The Business Leadership Podcast

You are listening to the Business
Leadership Podcast with Edwin.

Edwin: Today's guest is investing
in the boldest ideas on the planet.

Before the rest of the world catches on.

Tom Biala is the co-founder of Bison
Ventures, a venture capital firm that

recently debuted at $135 million fund
focused on companies tackling the

world's most pressing challenges from
AI driven systems and synthetic biology

to climate innovation and frontier tech.

With 20 years of experience as both
an engineer and investor, Tom brings

rare death across the entire lifecycle.

Oh.

Across the entire startup lifecycle
from lab stage breakthroughs

to IPOs before launching bison.

Tom worked as Tom worked at Cascade
Asset Management, managing the Gates

Foundation's tech investments, held roles
at Intel and Alterra Group, and helped

advance next gen solar technologies
at multiple university Spinouts.

He's also an.

Adjunct, adjunct professor of energy
and a sustainability at Northwestern,

and an advisor to Prime Coalition where
he supports catalytic climate capital.

Whether it's spot, whether it's
spotting the next transformation

technology, or the next great blues
record, Tom is always listening

for what's about to break through.

Welcome to the Business
Leadership Podcast, Tom.

Thanks for having me.

Great to be here.

Tom, can you tell us more
about Bison ventures?

The problem that you and your
portfolio are looking to solve when

it comes to venture capital and I.

Deep tech innovation.

Tom: Yeah, absolutely.

Happy to give you the
full background there.

So, uh, what we're trying to do at
Bison is invest in some of the best

and brightest entrepreneurs that are
using deep technology and advanced

science to solve some of the biggest
problems out there in the world.

Mm-hmm.

So whether these are, uh, problems facing
planetary health or human health or.

Applications of ai, these are all
things that we go after, and these

are very technically ambitious, uh,
companies that we tend to invest in.

Mm-hmm.

So I like to say that if it took a, a
PhD to invent the technology, chances are

it's something that we'll take a look at.

And that is in, uh, you know, quite
contrast from a lot of where Silicon

Valley spends their time investing in.

Known technology such as enterprise
software or FinTech, or even crypto.

We tend to spend our time in areas
such as biotechnology or material

science or deep hardware innovation.

So it's these types of companies
that we're backing at the

seed and series A stage and.

We think it's an absolutely massive
market opportunity that a lot of venture

capital investors are, are frankly missing
because they think it's either too hard

or the market opportunity is too small.

But some of the world's most profitable
and biggest companies nowadays are

frontier technology or deep technology
companies, such as the NVIDIAs

or t SMCs or Teslas of the world.

So, uh, this is an area that we're
super excited about and there's

some great entrepreneurs out there.

They just need this form of early
stage, uh, venture financing.

From folks that have been doing it for a
long time, that understand the technology

and understand the market opportunity.

So that's what we're going after at Bison.

Edwin: No, I love it.

And I like the point where you.

Differentiate yourself in terms of
like that deep technology or the,

the almost, almost like these r and
d physicists or or deep chemistry or

all these, and I guess when it comes
to the VC world, investing world,

that's almost like too early for them.

'cause they don't see the, I
guess the application, right?

Tom: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

In some cases they don't understand
the technology and they don't

know how to due diligence.

It.

In some cases, you don't have
enough industry expertise to

understand exactly how this.

Fits within a broader ecosystem, whatever
industry you might be going after.

You know, a lot of it comes
down to, to pattern recognition.

Pattern recognition is a
big deal in venture capital.

It's talked about a lot and some of
the best investors have fantastic

pattern recognition, but they've
got pattern recognition in software.

And when it comes to areas like material
science or biotech or hardware, they don't

necessarily have that pattern recognition.

And, and that's where we come in.

We've got those lessons learned over many
years, investing in these sectors, right?

Seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Hopefully investing behind the good
and staying away from the ugly, but at

least helping our companies navigate
these types of, uh, situations that they

might be facing within their verticals.

Edwin: That's amazing.

Um, when it comes to this podcast, mini
series that we're looking at and, and

some of the future narrative, narrative
work we did when we wrote this book is, is

this point of view that not only founders
are, but also early stage investors.

So when it comes to, you know, the
vision of the world that you are

hoping to create in partnership with
these startups, like how does, like

how do you, how does your vision.

Help solve the problems that
you see aside from all the

portfolio companies that you have?

Tom: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, take human biology, for example.

