An introduction to Andrew Young

I have always been curious about the design of truly impactful products and software, and how they can change the dynamics of a market. These passions led me to pursue mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a focus on entrepreneurship. At MIT where I was also a member of the soccer team, I was fortunate to have access to resources that allowed me to gain experience both starting and advising companies through the resident entrepreneurship advisor program.

After college, I started my career at McKinsey & Company to get a strong foundation in industries like healthcare and high tech. During this time, I noticed a distinct theme emerge. For many companies, the balance between making decisions for short term profits and long-term success seemed to skew to the former. A meaningful vision was oftentimes missing. To increase short term profits, companies would cut costs on core products, fail to invest in their workforce, and push a myriad of initiatives that did not align with a healthy and impactful company years down the road. I grew to realize that my passions were more aligned with early stage companies and after a couple of years made the decision to leave for the startup space. Over the next few years, I worked with my brother, David, to invest and work in various projects across healthcare, sustainability, and brewing.

Healthcare is of particular interest to me because I watched my grandfather have a long fight with Alzheimer’s disease, and so I’ve always been drawn to the possibility of helping find a cure. Having done a number of consulting projects advising healthcare companies, it seemed that there was a lag in applying the advancements in statistical and data analysis to biotech. The industry was sticking to more traditional drug discovery methods.

I joined Genetic Intelligence because not only does the company sit at the perfect intersection of tech and biotech, with a fundamentally novel gene and target discovery platform, but it has a compelling mission. We are a team of people with an unwavering goal to solve disease beyond just treating symptoms. This is a mission that I’m excited to be a part of.