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Reed Jobs would rather talk about curing cancer than his last name
Reed Jobs is easy to like. He’s motormouthed, self-deprecating, prone to video-game analogies, and clearly loves his work. He doesn’t particularly want to discuss the fact that he is Steve Jobs’s son, but he’s not uptight about it, either. When our producer, Maggie, asked if he was on a MacBook for our video call Thursday morning, he didn’t miss a beat: “Are you kidding?”
What he’d much rather talk about is Yosemite, the oncology-focused venture firm he launched in 2023 to, in part, build biotech companies from scratch, out of early academic research, using a mix of philanthropy and outside investment capital. Three years in, Jobs is ambitious about turning Yosemite into a serious player, not just because he wants to win but because he thinks the opportunity in front of him is expanding faster than he expected thanks to AI’s impacts on both drug discovery and clinical trial design.
Among the portfolio companies he’s proudest of are Azalea, born from a grant to Jennifer Doudna’s lab and now in the clinic, and Quarry, a company built with serial founder Craig Crews around a novel therapeutic approach called induced proximity, wherein a drug works by physically dragging a disease-causing protein next to the cell’s own breakdown system (instead of trying to block it directly).
When we last sat down with Jobs at TechCrunch Disrupt nearly three years ago, Yosemite was brand new and biotech was still reeling from its post-pandemic crash. Now, the firm has a team of 17; a cluster of blockbuster drugs are all losing patent protection in roughly the same window, creating all kinds of new opportunities; and AI has gone from a curiosity to, in Jobs’s words, a huge part of what Yosemite does. We caught up on all of it.
This Q&A has been edited for length.
TC: You announced the first close of your second fund earlier in the year, targeting $350 million. What’s the state of the union at Yosemite?
RJ: One of extreme activity right now. We’ve had incredible traction, and we’ve brought on a lot of really important new partners. Yosemite is a unique venture organization for two reasons: we only work in oncology — that’s 40% of biotech — and we like to make our own companies ourselves. We don’t think the cures for cancer are sitting out in pharma waiting to be discovered; we think we need to go make them with new knowledge. To de-risk those ideas early, when they’re still gentle ideas in university labs, we use a little philanthropy in a completely no-strings-attached way. Two of our 20 companies in the first fund came directly out of a grant.
How much of that $350 million is going into companies you’re spinning up yourselves versus companies you’re joining?
About a third goes into companies we’re making ourselves — either our own ideas or ones we build alongside academics, at places like Yale, Berkeley, and Stanford. That takes a lot of time and energy, which is why it’s only a third. The rest goes into companies other people made that we want to join. Separately, 2.5% of the fund’s [assets under management] goes into a donor-advised fund — that’s completely no-strings-attached grant money, plus $1 million a year from our management fees.
It’s early days, but what’s the case you make to prospective LPs on performance relative to other life science VC firms?
It’s extremely early for us, but Yosemite has the ability to create new areas of medicine before other firms get there. My team has pioneered a couple of these: epigenetic gene editing [technology that changes how strongly a gene is expressed, rather than altering the underlying DNA sequence itself], and safe delivery of gene editing to specific cells — a bottleneck for the whole field for the better part of a decade. If you want to be first, and you want to help discover new areas, that’s what we’re going to be best at.
Earlier on, you were worried about how conservative biotech investors had become. Has that changed?
It has, actually. When I launched Yosemite in 2023, the XBI [ETF/index] was still down massively from its 2021 highs and pharma hadn’t gotten acquisitive yet. What’s changed in the last three years: interest rates are better, and pharma is entering its largest patent cliff in history while sitting on record cash reserves from the pandemic. That’s added up to an acquisitive spree over the last eight months or so. We’ve seen huge exits, like Eli Lilly buying Kelonia for $7 billion, and massive wins in antibody drug conjugates. One high-profile one: Revolution Medicines, going after KRAS [one of the most commonly mutated cancer-driving genes, long considered nearly impossible to target with drugs] in pancreatic cancer, has doubled the survival rate for [the most common form of pancreatic cancer] — from 12 to 24 months. That’s only happened in the last year.
Last year you talked publicly about your concerns over proposed NIH cuts.
