The biotech industry's shift from post-pandemic downturn to renewed IPOs, follow-on financings, and M&A in early 2026 reinforces that this field consistently demands resilience.

Recent years have challenged even experienced industry professionals, including those who built clinical-stage companies. Interest rate headwinds, a stalled IPO window, evaporating risk appetite, falling valuations, and investor fatigue with long clinical timelines have collectively reshaped what it means to lead financial strategy in life sciences. While many biotech firms struggle under these conditions, some not only endure but become more operationally efficient and resilient.

With a perspective molded by having spent nearly 20 years in biotech and pharma finance, and by participating in the raising of more than $4 billion in capital while helping advance eight FDA-approved medicines, I have recognized a common set of principles that has little to do with luck and everything to do with discipline, clarity, and conviction.

Here are the lessons that have shaped my approach.

Good Science is the only currency that doesn’t depreciate

It is essential to recognize that successful financing is fundamentally rooted in a robust scientific foundation. An important initial step is to develop a comprehensive scientific strategy prior to formulating a financial one. I observed this principle in practice across various organizations and changing market environments.

When Karuna Therapeutics was preparing for its IPO, the market was not particularly primed for new neuroscience assets. However, the underlying biology in Karuna’s lead program was compelling and differentiated, and sophisticated investors recognized it. This same principle holds today at Rapport Therapeutics, where our lead asset, RAP-219, has demonstrated a compelling 77.8% median reduction in clinical seizure frequency in drug-resistant focal onset seizures, with 24% of patients achieving complete freedom from seizures, which can markedly improve quality of life.

When data shows a result that striking, the conversation over capital changes. No network of banker relationships or investor roadshow polish will substitute for a molecule that offers a meaningful opportunity to change patients’ lives.

Build a strong balance sheet before you need it

One of the most consequential mistakes a biotech CFO can make is waiting for the perfect moment to raise capital, as it rarely arrives on schedule.

A strong balance sheet is not a luxury, it is instead a strategic asset. It is the foundation of something I emphasize whenever I speak at events in this industry: optionality.

At Rapport, we raised approximately $174 million in our 2024 IPO, which was not a trivial feat in a year when the IPO window was narrow and the vast majority of newly public biotech companies traded below their offering price at year-end, significantly underperforming the broader market. The reason is simple: we were highly disciplined about the timing and manner in which we came to market, we told a transparent and honest story, and we set realistic expectations.

As we executed a ~$270 million follow-on offering in 2025, Rapport’s total cash was sufficient to provide runway well into the second half of 2029, allowing us to achieve multiple value inflection milestones.

I cannot overemphasize the stability provided by a substantial runway. That runway is not just a financial cushion, it is optionality made real. It is what allows a company to weather a failed endpoint, a regulatory delay, or a market dislocation without existential crisis, and to emerge from that moment of adversity still in control of its own destiny. In a capital market environment as volatile as the one we have navigated, the ability to make decisions from a position of strength rather than necessity is perhaps the most underrated competitive advantage a CFO can build for their company.

Get your story down and be able to tell it in any environment

My third lesson is that investor relations is not strictly a communications function, it is a strategic one. Investors can display long memories and short attention spans; over my career, I’ve seen how quickly sentiment can shift and how unforgiving the markets can be toward companies struggling with muddled or shifting narratives. The biology behind many modern biotech firms is complex, but the story must be made clear for all stakeholders. At Karuna, we had to tell an intricate neuroscience story to a generalist investor base that was overall quite skeptical regarding CNS investments and potential risk.

We had to be relentlessly clear about the mechanism, the patient population that we would serve, and the commercial opportunity. We also built confidence in the community through operational rigor, delivering on our milestones, quarter after quarter. Establishing that credibility over an extended timeframe ultimately made Karuna an attractive acquisition target for Bristol Myers Squibb in what became one of the landmark biotech transactions of its era.

Carefully and strategically construct your narrative, as it determines how investors respond during the difficult times.

Capital efficiency is a competitive advantage

An essential principle in resource-limited settings is that the effectiveness of capital allocation is almost as significant as the total capital raised. My fourth lesson is to direct your spending where the science demands it.

At Rapport, every major decision, from accelerating our Phase III program to entering into a $20 million upfront licensing agreement with Tenacia Biotechnology for Greater China rights to RAP-219, is assessed for capital returns, long-term value, and scientific priorities. Multiple capital sources, strategic partnerships, and disciplined prioritization of clinical programs are financial tools, but they are also expressions of strategic conviction in the science.

None of it works without the right people

These principles are only as strong as the people who execute them. In my experience, the clearest measure of a finance team is not the metrics it delivers, but what its people go on to become. Many of the VPs and SVPs I have worked with have advanced to public company CFO roles, not by chance, but by design.

That design is intentional: build environments that demand rigor, reward intellectual honesty, and treat every individual as a future leader, not just a current resource.

The implication is direct. In clinical-stage biotech, finance is not a support function, it is a strategic asset. Teams are asked to make high-stakes decisions under pressure, often with incomplete information. Judgment matters as much as technical skill.

That standard starts with talent. Recruit with the same discipline applied to scientific programs; then invest early, delegate real responsibility, and hold the team to a consistently high bar. People rise to the expectations set for them. When those expectations are clear and modeled by leadership, both performance and leadership trajectory accelerate. The returns compound as well, with stronger decisions, more resilient organizations, and leaders who carry those standards forward.

This only works within the right leadership culture. Leadership defines the standard. When leaders model clarity, integrity, and a willingness to ask hard questions, the organization follows.

Long-term value creation requires short-term courage

Uncertainty defines markets, making bold decision-making especially challenging in clinical-stage biotech finance. Advancing a Phase III program ahead of guidance, as we did at Rapport, requires alignment between the scientific team, leadership, and the board. It requires the courage to invest aggressively when the data warrant it, and the discipline to hold back when they don’t. Over two decades, the CFOs I most admire are those who helped their companies move forward when it was uncomfortable, not just when it was easy.

The road from private company to publicly traded, pipeline-expanding, partnered neuroscience leader is rarely linear. But the principles that guide great companies through rough capital markets, including scientific rigor, financial discipline, narrative clarity, strong leadership, and the courage to act – are timeless.

In biotec, the companies that endure are the ones that stay true to why they exist in the first place: to change the lives of patients who have no other options.