertise to build the vectors.

VectorBuilder’s impact extends beyond research, providing clinical-grade vectors for gene therapy and vaccine development. From CAR-T cancer therapies to COVID-19 vaccines, VectorBuilder’s innovations have accelerated advancements in genetic medicine.

Key Challenges and Lessons in Scaling

Bruce learned valuable lessons from failure. Reflecting on his early ventures, he emphasizes the importance of grounding dreams in practicality. “A healthy dose of realism is essential. Always ask: Why us? What’s different about this venture? How can we succeed where others failed?”

One pivotal decision was focusing solely on VectorBuilder while his partner took over Cyagen, executing a unique share swap. This clear division of focus allowed both companies to thrive since running both companies simultaneously was becoming too challenging for Bruce.

He now advises aspiring entrepreneurs to embrace specialization, saying, “You can’t do everything. Focus on doing one thing exceptionally well.”

Fundraising and Growth

Bruce explains that VectorBuilder is much more than the initial online vector outsourcing platform. The company now offers additional downstream services in terms of validating vectors for drug discovery pipelines.

VectorBuilder also manufactures clinical-grade vectors for clinical trials and approved commercial vector-based products for therapeutics and vaccines. The company manufactures in China, while R&D is in China and the US.

It is working on expanding manufacturing units and R&D into the US and several other sites in Europe, Australia, and South Korea. VectorBuilder is now a global powerhouse, employing over 700 workers.

Since its inception, VectorBuilder has raised $80M in equity and debt over four funding rounds. Interestingly, the company has been profitable for much of its journey.

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Bruce explains, “We didn’t need to raise large sums, but as we moved into clinical-grade vectors, the scale of operations demanded significant investment in facilities, hiring, and expensive instruments and equipment.”

Investors were drawn not just by the company’s profitability but by its vision: becoming synonymous with gene delivery. “We want researchers to think of VectorBuilder as the Google of gene delivery,” Bruce says.

By freeing scientists from repetitive tasks, VectorBuilder accelerates discovery, improving research efficiency by up to 10%. As a result, developing genetic medicine would be faster and cheaper.

Cultural Values and Innovation

Building a global company requires more than innovative products—it demands a strong culture. VectorBuilder is all about giving back to the community.

As part of the company’s mandate and culture, it builds various free tools and resources like DNA analysis software and educational materials on gene delivery technologies.

These resources are available to the community, including students and postdocs, who can use them to advance their research without paying money.

It’s part of VectorBuilder’s commitment and mission to become synonymous with gene delivery not only as a for-profit entity but also as an entity that provides critical free resources to the community. While building the 700-strong team, Bruce ensured a robust culture.

He attributes VectorBuilder’s success to three core differentiators and principles. He tells his team:

• Differentiation: Focus on unique value propositions and what you can do better than the competitors. “Our team knows we’re not dispensable because we’re creating tools no one else can match.” he says
• Purpose: Balance profitability with making the world a better place. “We’re not just doing this for money. We’re here to advance science and help humanity.”
• Innovation: Never compromise on quality or innovation; always aspire to be the industry leader.

Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Looking back, Bruce offers advice to his younger self:

• Quit academia sooner: “VectorBuilder is a bigger stage for achieving my dreams of making the world a better place.”
• Invest in sales and marketing: “We had a great product and idea but let it grow organically for too long. Earlier investment in sales and marketing tools would’ve accelerated our growth.” The business could have grown faster in its earlier stages.

Bruce’s official title in the company is not only the founder but also the chief scientist. He directly oversees several R&D projects, especially the more innovative projects. Since VectorBuilder is a high-tech company, it is crucial to have an eye on innovation.

Bruce believes in not just talking about innovation and having others do it but also being in the trenches and working with innovators and his team to bring better products into the market.

He consistently spends time on smaller research projects on the side that interest him to continue learning and stay excited about making discoveries.

The Vision Ahead

Bruce’s journey from a small town in China to leading a multinational biotech company exemplifies the power of vision and adaptability. As VectorBuilder expands globally, its mission remains clear: to transform gene delivery and accelerate life sciences research.

For Bruce, the path hasn’t been easy, but his enduring belief in innovation and making the world a better place keeps him moving forward. As he puts it, “Dreams are important, but they must be grounded in reality. That’s where the magic happens.”

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Bruce Lahn’s journey from academia to entrepreneurship was driven by a desire to fund impactful research and make the world a better place.
• Transitioning from running a research lab to managing companies required learning entirely new skill sets, including business operations and investor relations.
• Observing inefficiencies in labs led to the creation of VectorBuilder, revolutionizing how researchers access customized gene delivery vectors.
• Bruce emphasizes the importance of pairing visionary ideas with practical execution to build sustainable ventures.
• With operations spanning multiple countries, VectorBuilder illustrates how leveraging global resources enhances innovation and efficiency.
• Bruce’s companies prioritize giving back to the scientific community with free tools and resources, fostering trust and innovation.
• Reflecting on his journey, Bruce advises startups to focus on sales and marketing early to accelerate growth and capture market potential.

 

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