In human health, there is a whole
bunch of diseases out there mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That either have very poor treatments
or not treatable whatsoever.

As we think about our vision.

Not only are we trying to ultimately
make a lot of return for our investors

sure, but solve some of these problems.

And, and by the way, these are
huge problems because there are

a lot of these diseases, for
example, they're not treatable

today or have very poor treatments.

And if you can discover treatments
to those diseases such as, uh,

various forms of cancer, for example.

That is obviously a very
valuable solution, a very

valuable technology and product.

Mm-hmm.

And could result in a great return,
but also has a wonderful benefit

and a wonderful impact for humanity.

Edwin: Yeah, I mean, that's amazing and I,
I guess Tom, and I'm just assuming here,

you know, this is really looking into
one sector when it comes to the health.

And you know, me sitting here, you
sitting here, we're all sitting

here making sure we're all, all fit.

But when it comes to like solving
these scary big cha challenges,

like, you know, how does.

You know, partnering with, with bison
and, and your organization really

like help bring to fruition Yeah.

Some of these like audacious ideas.

Yeah,

Tom: absolutely.

I mean, you, you need to baby step your
way into some of these audacious ideas.

Yeah.

You can't go from one to a billion
over the course of a year and a,

you know, a seed financing ground.

Mm-hmm.

So we, we work very closely with
our entrepreneurs to understand.

What are the technical and product
milestones that you have to hit

within a seed round, for example?

Mm-hmm.

How do you think about commercial
traction and getting customers

excited early and often?

Mm-hmm.

So that you can demonstrate those signs
of product market fit early on in a

company's life cycle and continue.

Building investor
excitement in that business.

Right.

And partner excitement in that business.

So we spend a lot of time helping our
entrepreneurs how to essentially step

your way into those big audacious goals.

Yeah.

Because, you know, maybe you can
be an Elon Musk and, and go and.

Uh, go launch some rockets
into space pretty quickly.

Mm-hmm.

But in most cases, entrepreneurs
require that baby stepping into

these big, audacious problems.

So sometimes you gotta solve a
smaller problem, generate a little

bit of commercial traction and
revenue, eventually go after a

bigger problem, and then finally
you can hit that big audacious

goal that you've got ahead of you.

So you've gotta be practical
in how you go after it.

Edwin: And what's interesting, I think you
and I might share the same background, I'm

also an engineer as well, and you're an
engineer, so helping some of these like.

Very creative, innovative,
and imaginative, technical,

scientific people with background.

Sometimes they don't see
those baby steps, right?

That's right.

Yeah.

So I mean, I just, I mean,
this is more curiosity for me.

Mm-hmm.

You know, as you work with this and
understanding, and of course you come

from the different side of the fence now,
but what are some of those challenges

working with some of these founders?

Tom: Yeah.

I mean, sometimes if you have a very
scientific founder, yeah, they have

developed something that's very unique, IP
protected, it's kind of their baby, right?

And they have an idea of how
it's gonna solve a big problem.

But once you start doing customer
discovery, once you start

understanding what the problems
of the customer are, mm-hmm.

You sometimes realize that maybe that
initial invention or creation isn't

the best tool to solve that problem.

And you have to pivot
your technology Yeah.

And modify your technology.

But it's hard sometimes for a
scientist who invented that and

they don't wanna hear it from you.

Edwin: Natural jewel.

Tom: They don't wanna hear it.

Exactly.

Exactly.

That's rights, right?

They wanna hear

Edwin: they're, they're asking
you, what do you know, Tom?

So

Tom: my, so that's a
very interesting point.

I tell people all the time,
my opinion doesn't matter.

Go talk to a customer.

The customer's opinion mm-hmm.

Is what matters.

And the customer problem is
what you should be solving.

Don't listen to me,
listen to the customer.

That's

Edwin: right.

That's right.

So, I mean, I just wanted to put
it into the context of like, coming

from that statement, what we're
talking about working with this, what

does the future of these said to be
partners, founders that you work with.

Like how does this, you know, how
the, the way you look at this, the

world audacious goals, how does it
really help them thinking about.

You know, collaborating,
working with, with, with bison.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Tom: I mean, ultimately, uh, we like to
get involved in a way that hopefully makes

everyone more successful, so hopefully
the founders bottom mind more successful.

Exactly.

And, and that's good for us.

Yeah.

It's good for, uh, the
employees of these companies.

It's good for their investors,
it's good for our investors.

It's good hopefully
for humanity long term.

So.

