After such a high-octane week, I feel a need for some closure. I started the day by getting up and nearly shooting my alarm clock to death as it startled me back to consciousness. I got two hours of sleep last night studying eicosanoids and prostaglandin synthesis and I wasn't about to back out now. I was dead worried about the pharmacology mid-term today, which I didn't expect to be easy by any standards. I left my apartment at 7 am and sped to the library as quickly as possible. I had a stale breakfast cookie on the way, and spent my two hours before class doing research on two venture capital firms. My entrepreneurship professor made the following announcement the day before:
Today’s guest speakers are Brian Halak and Andy Rachleff, both distinguished principals of top-tier venture capital firms.
Dr. Halak is a graduate of Penn Engineering and currently a Principal of Domain Associates, L.L.C. Founded in 1985, Domain is one of the top private equity firms with an exclusive focus on life sciences in the healthcare field. The firm is headquartered in Princeton, NJ with a second office in Laguna Niguel, CA. Domain’s three major investment segments are pharmaceuticals, specialty pharmaceuticals, and medical devices, while additional areas of interest include biomaterials, bioinstrumentation, and diagnostics...
Andy Rachleff was, until his recent retirement, a partner at Benchmark Capital, a top-tier venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. His primary focus had been on investments in the networking and communications areas, and he is widely recognized as one of the top venture capitalists in the country. Andy is now on the adjunct faculty at Stanford University where he teaches courses related to private equity and venture finance...
I never imagined business could so much fun, or be so intellectually stimulating…
I printed out my questions, went to statistics wondering if I could ever write the proof to any of the formulas we learn in class, showed up late for the Venture Capitalist lecture because I had to walk all the way from the medical school part of campus, had lunch which consisted of a slice of pizza and some soy, took a nap in a soft comfy chair in the library before exam fear woke me up thirty minutes later, crammed some more on voltage and ligand-gated ion channels and showed up for my pharmacology exam, bright, chipper and hyper. Then, I had dinner with Zeen, took a long, glorious three-hour break at the library watching television of all things, and arrived back home beat, sweaty and exhausted, but yet, feeling an odd deep sense of accomplishment. I shall go to sleep tonight dreaming about all the things I've seen and for once, not having the deadline of homework due tomorrow (that can wait another 24 hours). Some people may hate this kind of life, but I guess I'm just a sucker when it comes to anything remotely stimulating.
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