Life Science Nation's Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference is a partnering event that requires high touch on both the buy side (investors and pharma) and sell side (startup) constituents.To do partnering correctly takes a high human resource allocation; it is expensive to fund, and requires deep curation of a clientele database for each conference iteration. LSN has discovered that our database curation begets savvy list management, which in turn allows us to target constituents and provide them with customer support and training to use the partnering system efficiently. In today's life science domain, conferences still lead as a place to make new business connections in addition to accessing the latest information on the advances in drugs, devices, diagnostics, and healthcare IT.

Informational-based life science conferences have worked for decades to successfully "break the profitability code". Breaking the code means finding the precise point between internal resource output and maximum revenue gain, and balancing on it. The irony here is that if the conferences wish to be part of the industry's new trend of relationship-based conferences with a strong partnering component...

With RESI San Francisco less than a month away, we are proud to announce the Medical Device investors panel, where 5 seasoned experts in medical device investments will discuss how they seek to work with early-stage medical technology entrepreneurs.

The fundraising process and path to commercialization for medical device products continue to be a rigorous challenge for many budding companies. Especially with the exponential growth of the IoT/IoMT market, a growing number of entrepreneurs are focusing on the development of connected, "smarter" devices that incorporate a software or data component. Although often overshadowed by the biopharmaceutical industry in terms of degree of need or financial returns, the medical device sector is a very much needed area in the improvement of healthcare. If you are a medical device entrepreneur and heading to San Francisco for JPM week, you do not want to miss out on our RESI Medical Devices panel! Our panelists are:

• Renee Ryan, Vice President, JJDC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JLABS)
• Yao Li Ho, Director of Business Development, LYFE Capital
• Zishan "Z" Haroon, Chairman & General Partner, Julz Co LLC
• Sam Ifergan, President & CEO, iGan Partners
• Randy Scott, Partner, HealthQuest Capital

Nonprofits and foundations have long played a part in funding basic research into disease biology. However, it takes more financing and development resources for this valuable work to create new products that make an impact on patients. This has caused a trend in the philanthropic space toward investing in early stage life science ventures that have the power to transform treatment in a space of unmet need or to significantly improve health outcomes. Simultaneously, some financially-minded investors have seen the possibility of investing more meaningfully, and have chosen to put their wealth to work in venture funds that look for a 'double bottom line' - a good return on capital plus a positive result for the world.

At RESI San Francisco, this investment trend is showcased at the Venture Philanthropy and Impact Investment panel. This panel features both philanthropic organizations and for-profit investment funds, with focuses ranging from a rare disease with no cure to the broad goal of improving healthcare. We're looking forward to what should be a wide-ranging discussion on how these investors find the right startup investing opportunities to fulfil their respective missions.

Moderated by John Reher, Managing Director - Brain Trust Accelerator Fund, the panelists are:

• Debra Miller, Founder - CureDuchenne Ventures
• Ken LaMontagne, VP, Research - Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)
• William Werkmeister, Partner, ICIF Fund - National Foundation for Cancer Research
• Cynthia Ringo, Managing Partner - DBL Partners