Unfortunately, there’s still pressure from the federal government, but it’s less of a long-term threat than it was. Last year, for the first time in history, an administration asked for a cut of up to 40% of the NIH budget. For context, the biggest cut that ever happened was 1% in 2009, in response to the global financial crisis, and that cost 7,000 NIH scientists their jobs. Gratefully, the Senate and House — this is extremely bipartisan — totally rejected the 40% cut. This year they came back asking for 12%, still the biggest cut of all time by an order of magnitude, and I expect the same rejection. NIH funding has more than 90% approval. Personally, I think we should go on offense — I’d increase it to something like $100 billion. On a dollar basis, it hasn’t grown in about a decade, so relative to inflation, it’s actually shrunk.
Where is AI already changing healthcare delivery?
American hospitals are some of the most technologically naive places in the economy — there’s still a huge amount done on fax, on floppy disk. One example: call centers, like 911 triage, are expensive to keep open 24/7 and are ripe for AI. There’s also electronic health records, radiology, pathology. But where I get really interested is clinical trials — the biggest cost and time sink in drug development. A Phase 3 cancer trial costs about $260 million, and only one in three succeeds. The biggest cost is patient recruitment and retention. AI could help build a synthetic control arm [a computer-generated stand-in for the untreated comparison group, built from existing patient data], so instead of recruiting a full control group, you only recruit the active arm — that halves the patients you need and massively increases speed. The FDA is leaning into this right now.
What about AI in drug discovery — is it overhyped?
I think it’s a fantastic advancement, for democratizing science and for accelerating things. What AI is doing right now is accelerating a lot of grunt work — not necessarily doing it better, but doing it incredibly fast, with reproducible outcomes.
AI has [also] been great at finding pockets we’ve never been able to hit before. Historically we could only drug about 15% of the genome, because we couldn’t drug proteins interacting with other proteins — the chemistry was too hard. That’s changed in the last couple of years, hand in hand with AI. Take Revolution Medicines: they’re the first to drug KRAS, which for decades had no [natural dent or crevice on its surface for a drug molecule to latch onto and block] — it’s basically a smooth oval, a death star. About 10 years ago, scientists at Amgen found a weird cryptic pocket in it, leading to the first drug against it, Lumakras. It only worked for one specific mutation; what AI has done is find all the other variants we can now target and show creative new ways to block it.
What undruggable targets are your companies going after?
The biggest one of all: p53. We’re going after it with three different companies and several strategies. It’s a tumor suppressor gene — famously, elephants don’t get cancer, and one theory is they have dozens of copies of p53, while humans have just one, which is easily taken out. p53 is the most frequently suppressed gene across human cancers; almost every cancer has to knock it out to exist in the first place. If we could turn it back on, or attack its mutated forms, that’s one of cancer’s Achilles’ heels, and it’s never been done. We think we found something to hit that exposed [marker] across all the different ways p53 gets mutated.
Tell me about Tune Therapeutics.
Tune has been the premier epigenetic editing company in clinical development for the last couple of years, targeting hepatitis B, which affects over 250 million people and is the primary driver of liver cancer. The technology lets us add or remove methyl groups [small chemical tags that attach to DNA and act like a dimmer switch, turning a gene’s activity up or down without changing the gene itself] at specific sites in the liver. Every cell in your body has the same DNA but expresses it differently — think of gray hair: melanin gets methylated and turned off, so your body still makes hair, just less robust. That’s the same process behind aging immune systems and slowing metabolism. Hepatitis B looks foreign to your body, so we’re aiming to methylate and silence the virus itself, the way about 1% of people who spontaneously clear the virus seem to do naturally.
Meanwhile, Histosonics is a device company, which seems unusual for Yosemite.
You’re right, we don’t usually do devices. It’s the first company using histotripsy at scale for liver tumor destruction, using noninvasive therapy — creating small air pockets, then collapsing them to destroy tissue in a very specific area, similar to an ultrasound rather than a CT scan. Their lead programs are in pancreatic and liver tumors — most pancreatic cancer metastasizes to the liver, so it’s a natural pairing. We think this becomes a huge part of therapy for both.
How many companies are in the portfolio now, and any failures yet?
