Building a Startup in a Collaborative Ecosystem

Carla Spina’s journey began at the University of Calgary, where she immersed herself in inorganic and analytical chemistry, paving her way to a Ph.D. at McGill University under the guidance of Dr. D.S. Bohle, the Canadian Chair in Bioinorganic Chemistry. After that, she landed an internship at BASF in Germany, where she honed her skills in non-aqueous formulations and pharmaceuticals. Returning to Canada, Carla ventured into industry to develop and commercialize antimicrobial wound care devices. Thereafter, she decided to leverage her experiences into the development of first-in-class pharmaceuticals for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases. 

Today, Carla is at the helm of Noa Therapeutics, a preclinical Canadian biotech company she co-founded. Noa derives its name from dual inspirations: Firstly, ‘noa’ is a Maori word meaning “everything defying convention and breaking free from preconception,” and secondly, ‘Noa’ serves as an acronym for 'network of awesome', referring to the supportive individuals who have crossed paths with Carla and played a role in her significant achievements.

The Noa team is developing solutions tailor-made for individual patients with autoimmune diseases by producing non-steroidal, multimodal small molecules. By defying the convention of traditional drug treatments, they are on track to dramatically change the outlook for those living with complex inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis. 

Carla has a personal interest in this subject owing to her sister's immune disease – lupus. She witnessed firsthand the limitations of traditional treatments. Carla shares a bleak picture, “About 89% of patients are really dissatisfied with current therapeutic options. About 60% experience failures. To top it all off, the long-term use of therapeutics causes further complications.”

The company's first significant challenge is atopic dermatitis, or atopic eczema, a condition that occurs when a breach in the skin’s barrier leaves the patient prone to infection and triggers an inflammatory response. But it’s not that simple. Carla explains, “It’s a cycle of which comes first, chicken or the egg? Does the breached barrier cause the inflammation, or does the inflammation process cause the barrier to be breached?” 

At Noa, the team is curbing the inflammatory response and at the same time restoring the barrier function to prevent recurrence with the help of special molecules they are developing. Carla describes, “We address the three key drivers for inflammatory diseases involving barrier dysfunction, barriers being our skin, gut, eyes, heart, and even the neurons in our brain. And these novel trimodal therapies are able to address multiple disease drivers simultaneously to increase the probability of success and confer the potential for disease modification or resolution of these chronic inflammatory diseases.” 

This approach, integrating organic chemistry, biochemistry, and medicine, promises a more comprehensive solution to a range of inflammatory diseases.

Currently, Noa Therapeutics is in its nascent stage, thriving as a preclinical biotech firm within Canada's largest incubator, JLabs, and MaRS Discovery District. The company just closed its oversubscribed pre-seed round. Carla shares, “We're really excited to jump back into the lab and advance our preclinical program, not just for atopic dermatitis, but advancing into systemic inflammatory diseases like ulcerative colitis.”

Key Learnings From Carla’s Experience

• Being capital efficient during the early stages is both about where you spend the money and where you secure it. Engage with your ecosystem to validate your idea and to get as close to possible to those who are already in the field and looking to collaborate, such as startup incubators, academics, and accelerators.

• Building a company is not a solitary endeavor. The key is to actively seek help, share ideas, and learn from others. This approach not only helps to validate and refine your ideas but also expands your network, which is crucial for long-term success.

• Reach out to a wide range of potential investors and stakeholders as you never know where funding opportunities may arise. Build strong relationships and seek advocates in your space by being authentic and genuine in your interactions. At the end of the day, talking to as many people as possible is crucial.

Engage With Your Ecosystem for a Capital-Efficient Start 

In the early stages of a startup, aligning your vision with the needs of key stakeholders, such as patients and healthcare providers, is not just about meeting market demand but also about efficient capital use. 

It's easy to fall into tunnel vision when you're passionate about an idea, but you need to ensure that your vision resonates with the wider community. "The month I opened up the company last summer, I spoke with four patient advocacy groups to validate that the need I saw was real and widespread," Carla explains. She approached sophisticated investors and industry partners, not only to validate the value of Noa's work but also to understand the key milestones required for sustained financing and growth.

Another cornerstone of capital efficiency is to engage with a diverse array of funding sources. Carla is vocal about the invaluable support she received from various ecosystem partners. She highlights organizations in her region, Ontario, like the Ontario Biosciences Organization, Life Sciences Ontario, Ontario Centers of Innovation, Canadian Entrepreneurs in Life Science and incubators like the Biomedical Zone. “These are all really excellent programs that have been ideated by founders and operators or ecosystem partners who have supported us along the way,” Carla shares.

