
Derek Small
Co-founder and CEO of Syndeio Biosciences; founding managing director of Luson Bioventures, a venture creation firm focused on biotech and CNS drug development.
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Jul 15, 2026
Ep. 9: The Company Creation Engine
9:39
9:57
22:35

Derek SmallGUEST
And we so just to transition a little bit from those neuroscience companies and Norex, which was acquired, and then we took a company public, which was a really an Indiana company that we started called Assembly Biosciences, science founder here in Indianapolis or Indiana University named Adam Zlotnick.

Derek SmallGUEST
And Adam is now still doing now the serial entrepreneur thing, too, has multiple new companies.
12 MINS LATER

Vince WongHOST
What are some of those hallmarks or signs where you know, hey, it's time for me to step away, maybe bring someone else in and take the company forward? What are those signals for you?
Episode 186 - Derek Small - Founder, Managing Director Luson Bioventures
10:47
10:59
11:17
M
10:36Max BrennanHOST
Um, why, why has CNS been such a consistent focus for you despite how challenging the space has been?

Derek SmallGUEST
So it, it, it, it's one of those, you know, where I just didn't know what I was necessarily getting into.

Derek SmallGUEST
And Joe, um, had discovered this idea of using a s- very small peptide for modifying, um, really complex, you know, neural activities, and the peptide itself y- didn't make a ton of sense as I look back at it.

Derek SmallGUEST
It was a five-minute pept- tetra, uh, five-minute plasma half-life tetrapeptide that's IV only, and we were gonna take it into the, the chronic depression.
7 MINS LATER
M
18:39Max BrennanHOST
When, when you're looking ahead, what emerging trends or breakthroughs do you see redefining CNS?