Close to 25 across both funds. Two haven’t worked out for scientific reasons — we tranche these investments against scientific milestones, and since we’re so early, sometimes things fail on the science. That’s what we’d expect.
How do you advise founders weighing a big check from big pharma? You get the funding, but it cuts off other options.
Pharma is a key partner, but founders need to see it as a moving target — priorities shift a lot depending on leadership. After COVID, many pharma companies lost money in infectious disease and moved out of the space entirely — Pfizer, for instance. Staying attuned to who’s actually active in your area is probably the most important thing.
How can founders who want to get in front of you do this?
We have an open door. When we look at grants and companies, we take people’s CVs out of it — I don’t want to know whose idea it is or what title someone holds. We’ve funded Nobel laureate labs and first-time grant recipients, and I’m equally happy with either outcome. We look at every modality — small molecules, radiopharmaceuticals, gene therapy, immunotherapy, AI, digital health. Please email us. Any idea that can affect cancer patients, we want to know about it.
Does storytelling matter as much for biotech founders as in other industries?
Unfortunately, yes — I’ve seen companies with great science fail because of bad storytelling from the CEO. But usually the founder and CEO aren’t the same person. The founder is often the academic — the chief scientist or chief medical officer — and the CEO is a professionalized operator whose job includes raising capital and telling the story. That division of labor works well.
Three years into running Yosemite, what’s been the biggest surprise?
We now have the first trillion-dollar pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, because of GLP-1s — the best-selling drug class in the world. We’re also seeing early signs GLP-1s may be protective against neurodegenerative disease and cancer, unrelated to weight loss, because obesity is one of only two “pan-disease” risk factors — the other being smoking — that raise your risk across nearly every disease category. That’s made people look with fresh eyes, fresh ambition, and real capital at huge disease areas that had gone cold. Genes like KRAS, Myc, beta-catenin, and p53 — the pantheon of oncogenes that have evaded us for decades — are now, we think, within reach. I didn’t expect Yosemite to be moving this fast. This time is more important than I realized, which is both scarier and more empowering.
Before you go, what do you make of the longevity industry?
I don’t want to die anytime soon, and longevity is important to me personally. But I don’t think we — or anyone — really knows what we’re talking about yet. Ask a geneticist and they’ll tell you about telomeres; ask an immunologist and they’ll tell you about T cells losing efficacy; ask a metabolomicist and you’ll get a different answer still. There’s no grand unified theory of aging the way there is in physics. I don’t think you “have” a longevity problem — I think your body ages differently across different cell types, and the interaction of all that is what we call aging. Optimizing that per person is exactly what healthcare should be doing, but I don’t know how you turn longevity into a one-size-fits-all business.
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PLABOC Engages Plateau Ministry of Tourism, Identifies New Opportunities for Business Growth and Collaboration
The Plateau Business Owners Council (PLABOC) through its President Mr Kim Ndoh has strengthened its engagement with the Plateau State Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Hospitality, following a strategic visit aimed at deepening collaboration and creating greater opportunities for businesses across the tourism, hospitality, creative and wider business ecosystem.
The visit provided an opportunity for PLABOC to establish a stronger working relationship with the Ministry, gain deeper insight into government initiatives affecting businesses, and identify areas where business owners can participate in and benefit from programmes of the Plateau State Government.
The Ministry through the commissioner warmly received the PLABOC delegation and expressed appreciation for the visit, acknowledging the critical role of business owners in driving the growth of the tourism sector and contributing to the broader economic development of Plateau State.
PLABOC Presents Its Mission and Vision
During the engagement, the Secretary-General of PLABOC appreciated the Ministry for receiving the delegation and introduced members of the team, who also presented themselves and explained the nature of their respective businesses.
The Secretary-General subsequently explained the purpose of the visit, as contained in the formal letter presented to the Ministry, while also outlining the mission and vision of PLABOC.
The President of PLABOC further elaborated on the organisation’s objectives and its commitment to creating a stronger business ecosystem where entrepreneurs can access opportunities, build sustainable enterprises and contribute meaningfully to the development of Plateau State.
Government’s Approach to Business Development
Responding to the delegation, the Commissioner expressed delight at seeing a strong representation of young entrepreneurs within the PLABOC team.
She explained that the Plateau State Government is intentional about creating an enabling environment where businesses can establish, operate, grow and thrive.
