Why Leen Kawas is Prioritizing Strategic Leadership at Propel Bio Partners

With biotech venture funding down 40% from peak levels and investor selectivity at historic highs, operational expertise has become the difference between survival and extinction for early-stage companies

The biotechnology industry's funding landscape has undergone a brutal correction. After venture capital investment hit a record $39 billion in 2021, total funding plummeted to roughly $23 billion by 2023. Deal volume collapsed from 1,415 transactions at the peak to just 416 in 2024. The companies that raised capital during the boom years burned through it faster than anticipated, while those seeking new funding discovered that investor expectations had fundamentally shifted. Promising science alone no longer opens checkbooks.

This new reality has forced a reckoning across the industry. Layoffs swept through 187 U.S. biopharma companies in 2023 alone, with affected organizations cutting an average of 39% of their workforce. Pipeline programs that seemed fundable two years ago have been shelved or abandoned entirely. The median time between funding rounds stretched from 12-18 months during the boom to over 24 months, forcing companies to extend cash runways or face extinction.

For Leen Kawas, Managing General Partner at Propel Bio Partners, this environment has clarified what early-stage biotechs actually need from their investors. Capital remains necessary but insufficient. The companies surviving this downturn are those with access to strategic guidance, operational expertise, and networks that can help them navigate challenges that money alone cannot solve.

The Limits of Capital-Only Investment

The traditional venture capital model treats investment as primarily a financial transaction. Evaluate the science, assess the team, negotiate terms, write the check, and monitor progress through quarterly board meetings. This approach may work for software startups that can pivot quickly or scale with minimal infrastructure. Biotechnology operates under different constraints entirely.

Drug development programs stretch across years. Regulatory submissions require specialized knowledge that few first-time founders possess. Clinical trials demand relationships with investigators, patient advocacy groups, and contract research organizations. Commercial launches require networks and expertise that take decades to build. When capital was abundant, companies could hire their way out of these challenges or learn through expensive trial and error. When capital becomes scarce, those luxuries disappear.

Leen Kawas experienced both sides of this equation. As CEO, she led a company through a historic $400 million initial public offering in September 2020, becoming the first woman in twenty years in Washington State to take a company public. She understands what it takes to build a biotechnology company from early stage through clinical development and public markets. That operational perspective now shapes how Propel Bio Partners approaches portfolio company support.

"One thing about scientists—if a scientist is willing to take the leap and start a company, whether they want to be the CEO or have another role in the company—one big component in a successful business is networking and meeting people," Kawas explains. "And it's not just for finding investors. There's this misconception that you need to really focus on networking with investors with the sole goal of raising capital. But you network to expand your team, to find specialized talent that can help you with the next, more complex steps of your business."

Building Leadership Capacity, Not Just Filling Seats

The recent appointment of healthcare technology veteran Laurie Heilmann as Venture Partner at Propel Bio illustrates this strategic leadership philosophy in practice. Heilmann brings more than three decades of experience spanning pre-clinical and clinical drug development, diagnostics, biomarker discovery, medical devices, and healthcare information technology. Her track record includes leading two companies through successful IPOs, establishing the for-profit division of the American College of Radiology, and growing a niche oncology contract research organization from five partners to 250 employees before acquisition.

This combination of capabilities addresses a specific gap that Kawas has identified in the biotech ecosystem. "It's very rare to find someone with the experience that has both the startup expertise as well as scale-up and launch capabilities," she noted when announcing the appointment. "You can find people that are really good at starting companies, but they get stuck and they're not able to scale. And you find people who are not able to see the opportunity in very early ideas and technologies. Laurie brings that complete, comprehensive skillset."

The emphasis on comprehensive capability reflects hard-won lessons from the funding downturn. Companies that thrived during the boom could afford to figure things out as they went, hiring consultants or advisors to fill knowledge gaps as they emerged. Companies operating in constrained environments need leadership that can anticipate challenges before they become critical, make difficult prioritization decisions with incomplete information, and leverage relationships to access resources that might otherwise be unavailable.

The Operational Expertise Gap

Biotechnology founders typically emerge from academic or research backgrounds where success depends on deep technical expertise within narrow domains. The skills that produce breakthrough scientific discoveries—intense focus, methodical experimentation, rigorous analysis—don't necessarily translate to the demands of company building. Founders must suddenly navigate investor relations, regulatory strategy, commercial positioning, and talent acquisition while continuing to advance the science that makes everything else possible.

