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"You could have an academic with an idea for a drug, hand it off to a system, and the system could do all the knowledge work required to take that drug through the development and regulatory process—and get it to market. We're very long way away from that. But that's the future we want to work towards."
In part four, Alex Telford, founder of Convoke, covers the platform architecture and roadmap. He walks through Convoke's modular system—building validated structured datasets from trial registries, regulatory filings, and patents, then stitching them with workflow tools for competitive intelligence and document generation. He breaks down how pharma and biotech customers engage differently, why an "everything app" is a trap, and how Convoke is moving from reactive data storage toward proactive, predictive intelligence.
Key Topics Covered:

• Content Quality in the LLM Era: Why spending six months writing the definitive piece beats volume publishing—and how the internet's sorting mechanism rewards genuinely excellent work.
• Convoke's Platform Architecture: Building infrastructure for autonomous drug development through validated datasets, workflow tools, and embedded customer partnerships.
• Big Pharma vs. Biotech Go-to-Market: Why scope of influence—not culture—determines AI adoption speed, and why biotechs move faster despite smaller budgets.
• The Everything App Trap: Why being opinionated about where you deliver value matters more than building every feature.
• From Reactive to Proactive Intelligence: Moving from dataset creation to a system that continuously ingests data and makes autonomous recommendations, starting with trial site selection.

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Links:Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/
Find our guest, Alex Telford at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-telford/Website: https://www.convoke.bio/
Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee/
Learn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/Website: https://www.excedr.com
Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin
Resources & Articles:The Agentic Era: Why Biopharma Must Embrace AI That Acts, Not Just Informs: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12048886/What Is Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)?: https://www.databricks.com/blog/what-is-retrieval-augmented-generationAI for Clinical Trial Site Selection: https://pplelabs.com/ai-for-clinical-trial-site-selection/Knowledge Management in Pharmaceutical Companies: https://pharmacores.com/knowledge-management-in-pharmaceutical-industry/Convoke Raises $8.6M to Build the AI OS for Biopharma: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/convoke-raises-8-6m-to-build-the-ai-operating-system-for-biopharma-302533188.htmlAcquired Podcast: https://www.acquired.fm/
Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:Convoke: https://www.convoke.bio/AION Labs: https://aionlabs.comExcedr: https://www.excedr.com
Mati Gill (CEO, AION Labs): https://www.linkedin.com/in/matigill
Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:32 Quality Over Volume: Writing the Best Thing on the Internet05:00 Convoke's Mission — Autonomous Drug Development07:03 Platform Architecture: Datasets, Workflows, and Agents08:37 Big Pharma Use Case: Automating Oncology Indication Refreshes10:34 Biotech Use Case: Reimagining the Organization11:49 Embedding with Customers to Encode Workflows13:08 Being Opinionated: Avoiding the Everything App Trap14:08 Big Pharma vs. Biotech: Scope, Not Culture15:48 Roadmap: From Reactive to Proactive Intelligence17:40 The StarCraft Analogy for Where AI Is Headed18:01 Shoutouts and Gratitude20:11 Advice to Your 21-Year-Old Self21:49 Outro

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.