According to the Commissioner, government intervention goes beyond physical infrastructure and includes the development of policies, systems and support mechanisms that make it easier for businesses to succeed.
Among the areas highlighted were:
- Improved access to land and property for business purposes.
- A rebate of approximately 50 percent on certain property-related processes.
- Efforts to accelerate land documentation and processing.
- Support mechanisms for businesses seeking financing and collateral.
- Collaboration with financial institutions to improve access to funding.
The Commissioner encouraged business owners to take advantage of existing government programmes rather than waiting solely for direct financial assistance.
₦4 Billion Financing Opportunity for MSMEs
One of the major highlights of the engagement was the discussion on financing support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The Commissioner disclosed that the Plateau State Government had established a financing arrangement with the Bank of Industry (BOI), involving a proposed contribution of ₦2 billion from the State Government and another ₦2 billion from the Bank of Industry, creating a combined funding pool of approximately ₦4 billion for qualifying businesses.
She explained that the State Government would serve as collateral for the arrangement, while appropriate processes would be established to identify genuine businesses with the capacity and potential to grow.
PLABOC members were encouraged to properly establish and position their businesses to take advantage of such opportunities when they become available.
Greater Jos Masterplan to Create New Business Opportunities
The Commissioner also briefed the delegation on the planned Greater Jos Masterplan, which is expected to provide a long-term framework for development, investment and job creation across Plateau State.
According to her, the development strategy is expected to extend beyond the major urban centres and incorporate selected Local Government Areas, including locations connected to agro-processing activities.
The initiative is expected to create opportunities for businesses to establish themselves closer to emerging markets, social facilities and supporting infrastructure, reducing the concentration of economic activities within the major metropolis.
PLABOC was encouraged to communicate these emerging opportunities to its members across the various Local Government Areas.
Plateau Tourism Masterplan
Another major area of discussion was the development of a Tourism Masterplan for Plateau State.
The Commissioner described the initiative as a long-term framework for developing tourism infrastructure and tourism-related businesses across the state.
She indicated that significant progress had been made towards the development of the Masterplan, with activities connected to its planning expected around September in conjunction with World Tourism Day.
The Masterplan is expected to provide a structured framework within which tourism-related businesses can operate, grow and benefit from the state’s tourism development strategy.
The Commissioner further indicated that technical support would be provided to operators within the tourism sector.
Stronger Regulation and Standardisation for Tourism Businesses
The Ministry also disclosed plans to strengthen regulation and standardisation within the tourism and hospitality industry.
The Commissioner explained that operators would be expected to meet clearly defined standards appropriate to the nature and category of their businesses.
For hotels, lodges and other accommodation facilities, this would include standards corresponding to their respective categories and ratings.
According to the Commissioner, stronger regulation would not only ensure quality but would also provide businesses with greater clarity, protection and a more structured operating environment.
Support for Creative Businesses
The creative industry also featured prominently during the discussion.
The Commissioner disclosed that the government was developing support structures for creative entrepreneurs, including plans for a purpose-designed creative facility known as The Standard Building.
The proposed facility is expected to provide workspace and access to supporting services, creating an environment where creative entrepreneurs can develop their skills and businesses locally while serving clients and markets globally.
Creative entrepreneurs were encouraged to position themselves to meet international standards in quality, professionalism and service delivery.
December Declared Tourism Month in Plateau
The Commissioner informed the delegation that December has been declared the Month of Tourism in Plateau State.
Business owners operating within the tourism and hospitality ecosystem were encouraged to strategically position themselves to benefit from the activities and programmes expected during the period.
The Commissioner stressed that businesses should not wait for government to provide direct financial support. Instead, entrepreneurs should identify opportunities created by government programmes and develop products and services that respond to the needs of visitors, tourists and participants.
A programme map containing planned activities for the period is also expected to be shared with business stakeholders to enable them identify areas where they can participate.
Tourism Events as Business Opportunities
The Commissioner highlighted tourism events as important platforms for stimulating local economic activity.
Particular reference was made to activities involving the Lamigo Golf Club, including tournaments expected to attract participants from different parts of Nigeria.
PLABOC members were encouraged to explore commercial opportunities associated with such events, including:
- Accommodation.