The challenge becomes acute during funding downturns when investors become more selective and founders must compete for limited capital. Companies need leaders who can articulate clear clinical value propositions, demonstrate disciplined capital allocation, and show evidence of operational sophistication. These capabilities don't emerge automatically from scientific excellence.

Propel Bio's approach addresses this gap through hands-on portfolio company support that extends far beyond board meetings and quarterly reviews. Heilmann will work directly with companies on commercial strategy, market expansion, and strategic partnerships—particularly leveraging her networks with larger life sciences companies that can facilitate acquisitions or collaborations.

"She has connections with larger companies that can become the basis for strategic relationships or acquisition," Kawas explains. "She can start talking with founders about the opportunities that are out there and how they should position their company and technology to achieve successful strategic relationships."

This guidance becomes particularly valuable as pharmaceutical companies emerge as increasingly important players in early-stage biotech funding. With patent cliffs looming and substantial cash reserves available for deployment, large pharma companies are actively seeking innovation through partnerships and acquisitions. Nearly 48% of biotech companies surveyed in late 2023 reported using pharmaceutical partnerships as key funding sources in lieu of traditional venture rounds. Navigating these relationships requires experience and networks that most first-time founders lack.

Diversity as Strategic Advantage

Leen Kawas has consistently emphasized that diverse leadership teams produce superior outcomes—a position supported by research showing positive associations between management diversity and financial performance. The November 2022 Workplace Diversity and Financial Performance Report found that companies with diverse leadership demonstrated improved cash flow, higher net profit, and better stock performance compared to less diverse peers.

This conviction shapes Propel Bio's approach to both its own team composition and portfolio company support. The majority of companies the firm has backed feature women in leadership positions. Kawas frames this not as social responsibility but as competitive strategy.

"The more diverse management teams, the more efficient and effective that they are," she observes. "There's a Harvard Business Review study that basically showed that companies that are led by women usually have larger returns to their investors."

The reasoning extends beyond statistical correlations. Diverse teams bring different perspectives and experiences that enable more comprehensive problem-solving. They identify opportunities and challenges that homogeneous groups might overlook. They build relationships with broader networks of potential partners, customers, and talent. These advantages become more pronounced during difficult market conditions when adaptability and resourcefulness determine survival.

The Advisory Board Imperative

For founders navigating the current environment, Kawas emphasizes building advisory relationships early—before crises emerge that demand immediate expertise. "Building an advisory board very early on is very important," she advises. "And ultimately, when you're talking to investors, remember that investors have the luxury of being exposed to so many ideas and companies. So they build experience by proxy, and they have a very healthy network."

This perspective reframes the investor relationship from transactional to developmental. Even when funding conversations don't result in immediate capital, they can produce valuable guidance and introductions. "If you're talking to investors and you're hoping to get a check at the end of the day, but you are not successful in convincing them to invest in your company, make sure that you ask them for advice," Kawas recommends.

The approach requires humility and genuine receptivity to feedback—qualities that don't always come naturally to founders who have spent years developing deep expertise in their scientific domains. But founders who treat every conversation as a learning opportunity tend to develop stronger strategies and broader networks than those focused narrowly on closing funding rounds.

Preparing for What Comes Next

The biotechnology funding environment shows signs of stabilization. Venture investment ticked up modestly in 2024, and IPO markets have partially reopened. But the new normal involves far more selectivity and discipline than the boom years. Investors demand proof-of-concept data, clear clinical milestones, and evidence of operational sophistication. Companies that thrived by moving fast and figuring things out along the way must now demonstrate that they can execute with precision under constrained conditions.

ForLeen Kawas and Propel Bio Partners, this environment validates the strategic leadership emphasis that has defined the firm's approach from its founding. The companies best positioned for success are those with access not just to capital but to the expertise, networks, and guidance that transform promising science into therapies that reach patients. Building that capacity requires intentional investment in leadership development—at the firm level and across the portfolio.

The lesson extends beyond any single firm or funding cycle. Biotechnology innovation depends on translating scientific breakthroughs into commercial products that improve human health. That translation requires more than brilliant science and adequate funding. It requires strategic leadership capable of navigating complexity, building relationships, and making difficult decisions under uncertainty. The firms and founders who recognize this reality are building the foundations for success regardless of what the funding environment brings next.