Ultimately, you know, we try to
get these companies on a trajectory

that's gonna get them to success.

And you know, this is
startup investing after all.

So not every company
is gonna be successful.

Sure, there's gonna be
companies that don't make it.

But if we can increase that probability
of success, we're doing our jobs well.

Edwin: And really, I, you know,
I guess partnering, um, with

these founders or these, uh.

These, these portfolio clients,
and so they understand what

it means to work with bison.

Yeah.

And what it really means to like,
Hey, why don't we, it's a trust.

That's right.

Both of us, it's, it's, it's
a long term relationship's.

That's for sure.

It could be a 10 year relationship,
it could be a longer relationship.

It could be worse than marriage.

We don't know.

Um, I guess just coming back to, you
know, Tom, yourself, as you know, as you.

Not only are passionate about investment
return, but when you, when I want to

you to describe what this future looks
like through bison and what you're

doing, what does that world look like?

Tom: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a
world that I'm, I'm thinking maybe 10

years out, maybe 20 years out where.

Human lifespan are longer than what
we have today, where humans are living

healthier later into their eighties
and nineties through some of the

innovations that are already in process.

Mm-hmm.

Of course, some of the innovations
that, uh, we and our peers back, as we

think about other areas of technology
or things like climate, for example,

spurring that energy transition in an
economic way that doesn't make cost of

energy, for example, higher for everyone.

That's a big goal of.

Things like, I love that energy
transition investing that we're doing.

And then on the, you know, kind of
broader technology side and AI side, I

very much view AI as a very important
tool going forward, but it's one

that makes us all more productive.

Hopefully makes our working
lives a little bit easier, our

personal lives a little bit easier.

Yeah.

I don't think we're entering
the singularity anytime.

No.

Soon here, nor do I think AI is all of
a sudden gonna replace a whole bunch

of jobs and eliminate jobs instead.

I think especially in the near
term, it's gonna be more of a

productivity enhancement tool.

Mm-hmm.

Which I think is good for everyone.

Longer term, who knows?

I'm not, you know, a futurologist
here where I can predict 50 years out.

No.

But certainly within the next 10
years or so, I think AI's got some

great productivity enhancement
features that will make our

lives a lot easier and better.

Hopefully

Edwin: a hundred percent.

Um, Tom, I guess before we wrap
up, I'd love it if you could share

some final thoughts, advice, and.

I'll, I want, I'll allow you to take it
wherever you want to go, whether it's to,

you know, fellow colleagues within the VC
world, you know, how do, how do you, how

do you help with them or to the, to the
folks that you're looking to collaborate

with and, and what type of advice you
want to give them and share with them.

Yeah, absolutely.

Tom: I, I would say be
bold, be contrarian.

Go after those big problems
that need to be solved.

Mm-hmm.

But figure out how to make them tractable,
figure out how to practically approach

those problems and eventually solve them.

Because a startup can only
accomplish so much and sometimes

you kind of have to baby step
your way into those big problems.

So always think about the near term as
well as the long term, but don't, uh,

lose sight of that big vision ultimately.

'cause it's those big contrarian
bets that I think are gonna have

those massive impacts that I've
mentioned throughout our chat here.

Edwin: Yeah, that's amazing.

And I guess a question that
just popped in my head.

Sure.

Tom: Yeah.

Edwin: Since you came up to Web Summit
Vancouver, first one, are there any

specific startups that are exhibiting
that you're looking to meet or hopefully

meet and or, or really came to see?

Yeah.

Or is there anyone that you're really like
had when you need to check these guys out?

Tom: Um, you know, I have to spend a
little bit more time on that, frankly.

Mm-hmm.

But I would say anyone innovating in
the climate space, doing big, bold

things, we're interested in looking at
that next frontier of AI is something

that we're super excited about.

And.

Seeing what's kind of around the corner
on the biotech and tech bio side.

So can you use AI in a, in
a more effective way mm-hmm.

To bring drugs to market faster,
cheaper, better, et cetera.

Mm-hmm.

Those are all things
that we're looking for.

And, uh, needless to say, I'm sure
there's plenty of companies out

there doing that at Web Summit.

So I'm gonna, uh, spend my
time, uh, mingling in the

crowd and see what I can find.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Edwin: That's amazing.

Well, Tom, thank you so much for joining
us on the Business Leadership Podcast.

Appreciate it.

Thanks for having me.

You are listening to the Business
Leadership Podcast with Edwin.