- Food and catering.
- Transportation.
- Fashion.
- Creative services.
- Merchandise.
- Tourism and hospitality services.
Business owners were urged to deliberately market their products and services around major events in order to benefit from increased economic activity generated by visitors.
Quality, Competitiveness and Professionalism
A major message from the Commissioner was the need for businesses in Plateau State to improve the quality of their products and services.
She noted that while government has a responsibility to create opportunities and an enabling environment, business owners must also take responsibility for improving their skills, understanding market demands and delivering quality services.
Areas highlighted included:
- Quality of products and services.
- Timely delivery.
- Professionalism.
- Customer experience.
- Competitive pricing.
- Understanding global market expectations.
- Continuous improvement and skills development.
The Commissioner encouraged entrepreneurs to compete based on quality and excellence rather than simply attempting to offer the lowest prices.
Promoting Local Products and Cultural Heritage
The engagement also highlighted the importance of turning Plateau’s local products and cultural heritage into commercially viable products and tourism attractions.
The Commissioner referenced Goduk, a locally produced fabric, as an example of a product that could be deliberately developed, packaged and promoted to wider markets.
She explained that tourism activities and international visitors could provide opportunities for local products to gain exposure beyond Plateau State.
Entrepreneurs were therefore encouraged to explore ways of packaging and promoting local materials, fashion, crafts, food and cultural products for visitors and international markets.
Improving Hospitality and Restaurant Standards
Restaurant and hospitality operators were specifically encouraged to improve the overall quality of their businesses.
The Commissioner highlighted the importance of:
- Quality food and cuisine.
- Excellent customer service.
- Overall hospitality experience.
- Presentation and appearance of business premises.
- Professionalism of staff.
- Value offered to customers.
She noted that food and cuisine form an important part of the tourism experience and encouraged restaurant operators to become more intentional about the quality and presentation of their offerings.
The need for businesses in Jos and across Plateau State to raise their standards and compete favourably with businesses in other major Nigerian cities was also emphasised.
Training and Technical Support
The Ministry indicated that training and technical support would form part of its efforts to improve standards across the tourism and hospitality sector.
Awareness and training programmes are expected to help businesses upgrade their standards, improve service delivery and better position themselves within the growing tourism economy.
Business operators were encouraged to actively participate in such programmes whenever they become available.
Building Businesses Through Quality and Reputation
The Commissioner also shared examples demonstrating how entrepreneurs can grow their businesses through excellence and reputation.
One example involved a fashion designer whose work received wider exposure after producing a high-quality outfit for a notable individual.
The example illustrated how a single excellent product or service can generate referrals, visibility and access to new markets.
Entrepreneurs were therefore encouraged to focus on becoming exceptionally good at what they do rather than approaching business solely from the perspective of making immediate profit.
Strengthening the PLABOC–Ministry Partnership
The Ministry expressed its willingness to develop a robust and sustainable working relationship with PLABOC.
The engagement identified several areas of potential collaboration, including:
- Business advocacy.
- Tourism development.
- Hospitality development.
- Creative industry support.
- Business training and technical support.
- Information sharing.
- Promotion of government programmes.
- Participation of PLABOC members in tourism activities.
- Promotion of local products and businesses.
- Connecting businesses with emerging opportunities.
The Commissioner encouraged PLABOC to position itself as a change-maker in the business community, helping entrepreneurs understand emerging opportunities, improve their businesses and actively participate in the economic development of Plateau State.
A New Chapter for Business and Tourism in Plateau
The engagement between PLABOC and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Hospitality represents an important step towards stronger collaboration between government and the private sector.
With emerging initiatives around MSME financing, the Greater Jos Masterplan, the Tourism Masterplan, creative industry development, tourism events, training and standardisation, business owners across Plateau State have been encouraged to become more proactive, innovative and prepared to take advantage of new opportunities.
For PLABOC, the engagement reinforces its commitment to advocating for business owners while building stronger bridges between entrepreneurs and government institutions.
As Plateau State positions itself for greater tourism, investment and economic growth, the collaboration between government and business owners could play a significant role in turning the state’s abundant tourism, cultural and entrepreneurial potential into sustainable economic opportunities.
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