When you’re operating on limited cash,  even the smallest grants count, such as the $25,000 from the Business Skills Development Program Carla had secured. Though modest, it was pivotal in improving the skills of her team and herself. “Not only did it enable me to identify mentors in this space and connect with the greater ecosystem, but it also gave me the skills that I needed to start Noa,” she shares.

Your Startup Will Take a Village

When Carla got invited as a keynote speaker at McGill to give a speech on funding a company, there was another plan in her mind: show, not tell, how to build a company. Rather than delivering a traditional speech, she turned the event into a collaborative forum, inviting an incubator program, early and late-stage investors, and even an IP strategist from her law firm. 

The purpose of this was to illustrate that founding a company is just the start of a long journey. Her presentation also connected students with those who can help them thrive in the ecosystem. “I wanted the students to understand that this isn't something that you do alone — it takes a village,” Carla shares. 

“You will meet amazing people in your life, and those amazing people will extend their network to include you,” she shares. “And when you ask who you should meet and who you should be connected with, who can help you along your way, they'll connect you with other amazing people,” Carla shares. In her philosophy, no one should ever develop ideas in isolation. It limits your perspective. “If you have an idea, discuss it with 20 people. Not only will you validate its novelty and utility, but you'll also be building a network for the future.”

Seeking assistance is a vital part of the journey. "If you ask for help, you generally receive it," she shares. You need to step out of your comfort zone to solicit advice and guidance. Carla, an introvert by nature, understands this challenge. "I didn't talk much for the first 17 years of my life. Learning to reach out and ask is a skill that anyone can develop,” she emphasizes.

It’s not only external support, too. Carla also speaks passionately about the power of peer networks, especially as a female founder. “Our board is 67% women, 100% female-founded and led. We have an incredible peer support network,” she shares. She credits the Women in Health Initiative led by the Ontario Innovation Organization for not only providing early funding but also for creating a strong network of female founders and executives. Carla candidly admits, "beyond the financial aspect, this network has been a pillar of mental support throughout our journey."

But Carla’s philosophy isn’t just about asking. Noa is actively planning to open its doors for mentorships and internships, particularly focusing on young women in STEM. "We want to pay it forward," she says. "Sharing our knowledge to help cultivate the next generation of scientists and innovative leaders is really important."

Conversations as Currency: Fundraising and Market Insights

At the end of each fundraise, Carla and the team go through a postmortem to see what they learned in retrospect. After closing they oversubscribed their first round, Carla shared confidently that the key lesson learned is simple: talk to everyone!‍

There’s a balance between operating in stealth mode and vocally seeking assistance. “You never know where money is going to come from, so don’t wait to reach out,” Carla advises. Noa was bootstrapped for the first six months, relying quite heavily on non-dilutive funding. The company filed its first provisional patent before the team made a move on fundraising, ensuring they were in a strong position to engage investors.

Still, Carla’s advice is to begin the process of raising funds as soon as you can. Be in constant communication with your potential investors. “If an investor doesn’t have any funds available, if they are dry or if they just aren’t deploying capital at the moment, ask them, ‘If you're not the right person, then who is?’” advises Carla. 

Raising capital is a numbers game, but it's also about relationships. For example, Carla’s friend of 20 years, and an investor in the company, played an important role leading them through Noa’s first six months. ”It was very much relationship building and getting people to know you as a person,” Carla shares. 

In her experience, having champions who’ll put in a good word to other investors in the ecosystem, was absolutely beneficial. However, a good relationship is not something you can fake, or something you can simply check off a list. It takes being authentically honest, open, cooperative, and proving yourself as a reliable partner in the industry.

By maintaining open communication channels with all stakeholders, the team at Noa gained insights into competitors’ products, challenges, and failures. They cast a wide net and gained insight into the development pathway as well as where they should stand to have an advantage in the market.

However, she advises, “Don't take everyone's opinion as written in stone.” You need to be able to weave together different perspectives to create a more robust and resilient business strategy.

Carla’s parting advice on fundraising is succinct yet powerful: Don’t be afraid to set ambitious goals. “Regardless of whether you're fundraising for a million dollars or 100 million, it's the same amount of work. So aim high.”