Startup Spotlight #128: GlycanAge
GlycanAge is a simple, ground-breaking test that analyses your glycobiology.
Author’s Note: I decided I’d publish today since I didn’t give a heads up before Memorial Day that I would be taking the day off. Anyway - Happy Memorial Day!
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I got the chance to speak with Nikolina Lauc, co-founder and CEO of GlycanAge, about what she’s working on at her startup, and any advice she has for emerging entrepreneurs.
Lauc comes from a very entrepreneurial family. She, two of her younger brothers, and their father run their own successful businesses (taking pride in each of them doing it "the hard way", self-funded). GlycanAge came out of her father's research lab as a spin-out product based on three decades of research, over 100,000 people analyzed (some followed for over 30+ years) in 120 different scientific trials. It's a test that can measure your rate of molecular aging by looking at the immune system, through a very neglected molecule called glycans (specifically IgG glycosylation).
To get us out of research and into a commercial view, Lauc personally invested her savings (beginning of 2020) and took the CEO role. Her team scaled quite successfully and currently sells across 30 different countries and 4 continents. In the process, they uncovered a large unmet need within women's health. Men and women age very differently, for women menopause is a traumatic inflection point that could be precisely managed.
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Startup Spotlight: GlycanAge
Problem: Menopause diagnosis is done retrospectively (1-day post 12 months of a missing cycle) with no currently accurate diagnostic test. The onset of menopause (perimenopause) can last from 4 to 10 years, 90% of women experience symptoms, over 66% are misdiagnosed and mistreated for depression, 20% of women leave their jobs due to severity of symptoms and if they enter perimenopause early (age 41-42) the average time to a correct diagnosis is 6-7 years.
Market: There will be 1.2 billion women experiencing menopause globally by 2025.
Solution: MenoAge - a customized version of GlycanAge that proves the onset of menopause, aiming to improve the predictive accuracy, diagnosis, and treatment outcomes for perimenopausal women as a novel test linking 3 factors in a rapid and remote manner - age, hormone levels, and female immunity.
Team: My co-founders are Prof Sc.D Gordan Lauc (father) and Filip Lauc (brother) who are pulling in their existing scientific and technology teams and resources.
Recent Success:
Lauc: Scaling companies from zero to several million in turnover, predominantly by focusing on relationships. By building consumer-centric products and services that focus on retention. By building tight-knit teams and sustainable work environments that can cater to all stages of life, including childbirth and working mums and dads. Putting profit before people is penny-wise but dollar poor, I choose to invest in the long run.
Recent Struggle:
Lauc: I am not naturally comfortable in the spotlight and I struggle to put myself out there. In the past, this went as far as me doing all the work in the background and letting somebody else take the credit for it. This eventually led to a very painful co-founder fallout about 4 years ago and me losing everything after investing 5 years in building the startup. Today, although I am shy, awkward, and sometimes get paralyzed by my imposter syndrome, I put myself out there and breathe through it.
Founder Advice:
Lauc: You don't need to follow "the standard path" of $$$ in Seed investment to get going, some of the largest companies today started off very small. Building startups is hard, make sure you're dedicating that hard work to a cause that motivates you more than just the monetary return, otherwise, it will be easier to give up when things get really hard. Experience is the most valuable resource that nobody can take away from you, even if they take everything else. If you are not happy about how things are, change them - “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” - George Bernard Shaw. Everybody wants to be a reasonable man/woman until they understand what reasonable means.
Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:
Lauc: Here are three founders you should check out next!
Carolina Reis, Co-Founder and CEO of OneSkin: OneSkin is the first topical supplement designed to extend your skin span on a molecular level.
Siddhi Mittal, Co-Founder and CEO of YHANGRY; YHANGRY is building the future of socializing with friends starting with private chef dinner parties.
Manish Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of Jiva.ai; Jiva.ai provides predictive analytics in healthcare powered by AI.
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